2 2 0                                                                                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

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                              Box  124,  Sta.  C.,  Grand   Rapids,   Mich,                                                                                                                  3s To Conditions                     .
                                     EDITOR : -  Rev.  H.  Hoeksema.
Contributing  Editors: - Rev. G. M. Ophoff, Rev. G.  Vos,  Rev.                                                                                                                  It may be expedient, at this stage of our discussion,
R.  Veldman,   Rev.  H.  Veldman,   Rev. H. De Wolf, Rev. B.  Kok,                                                                                                           briefly to recapitulate what we have developed thus
Rev. J. D. De Jong, Rev. A. Petter, Rev. C. Hanko, Rev. L.
Vermeer, Rev. G. Lubbers, Rev. M. Gritters, Rev. J. A. Heys,                                                                                                                 far in regard to the question of conditions.              f
Rev. W. Hofman.                                                                                                                                                                 We based `our arguments entirely on our Reformed
  Communications relative to contents should be addressed to                                                                                                                 Confessions which constitute the basis of our common
REV. H. HOEKSEMA,  1139 Franklin St., S. E., Grand Rapids,                                                                                                                   faith as Protestant Reformed Churches, and which are
Michigan.                                                                                                                                                                    binding for all of us.
  Communications relative to subscription should be addressed                                                                                                                    First of all, I appealed to the urgumentum esilentio,
to MR. J.  BOUWMAN,  1131 Sigsbee St., S.E., Grand.Rapids  6,                                                                                                                the argument from silence, which means in this ease
Mich. Announcements and Obituaries must be mailed to the
above address and will be published at a fee of $1.00 for each                                                                                                               that in none of our confessions the term is used in a
notice.                                                                                                                                                                      sound sense, This proves, at least, that in a Reformed
Renewals:-Unless a  definite  request for discontinuance is re-                                                                                                              system of doctrine there is no need for the term con-
ceived, it is assumed that the subscriber wishes his subscription                                                                                                            dition, for our confessions are a rather elaborate ex-
to continue without the formality of a renewal order.                                                                                                                        pression  <of all the  bisic principles of the Reformed
Entered as Second Class Mail at Grand Rapids, Michigan.
                                 (Subscription Price $2.50 per year)                                                                                                         truth, yet, in a positive sense, the term is never em-
                                                                                                                                                                             ployed in them.
                                                                                                                                                                                 Secondly, I showed that, in our confessions, faith
                                                       CONTENTS                                                                                                              is always presented as a means or instrument of salva-
                                                                                                                                                                             tion, and that, too, as an `instrument, not of man, but
MEDITA&`ION-
         De Eigengerechtige `Veroordeeld . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217                                                   of God. Never is faith explained as a'condition. And
                 Rev.  G. Vos                                                                                                                                                to be sure,  instrument  and  condition  are two entirely
EDITORIALS--  '                                                                                                                                                              different conceptions.
         As To Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . - . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _...................,  220                                 Further I based my argument against the use of
                 Rev. H. Hoeksema                                                                                                                                            the term condition  on the fundamentally Reformed
IXE  TRIPLE  KNOWLEDGE-                                                                                                                                                      treth  of election, and showed that, according to our
         An Exposition of the Heidelberg Catechism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222                                                                               confessions,  .the gift of faith. flows from God's un-
                 Rev. H. Hoeksema                                                                                                                                            conditional decree of election. It follows that, if faith
         Of Boo'ks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
                                                                                                                                          * ,..........,...._  -224 does not appear as a condition unto salvation in God's
                 Rev. H; Hoeksema                                                                                                                                            eternal decree, it cannot appear as such in time.
         HamiRon's Request for a Collection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225                                                                  Finally, we showed that in our confessions the
         Nieuws Uit Hamilton, Canada . . . . . . . . . .._..................... . . ...=..... 225                                                                            term  condition  does, indeed, occur, but always as a term
            J. Ton, Hamilton, Canada                                                                                                                                         that is employed by the Arminians and Pelagians. In
OUR DOCTRINE!-                                                                                                                                                               their presentation of the truth (which is the lie) there
         The Counsel Of God (7) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226                            was not only ample room for, but also need of. the term
             . Rev. H. Veldman                                                                                                                       L                       conditi.on.
THE DAY OF SHADOWS-                                                                                                                                                              In my last article on this subject (cf. The Standard
         David's Decision to Ruild the Lord a House . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I . . . . 230                                                                              Bearer of Dec. 15, 1949) I was discussing the Canons,
         Correspondence . . . . . . . . . . . . i. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233     II, A, 8, an article of our confessions which completely
                 Rev. G. M. Ophoff                                                                                                                                           covers the entire truth of our salvation from election
SION'S ZANGEN-                                                                                                                                                               to eternal glory. Yet, this article not only fails to speak
         Zalig In Des Heeren Vrees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234                                   of conditions but leaves no room for the notion at all.
                 Rev. G. Vos                                                                                                                                                    `It speaks of the sovereign decree of election as the
FROM HOLY WRIT-                                                                                                                                                             unconditional source of our salvation. It emphasizes
         Exposition of Ephesians 2:4-10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236 that the gift of faith is bestowed by God only upon rthe
                  Rev. Geo. C. Lubbers                                                                                                                                       elect, so that faith is presented as belonging to saI-
IN HIS  FEAR-                                                                                                                                                                vation  itself. Moreover, by this  ,God-given  means of
         Called To His Pr&e . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239 faith, the elect are infallibly led. unto salvation. And
                  Rev. J. A. Heys                                                                                                                                            how can a gift possibly be, at the same time, a con-
                                                                                                                                                                             dition  untothat gift?  1  ,


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                                    T H E   STAMDA.R D   B E A R E R                                               221

   But there is still more in this article of the Canons.     continue to be accomplished, notwithstanding all the
    First, the article continues to emphasize God's ineffectual opposition of the gates of hell, so that the
unconditional election in the words: "it was the will         elect in due time may be gathered together into one,
of God, that Christ by the blood of the cross, whereby        and that there never may be wanting a church com-
he confirmed the new covenant, should effectually re- posed of believers, the foundation of which is laid in
deem out of every people, tribe, nation and language,         the blood of Christ, which may steadfastly love, and
all those and those only, who were from eternity chosen faithfully serve him as their Saviour, who as a bride-
unto salvation, and ,given  him by the Father." Note groom for his bride, laid down his life for them upon
the expression LLeffectuully  ,redeem".    When Christ the cross, and which may ceIebrate  his praises here
effectually redeems the elect that redemption cannot and through all eternity."
possibly._ be conditioned upon anything in the elect             Of course, the Arminians deny this unconditional
themselves.                                                   work of God concerning our salvation. But the Canons
   But there is still more.                                   insist upon it, and deny the errors of those "Who teach :
    Note especially the following: "that he should con- That Christ by his satisfaction merited neither salva-
fer upon them faith, which together with all the other' tion itself for anyone, nor faith, whereby this satis-
saving gifts of the Holy Spirit, he purchased for them faction of Christ is effectually appropriated ; but that.
by his death". Notice especially : 1. that faith is pre- he merited for the Father only the authority or the
sented here as belonging to the gifts of salvation by         perfect will to deal again with man, and to prescribe
the Holy Spirit; 2. that Christ confers this gift upon new conditions as he might desire, obedience to which,
the elect alone; 3. that He purchased this gift of faith however, depended on the free will of man, so that .it
for them by His death. Now, how could one possibly therefore might have come to pass that either none or
introduce the element of condition here, Shall we say all should fulfill these conditions. For these adjudge
that the gift of faith is conditioned by faith? This too-contemptuously of the death of Christ, do in no wise
is absurd. It is, therefore, unconditional. Shall we acknowledge the most important fruit or benefit there-
say that Christ works faith in the heart of the sinner by gained, and bring again out of hell the Pelagian
on condition that he believe? Again, this is equally          error."
absurd. Besides, it would imply the thoroughly  Armin-
ionconception  that Christ stands knocking at the door           This is strong language.
of the heart of the sinner, the key of which is on the           But. it is the truth, nevertheless.
inside. Shall we say that the death of Christ, by which          And into this Pelagian error, which has its origin
He purchased the gift of faith  ,for the elect, is con- in hell, we must needs fall, as soon as we teach that
ditioned by faith on the part of the sinner? But that         faith is a condition unto salvation. For then we must
would mean that `He did not effectually redeem the necessariiy  deny that "faith, whereby this satisfaction
elect at all. It would really imply a denial of sovereign of Christ is effectually appropriated", is merited by
election.                                                     the satisfaction of Christ and is wrought in our hearts
    The rest of the article speaks in equally uncon- efficaciously by the Holy Spirit. In other. words, one
ditional terms. We, read there: "should `purge them must c,hoose  between the error that salvation is, wholly
from all sin, both original and actual, whether com-          or in part, which means the same thing, dependent
mitted before or-after believing; and having faithfully upon the free will of man, or he must deny that there
preserved them even to the end, should at last bring `is a conditional element in salvation, and confess that
them free from every spot or blemish to the enjoyment salvation is of the Lord alone.
of glory in his own presence forever." All this belongs          You say, perhaps, that you believe that salvation
to God's part of the covenant. We have no part in it          is of the Lord alone, but that one can, nevertheless,
whatsoever.. He redeems us. He bestows upon the speak of faith as a condition in such a way that the free
elect the gift of faith. .He delivers us from the dominion    ,will of man has nothing to do with it? I answer:
of sin, and sanctifies us. He preserves us, and leads         1. that our confessions never speak that language, but,
us on to eternal glory. ,And this entire work of God          on the contrary, uniformly repudiate the term con-
is absolutely unconditional. If it were not, no sinner ditions and all its implications. I am, therefore, in
could possibly be saved.                                      good company when I deny that faith may ever be pre-
    Only on the basis of the truth that the entire work sented as a condition,  whiIe those that like to lay stress
of God concerning our salvation is sovereign and, there- on the conditional element are `certainly not  confession-
fore, unconditional, can the Canons close this chapter ally Reformed; and, 2. that I challenge anyone to make
with the following beautiful confession : "This purpose plain that the proposition "faith is a condition" can
proceeding from everlasting love towards the elect, has, be used in a truly Reformed sense. If he takes up this
from the beginning of the world to this day, been challenge,  I: promise that I will make  pIain to all that
powerfully accomplished, and wiI1 henceforward still can read that either he camouflages the term condition.


22'
 .L?l                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
or somehow he tries to make salvation dependent on                          --. ___                     --^^   ...-"
the free will of man.                                                THE  TRIPLE KNOWLEDGE
         That faith can in no wise be presented as a con-
dition which in some way must be fulfilled by man,
and is, therefore, in some way dependent on the will of            An Exposition Of The Heidelberg
man, is also evident from those  arkicles of the Canons
that speak of regeneration and faith. Note the follow-                                   Catechism
ing :                                                                                     PART TWO
         "And this is the regeneration so highly celebrated                  O f   M a n ' s   R e d e m p t i o n
in Scripture, and denominated a new creation : a resur-
rection from the dead, a making alive, which God                                  LORD'S DAY XXVIII.
works in us without our aid. But this is in no wise                           Qu. `i5. How art thou admonished and assured in
effected merely by the external preaching of `the gospel,                   the Lord's Supper, that thou art a partaker of that
by moral suasion, or such a mode of operation, that                         one sacrifice of Christ, accomplished on the cross,
                                                                            and of all his benefits?
after God has performed his part, it still remains in                         -4ns.    Thus: That Christ has commanded me and
the power of man to be regenerated or not, to be con-                       all believers, to eat of this broken bread, and to
verted or  `to continue unconverted; but it is evidently                    drink of this  ,cup, in remembrance of him, adding
a supernatural work, most powerful, and at the same                         these promises: first, that his body was offered and
                                                                            broken on the cross for me, and his blood  shed  for
time most delightful, astonishing, mysterious, and in-                      me, as certainly as I see with my eyes, the bread
effable; not inferior in efficacy to creation, or the resur-                of the Lord broken for me, and the cup communi-
rection from the dead, as the Scripture inspired by "ihe                    cated to me; and further, that he feeds and nour-
                                                                            ishes my soul to everlasting  lif?,  .with his crucified
author of this work declares; so that all in whose                          body and shed blood, as assuredly as I receive from
heart God works in that marvellous manner, are cer-                         the hands of the minister, and taste with my mouth
tainly, infallibly, and effectually regenerated, and do                     the bread and cup of the Lord, as certain signs of
actually believe.-Whereupon the will thus renewed,                          the body and blood of Christ.
                                                                              Qu. 76. What is it then to eat the crucified body,
is not only ackuated and influenced by God, but in con-                     and drink the shed blood of Christ?
sequence of this influence, becomes itself active. Where-                     Ans. It is not only to embrace with a believing
fore also, man is himself -rightly said to believe and                      heart all the sufferings and death of Christ. and
repent, by virtue of that grace received."                                  thereby to obtain the &-don of sin, and life eternal;
                                                                            but also, besides that, to become more and more
         This beautiful article has  ,an important bearing                  united to his sacred body, by the Holy Ghost, who
upon our discussion of conditions.                                          dwells both in Christ and in us; so that we, though
         There are several questions implied in the subject                 Christ is in heaven and we on earth, are notwith-
                                                                            standing "Flesh of his flesh, and bone of his bone";
of conditions that receive a rather clear answer in this                    and that we live, and are governed forever by one
article.                                                                    spirit, as members of the same body are by one soul.
         If faith is a condition is not regeneration also to be               Qu.  77.  mere has Christ promised that he will
presented  a.s a condition? But why not, if both are the                    as certainly feed and nourish believers with his body
                                                                            and blood, as they eat of this broken bread. and
work of <God, and if, moreover, faith is rooted in and a                    drink of this cup?
fruit of regeneration?                                                        Ans. In  the institution of the supper, which is
         Is there any part of the work of salvation left for                thus expressed: "The Lord Jesus, the same night in
man after God has accomplished His part?                                    which he  was  betrayed, took bread, and when he
                                                                            had given thanks, he brake it, and said: eat, this is
         Is it in the power of man to remain unconverted                    my  budy,  which is broken for you; this do in re-
after God has regenerated him?                                              membrance of me. After the same manner also he
         What is the proper conception of the relation be-                  took the cup, when he had ,supped,  saying: this cup
                                                                            is the new testament in my blood; this do ye, as
tween God's "part" and man's "part", between the                            often as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For, as
work of God and the activity of the regenerated sinner,                     often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do
between faith and believing?                                                show the Lord's death till he come."
                                                                              This promiseis  repeated by the holy apostle Paul,
         All these questions are related to our subject, and                where he says: "The cup of blessing which we bless,
receive a Reformed answer in this article.                                  is it not the communion of the  blocd  of Christ?
         Look for the answers in the next issue, D. V.                      The bread which we break, is it not the communion
                                                                            of the body of Christ ?         For we, being many, are
                                                     H. II.                 one bread and one body; because we are all partak-
                                                                            ers of that one bread."

                            *  *  *  *                                                            1.
                                                                           The Institution Of The Holy Supper.
         "Heaven and earth shall pass away : but My Wo,rd             Two sacraments  t,here  are, and only two: for these
1;h4 not pass u~ay."--Mark  13 :31.                                were instituted in the church to be observed by her


                                   ?`HE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                        223

as long as she is in the world. These two sacraments Christ. But the manner of our partaking of the same,
are Holy Baptism and the Lord's Supper.                    is not by the mouth, but by the spirit through faith.
   And they are  c,learly related to each other. To- Thus then, though Christ always sits a', the right hand
gether they form, as it were, one whole. For while of his Father in the heavens, yet doth he not the&ore
both concentrate the attention of the believers upon cease to make us partakers of himself by faith. This
the death of Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Redeemer,       feast is a spiritual table, at which Christ communi-
yet there is a clear distinction between the two. The tales himself with all his benefits to us, and gives us
sacrament of baptism signifies the incorporation into there to enjoy both himself, and the merits of his
Christ Jesus  ,and therefore can never be repeated. sufferings and death, nourishing, strengthening and
While the `sacrament of the Holy Supper rather em- comforting our poor comfortless souls by the eating of
phasizes our being nourished by the body and blood of his flesh, quickening and refreshing them by the drink-
Christ, and therefore must be repeatedly celebrated.       ing of his blood. Further, though the sacraments are
   This idea of the Lord's Supper is also plainly indi- connected with the thing signified, nevertheless both
cated in the  N&herland Confession, Art. XXXV, which are not received by all men : the ungodly indeed receives
for its significance we wish to quote here:                the sacrament to his condemnation, but he doth not re-
   "We believe and confess, that our Saviour Jesus         ceive the truth of the sacrament. As Judas, and Simon
Christ did ordain and institute the sacrament of the       the sorcerer, both indeed received the sacra&ent,  but
holy supper, to. nourish and support those whom he not Christ, who was signified by it, of whom believers
h&h already regenerated, and incorporated into his only are made partakers. Lastly, we receive this holy
fanuly, which is his Church. Now those, who are sacrament in the assembly of the people of CTod, with
regenerated, have in them a two-fold life, the one cor- humility and reverence, keeping up amongst us a holy
poral and temporal, which they have from the first remembrance of the death of Christ our Saviour, with
biri-h,  and is common to all men: the other spi-ritca:    thanksgiving: making there confession of our faith,
and heavenly, which is given them in their second and of the Christian religion. Therefore no one ought
birth, which is effected by the word of the gospel, ir:    to come to this table without having previously rightly
the communion of the body. of Christ; and this life is     examined himself; lest by eating of this bread and
not common, but is peculiar to God's elect. In like        drinking of this cup, he eat and drink judgment to
manner God hath given us, for the support of  ,the himself. In a word, we are excited by the use of this
bodily and earthly life, earthly and common bread, holy sacrament, to a fervent love towards God and
which is subservient thereto, and is common to all our neighbour. Therefore we reject all mixtures and
men, even as life itself. But for the support of the damnable inventions, which men have added unto, and
spiritual and heavenly life, which believers have, h-e blended with the sacraments, as profanations of them:
hath sent a living bread, which descended from heaven, and affirm that we ought to rest' satisfied wiih the
namely, Jesus Christ, who nourishes and strengthens ordinance which Christ and his apostles have taught
the spiritual life of believers, when they eat him, that us, and that we must speak of them in the same man-
is to say, when  they  apply and receive him by faith in ner as they have spoken."
the spirit. Christ, that he might represent unto us           Now because of the inseparable  cohnection  and
this spiritual and heavenly bread, hath instituted an close relation between  the two sacraments, it stands
earthly and visible bread, as a sacrament of his body, to reason that they cannot and may not be separated.
and wine as a sacrament of his blood,  to testify by       He that is baptized is obligated to partake of the
them unto us, that, as certainly as we receive and hold table of communion, as soon as he is able to discern
this sacrament in our hands, and eat and drink the the Lord's body.
same with our mouths, by which our life is afterwards         This follows too from the article which we quoted
nourished, we also do as certainly receive by faith above. Baptism, according to it, is the sacrament of
(which is the hand and mouth of our soul) the true         regeneration and of incorporation into Christ's body., .
body and blood of Christ our only Saviour in our           And the article informs us that they  ."who are re-
souls, for the support of our spiritual life. Now, as generated, have in them a two-fold life, the one cor-
it is certain  and beyond all doubt, that Jesus Christ     poral and temporal, which they have from the first
bath not enjoined to `us the use of his sacraments in birth, and is common to all men: the other spiritual
vain, so he works in us all that he represents to us       and heavenly, which is given them in the second birth,
by these holy signs, though the manner surpasses our which is effected by the word of the gospel, in  Zhe
understanding, and cannot be comprehended by us, as communion of the bqdy of Christ; and this life is not
the operations of the Holy Ghost are hidden and in- common, but is peculiar to God's elect." But, as the
comprehensible.    In the meantime we err not, when article continues to explain, even as the natural life of
we say, that what is eaten  a$d drunk by us is the man must be nourished, so the spiritual life of re-
proper and natural body, and the  proper  blood  of generation must be fed by spiritual bread. And that


221,                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEAliER

spiritual food and drink is symbolized in the bread withhold from them this sacrament, by which they are
and wine of the Lord's Supper. And therefore, we nourished with the body and blood of Christ and in
maintain that as soon as the children can discern the which they commemorate Christ's death, until they
Lord's body, they must partake of the table of com- have finished the course in catechetical instruction
munion.                                                      that is required in our churches and are capable of
        The custom, therefore, prevailing in some churches, making a complete confession of faith. Let it rather
that allow a separation between the sacraments, is to be demanded of them that they continue to attend
be condemned. I have often come into contact with ,catechism  until they have finished the course, but in
members of the churches which I have in mind. They the meantime let them partake of the Lord's Supper
are taught to make a distinction between baptism and at least at a much earlier age than is usually the
the Lord's Supper which does not and cannot exist. custom in our churches.
The Lord's Supper in their opinion is evidently a                                                        H. H.
sacrament that is much holier than that of baptism.
The former is only for those that have far advanced
on the way of life. They are the deeply spiritual,
that can speak of a profound experience of sin and
grace. Often in those churches very few partake of                              Of Books
communion. Many of those members remain baptized
their life-long days. Or if they make confession, they Genes&,  Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures,
make a distinction between confession of the truth               by John Peter Lange,  D.D: Zondervan Publ.
and confession of faith. By maintaining this distinc-
tion they  can be full members of the church and have            House, Grand Rapids, Mich. Price $3.95.
their children baptized without ever approaching the            The reissuing of Lange's Commentary by the Zon-
Lord's table. This is certainly an untenable position. dervan Publ. House will, no doubt, be welcomed, not
The sacrament of the Lord's Supper is certainly not only by theologians, but also by many a genera1 Bible
one whit holier than the sacrament of baptism. And student.
those in the church that come to years of discretion            I have in my library a set of Lange's  Bibelwerk
and are instructed in the way of  <God's covenant must in German, and although I cannot agree with his theo-
either celebrate the Lord's Supper with the congrega- logical views, I nevertheless find that he is quite a
tion or repudiate their baptism and reveal themselves thorough and conservative exegete.
as profane. The church consists of believers and their          The present volume on Genes& is, besides, enriched
children. Other members there are not in the church by many valuable notes by the translators, especially
in the world. In the church, therefore, one is either a by Prof. Lewis Taylor, who also wrote an introduction
professing believer or a child that has not yet come         in this volume to the First Chapter, in which he dis-
to years of discretion. But one who remains a bap- cusses such subjects as "The Essential Ideas of Crea-
tized member and never confesses his faith in the Lord tion", "the  Hexaemeron  in its Order", etc. Together
Jesus Christ is a monstrosity that certainly should be with these notes this first volume covers 665 pages,
eliminated by proper disciplinary measures. In the more than one-fourth more than the original work.
Church of the Refugees in London it was customary               I gladly recommend this commentary on the book
to demand of its members to make confession of faith of Genesis to all that are interested in the study of
and come to the Lord's table when they reached the Holy Scripture.
age of 18 or  20 years. After this age they were no
longer considered as members of the church of Christ                              *  *  *  *
in the world. Now it may be true that this rule was
too stringent. Various factors may have to be taken The Progress of Doctrine in the New Testament, by
into consideration that make it impossible always to          : Thomas D. Bernard, M.  *A. Zondervan Publ.
apply a rule of this nature. Nevertheless, it must be
confessed that this practice was based upon a prin-              House, Grand Rapids, Mich. Price $1.75.
cipally sound conception of the church as the gather-           This book contains a series of eight lectures, de-
ing of believers and their children.                         livered at the University of Oxford in 1864. It offers
        For the same reason I often wonder whether the very good Christian literature to all that are willing
practice of our churches not to administer the Lord's to put on their thinking cap. The author proceeds
Supper to children before they have reached the age from the profound conviction that the Bible is the
of adolescence is not an error. Surely, long before Word of God, and, besides, his lectures are the fruit
they reach this age, they are able to discern the Lord's of thorough scholarship.
body. There is, it seems to me, not sufficient reason' to       As to the scope and purpose of these lectures, the


                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                      225

author writes in a preface: "It may appear to some To buy an old house was out of the question, for this
to announce the intention of drawing from the New would involve us in an expense greater than what we
Testament materials for a historical inquiry into the paid for the parsonage we now own. The house which
growth of Christian doctrine, as it took place in the we finally bought is in wonderful condition, admirably
minds and under the hands of the apostles. To others suited to serve as a parsonage, and has all the modern
it may indicate a purpose of showing that the New improvements and conveniences. Only, the consistory
Testament itself exhibits a scheme of progressive doc- of Hamilton wishes to impress upon our various con-
trine. . .  ."    The last mentioned is the purpose of sistories that we purchased this home because we
the author.                                                  believed this to be the best and most economical thing
    Although I seriously doubt whether such a purpose we could do.
is attainable, nevertheless there is much worthwhile            Incidentally, the consistory of Hamilton was repre-
reading material in the book, and I gladly recommend         sented at a meeting of our Mission Committee during
it to our readers.                                           the month of December, and there presented that com-
                                              H. H.          mittee with all the details relative the purchase  of.
                                                             this house. This committee was impressed with the
                                                             information which they received, and expressed the
                                                             opinion that Hamilton's decision to purchase this home
                                                             was the only thing we could have done.
Hamilton's Request for a Collection                             And now, brethren, we ask you to help us to the
                                                             very best of your ability. Consider that our decision,
    The consistories of our churches of  Classis East        as Protestant Reformed Churches, to set foot in
are kindly requested to take note of this article in con-    Canada and organize the church at Hamilton was
nection with Hamilton's request for a collection. Due        rooted in the conviction that the Lord has given us
to a misunderstanding, the clerk of our consistory did an open door here in Canada. Rev. Veldman accepted
not acquaint our consistories with the necessary in- the call to Hamilton in that conviction. But, we need
formation relative this request to the various  con- help. Especially now, inasmuch as we have purchased
sistories. He proceeded from the assumption that the this home. Come to our aid and may the Lord impress
Classis of January 4 had been properly informed, and         upon all our consistories and our people this need of
that he therefore was merely expected to send the re-        Hamilton.
quest as such to the consistories. This article pur-                                               J. Ton, Sec'y.
poses to enlighten the consistories with the financial
needs of Hamilton, and the consistories are kindly re-
quested to consider it as such.
    Rev. H. Veldman's letter of the acceptance of the
call to Hamilton was received by our congregation the           Nieuws Uit Hamilton, Canada
Sunday of November 13. Already before November 6
we had been looking for a parsonage. At that time we Hooggeachte Redacteur !
were convinced that a house could be purchased for
the sum of eight to nine thousand dollars. In this,             Hiermede bieden wij  aan een verslag van de be-
however, we were disappointed. And until December vestiging en intrede van Ds. H. Veldman in de Eerste
11 we combed the vicinity of Hamilton, within and            Protestantsche Gereformeerde Kerk van Hamilton,
outside the city.     To rent a house was impossible. waarvan wij vriendelijk plaatsing verzoeken, en  IJ
That we finally bought our present parsonage for the daarvoor bij voorbaat  hartelijk  danken.
sum of $14,000 is only because we were convinced that           Het was een rijke dag voor de Eerste Prot. Geref.
this was the most economical thing we could do.              Kerk van Hamilton, Zondag, 29 Januari, waar zij
    The consistories are kindly asked to bear in mind haar eigen herder en leeraar mocht  ontvangen in Ds.
the following. As already stated, we combed the vicin- H. Veldman, gekomen van Kalamazoo.
ity of Hamilton. We saw several homes which could               Prof. Hoeksema, welke de leiding van dezen dienst
be bought for ten to eleven thousand dollars. How- op  zich had genomen, sprak votum en zegengroet uit,
ever, none of these compares with the home which we verzocht de gemeente te zingen  Ps. 116:1-3,  las daarna
ultimately bought.      We saw a house, for example, Jes. 40:1-l&  vervolgens de Wet des Heeren, waarop
which could have been purchased for the sum of de gemeente antwoordde met het  zingen  van Ps.  32:5.
$10,500, a new home. This home did not have *a Hierna ging de consulent der gemeente, Ds. C. Hanko,
garage, a drive-way, sidewalks, or street pavement. de gemeente voor in gebed.
And the same thing applies to other homes we saw.               Prof. Hoeksema andermaal het wooed verkrijgende

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

 verzocht  de gemeente te zingen Ps. 63 :4, 5, waarna hij
 het Woord bediende uit Jes. 40 :l, 2, waarin spreker
 wees op de troostinhoud van den tekst, ten lste, dat                          '  O U R   D O C T R I N E
 de tekst spreekt van ,:roost  voor Gods  volk ; en ten
 3de, en dus niet van troost voor  allen,  en ten  3de,
 daarom die troost heerlijk voor Zijn volk.                                     The Counsel Of God. (7)
                                                                      .
        Prof. Hoeksema teekende Gods volk in Babel  zoo-                   God'g Counsel  Exclusively Divine tend Sovereign.
 als het daar leefde, dat was een kwaad voor Gods volk.
 In  Kansan  woonde de Heere eertijds bij Zijn volk,                       We may now call attention to the  concep:ion  of
 daar was de Tempel, de priesters, kortom, Gods Ver- the counsel of God as entertained by the Reformers.
 bond was daar, en ver van Kanaan moest dat volk alles And we may immediately remark `that the Reformers
 missen, waaraan eigenlijk ten grondslag ligt de ver-                returned to Paul and Augustine;           This movement
 bondswraak. En in die ellende zegt de Heere tot Zijn found in the confession of God's `sovereign  elec:ion
 profeet:  Troost, troost Mijn volk. Zoo ook in  deze                the power to fight the pelagianism of the Roman
 bedeeling, met dit verschil, dat Zijn volk nu ziet naar Catholic Church. All the reformers were, at the be-
 het Jeruzalem dat boven is,  zegt de Heere tot Zijn ginning of their careers, unanimous in this respect.
dienstknechlen:  Troost, troost Mijn volk, en dat niet Luther taught and defended, at the beginning of his
 met een menschenwoord, maar door bet 1evende'Woord                  career as a reformer, the truth of Divine predestina-
 van God. En die troost is, dat Christus' offerande de tion as strongly as did Zwingli and Calvin. Nleianch-
 ongerechtigheid verzoend heeft, en dat dit volk dubbel ton at first taught the same,. but since 152.1 he grad-
 ontvangen heeft voor al haar zonden.             Deze troost ually departed from the truth of predestination and
 moet Ds. Veldman brengen, dat is troost voor het approached openly a confession of synergism. Luther
 wedergeboren hart, dat is  t-roost  bij  alle afval van den did not continue to emphasize the doctrine of sover-
 Heere, dat is de troost der prediking tot geloof en  be- eign and unconditional election because the fundamen-
 keering.                                                            tal issue, in his heart and mind, was anthropological-
        Na deze predikatie  las Ds. Hanko het formulier tot he emphasized the corruption of sin and the impotence
                                                                     of man. The German reformer was satisfied as long
 bevestiging van dienaren des Woords, waarna Ds. as these truths were proclaimed, and therefore avoided
 Veldman door de gemeente Ps. X34:3  werd toegezon-                  more and more the  doc:rine  of predestination, did not
 gen. Ds. Veldman beeindigde  dezen dienst met het concern himself too much with these things `of God,
 uitspreken van den zegen.                                           but was content to confine himself to the administra-
        Er werden geen toespraken gehouden.                          tion of the Word and the sacraments. The.result  was
        Des middags deed Ds. Veldman intrede in zijn that he began to place more and more upon the fore-
 nieuwe gemeente, het Woord bedienende uit Ef. 6  :19,               ground God's universal will of salvation. He beheld
 waarin hij zeide, dat de kerk van alle eeuwen in dit the change in Melanchton and did nothing about it;
 hoofdstuk vermaand wordt sterk te zijn  in den Heere, he limited himself to the doctrine of justification out
 en gezegd wordt de wapenrusting aan -te doen,  en tc                of faith; he did not  attribu:e  to predestination an
 volharden in het gebed, ook en juist het gebed om de                independent theological significance. To him the doc-
 opening van den mond des dienaars, om met  vrij- trine of predestination was of secondary importance.
 moedigheid de verborgenheid van het Evangelie be- ,And history verifies that the Lutherans began to de-
 kend te maken.                                                      part more and more from  the original stand of the
        Bij drie punten  stond Ds. Veldman nader  stil : eerst,      Reformation, proclaiming the corruption that God
 de inhoud ; tweedens, de noodzakelijkheid  ; en, derdens,           would save all men, seek no one's death, wills to save
 de vrucht van dat gebed.                                          ,. all men, but consequently decided to save only those
        Ma deze predikatie werd gezongen Ps.  13053   en             whose faith and salvation He foresaw and foreknew.
 Ps.  134 :3, waarna Ds. Veldman dezen dienst be&dig-                  : This sad state of affairs in the life of Martin
de met het uitspreken van den zegen.                                 Lulher and among the Lutherans should teach us a
    Oak nu volgden geen toespraken.                                  lesson.  .Xt is not sufficient to emphasize the Scriptural
    Moge de Heere de gemeente van `Hamilton met doctrine of man's depravity and the need of Divine
                                                                     grace.
 haren leeraar rijkelijk zegenen, tot de eere  Zijns Nams,                     We must also maintain the absolute sovereign-
                                                                     ty of the alone living God.
de bevestiging van Zijn verbond, en de komst van Zijn                                               And we will never be able
                                                                     to maintain the  former.if we do not continue to empha-
koninkrijk.                                                          size the latter. `Heresy does not enter the Church of
                                           J. Ton, Scriba.           God through the door of man's depravity and need of
211 James  .St., South,                                              salvation.    It always enters the Church through the
Hamilton,  Ont., Canada.                                             door of God's sovereign and unconditional election.


                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                        227

Thk attempt to undermine the truth of God's Word some by, did not choose to save them) was not to be
does not begin with the denial of man's corruption but explained as an act of righteousness but as an act
with the truth that God is God alone and  .,hat His of' sovereignty, preceding ; that this reprobatio  nega-
grace is sovereign and unconditional. And, once we tiva necessarily included the decree to permit sin and
have begun to undermine the truth of God's sover- leave some in their fall ; and that the  reproba.io  posi-
eignty, the denial of man's depravity must follow. tiva (positive reprobation-God's decree positively to
It is impossible to maintain a universal desire  oil condemn) reckoned with that sin. But to this they
God's part to save men and also to give due promin-       often added that the concepts of foreknowledge and
ence to the trl;th that we are conceived and born in permission, although not wrong in themselves, could
sin and deat.h. To maintain that the Lord would save or might not be understood purely passively, and if
all men and that  Ee offers His salvation to all the this occurred, did not offer the siightest  solution, and
hearers of the gospel must lead to the denial of our that the distinction of reprobatio negativa and positiva
incapability to do any good before  I&n. if God ser- had little value. Thereby all three-Reformers  eafme to
iously offers salvation to all men then it must follow the so-called supralapsarian conception of the doctrine
that there is salvation for all men. The Lord would of predestination, according to which both decrees of
not offer something He does not possess. Such an election and reprobation are to be regarded as acts
offer on the part of God could never be serious and        of  ,God's sovereignty, preceding the decree concerning
well-meaning. And, to maintain that God  offers salva- the fall, sin, and redemption in Christ. Especially
tion to all the hearers of the gospel `must imply that Calvin confines himself often to the  nearest  causes of
man is also able to accept that offer. This connection salvation and destruction and reasons them along  infra-
between a universal desire on the part of the Lord to lapsarian lines. A reprobate must not seek the cause
save all and the denial of man's  compleke  depravity of his punishment in God's decree but in the corruptioil
is verified by history. The late Prof. Heyns,  e.g., who of his nature which is his ow fault, Institutes III;23, 9.
realized that the Scriptures teach that we are con-. Elect and reprobates were both equaIly  guilty, but God
ceived  and born in sin and death, therefore proclaimed is merciful unto the one, and righteous toward the
the theory that, at baptism, the child receives from others, ib. III, 23, 11. The clay of Rom. 9:21 must be
God, not a regenerating grace, but a certain qualifying viewed as fallen men, of whom God elects some and
grace which renders him able to accept the offer of passes others by. . . . This, however, does not satisfy
salvation which will be  e-xtended  unto him through Calvin. Sin may be the nearest cause of reprobation,
the preaching of the gospel. The history of the de-        it is not the last cause. Indeed it may not be pre-
velopment of the truth in the life of Luther and among sented, as if God without a preceding plan decided to
the Lutherans surely verifies this truth. We cannot create, then watched and awaited what man would do,
tamper with the truth of  ihe Lord's sovereign and and then, knowing this beforehand, proceeded unto
unconditional election and predestination and remain election and reprobation. Foreknowledge and  permis-
unscathed. Indeed, this niust be a lesson to us.          slon give no solution, for God, knowing the fall before-
   dohn Calvin firmly maintained the Augustinian hand, could have prevented the fall; He therefore
doctrine of an absolute predestination, and that as ap- sovereignly .permit:ed  it because He judged it good,
plied to both phases of it: election and reprobation.      Inst. I, 18, 1; II, 4, 3; III, 23, 6-8. C.R. ib. 369, 291,
Whereas Luther weakened as the years rolled on, 294. Therefope  the fall of Adam, sin in general, and
Calvin became stronger. Everywhere he defended the all the evil are not merely'foreseen  by God ,but also in
sovereignty of the living God. His book, Calvinism, certain serise willed and determined by Him, ib. There
is a striking example of this fact. Fact is, God's sover- must be therefore, although hid from us, a reason why
eignty and Calvinism go hand in hand, are synony- God willed the fall; there is still a high counsel of God,
mous.                                                     which preceded the fall, C.R. XXXVI 288. When
   Striking is the following quotation from Dr. H.         Pighius objects to this view, then Calvin does  answer
havinck's  "Reformed Dogmatics," Vol. 2, pages 336- that Pighius confuses the proximate arid the remote
338, and we translate: "The changes which the Re- cause,  that every reprobate must seek the proximate
formers introduced in the doctrine of Augustine and cause in his own sin and that objections remain also
Thomas are, besides the doctrine of the assurance of upon the other standpoint, but he does not deny the
salvation, of secondary importance and do not touch conclusion of Pighius. Reprobation as well as election
upon the essence of the issue. With them (Augustine has its final and deepest cause in God's will, Inst. I, 18,
and Thomas-H.V.) they taught that election did not 2 ; III, 22, 11; III, 23, 1, 2, 7, 8. C.R. XXXVI 278,
occur upon merit, but was the source of faith and good 317, etc. Calvin alternates, therefore, between the
works; that the predestination  undo glory infallibly supralapsarian and infralapsarian conceptions."--end
included predestination unto grace; that the reprobatio of quote.
negativa (the negative predestination-God  passed             This quotation is striking because, in the first

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

place, it shows that Calvin and Augustine maintained, believers, that the believers are the elect and the un-
first, the sovereign view of election. And it also shows believers the reprobates. However, it is evident, also
that they maintained an equally sovereign view of from the stand taken by Arminius himself, that they
reprobation. To be sure, they speak of a Divine per- declared that God elected them  a.a believers and repro-
mission, permitting the fall, because they are most bated the others as unbelievers. ,God saw beforehand
careful in their definition of reprobation, would not .that some would believe and that others would not
make God the Author of sin. Yet, even so, they de- believe, hence elected the believers and reprobated the
clare that a mere permission is impossible with God, others. This is the doctrine of conditional predestina-
that God is active even when He permits the fall, and tion, election and reprobation as based upon foreseen
that both, election and reprobation, are sovereignly faith and unbelief.
willed by God.                                                 The second proposition of the arminians or remon-
       Finally, we would conclude our brief historical strants reads as follows : "That agreeably thereto Jesus
review of the concept, "Counsel of God", by calling Christ, the Saviour of the world, died for all men and
attention to the stand taken by the Synod of Dordrecht, for every man, so that He has obtained for them all,
1618-1619. The arminians and (or) remonstrants had by His death on the cross, redemption and the for-
taught : conditional predestination, foreknowledge, giveness of sins; yet so, that no one actually enjoys this
universal atonement, resistible grace.     Of this  doe-, forgiveness of sins except the believer, according to the
trine, as taught in the sixteenth and seventeenth cen- word of the gospel in John 3 :16 : For G.od so loved lhe
turies, Arminius was the father. Arminius was born world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoso-
in the Netherlands in 1560 and died in 1609. Arminius ever believeth on Him should not perish but have ever-
had personally developed the views, first, that God lasting life; and in the first epistle of John 2 :2 ; Aud
determined to accept in Christ all penitent and believ- He is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours
ing sinners, and to condemn all that remained impeni- only, but for the sins of the whole world." In  t>is
tent and unbelieving, and, secondly, that God, fore- second of the Five Points of the remonstrants the
knowing who would believe and repent and who would arininians  clearly set forth and declare their doctrine
not believe in Christ, foreordained particular persons of universal atonement.          Here we read that Jesus
unto salvation. It is evident from these statements Christ, the Saviour of the world, dies for all men and
that Arminius taught a conditional election and repro- for every man, so that He has obtained for them all,
bation, an election and a reprobation which rested upon by His death on the cross redemption and the forgive-
foreseen faith and unbelief. Arminius, as stated above, ness of sins. It is true that not every man enjoys
died in 1609, but his followers carried on and developed this forgiveness of sin and this redemption. But this
his views and conceptions. This doctrine, developed is not due to the death of Christ on the cross. This
by Arminius and his followers, is known as  Arminian-       is merely and exclusively due to his unbelief and re-
ism, and is embodied or contained for us in the Five fusal to accept this merited and proffered salvatin.
Points of the Remonstrants, drawn up in the Nether- As far as Christ is concerned, He is the Saviour of  Ihe
lands in 1610.           .                                  world, mind you, and He died for all men and for
       The first of these Five Points reads as follows: every man. And this conception of the death of Christ
"That God by an eternal, unchangeable purpose in must follow. To maintain a conditional view of God's
Christ Jesus, His Son, hath determined out of the view of election and reprobation and a particular  con:
fallen, sinful race of men, to save in Christ, for Christ's ception  of the cross is impossible. If, in God's counsel
sake and through Christ, those, who, through the grace predestination is conditional, based on foreknowledge,
of the Holy Spirit shall believe in this His Son, Jesus, so that the Lord saw beforehand who would believe or
and shah persevere in this faith and obedience of faith, not believe and be determined in His election and
through this grace, even unto the `end ; and on the other reprobation by the act of the sinner whether that act
hand to leave the incorrigible and unbelieving in sin be an act of faith or unbelief, then one must  aldo
and under wrath and to condemn them as alienate from entertain a universal conception of the cross of Christ.
Christ; according to the word of the gospel in John If the Lord would have all men be saved, then one
3:36: He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting cannot entertain a conception of the cross which wo,Ld
life, but he that obeyeth not the Son shall not see life, limit that salvation to a few.
the wrath of God abideth on him ; and according to             The fourth proposition of the arminians reads as
other passages of Scripture also". In this first of the follows : "That the grace of  ,God is the beginning, con-
Five Points the remonstrants clearly declare that God's tinuance and accomplishment of all good, even to  this
predestination is conditional and based upon Divine extent that the regenerate man himself without pre-
foreknowledge. Taken by itself, it is, of course, true venient, assisting, awakening, following and co-opcr-
that God elected the believers and reprobated the un- ative grace, can neither think, will, nor do good, nor


                      b              T H E S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                          229

withstand any temptations to evil; so that all good of Satan can be misled, nor plucked out of Christ's
deeds and movements that can be conceived must be hand, according to the word of Christ, John 10 :28:
ascribed to the grace of God in Christ . But as respects     No man can pluck them out of My hand. But whether
the mode of the operation of this grace, it is not irre- they are capable through negligence or forsaking again
sistible, in as much as it is written concerning many the first beginning of their  life in Christ, of again
that they have resisted the Holy Ghost,-Acts  7 and returning to this present evil world, of turning away
elsewhere in many places". In this article the remon- from the hoIy doctrine which was delivered them, of
strants teach the heresy of resistible grace. In. this losing a good conscience, of becoming devoid of grace,
article we have an outstanding example of heresy's that must be more particularly determined out of  4 he
subtle way of creeping into the bosom of the Church Holy Scriptures, before we ourselves can teach it with
of God. Imagine what these arminians declare here:           full persuasion of our minds."
"That the grace of God is the beginning, continuance            This articIe denies the perseverance of the saints.
and accomplishment of all good, even to this extent          Indeed, apart from the concluding sentence of this
that the regenerate man himself without prevenient,          fourth proposition, the entire article is characterized
assisting, awakening, following and co-operative grace, by strange and questionable statements. Thus we are
can neither think, will nor do good, nor withstand any told, e.g., that we can strive against Satan, sin, and
temptations to evil ; so that all good deeds and move- the world and gain the victory through the ass&tiny
ment that can be conceived must be ascribed to the grace of the Holy Spirit; that Jesus Christ  assisies
grace of God in Christ." Isn't that wonderful? Who them through His Spirit in all temptations, extends to
would ever dare, after reading such a wonderful testi- them  His hand; and if only  they are ready for  th,e
mony to the truth, of accusing the authors of -it as         conflict and d&ire  His help, and are not inactive, they
heretical? And, yet, they also declare that this grace will be kept from falling so that by no craft or power
of God is not irresistible. This implies that the natural of Satan shall they be misled, nor plucked out of His
man is able to resist or not resist the grace of God, hand. And the article concludes with the assertion
that he can either accept or reject it. This means thst that the question of the ultimate perseverance of the
the-greater part of this fourth proposition is merely
camouflage.                                                  saints must as yet be determined out of the Holy Scrip-
               They do not mean what they say in that tures and that they are not able to state this with full
first part. Any man who can either accept or reject
the salvation offered in the gospel is not totally de- persuasion of their minds. In other words, they can-
                                                             not profess that the salvation of the believer is sure.
praved ; the clear implication of this proposition is
that man can of himself accept God's salvation, permit          And this, too, lies in the nature of the case. Hav-
within himself the operation of the Holy Spirit. Hence,      ing departed from the eternal and unchangeable coun-
the fourth point of the Five Points of the remonstrants sel of the Lord they have deserted the only sure and
denies the irresistible character of grace and main- certain anchor of their salvation.              Having declared
tains the heresy that the natural man is not who&-           that the decree of <Jehovah  is conditional and based
depraved..                                                   upon foreseen'faith, that the sufferings and death of
   And also this heresy must follow when once we             our Lord are not particular but universal, that man
have declared that God's predestination is not uncon- can either accept or reject the salvation of God, can
ditional and that the sufferings and death of our Lord either permit or refuse to permit the operation of the
is not atoning and particular . To maintain that salva- Holy Spirit within his heart, it must follow that none
tion is offered to all men must result in the setting can be sure of his ultimate salvation. Fact is, upon
of the truth( ?) that man can accept that grace of God.      the standpoint of. the arminians everything depends
Why offer something to a man who cannot accept :t?           upon the free will of man. The question of his eternal
   And in the fifth and final article of the arminians life and glory is not determined by the living God
the doctrine of the certain perseverance of the saints but by a miserable man, who is even less than a worm
is denied, and we quote: "That those who are incor- compare,d  with the living God, inasmuch as the entire
porated into Christ by a true faith, and have thereby universe is less than a drop on the bucket and a
become partakers of His life-giving Spirit, have there- particle of dust on the balances. We may well bear
by full power to strive against Satan, sin, the world        in mind, therefore, that the arminians or remonstrants
and their own flesh, and to win the victory, it being taught : conditional predestination, foreknowledge, uni-
well understood, that it is ever through the assisting versal atonement, resistible grace. In our following
grace of the Holy Ghost; and that Jesus Christ assists article we will note the answer of the Synod of Dord-
them through His Spirit in all temptations, e.dends          recht to these arminian declarations and also note their
to them His hand ; and if only they are ready for the stand on the conditional or unconditional character of
conflict and desire His help, and are not inactive, keeps    the counsel of God.
them from falling, so that they by no craft or power                                                 H. Veldman.


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 230                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                           _.
                                                               which had just been completed) and had come out
          Tl3.E DAY OFSHADOWS                                  again, and had blessed the people, the glory  of the
                                                               Lord-the pillar of cloud in its  glory-appsared unto
                                                               the. people (Lev. 9  :23, 24) . The glory of the Lord
  David's Decision                                             filled the tabernacle, so we read, and transformed it
                                                               into a house of glory; and the people saw it. What is
           To Build the Lord a House i                         more, fire went out from before the Lord, and con-
                                                               sumed upon the altar the  burnt  offering ; and the
        The Ark of the covenant had been taken from the people shouted and fell on their faces. There was a
 house of Abinadab and carried to Mt. Zion, the city recurrence of these same wonders in connection with
 of David, where it was set in its place in a tent that        the dedication of Solomon's temple. "When Solomon
 David had stretched for it, chap. 6 of 2 Samuel. The had made an end of praying, the fire came down from
 fetching of the Ark from  Kirjath-Jearim  soon was heaven and consumed the burn: offerings and sacri-
 followed by three wars, 8:15.      (This section must be fices; and the glory of the Lord filled the house (2
 put chronologically immediately after chap. 6). The Chron. 7:ll). Shortly thereafter the Lord appeared
 enemies successively subdued were the Philistines over to Solomon, and revealed to him that he had heard
 whom David already had gained a double victory his prayer and had chosen that place to himself for a
 (5 :22-25))  further the Moabites and the .cyrians.  In house of sacrifice.
 addition garrisons were put in Edom "and all they of             But the glory of the Lord had no> filled the tent
 Edom became tributary to David (8  :14). It is best to that David had stretched. No fire had come down
 assume that these victories were followed by the quiet from heaven and consumed the burnt offerings and
 described at 7 :l.     Here the text states that David the sacrifices. What is more, the Lord continued to
 dwelt in his house in that the Lord had given him rest communicate with His people at  Gibeon  where the
 round about from all his enemies. The absoluteness tabernacle had been erected. Solomon and all the
 of this language is fully justified. For all the pressing congregation went to the highplace that was at Gibeon
 enemies had been overcome. By the victories already and offered. there a thousand burnt offerings. -And
 gained the kingdom had been securely established. For in that night God appeared unto him, there in Gibeon,
 the present not occupied with war, David decided to and said to him, Ask what 1 shall give thee (2 Chron.
 build a fixed abode for the Ark. He was confident 1:3-7). Yet it was certain that the Lord had chosen
 that it was the Lord's will . The need of a portable Zion, which He loved (Ps. 132 :ll) .
 tent for the Ark of God used to be actual. It was                These apparent inconsistencies in the divine work-
 actual in the period of Israel's wanderings in the ing must have struck David as perplexing. As coupled
 desert, when the people went from place to place with with the fact of the stabilization of his kingdom, they
 the Ark as their companion. It was actual in the caused him to conclude that the fault lay with  ;hat
 period of the judges, when God's people were driven tent. The Lord wanted Him a house built. David
 hither and thither within Canaan's borders by the decided to build the Lord that house and to restore in
 heathen. In that period the place of residence of ,;he connection with it the whole symbolical-typical service,
 tabernacle had changed four times  (Gilgal,  Shiloh, a service that had largely ceased with the capture of
 N o b ,   Gibeon).                                            the Ark by the Philistines 21 years ago and this to
        But the condition of things had changed. All the teach the people of Israel that obedience is better .:han
 pressing enemies had been subdued. In hardly any sacrifice.
 quarter of the land were the heathen disquieting any-            David communicated his resolution to Nathan. Said
 more. This is indicated by the skatement  (8 :15) that he to the prophet, "See now,  I dwell in a house of
 David's reign "extended over  all  Israel"; and that cedar; but the ark of God dwelleth in curtains." The
' "he executed judgment and justice to all the people." incongruity of it was too painful for words. Action
 Truly, the kingdom had been securely founded. How must be taken. That incongruity must be removed
 plain then, that the tent, which was comparable to without delay. Nathan was in full accord with David.
 the tabernacle of Moses, had served its usefulness and No command had been received by special revelation;
 that the time was at hand for the building of a house but the prophet was certain that the king had cor-
 for the Lord, that, as David's house of Cedar, could rectly discerned the will of God. Said he to David,
 stand as the symbo1  of the stability of the kingdom. "Go, do all that is in thine heart; for the Lord is with
 Such was David's belief.                                      thee".
        .And in this belief he, doubtless, was strengthened       `Nathan's counsel was essentially right. The Lord's
 by the Lord's failure to sanctify the tent that he had house had to be built.- But like David he erred in con-
 stretched for the Ark on Mt. Zion. When Moses and cluding that the task was the king's. Nei:her the pro-
 Aaron had gone into the tabernacle (the erection of phet nor the king made any mention of the tabernacle


                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                      231

of Moses. As compared with the tent that David had preferred that type of dwelling as such; but He wanted
stretched, if- was a beautiful structure, designed by His Presence, as symbolized by the Ark (and the P'illar
the Lord Himself especially for His ark. It could           of Cloud) always in attendance to His wandering,
have been removed to Jerusalem and the ark set in harassed and afflicted people in order that they might
his place in it. But that, too, would have been con-        be able to see with their eyes that He was  wilh them
trary to the will of the  Lard.  So we learn from Ps. as their sun, and shield and fortress, their guide and
132, which states that the Lord "refused the taber- deliverer. It explains His keeping Him to a portable
nacle of Joseph, the sanctuary of Shiloh," by which tabernacle through all those years. It explains, too,
is meant the tabernacle of Moses. Both David and His unwillingness to abandon that tent for a fixed
Nathan perceived that the Lord had done with that abode at this time. There was as yet peace and quiet
structure, thaY the time was at hand for the erection only in a measure. Children of wickedness were still
of the Lord's temple. As was said, their only error menacing the Lord's heritage. Not until the ideal
was their concluding that it was to be the task of state of things, characteristic of the reign of Solomon,
David. God had other thoughts that they could not           of the reign of Christ on  the New Earth, has been
know except by divine revelation, which now was inaugurated, will that tent have served its  purpose-
given.                                                      that ten!, in the final instance every congregation of
    The Lord instructed Nathan and David that same saints in every place on this earth. When the last
night; and thereby He shed a wonderful new light on enemy will have been overcome, and not before, will
the promise. The readiness of Nathan to make the            the temple of the Lord rise, will the church of the
revelation of God his own and to communicate it to elect--the true temple of God-appear  with Christ
the king was not "a small thing, considering that pre- in glory.
viously he with such confidence had approved the               Hence, "Not thou. . .' ." David was not the builder
king's plan. He must admit tha: he erred at least in        of the Lord's temple. He was a man of blood. His
one important aspect and reverse his counsel. That task was to war God's warfare, to reign in the midst
required grace-the grace to mortify his pride and           of his enemies until one and all they be made his
not to mind the injury that he might be doing his footstool.           Hence, let him again take the field and
prestige. He was endowed with that'grace. He now fight the good fight of faith toward the victory that
spake God's word to the king.       His prefacing his is his in the Lord.
discourse with the utterance, "Thus saith the Lord,"           Next David must be given to understand that in
only indicates how fully and clearly conscious he was deciding to build the Lord a house he was following
of the fact that the sentences now passing over his his own understanding ; he was not reacting to a divine
lips originated not in his own heart but in the mind command communicated by special revelation.               For
and heart of God ; and he thus gave strongest proof         no such a command had ever been given either to
that he was God's prophet indeed who knew how to David or to the leading tribes. Accordingly the Lord
distinguish between his own thoughts and the thoughts said to him, "In all the places wherein I have walked
of God and how to deny his own reasonings when it with the children of Israel, spake I a word with any
appeared that they went contrary to the mind and            of the tribes of Israel, whom I commanded to feed my
purpose of God.                                             people Israel ,saying,  Why build ye me not a house of
    "And it came to pass  &hat same night that the cedar?"
Word of the Lord came unto Nathan, saying  Go tell to          The Lord now tells J~IN servant when and by whom
my servant, to David, Thus saith. the Lord, shalt thou the house of the Lord will be built. The revelation
build me a house for me to dwell in?" The thrust of that  folIows  speaks of great new mercies. For this
this utterance  of God is given at 1 Kings 8 : 18, where    reason and also to sustain ~rl David the lively awase-
Solomon is represented as saying, "and the Lord said ness that Nathan speaks God's word and not his own,
to David my father, Whereas it was in thine heart           the prophet must preface also this last section of his
to build a house unto my name, thou didst well that message with, "Now therefore so shalt thou say unto
it was in thine heart. -Nevertheless, thou shalt not David my servant, Thus saith the Lord of hosts. . . ."
build the house." Though the task was not to be The Lord by Nathan leads up to the main points in
David's ,the Lord commends His servant for hating His discuurse by briefly passing in review kindnesses
conceived of the idea. The Lord now motivated His already shown. And with reason.' They form the
prohibition. He presented the reasons for His, "not pledge of the favors that are to follow.
thou. . .  ."                                                  Said the Lord to His servant, "I took thee from
    Said the Lord to David, t`For I have not dwelt in the pasture, from following the sheep, to be ruler over
any house since the time that I brought the children my people, over Israel." By a miracle of His grace
of Israel out of Egypt, even to this day, but have the Lord had lifted him out of deepest obscurity, and
walked in a tent or tabernacle." Not that the Lord elevated him to a throne. The Lord continues, "And

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

     I was with thee whithersoever thou wentest, and have is (Solomon  and ultimateIy  Christ who was in the loins
     cut .off all thine enemies .out of my sight, and have of David. The .Lord continues, "and I will establish
     made thee a great name,. like unto the name of the his kingdom."              As we have just seen, during the
     great men that are upon the earth." Yet, despite the reign of Solomon the typical kingdom of Israel was
     absoluteness of this language, neighbouring godless established on an unprecedented scale through the
     nations still were seizing every opportunity to distress wars of David that had  pretieded.      Solomon had peace
     and terrify the people of Israel. But the Lord will on all sides about him. But the peace  was  not endur-
     give victory until the last foe be subdued. And so ing, for it was but a shadow, the body of which is
     David's fame'will continue to grow.                          the everlasting and heavenly peace and quiet that will
            And so the Lord by Nathan continues, "Moreover characterize the reign of Christ on the new earth.
     I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will Then also this element in Nathan's prophecy will go
     plant them, that they may. dwell in a place of their into final and true fulfillment. The kingdom of God
     own, and move no more ; neither shall the children is even now immovably established through Christ's
     of wickedness afflict them anymore, as beforetime". atonement, yet not apparently so. For God's saints
     This is a prophecy that will have gone into fulfillment on earth are being driven hither and thither by the
     when the Lord will have made all David's enemies his         children of wickedness. &4nd there is the apostate
.    footstool. Then quiet will prevail,-the perfect quiet church. And the saints themselves have but a small
     that characterized the golden years of Solomon's reign. beginning of true obedience. The immovable char-
     He was the typical king of glory who "had dominion acter of Christ's kingdom is obscured. But it shall
     over all the region on this side of the river. . . . over    appear in its full reality when the church of the elect,
     all the kings on this side of then river : and he had peace whose life is hidden with Christ, `will appear with
     on all sides round about liim"  (1 Kings 4 94). Then Christ in glory.
     Judah and Israel.were  firmly planted and dwelt in a'           The Lord once more, "He shall build a house for
     place of their o.wn,  meaning that they "dwelt safely,       my name." Having peace on all sides around about
     every man under his vine and under his fig tree, from him, Solomon built the Lord a house, that stood for a
     Dan even to Beersheba,  `all the days of Solomon"            time as the prophetic type of the church of the elect,
     (vs. 25).                                                    the true house of ,God.    Hence, also this element in
            But the final fulfillment. of this prophecy. is the the discourse of the prophet is progressively fulfilled.
     redeemed family of God, clothed with heavenly per- The builder of the church is Christ. It is necessarily
     fection and glory in Christ and dwelling with God in of Christ that the Lord speaks in the final instance.
     His holy temple on the new earth, *where  Hi% taber- For he adds, "And I will establish the throne of his
     nacle will be with them. Then God% persecuted people kingdom forever. That can have reference only to the
     will move no more, nor shall the children of wickedness throne of Christ.
     afflict them anymore, as before time.                           "And I will be his father, and he shall be my son,"
            "As before time, and as since the time that I com- father, not only in the creatural but also in the spirit-
     manded judges to be over my people, and to the time ual ethical sense as well. That is to say, Solomon,
     that  I have caused thee and will  cuuse  the@ to rest of which the iI,ord here again speaks in the first in-
     from all  t.hine enemies." During all this time the stance, was the object of God's eternal love. For the
     people of Israel were afflicted by their enemies. But Lord adds, "If he commit iniquity-and Solomon did
     the Lord by the hand of David has sent deliverance so-1 will chasten him with the rod of men, and with
     and will continue to send deliverance in always larger the stripes of the children of men: but my mercy shall
     measure until the prevailing quiet and peace will be not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul,
     such that the Lord's temple can be built.                    whom I put away before thee." As to Saul, in the
            Nathan continues, "And the Lord  telleth  thee that light of the Scriptures it will not do to say that the
     He will make thee a house." The promised house is Lord hated Saul though He formerly loved him. The
     that family of men of which David was the first father. love of God is unchangeable and abiding. It has as
     Passing again from the type to the reality, from the little a beginning and end as. God has beginning and
     shadow to the body, we must say that in  ,the final end. As God it is eternal. That is the only kind of
     instance the "house" that is here promised is the love that God's believing and sinful people can build
     church of the elect, the entire family of redeemed of on. God's mercy was not upon Saul personally but
     which Christ is head and king and priest and  prophet,       upon the elect in his house, among whom the most
     and in that capacity Saviour and Redeemer.                   noteworthy was Jonathan. The passing of this elect
            But this is not all. "And when thy days be ful- nucleus was the withdrawing of God's mercy from
     filled," so the `Lord continues, "and thou shalt sleep Saul's house. For His mercy is only upon them that
     with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee,         fear Him. But David and his house, definitely the
     which shall proceed out of thy bowels". That "seed" seed that the Lord will set up after his decease, and


                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                        233

whose kingdom He will establish, will not be over- fear that one-tenth might prove to be heretical?
taken by a like calamity. Upon that seed the Lord's            Why not put the question as follows: Does the doc-
mercy will abide everlastingly. And that seed in the trine contained in such a publication become by synod's
final instance is again Christ.     True He had done action Church doctrine and therefore binding on all
no violence, neither was any deceit in His mouth  ; the churches? Allow me to answer the question so put.
yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him, and to put Him No, the doctrine contained in such a publication does
to grief; but He was wounded for our transgressions, not by Synod's action in question become the official
aud bruised for our iniquities  ; the chastisement of our doctrine of the churches binding on their officebearers
`peace was upon Him: and with His stripes we are and members in the sense that any officebearer oppos-
healed, Isa. 53.                                           ing that doctrine by the written or spoken word is by
   That the Lord in this part of His discourse refers that very act deposed in his office. Yet, certainly, no
not only to individuals-Solomon and Saul-but to stand is possible but the stand that in adopting the
houses as well, is evident from His concluding state- publication for distribution Synod officially sanctioned
ment to David, "But thine house and thine kingdom the doctrine contained in it. One who openly attacks
shall be established forever before thee: thy throne such doctrine on the grounds of its being heretical,  I
shall be established forever",-David's house and king- must therefore realize that he assails not Rev. Hoek-
dom, the house or church of the elect and the kingdom sema alone as to his teachings, but Synod and in Synod
of Christ. They will be established forever and this the entire communion of Protestant Reformed Church-
in contradistinction to Saul's house and kingdom. The es assembled at the time in Synod. Further, such a
latter God destroyed in the way of its wickedness.         one must realize that he `accuses Synod of having ap-
   "According to all these words, and according to all proved heresy. That one must realize, finally, that he
this vision, so did Nathan speak unto David."              is in duty bound to prove his accusation with the Scrip-
                                       G. M. Ophoff.       tures and the Coufessions.    Certainly, if he is not of a
                                                           mind to do that, he must not accuse.
                                                              I believe I should add something. It is this: To ,
                                                           my mind, anyone attempting such a thing would find
                    Correspondence                         that he had addressed himself to an impossible task.
                                                           For the "publications" in question turn on two propo-
Rev. J. Howerzyl.                                          sitions : 1) the promises of God are given only to the
Dear Brother,                                              elect; 2) the promises of God are unconditional and
                                                           therefore unfailing. The teaching contained in these
   I was occupied with your question under 5)) the one two propositions is the literal doctrine of the Scrip-
that pertains to the writings of Rev. H. Hoeksema tures and our Confessions. This is also your convic-
officially adopted by Synod for distribution. You ask, tion. For you write, "Allow me to begin by saying.
"What does officially adopted by Synod for distribu- that I am fully in agreement with what you (Ophoff)
tion mean? Does this mean that when our Synod de- write, `that the promises of God are given only to the
cides to publish or to print, or to underwrite the pub- elect is, according to our firm conviction, the plain
lishing of a work of Rev. Hoeksema the entire content teaching of our Three Forms of Unity.' Then also this
of such publication becomes Church Doctrine, Creed, statement from your pen,  `.When  you (Ophoff) say
and therefore binding on all our churches? If this elsewhere that this truth is written in our hearts I
`were actually the implication of `adopted for distribu- also fully agree." Here you by implication declare
tion' then I for one ,would  never favor such distribu- that "this truth" is written also in your heart. If so,
tion, etc."                                                why worry about being put in a theological strait-
Reply.                                                     jacket by Synod's action with regard to those "publi-
   Why do you speak of-the "entire" content of such cations" of Rev. H. Hoeksema. If the doctrine con-
a publication? It seems to me that implicit in your tained in those "publications" is written in our hearts,
question with the word "entire" in it is the statement, we are even apart from Synod's action in a theological
"I do believe that, let us say, nine-tenths of the content strait-jacket--the strait-jacket of the voice of our con-
of such a publication becomes church doctrine and sciences. We therefore feel ourselves conscience-bound
therefore binding in all our churches but not the one- to defend "that truth" in opposition to anyone in our
tenth." Rut I ask then, Why not also the one-tenth? midst publicly denying and attacking it. That, cer-
And, What one-tenth? And, Who will decide what one- tainly, would be our solemn duty.
tenth? Or shall every member be free to reject what-          Finally, you state that you also have a little dif?i-
ever such portion he pleases? And why should I mind culty in understanding this matter of written and
being put in a strait-jacket by one-tenth if I have no unwritten creeds about which  I was writing. Does
objection to being  binded  by nine-tenths? Because I what I wrote in connection with this matter involve

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

  me in a contradiction. I can't see that. Isn't it true heirscharen, of Ik u dan niet zal open doen  de venste-
  that as yet no one has appeared on our synod with a ren des hemels, en u zegen afgieten, zoodat er geen
  written statement to the effect that the promises of schuren genoeg zullen wezen.?                          ..
  God are given only to the elect and overtured Synod to             Daar hebt ge het bewijs, dat onder de Oude Ee-
  adopt that credal statement and to make it binding? deeling de godsvrucht beloond werd door den Heere
  That has never happened. But I really can't go into met welvaart op natuurlijk gebied.
  this here for lack of space. I will give this dif5culty            Maar hier moeten  twee dingen niet vergeten  wor-
  of yours full attention in the next issue of our paper.         den. Eerstens, dat die regeling van Godswege bedoeld
                                             G. M. Ophoff.        werd om een beeld te zijn van de geestelijke welvaart
                                                                  die gevonden wordt in den weg der gehoorzaamheid.
                        w-m                                       Vandaag geldt niet meer, dat de Heere ons zegenen
                                                                  zal op natuurlijk gebied als we wandelen in Zijne
              S I O N ' S   Z A N G E N                           wegen.    Ik behoef dat zeker niet te bewijzen.  Deze
                                                                  positie wordt gestaafd door de ondervinding. En ook
                                                                  Gods Woord leert het ons. Er staat zelfs in de Heilige
           Zalig In Des Heer& Vrees                               Schrift,  dat de Heere het arme verkoor om bet: rijlre
                                                                  te beschamen. Niet vele rijken. . . .is regel vandaag.
                   (Psalm 112 ; Tweede  Deel)                        En, tweedens, dat zelfs onder de Oude  Bedeeling  ei
                                                                  uitnonderingen waren  in dezen door God bestemden
         We  waren  toegekomen  aan de beschrijving van regel. Denkt  aan Job. Er was geen  beter man dan
  dien man die den Heere vreest: we hebben twee verzen Job. En  tech maakte de Heere hem zoo arm, dat  hlj
  aan dat  thema gewijd. De  laatste  klank die we  op- ten slotte terecht komt op een me&hoop. Alles verliet
  vingen vanuit dit gezang was, dat `bet geslacht der hem, tot zijn eigen vrouw toe. De Heere had ie:s met
  oprechten gezegend zal  worden.                                 Satan te vereffenen en daarom moet Job zonder oorzaak
         Nu gaan we verder.                                       van groote zonden of afwijkingen doodarm gemaakt
         En het eerste wat ons ditmaal in het lied toespreekt worden. En ook dit nog: God Wilde in het Oude Testa-
  brengt ons voor een moeilijkheid. Er staat in het ment een schoone  type toonen van Zijn Zoon Jezus, die
  derde vers  : "In zijn huis zal have en rijkdom wezen ; zonder oorzaak verlaten en onuitsprekelijke armoede
  en zijne gerechtigheid bestaat in eeuwigheid."                  moest lijden.. Job, is een type van Jezus, beide in.zijn
         De vraag rijst onmiddelijk: Hoe zit dat?  Ik heb armoede, en ook in zijn dubbelen rijkdom.
  al zoo vaak arme kinderen  Gods  gezien ! En is er niet            Daar zou ik nog bij kunnen voegen, dat zelfs het
  die `geschiedenis van Lazarus? Die man lag  aan de kind Gods in de Oude Bedeeling besefte, dat die strobm
  poort des rijken  vol zweren. En Asaf schetst ons de van aardsche zegeningen, dien hij ontving in den weg
 schrille tegenstelling van goddeloozen dien het welgaat, van gehoorzaamheid, slechts beeld en symbool  waren
  terwijl  Zijn volk in smart en ellende is den ganschen van den &room  der geestelijke zegeningen in den te
dag! Hoe zit dit?                                                 komen Middelaar.         Denkt hier, b.v.,  aan Abraham.
         Wel, geliefde lezer, ik zal trachten om iets tot ver-    Hij was zeer rijk, en tech? Hij zag uit, verlangend,  en
  klaring te schrijven.                                           hunkerend, naar de schatten van het Koninkrijk Gods.
         Eerst moeten we voor de aandacht houden, dat in             "Have en rijkdom".
  het Oude Testament, onder de bedeeling der schaduwen               Ja, dat  zal waar zijn. Dat is waar van alle kinde-
  en @pen, aardsche voorspoed een bewijs was van Gods ren Gods. Of gij nu eeuwen geleden  in Naftali woon-
  gunst over een mensch, dat wil zeggen, indien in ge-            det, of dat ge hier in Amerika verkeert in de twin-
  rechtigheid verkregen. Keer op keer  lezen  we in de tigste eeuw. . . .het maakt eigenlijk, wezenlijk, geen
  Wet  .Gods (nu in den  breeden  zin genomen), dat als verschil. Gij zijt een man of vrouw die veel "have en
  Israel den Heeren vreesde, zij zekerlijk gezegend  zou-         rijkdom" hebt.    tLuistert  naar. een arme stakkerd.
  den worden.       Lezen we niet, dat als het volk naar den Zijn naam is  Paulus. Hij had bijna niets op aarde.
  Heere zou  luisteren, de Heere de vensteren deshemels Ik zal hem het woord geven: "als armen, doch velen
  zou openen om hen te zegenen met aardsche  schatten?            rijk makende, als niets hebbende, en nochtans alles be-
  vergunt me, dat ik eenige verzen afschrijf uit de profe-        zittende."
  tieen van  Maleachi. Ik vond ze in Mal.  3:8-10.   "Zal            Is het niet om van te zingen?
  een mensch God berooven ? Maar gij berooft Mij, en                 Gij die dit leest?
  zegt  : Waarin berooven wij U ? In de tienden en het               Ge moogt, ge moet gerust Psalm 112 zingen,  ook
  hefoffer. Met eenen vloek zijt gij vervloekt, omdat dan en daar, wanneer het spreekt van "have en rijk-
  gij Mij berooft, zelfs het gansche volk. Brengt alle dam".                Het maakt geen verschil al zijt ge nog zoo
  de tienden in het schathuis, opdat er spijze zij in Mijn arm in aardsche  schatten.  Want Uwe have en  rijk-
  Huis; en beproeft Mij nu daarin, zegt de Heere der dom is in God. Denkt hier aan: ge zijt erfgenamen


   y&j                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
  de mensch van nature: Wijk van mij : aan de kennis                                                                      . .
  Uwer wegen (en dat is gerechtigheid in actie) heb ik                     FROM HOLY WRIT
  geen lust !                                                   ~--                                                -___-..---
          Maar o, als het geloof in Uw bewustzijh geschonken
  wordt en komt, dan wordt het anders . Dan kmt ge                  Exposition of Ephesiati 2:4-IO
  God en Goddelijke zaken. Dan proeft ge de gerechtig-
  heid,  en dorst.                                                  To the former verses of this chapter, the verses l-3,
      En door dat geloof krijgt ge vat aan al de gerechtig- we have allotted four articles. At the beginning of
  heid die Christus wrocht, neen, die God wrocht door the last of the just mentioned series of articles we told
  Christus   aan het kruis.      Ge wordt door het geloof you, that this was all we  wouId  write on these verses.
  gerechtvaardigd voor God !                                    At that time we contemplated writing on some other
          Dikke boeken zijn  er over  ges&reve&  Ik zou U subject at this time. However, after thinking about
  willen zeggen, wat het beteekent in zeer eenvoudige the matter, and also after studying this passage a little
  termen.                                                       more, we are of the conviction that we ought to also
          Gerechtvaardigd te zijn voor God beteekent dit:       write on the verses 4-10. It is true, that in our former
  God glimlacht U tegen. God bemint  U. God spreekt articles allusion was made from time to time to these
  U vrij van alle schuld. God doet U ervaren in het verses here in question, but we did not give a thetical
  diepe hart dat alles we1 is met U tot in alle eeuwigheid.     exposition of these verses in that series of four articles.
  Hij zegt  tot U ; Gij zijt mijn kind ! Ik heb U tot zoon And, therefore, a more `thorough treatment of these
  of dochter aangenomen.         Zwijg nu, mijn kind, en verses we deem to be in order. We trust that the
  droog Uw tranen.  iijt nu stille in het bewogen en thoughtful reader will share this our conviction.
  stormende hart. Uw hart worde niet ontroerd. Laat                 Before we enter upon the detailed discussion of
  stille, aangename, eeuwige vrede in Uw  ha&  neer-            the implication of these verses, we shall endeavor to
dalen.  Alles is wel, is eeuwig wel. Dat is de  recht-          gain somewhat of a bird's-eye view of this passage.
  vaardigmaking.                                                And so doing we shall at least endeavor to preclude
     De rechtvaardigmaking is dit:  Als ge straks sterft the very common error of presenting so many trees
                                                                that the forest is lost out of view.
  en daarhenen vliegt, dan komt ge bij God  aan. En
  als ge dan bij de poorten  van het nieuwe Jeruzalem               It is our conviction that it ought to be clear to any
  aankomt,  dan bewerkt die rechtvaardigmaking in U careful reader of this passage, also to the reader who
  deze wondere moed : dan gaat ge zingen bij die poor-ten, has .no scientific knowIedge  of the rules of interpre-
  en dan  zegt  ge zingende: Ontsluit, ontsluit voor mijne tation of Scripture, that in it Paul teaches us the three
  schreden, de  poorten  der gerechtigheid !                    parts that a Christian must know to live and die  hap-
     De rechtvaardigmaking is dit : als ge met alle  mil- pily in the fulness which is in Christ Jesus, our Sav-
  liarden mensehenkinderen voor den troon van God iour. These three parts lie at the very surface. Per-
  komt te staan in den dag des oordeels, dan zal God U mit us to call your attention to the following  observa-
                                                                tions .
  aanzien, 1_Jw levensboek nazien, en dan zal Hij ook in
  het boek des levens Uw naam lezen, en dan zal Hij tot             1. That in the verses l-3 Paul calls our attention
  U zeggen : Mijn kind, Ik vind geen schuld in U ! Mijn to the greatness of our sin and guilt as we are by
  Zoon,  Jezus, heeft alle schuId  voor U betaald ! Ga heen, nature, as we are apart from the redemptive work of
  neem Uw piaats in onder  het zalige volk in de stad die .God in Christ.
  fundamenten heeft.                                                2. That in the verses 4-8 Paul illucidates upon the
      En al zingende zult ge Uw plaats vinden. En ge great redemption that is ours in Christ, `in His death
  zult vele anderen zien.                                       and resurrection ; it is the greatness and the riches of
      En ze begonnen vroolijk te zijn.                          the grace of <God, the exhibition of His rich mercy as
                                                                this latter is rooted in sovereign love.
                                                 c. vos:            3. That in the verses 9-10 Paul is speaking of our
                           *  +  *  *                           gratitude to God, as this must needs follow by the very
                                                                nature of the great grace of God and our salvation
                        CLASSIS WEST                            from sin by a living faith.
                                                                    Of course it should also be evident to the  thought-
  meets in Huh, Iowa, March 1, 1950. Con&tories, ful reader that Paul is here not giving us the Heidel-
  propose a delegate to Synod from among your elders. berg Catechism pure and simple. Putting it that way
  Remember also the commemoration meeting on the would be an oversimplification. However, in the very
  evening before Classis.                                       warp and woof of the theme saved by grace  these three
                                M. Gritters, Stated Clerk.      elements are present. Paul is here not writing for a


                                     T H E S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                       237

group of people who are merely interested in a theo- fall he also tasted God's grace. It was God's great
logical system of thought for the sake of the system, goodness to man that he was created as he was. At
but he is addressing the people of God's choosing, least thus various Reformed theologians have spoken
who have heard the Gospel of salvation, the word of of God's grace in relationship to Adam prior to the
truth and have believed it, who have been sealed unto fall and to his  subsequent  receiving of the  Pro9
the day of redemption by the  Rely Spirit with a Evangel. And our Confession, the Belgica, says that
living and an abiding ,hope of the return of Christ in the good angels remained standing by the grace of .
His day. Wherefore Paul can and does address them God. Thus we read in Article XII, which speaks of
in this letter, giving the motive of his writing to them "Creation". We quote:  ". . . .He also created the
as being, that "he has heard of their faith in the Lord angels good, to be His messengers and to serve His
Jesus and of their love to all the saints". And Paul's elect; some of whom are fallen from that excellency,
prayer is, that these believing and loving saints, who in which God created them, into everlasting perdition ;
have a faith in Christ that is energized by love, may       and the others have by the grace of God,, remained
come to know and experience all that God has pre:, steadfast and continued in their primative state."
pared for them in this hope of their calling. And,             How are we to judge of this quotation from the
therefore, surely the elements given in the Heidelberg Confessions, particularly as it touches upon the "grace
Catechism are taken as to the body of their truth from of  God manifested  to angels"  so that they, the angels,
all the Scriptures, also from this passage.                 did not fall from their own estate? Was this a certain
    We do well to keep this practical intent of the         creation grace to them? Or was this the grace of
Word of God in mind. To give some line of thought ,Gdd in Christ unto whom, as Col.  1:16 teaches us, all
to these articles on this passage ; to prevent us from things were made in heaven and on earth? Thus also
falling into needless and wearying repetition ; to make the angels were made in view of God's redemptive
our discussion fruitful with the least possible effort, work in Christ, that He be in all things pre-eminent?
(at least "possible" for this writer) we will call atten- For amongst all things Paul explicitly mentions: the
tion to the following elements in these verses:             angels.    We quote: "because in Him were created
    1. That we are saved by grace. That is the great        (Aorist tense-point-action : Upon God's one time speak-
theme in these verses. It is the scarlet thread running ing in the beginning . Not after the fall) all things
through every element.                                      in heaven and on earth, whether seen or unseen things,
    2. That the Divine purpose of this salvation by whether thrones or lords or principalities  or  powers".
grace is: the display of the riqhes of His grace--to the    This is the angel world. Now this includes the evil
praise of the glory of His grace. It is the great pur- angels "who fell from that excellency, in which God
pose: Soli Dee Gloria!                                      created them, into everlasting perdition", but Paul
    3. That we become partaker of this great salva- here also speaks of those angels, who by the grace of
tion  bk faith  and  by  `mecrns of faith only; that not    God reemained standing.  They remained standing ,
only is salvation a free gift of grace, but that also how? By the grace of God in Christ, or by the grace
faith is gift of God. By this law of faith all boasting of God in virtue of their creation and subsequent pre-
on the part of man before God is silenced in humble servation in the favor of, God immediately from the
and grateful confession and praise.                         throne?
    ?. That by virtue of this faith working by love we         We believe that there was a grace of God revealed
are indeed a new creature, old things have passed in the Protevangel prior to Christ's actual coming into 3
away, and we are constituted fit unto every good the  w,orld  in the fulness of time; it was revealed
work-the good work which God hath before prepared through the ceremonies and shadows. So, too, I be-
in order that thus we should walk in them.                  lieve, there was a grace of God shown to the angels
    We begin with the proposition under 1. It is the who remained in their original excellency,, a grace
truth here uttered by Paul: that we are  saved  by by virtue of which  (Belgic Confession) they remained
grace.                                                      standing. And although this grace of God was `not
    When we place ourselves before the question what merited for them by Christ, yet when God sent His
this implies we see ourselves -confronted, first of all,    Son and made Him an heir higher than the angels,
with the matter of the Biblical implication of the saying: Let all the angels of God worship him (Heb.
term "grace". What is "grace" in Holy Writ.                 1:6 ; Ps.  97:7) then also the angels were taken  up
    It has often been alleged, and that not without a into the great work of the grace of God in Christ
great deal of truth, that "grace is unmerited favor Jesus . These angels needed not be redeemed from sin,
of #God"`. Now this need not surprise us. For surely but they did need to be unified under the summing up
grace is never merited by the believer. It is always of all things under one Head in Christ. Eph. 1 :lO.
merited for him, at least grace is as we see it, as we         We here touch on a fine point. We do not want to
taste  it.    Now it has been said that prior to man's wander too far from our subject, namely, the  implica-

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

  tion of grace. But that is then, too, exactly the point us all of our sins, and gives us beauty for ashes, and
  we are considering here in respect to the angels. What the oil of gladness in the stead of all of our sorrows.
  is the grace they receive. .And this is a fine point in           Yet, this grace of God we never taste except as
  theology. It touches the question of Christ being the God has concretely made His grace appear in Jesus
  Mediator of His people, or whether as Mediator He              Christ. I don't know just how the angels receive the
  also is the all and all in creation. To `our mind it is upholding grace of God, but I do know that they are
here a matter of explaining what one means with the very much interested in the grace as it is manifested
 term "Mediator". That Christ's mediatorship as to in history, even so that they come to understand the,
  His people finds its setting in the midst of God's manifest wisdom of God in the manifesting of this
  eternal purpose over all things is so clearly the teach- grace in the church,  through  the church. The grace
  ing of the books of Ephesians and Colosians (yes,              in its richness is not for the angels, but it is thus for
  where not in Scripture?) that it is simply folly to us. It is the grace which became a reaZity (John 1:17)
  deny it.                                                       through Jesus  Chrisi.        The law was given through
         Just how the Belgic Confession conceives of the Moses, but grace and truth became a reality through
  grace of God in Christ's redemption to the angels is Jesus Christ. And only as it became (egeneto) do we
  not explicitly stated. What the Belgic Confession does receive it. It came to us by the Son of God sent in
  state is, that the "angels were created" to be His mes- the fulness of time made (having become) from a
  sengers and to serve His elect". This does suggest woman made (having become) under. law, that He
  that the tendency, the intent of the preserving gruce          might redeem us from law in order that we might re-
  of God to the angels, who fell not from their  excel-          ceive the adoption of sons. Gal. 4 :4. We call attention
  lency, was to h,av,e  messengers for the elect, who will to this verse from Gal .4 :4 as well as that of John 1 :I7
  become partakers of the grace in Christ Jesus. I say because of the verbs employed. In Gal. 4 :4 the term
  that the Confession does not say that this is the intent       in the Greek stands for that which  became.                   The
  of the grace to the angels, but it surely is the only. participal is "ginomenon". Hence, there was a  time
  logical conclusion possible, `and also a conclusion, that on the calendar in God's time and appointed seasons
  fits with the pattern of sound doctrine given in all           in history when this grace of God was not yet revealed
  of the Scriptures.                                             because it was not yet realized.
         Whether this grace for the angels is merited in                               (to be continued)
  Christ is a matter which lies beyond the scope  of. this                                                Geo. C. Lubbers.
  article.    Fact is. that the Belgic Confession speaks of
  grace to the angels, but it is equally a fact, that, where-                             *  *  *  *
  as the Holy Scriplures  were written for men, for us,
  the believing Israel of God, it would from the very
  nature speak little of the grace of God to angels, but                                IN  MEMORIAM
  rather of the grace  of  God to  redeemed  sinners. In            `Ihe  English Men's Society of the First Protestant Reformed
  either case grace, as all of God's gifts to the creatures Church hereby expresses its heartfelt sympathy with a fellow-
  are never merited by the creature. They are always member in the loss of his father
  gifts. ,
         But our text, as does all of Scripture, speaks of                              MR. C. KLAVER
. our  be&g  saved  by grace.  And then it may be re-               May the God of all grace comfort the relatives in their sorrow.
  marked, that we are certain that grace is first of all                                               A. Van Tuinen, Pres.
  a perfection of God, not prepared for us  as favor,                                                   H. Korhorn, See'y.
  but that it is a perfection of  ,God's own being. God
  is the gracious God.      He is this in His simplicity,
  that is, *God is His virtues and all His virtues are one.
  But God is the ,God  of all grace, that is, there is no                               IN         MEMORIAM
  grace that is not from Him. He is beautiful in all
  His perfections. He is gracious in His justice, equity            The  Con&tory  of the First Protestant Reformed Church of
  as well as in His love and mercy. And all the grac- Kalamazoo, Michigan hereby expresses its sympathy with our
  ious beauty of God's holiness is reflected also in His fellow officebearer, deacon Maurice Klap  dr., in the loss of
  almighty and omnipresent unchangeableness. But the his father
  fundamental notion of the term grace seems to be                                   MAURICE  KLAP,  SR.
  beauty.
         When God is gracious to His people in Christ He            May the God of all grace comfort him in his loss and sanctify
  restores them to the beauty of true knowledge, right- this experience to his heart.
  eousness and holiness. He then in grace removes from                                                Homer G. Kuiper, Clerk.


                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                        `289

                                                           members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth
             I N   H I S   F E A R                         on fire the course of nature ; and it is set on fire of
                                                           hell. The tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly
             Called To `His Praise                         evil, full of deadly poison. Therewith bless we God;
                                                           even the Fa'her ; and therewith curse we men, which
                                                           are made after the similitude of God". And again
Lips That Pmi.G.                                           remember those words of Jesus, "DO ye not yet under-
   If our eyes are the windows of our souls through stand that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth'
which we look out i&o the world round about us and         inlo the belly, and is cast out into the draught? But
through which others look in to read Fvhat is in our those things which proceed  out of the mouth come
souls, then our ears are doors through which the forth from the heart; and they defile the man. For
world comes  into our souls. And then we may go out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adul-
one step further and say that our tongues are means teries, fornication& thefts, false witness, blasphemies :
whereby we project our thoughts and desires into the these are `the things that defile a man". W'hen we
souls of others. By means of our tongues we come  iu open our mouths we reveal what is in our hearts.
through that door of the ear and that window of ,:he This thought ought to underscore what we have writ-
eye to bring into the'souls of others our thoughts, our ten above. Since out of the mouth of man come such
opinions and judgments, our desires and aspirations.       evils, since these things are the fruit the tongue brings
   That we have a tremendous responsibility with forth because it is rooted in a totally depraved heart,,
these three faculties of sight, hearing and speech is we should indeed be careful what speech of man,
evident to all. All three are servants *of the mind. whether spoken or written, will enter into our souls
With all three we are called to God's praise. For through our eyes and through our ears. Keep the
what the eye sees and the ear hears the tongue must windows and the doors closed! And teach your child-
speak praise. That may be said in general. And to          ren to  pull, down the `shades and lock the doors when
this fact we have briefly called your  altention.  The they are exposed to these things by the clever  tactics
eye and the ear must not only be kept open for God's of the devil ! Had Eve done this when the devil spoke
Word and interpret all that is seen and heard in the in Paradise, and had Adam done so when Eve opened
light of that Word, but we definitely must guide these her lips  tp  let her tongue repeat the lie, the  ,world
members so that they are not exposed to that which would have had an entirely different hislory. Scrip-
would enter the soul through them and pollute the ture says, "Remember Lot's wife". We can add "Re-
mind. That is essential for every prophet of God. member Eve". And we repeat, if we appreciatld  the
That was true of the prophets in the old dispensation. power of our tongues only half as much as the devil
They had to see and hear God's Word in order to in-        does, we would be far more careful of what we say
skruct God's people. No wonder then that the prophet and write. And we would also be far more  carefu!
in the days of Samuel and before was called a Seer.        in respect to that which- we allow to enter in and .to
He saw the truth being caused to see it by God in a make its impression upon the minds of our children.
vision or else to hear it in a spoken word. And it is         Fbr speech is the expression of thought. What a
still true today that the prophet of God who is called marvelous faculty this is which God created in man!
and formed to show  forth His praises must use these Whatever thought arises in o`er minds whether a right-
members  aright.    So much in recapitulation that we eous thought or a devilish plan, we are able to convey
may once again pick up the line in our former articles.    this thought to other rational moral creatures by
   When we now come to that third member of our means of speech. And of course, all that we say here
body which is so active and serves such an important in regard to spoken expression of our thoughts applies
role in our prophetic office, namely, our tongue, we also to the printed page upon which man may record
oughb  immediately to be confronted with the power of his speech. Let it then also be stated at this juncture
that member and to appreciate that- which it makes         that the  ,devil has far more numerous tools for his
possible.    If we would appreciate the power of our       evil works today than he did in the days of Adam
tongue only half as much as*the devil does, we would arid Eve and for many ages afterwards. Before the
be far more careful than we are. Speech is wonderful, flood men lived hundreds of years and were able io
but because our tongues are rooted in a totally de- hand down their evil thoughts and ways to countless
praved mind and heart, speech can aIso be tremend- generations, but the ability to preserve these thoughts
ously dangerous and explosive. Let us be sobered by and hand them down for longer periods than their
the Word of God in James 3*, "The tongue is a  little      own life was very limited. Now with printing press,
member and boasteth great things. Behold, how great radio, teIevision  and movie camera, the devil has at
a matter a  little fire kindleth! And the tongue is a his disposal means to propogate the evil doctrines of
fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our      the lie which she has taught man far and wide not


                                     T H E STANDA'R`D'   B E A R E R

only but also more clearly and in more detail. The          must be kept out of the catechism class, they must
lust of Hollywood's immoral pic:ures  does not satisfy suffer their children not to come to Christ, in order
the flesh of man on the television black and white          to show them this antichrist which is called  ,Santa
"screen".     Under the power  .of the law of sin and Claus ! And of him they are taught to sing and of
spurred on by the devil, man must perfect a television his "red nosed reindeer". Indeed, covenant children
"screen" that will reproduce the color of the actors singing of the antichrist ! Covenant children's tongues
on the broadcast side of :he production. The -better and lips devoted to the praise of men !                   A double
to get more deeply into the soul of man the works of tragedy. The child's tongue reveals a polluted mind,
darkness !                                                  and it reveals parents who have behaved as prophets
   On the other hand we ought to consider that man of the devil. You say that this criticism is too severe?
was created with this marvelous faculty of speech in My Bible says that Christ is coming quickly and adds
order to realize praise for Himself.     We must also significantly in Rev. 22 :12, ` and my reward is with
take into account the fact that He gave us the faculties    me, to give every man according to his works". Shall
of sight and hearing in order that we might enjoy the we ascribe that giving of rewards for works to  an-
fellowship of His covenant. The Lord God Himself other? If we do, we make Him an anti- and  false-
speaks. And He. speaks unto His covenant child whom Christ. The world may see the need of coaxing and
He had created in His own image just exactly in order deceiving their children for a few weeks before Christ-
that there might be this fellowship between the Cove- mas to get them to behave outwardly. They need an
nant God and His covenant child. The tongue of the antichrist because they have rejected The Christ. But
child of God then  is*an important member of his body. must you, the prophet of ,God,  adopt the+ false-Christ
It is a homely mass of muscle and flesh, but under and fail to function in your office of pn phet to teach
the power of God's grace and Spirit, it certainly can       them of The Christ. You make of Christmas a  Santa-
utter some beautiful things.      We read that when Clausmas. Is that not  anti-Christian?  To whom do
Jesus spoke in His own home, town of Nazareth the           we give account, whom must we serve, Christ and God
people all "wondered at the gracious words which pro- or a monstrosity in red and white. Do we put our trust
ceeded out of His mouth." Think of that message and in the red blood of Christ and teach our children to do
song of songs which the heavenly host sang at Jesus' so, or do we teach them to look for a man in a coat of
birth.    Recall all the beautiful things in Scripture red T I know, you do not teach your children that
which men spoke (and wrote) under the power of the he gives the presents on Christmas. But you did take
Spirit of God. Lips that praise God ! By God's grace        them down to see him. You did not condemn him as
there are such lips.    By God's grace there are lips standing in opposition to Christ. And you did take
which when they open allow the praise of God to flow them away from Christ in the catechism class. Think
forth and which as  faikhful  guards prevent the tongue it `over prophets of the Most High God !
from uttering the things of darkness. The tongue                                                           J. A. Heys.
can no man tame, James says. Indeed, but the Spirit
of Christ can.                                                                    * *  *  %4
   But your lips then. . . . ? Thanksgiving and praise
t.o the Almighty fall easily from your lips? Your                               IN  Ml$MORIAM
heart is full of it, and as God's prophet you are busy
with God's  psaise day in day out? And as prophet             On Tuesday, January 24, my beloved wife, our mother,
you use that tongue to  tsach the truth to others? grandmother, and great-grandmother'
Would to God that we could say that this is our life.                      MRS. GRACE  KOOISTRS
Rather must we all say that we fall far short of this
our calling to God's praise. And how often do not feIl asleep in Jesus, at the age of 79 years.
our children reveal how lax we are. The songs our             We have the blessed assurance that our loved one is now
children sing around the home-and they will surely forever with the Lord, which is our great comfort.
sing them elsewhere too-what do they reveal? In                                      I&. Peter Kooistra
that joyous season through which the church has just                                 Mr. and Mrs. Peter Bosscher
passed, what were the songs your child sang? Were                                     Getrude  Kooistra
they about the Christ-Child, the Prince of Peace or                                   Mr. and Mrs. Menno  P. Kooistra
that monstrosity of man's invention they call Santa                                   Hilda Kooistra
Claus  ? And you did not by any chance take your                                      Dr. and Mrs. Henry P. Kooistra
child away from Christ during that season to let him                                  Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Kooistra
have a look at an antichrist, did you? Sad to say, we                                   7 grandchildren and
know of parents who do that every year. Their child Grand Rapids, Michigan              5 great-grandchildren


VOLUME XXVI                               March 1, 1950 - Grand Rapids, Michigan                                   NUMBER 11

                                                                          Wondrous story of the sovereign grace of our Cove-
         MEDITATION                                                    nant God !
                                                                          Wondrous story of joy unspeakable: we will enter
                                                                       the New Jerusalem !

                 Heaven's Entranke
                                                                          There is an entrance into the city!  It is a dis-
               "And there shall in no wise enter into it anything      closure to glory!
             that defileth, neither whatsoever work&h abomina-            But the same entrance  is' a bar to the night.
             tion, or xnaketh  a lie; but they which are written in       First : it is a disclosure of glory !
             the Lamb's book of life.                                     The subject matter is the New Jerusalem.
                                                     Rev. 21227.          If we are to write about that subject, we would
   There are people going to heaven !                                  have to say many things, for that subject you will find
   The wonder of it!                                                   throughout Holy Writ.       Fron Genesis to Revelation
    The door to the New Jerusalem is opened to a count- you will hear about Jerusalem.
,less throng!                                                             As to its historical meaning, we would have to begin
    John is almost at the end of the book which he with Paradise.                                                           *.
wrote to the churches. One more chapter follows the                       It may sound strange to you, but Jerusalem has its
one out of which we have taken one verse. And in beginning in the Garden of Delight. In the midst of
that chapter he will paint the beauty of heaven. And the garden we saw the Tree of Life. And that Tree
then he will write  fink to the book of the revelation of of Life is really the historical and symbolical prefigur-
Jesus Christ, which finis is at the same time the end ation of Jerusalem.
of the Bible. Nothing will be added ; nothing may be                      In order to see that, we must first ask: what is
subtracted : the Lord has spoken !                                     the meaning of Jerusalem. Well, the meaning of the
   In the context he had written about the beauty of word is: city of peace. And that brings us to Para-
the New Jerusalem, which is the center of a new world. dise. Man, eating of the Tree of Life, had communion
It shall be a city which will be glorious: the kings of with God, and the result was peace in his heart, peace
the earth will bring their honor and their glory into it. in his soul, peace on his entire pathway.
   And the people of this city shall be happy for                         But it did not  last.very  long. He sinned, and God
evermore.                                                              barred him from that tree. And being barred from
   And in the words of our text we hear the full story the Tree of Life meant that he would taste of the un-
of entrance into that  JerusaIem  the golden.                          rest  whic'h characterizes the rebel.
   It is at the same time beautiful and terrible.                         But God remembered His eternal, Covenant. At
   Some will in no wise enter ! And that is terrible. once after man's defaction,  He called Him from dark-
There is nothing more terrible than not to enter heaven. ness to light.
`For such as cannot enter must go to the pit that burn-                   And although the historical and symbolical Jeru-
eth with fire and brimstone which is the second death. salem disappeared, the Lord gave Adam and Eve an-
   But it is also beautiful: some enter the city.                      other, a better chapter to read in the history of the
   *And  ,who are these happy creatures? They are                      city of heavenly glory. He gave them the altar and
those whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of                    the  sacrafice.  And that is Jerusalem regained and
Life.                                                                  Jerusalem exalted. Really, dear reader, the altar and


22j.z                                       T H E   STArjDARD  B E A R E R
             - .--.. ---..    -.I                                                                  ____ .-.- ----._--~
its sacrifice was a more beautiful picture of Jerusalem splendour.            It is when you take the holy things of
than the Tree of  <Life in the first Paradise.                   Jehovah God and sin with them.
         Did you ever note that every altar is an actual            Could I point you to a clearer instance then when
elevation of the earthy? Any altar, worthy the name,. they reached for Jesus Christ at ihe place of the skull?
had to be a little heap of &ones or of earth, and on it          They took Him and said : you are so unclean and so foul
the saint of the Old Testament would offer his bloody that neither the earth nor the heavens can bear with
sacrifice in obedience to God's command.                         you any longer! We will hang you on a tree. And they
         And that would be a little Jerusalem: a city of crucified Him, And in order to make the picture more
peace. Note how father Jacob called the place and                vivid, they hung a murderer on either side' of Him.
the altar a House of God.                                           That is defilement.
         And it really did not change in all the long history       It is when they count the blood of the everlasting
of the Old Testdment. Yes, I know that Moses built               Covenant impure and when they trample under foot
a tabernacle, and that Solomon built a temple unto the Son of the living God.
the L&d, but essentially it was nothing new; Abel's                 That is defilement.
altar and the bloody sacrifice on it was essentially the            When God speaks and when He will have His word
same as the costly Temple at Jerusalem.                          revered and obeyed, and when you or I then take that
         Let us see.                                             Word and cast it behind us, or if we use that Word in
         What is the heart of Palestine? The land of Canaan. our low and evil lives for sport or for filthy lucre, then
What was the heart of Canaan? The City of  deru-  you see defilement.
salem.  What is the essential Thing in Jerusalem?                   And if you do that, and who does not? then you are
A little child in that city would have pointed to the            barred from entrance into the New Jerusalem.
Temple of God. What was the heart of that Temple?                   Neither will he enter heaven who worketh abomina-
The holy of  holies. What was the core of that Most tion.
Holy Place? The ark of' the covenant !  i4nd there                  What is that?
we are.. That ark of the covenant was also an altar,                Abomination is a very descriptive term. It is used
for once each year the High Priest would come into               in the  Septuagint for the detestable thing, for the foul
the Holiest Place and sprinkle the blood.                        thing which is detested because of its stench.
         And so we come to the heart of the altar. It is            It is a man who works the sinful thing before the
the blood that is offered on that elevation of the earth:        face of <God. The point of view, therefore, is the sin
and that blood spoke of the Christ of God to come !              of man as it is seen by God and the holy angels. And
         And I assure you that when that bIood  of the Christ    it tells us that holiness turns away from us in detesta-
is properly and fully explained by God `Himself, you tion and in disgust.
will see the glory of the New Jerusalem.                            `And the doors of heaven are closed against  a11 those
         It is so gloqious  that it cannot be contained on the that work abomination.
earth: God took it to Himself in heaven. That is the                And the greatest abomination is when man takes
ascension of Christ.           When Christ went to heaven, the earth and earthy things, falls on his knees before
Jerusalem went to heaven. And it is there now:                   them, and says : Thou art my God ! TJnto thee 1 will
it is called the New Jerusalem.                                  sing my praises. Reason why this term in the Old
         And to see it is to see glory !                         Testament is often used for the sins of idolatry.
                                                                    Be an idolater, and you cannot enter through the
                              -w                                 gates into the city.
         But it is barred against the night!                        Or who maketh the lie.
         And that is terrible.                                      The lie is, as to its ,root, the raw cry: their is no
         Listen to the text: that which defileth will in no      God!
wise enter therein.                                                 Therefore, the devil is the father of the lie.
         What is that which defileth?                               And we all follow him in the making of that lie.
         I could give you a very vivid picture of the throng      The lie is a fearful thing.
that defileth if I took you to the Jerusalem of Jesus'              It is really that which does not exist. It is the
soj6urn  on earth. There you would have seen a defile-           nothing, the vain, the absolutely empty, the void thing.
ment that is abhorrible. There you would have seen Live the life of the lie, and the end is that you fall into
a defilement which was worse than the foul scene in              the pit that has  no bottom. We cannot live there, we
Sodom and Gomorrah. In the old Jerusalem you found die eternally. We receive exactly that which fits the
floods of defilement.                                            lie: we must be devoid of God. We must exist, but
         What is defilement?                                     then without that which makes existence happiness,.
         Defilement is made when the sinner takes the Holy and that is God.
Thing in his foul hands and besmirches its beauty and               Rut when we have said during all our vain days on


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                         243
 e;--,---                                                                                         ."
 earth: there is no God, and when all the manifestation some go to hell. They would not even object if very
 of our lives has been conform to that lie, then we will few go to heaven. But, by all means, let those ,that go
 reap that which conforms to that Iife of the lie: the to heaven deserve to go there by their own merits.
 desert of hell, the wilderness of desolation, the howling There you have the crux of the matter. It is the poison
 abyss.                                                     of the devil: the pride of life. That is at the root of
    At any rate: no entrance into the New Jerusalem!  I all heresy.
                        NC&                                     Man does not like it `when they hear of a Gospel
    Why not?                                                that tells them how God chose His own, people from all
    Because the New Jerusalem is glorious.                  eternity, and that He decided from all eternity that
    And that means that it is radiant with virtue, `with they would go to heaven gratuitously, freely, gratis,
the virtue of God in Jesus Christ the Lord. Heaven is only because God sovereignly willed it thus.
full of His glory. You cannot  .travel  anywhere into          And yet, that is the way it is stated in my text.
that wonderful new world, but you find the glory of             The defilers and the abominable and the liars (and
 God. And the radiance of that new world is such that that includes every son and daughter of Adam) can-
 it exceeds the earthy by far. In the present world not enter and will in no wise enter through the gates
we also see the glory of God, but it is dull compared       into the city of God.
to the glory of the new world. Sin and the earthy has           And yet people go to heaven.
made it dull. l3ut in heaven everything shines and is           Yes, and they are those whom God foreknew  in His
radiantly brilliant. Did you note that whenever and indescribable lovingkindness.
wherever the heavenly beings and messengers  appear-            They are those that are written in the Lamb's book
ed, that there we saw glory, and then  a' glory that        of life.
caused us to weep, to fall down as dead, and to make            That Lamb is Jesus Christ, the Lord.
us fear with a very great dread? It is because it was           He is a Lamb, for He was sacrificed for all the  de-
a heavenly glory.                                           ,filement,  and all the abominations and all the lies of
    Second, there is a bar against the night, for the       the elect. And, mark you well, He cleansed them from
New.-Jerusalem is spiritual overagainst the carnal, and all their sins by that one sacrifice which He brought on
it is eternal overagainst the temporal.                     that solitary altar which we call the Cross.
    And, thirdly, and in close connection with the fore-        And the names of the elect are all written in the
going: the New Jerusalem is heavenly overagainst the book of the !Lamb. God owned them. God gave them
earthy.                                                     to Jesus. And they are all known to God and to Christ
    As you are by nature you cannot go to heaven.           by their names.  `)
    Heaven is closed to us.                                    IAnd they enter the" New Jerusalem.
    Woe is us unto all eternity.                               And when you ask me: how do I know that I am
    We have followed the devil, and so we reap the re- written in the Lamb's book of life, then the answer is
ward of the devil: if nothing more happens, we will easy. You need not go far to read their description.
share his place which is prepared for Satan and his Take, f.i., chapter 22 :14': Blessed are they that do His
imps.                                                       commandments, that they may have right to the tree of
    In no wise enter. . . .!                                life (There is that old tree of life again. We heard of
    Terrible truth !                                        that tree in the first Paradise. But here-it is infinitely
                                                            more glorious.), and may enter in through t.he gates
                        NW                                  into the city.
   And still. . .  .there  are people going to heaven.         There yqu have it. It is very plain.
The New Jerusalem is almost filled while I am writing          All those that do His commandments.
at this moment. Many, many saints have gone before.            You say the same thing when you repeat Paul in
And more will follow. Although I think that the end Ram.  5. All those that have the love of God spread
is in sight.                                                abroad in their hearts through. the Holy Ghost that
   How is it possible?                                      is given unto them.
   The text will tell you in very plain and simple             And do not say to me: I know not whether I' have
speech. Men have made it diflicult to hear.                 the Holy Ghost in me, and I know not whether or not
   This is the simple truth : if your name is written in 1 have the love of ,God in me.
the Lamb's Book of Life you may enter the gates into           You dare not express ignorance of the fact that
the city and be blest forevermore.                          you love God or that you hate Him?
   Just that simple.                                           Those written in that Lamb's book are the lovers
   Oh, how men have rebelled against this beauteous of God!
truth of God. They have no objection that men go to            And they enter now, in principle, but they long for
heaven.    Oh no. They  do  not even object to it that its fulfillment.                                     G. vos.

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

                              TheSfandardBearer
            `Semi-Monthly,   except  Monthly   in  July  and  August                                                                                                         E D I T O R I A L S
                                             Published   By
                     The  Reformed  Free  Pubiishing  Association
                           Box  124,  Sta.   C.,  Grand  Rapids,   Mich                                                                                             Faith A Condition                         ,
                                 EDITOR:   - Rev.  E.  Hoeksema.
Contributing   Fditors:   - Rev. G.  M. Ophoff, Rev. G.  Vps, Rev.                                                                                                           According To Scripture?
R. Veldman, Rev. H. Veldman, Rev. H. De Wolf, Rev. B.  liok,
Rev. J. D. De Jong, Rev. A. Petter, Rev. C. Hanko, Rev. L.                                                                                                                 "Het geloof is ook xelf geen conditie voor de
Vermeer, Rev. G. Lubbers, Rev. M. Gritters, Rev. J. A. Heys,                                                                                                             andere weldaden (rechtvaardigmaking, heilig-
Rev. W.  Hofman.                                                                                                                                                         m a k i n g )   ."                  -Bavinck.
  Communications relative to contents should be addressed to
REV. H. HOEKSEMA, 1139 Franklin St., S. E., Grand Rapids,                                                                                                                  "De bondsbetrekking hing niet van die wets-
Michigan.                                                                                                                                                                onderhouding, als een vooraf gaande voorwaar-
  Communications relative to subscription should be addressed                                                                                                            de af; zij was geen werkverbond, maar matte
to MR. J. BOUWMAN, 1131 Sigsbee St., S.E., Grand Rapids 6,                                                                                                               a&en op Gods uerkiexende liefde."-Bavinck.
Mich. Announcements and Obituaries must be mailed to the
above address and will be published at a fee of $1.00 for each                                                                                                             "Het (verbond) is van geenvoorwaarde des
notice.                                                                                                                                                                  ,menschen  af hmakelijk."           -Bavinck.
Renewals:-Unless a definite request for discontinuance is re-                                                                                                              "Eigenlijk zijn er in het foedus gratiae (ge-
ceived, it is assumed that the subscriber wishes his subscription                                                                                                        nadeverbond, H.H.), d.i., in het evangelie, het-
to continue without the formality of a renewal order.                                                                                                                    welk de bekendmaking van het geruxteverbond
Entered as Second Class Mail at Grand Rapids, Michigan.                                                                                                                  is, geene eischen en geene voorwaarden."
                              (Subscription Price $2.50 per year)                                                                                                                                            -Bavinck.
                                                                                                                                                                           "Voorwaardelijk is dit  genadeverbond  nooit.
                                                                                                                                                                         God geeft  all&s.  Alles om  niets.  En niets van
                                                                                                                                                                         wat God geeft is  afhankelijk  gesteld van de
                                                CONTENTS                                                                                                                 contra-praestatie des menschen."'  -Kuyper.
MEDITATION-                                                                                                                                                                "Faith is only an instrument with which we
       Heaven's Entrance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  241              embrace Christ our righteousness."
                 Rev. G. Vos                                                                                                                                                                   -Netherland Confession.
EDITORIALS-                                                                                                                                                                "The Synod  rejects  the  errors of  those: Who
       Faith a Condition According to Scripture ? . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..-... 244                                                                                   teach: That God chose out of all possible con-
                 Rev. H. Hoeksema                                                                                                                                        ditions the act of faith as a condititon  of salua-
THE TRIPLE KNOWLEDGE-                                                                                                                                                    tion."                 -Canons of Dordrecht.
           An Exposition of the Heidelberg Catechism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
                 Rev. H. Hoeksema                                                                                                                                 The above. quotations are taken from Bavinck,
                                                                                                                                                               Gereformeerde Dogmatiek,  IV, 124; III, 236; III, 556  ;
           Baptism of Adopted Children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..-........................ 250                                                   III, 242; and  Kuyper,   Dictaten  Dogmatiek Locus  de
                 Rev. H. Hoeksema                                                                                                                              Foedere, p. 134. And translating these quotations in
OUR  DOCTRINE-                                                                                                                                                 order, they run as follows:
           The Counsel Of God. (8) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251                  "Faith itself is  aIso no condition for the other
                 Rev. H. Veldman                                                                                                                               benefits of salvation (justification, sanctification)  ."
THE DAY OF  SHADOWS-                                                                                                                                              "The covenant relation did not depend on the keep-
           David's Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..-......................................  254                           ing of the law, as a preceding condition; it was no
                  Rev. G. M. Ophoff                                                                                                                            covenant of works, but rested only upon Cod's electing
           Correspondence . . . . . . . . .._............................................................  257                                                 love."
                 Rev. G. M.  Ophbff                                                                                                                               "The (covenant) is not dependent on any condition
SION'S  ZANGEN-                                                                                                                                                of man."
           Zalig In Des Heeren Vrees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258                      "There are really in the foedus yratiae (covenant
                  Rev. G. Vos                                                                                                                                  of grace, H.H.), i.e., in the gospel, which is the pro-
           Wishful Thinking, Lies and Slander . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260                                            clamation of the covenant of grace, no demands and
                  Rev. J. A. Heys                                                                                                                              no conditions."
FROM HOLY WRIT-                                                                                                                                                   "Conditional this covenant of grace is never. Cod
           Exposition of Ephesians 2:4-10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262                              gives everything. Everything for nothing. And noth-
                  Rev. Geo. C. Lubbers                                                                                                                         ing of what Cod gives is made dependent upon the
                                                                                                                                                               contra-presentation of man."


                                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                                  245
                            -
       That faith is a condition is now clearly and defi-                                          Now what if the situation arises that the confes-
nitely expressed by the Rev. Petter in  Concor&a  of sions in our opinion appear to be in conflict with the
 February 2, 1950.                                                                            Holy Scriptures. May we, in that case, simply appeal
       Heretofore he strongly suggested that this was his to the Scriptures and develop our own views and teach
meaning, but he never definitely expressed it. Writes them in conflict with the confessions? *God forbid. '
he:                                                                                                If that were the case, no doctrinal basis could ever
       "I may remind the readers that I have not before be established as a bond of union for any church. And
touched on this-point. I have rather avoided it and therefore it is certainly the Reformed stand that with-
confined myself to those expressions in Scripture that in the Reformed churches the confessions are just as
unquestionably speak of a conditional relationship in binding as the Scriptures, and that therefore we are
the life of the covenant, or in the process of salvation. not permitted to teach anything contrary to them.
       "If I have quoted or referred to others who spoke ;&id if anyone has any objection against the confes-
 of faith as a condition, it was only to point to the sions, he should refrain from publicly propagating his
 .prevalence  of the concept in Reformed writers and views, but brings his complaint, gravamen, in the way
 history.                                                                                     of consistory,  classis, and synod to the  att.ention  of
       "But I was especially interested in the Scripture the churches.
 passages that teaches conditions in some way, howso-                                               This is what we have promised by signing the
ever. To argue against these would be to argue against formula of subscription, which reads as follows:
 Scripture, it would seem.                                                                          "We, the undersigned; professors of the Protestant
       "But now the question of faith. Is that also a Reformed Churches, ministers of the .gospel, elders
 condition??'                                                                                 and deacons of the Protestant Reformed congregation
       And in the rest of his article he answers the ques- of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . of t.he classis of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . do
 tion in the affirmative : faith is a condition unto sal- hereby sincerely and in good conscience before the
 vation.                                                                                      Lord, declare by this, our subscription, that we heartily
       And the Rev. Petter appeals directly to Scripture believe and are persuaded that all the articles and
 to prove his point. This is, of course, in itself per- points of doctrine, contained in the confession and
 fectly safe. No Reformed man can find fault with this. catechism of the Reformed churches, together with
 Scripture is our ultimate court of appeal. But it is not the explanation of some points of the aforesaid doc-
 Reformed to pass by and ignore the confessions. As trine, made by the National Synod of Dordrecht,
 Reformed theologians we must either be able  .to point 1618-19,. do fully agree with the Word of God.
 out that what we teach is in harmony with the con-                                                 "We promise therefore diligently to teach and faith-
 fessions, or, if in our opinion Scripture teaches any- fully to defend the aforesaid doctrine, without either
 thing that is contrary to the three Forms of Unity, we directly or indirectly contradicting the same, by our
 must. go the way of a gravamen.                                                              public preaching or writing.
       Recently it has frequently been emphasized by dif-                                           "We declare, moreover, that we do not only reject
 ferent writers that we must regard nothing as binding all errors that militate against this doctrine and par-
 but Scripture and the confessions.                                                           ticularly those which were condemned by the above
       With this I perfectly agree. Of course, we should mentioned synod, but that we are disposed to refute
 never forget that in opposition to the Christian Re- and contradict these, and to exert ourselves in keep-
 formed Church we reject the Three Points as inter- ing the "church free from such errors. And if here-
 pretations of the confessions. And this means that after any  diffitiulties  or different sentiments respecting
 according to the Protestant Reformed Churches the the aforesaid doctrines should arise in our minds, we
 Heynsian as well as the  Kuyperian  conception of com- promise that we will neither publicly nor privately
 mon grace is contrary to the confessions. In other propose, teach, or defend the same, either by preach-
 words, we, and not the Christian Reformed churches ing or writing, until we have first revealed such senti-
 adhere to the confessions pure and simple, without any ments  t,o the consistory, classis and synod, that the
 additions. And the rejection of the so-called interpre- same may be there examined, being ready always
 tations of the confessions of the Christian Reformed cheerfully to submit to the judgment of the consistory,
 Church as embodied in the Three Points is binding too. classis and synod, under the penalty in case of refusal
 And therefore it is certainly true that we regard  noth-                                     to be, by  that'very  fact, suspended from our office.
' ing binding except the Scriptures and the confessions.                                            "And further, if at any time the consistory,  classis
 The latter are for us the interpretation of the former.                                      or synod, upon sufficient grounds of suspicion and to
       This implies, of course, that we should always be preserve the uniformity and purity of doctrine, may
 able to show clearly that whatever we teach is in deem it proper to require of us a further explanation
 harmony with the Three Forms of Unity.                                                       of our sentiments respecting any particular article

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

of the Confession of Faith, the Catechism, or the ex- distorted into false doctrines. The safety of the church
planation of the National :&nod,  we do hereby promise lies in walking carefully and finding the narrow path
to be always willing and ready to comply with such of orthodoxy by continually lighting each step with the
requisition, under the penalty above mentioned, re- Scriptures. If she begins to dogmatize she slips either
serving for ourselves, however, the right of an appeal,       to one side  or,to the other of the narrow path."
whenever we shall believe ourselves aggrieved by the             This paragraph is deceiving. I do not say inten-
sentence of the consistory, the  classis or the synod,        tionally, on the part of the Rev. Petter. But it is de-
and until a decision is made upon such an appeal, we          ceiving nevertheless. Terms like the Trinity, the in-
will acquiesce in the determination and judgment al- carnation, providence, creation, election, etc., have been
ready passed."                                                clearly maintained and defined over against heretics.
       Now I do not mean to say or even to suggest that       This certainly cannot be said of the term, Faith is a
the Rev. Petter is in conflict with the confessions. But condition. In the second place, the paragraph is de-
I cannot agree with his method of passing by the con- ceiving because the Rev. Petter draws a false contrast
fessions to appeal directly to the Scriptures to defend between what he calls dogmatizing and "lighting each
his conditional theology.                                     step with the .Scriptures." I claim that dogmatization
       On my part 1 have shown thus far, and I hope to in the true sense of the word is the same as construct-
show more clearly in the future, that the proposition:        ing the truth on the basis of Holy Writ. And in the
Faith is a condition, is confessionally un-Reformed. f third place, I claim that the safety of the church cer-
have clearly pointed out for anyone that can read:            tainly lies in adhering faithfully to the confessions
       1) That according to the confessions faith is al- and not in trying to light each step with the Scriptures,
ways presented as an instrument of God, part of sal-          independently from those confessions.      And in the
vation itself. And faith as an instrument which God Reformed confessions faith has clearly been circum-
works in our hearts certainly cannot be a condition at scribed .not as a condition, but as an instrument of
the same time.                                                God whereby He implants us and  ingrafts  us into
                                                              Christ.
       2) That according to the confessions faith does not
occur as a condition in the decree of election, and              Further, the Rev. Petter writes: "And  X would
therefore cannot possibly appear as such in time.             consider it very unwise for us as Protestant Reformed
       3) That the very term condition is always put in       Churches, who are a part of the struggling, developing,
                                                              storm-tossed church of our day, if we would simply
t.he mouth of the Arminians by the Canons of Dord-
recht.                                                        by denial dispose of a whole question of this nature,
                                                              when it is evident from the whole hiskory  of the con-
       Now when the Rev. Petter, in spite of what I wrote, cept of conditions that it cannot be so disposed of, and
does not even try to defend the proposition,  Faith  iI  a when such theologians as Dr. Schilder, Ridderbos,
condition, on the basis of the confessions, but appeals Berkhouwer, do not at all brush it away, but carefully
directly to Scripture, 1 claim that he does not follow explore the boundaries of its use and misuse. Certain-
the Reformed method.  ~                                       ly theoology is in a stormy growing stage, and not a
   Nevertheless, I will examine the exegesis of the texts little even because of the stirring influence of the
which the Rev. Petter offers in defense of his propo- Barthians, or the dialectical, existential movement of
sition. Before I do this, however,,  I' want to call your theology."
attention' to the introductory remarks of the Rev.               My answer is that all the more because, as the
Petter in the above-mentioned article of  Cmcordin.           Rev. Petter puts it, theology is in a stormy growing
Writes he:                                                    stage, we should all the more anchor the ship of our
       "And now someone may immediately reply, `There         Protestant Reformed Churches into the safe ground
you have it, if you say A, you have to say  B. If you         of our confessions as they are the interpretations of
begin on that path you have to arrive at the Arminian-        the Holy Scriptures. And from that safe ground we
ism condemned in Canon I of Dordt.'                           should not try to go back, as the Rev. Petter does with
       "But this is not so., Dr. Schilder has .said, `What his conditional theology, but rather proceed in develop-
word could we mention that has not been misused by            ing the pure Reformed truth. And once more, accord-
the slander-mouth of Satan?' This is a good question.         ing to our confessions faith is never presented as a
For if we would let ourselves be guided by the misuse         condition, but always as an instrument of God whereby .
that can be made of a word or concept we would have           He implants us into Christ. And let me add, that
to drop, we would have to ban from our vocabulary,            although in the history of Reformed theology faith has
such words as Trinity, Incarnation, Providence,  Crea-        indeed been presented as a condition, it is equally
tion, Sanctification, Election, Hardening, Perfection.        true that the best tradition, of Reformed theology,
Yea, the list of words can be continued that have been especially as represented in our confessions, must have


                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                           247
      -...--_-_  .-...
nothing of the proposition,  Faith  is a condition. Fin-     prhich the text mentions? That, the future tense is
ally, we want to call your attention to one more intro- used of the verb to sazle is very evident; but to what
ductory remark of the Rev. Petter's :                        future salvation does the term refer? Does it merely
    "For we shall have to remember first of all that         refer to a future in time, so that salvation is presented
both the word salvation and the word faith are in            as being future in relation to faith? That seems to
Scripture used in a very flexible way. The aggrieved be the interpretation of the Rev. Petter, although he
in the time of the controversy spoke of lively, moving,      does not literally express this. It is implied in the
(bewegelijke) usage.                                         words, "salvation. . . .is expressed as following upon
   "Although it is perfectly justifiable to come to theo- . . . .believing." Only on the basis of this exegesis
logical definition and subscription, yet we may not does the Rev. Petter draw the conclusion from the text
overlook this method of Scripture. And there is a very that faith is a condition unto salvation. His interpre-
practical danger, the danger,. namely, that we begin         tation, therefore, would read somewhat as follows:
to preach dogma, instead of the gospel in connection         "If one complies with the condition of faith, God will
with life in all its implications. I think we all know       apply salvation to him, that is, give him regeneration,
from experience how prone we all are to do this."            justify him, etc." If this is not his meaning let him
   1 claim  tha', we can never do anything with  so-         explain himself. And according to this interpretation
called flexible terms.    It is true, of course, that in     he does not conceive of faith as being a part of our
Scripture many a term has more than one connotation.         salvation, but as preceding the latter. Both are in
But if so, such terms should not remain flexible, but        time, but salvation in all its implications follows upon
should be carefully defined. And in the second place,        faith as a condition which man must fulfill.
I want to remark once more that I do not like the at-           This, of course, is not true. Scripture never pre-
tempt of the Rev. Petter to establish a false contrast       sents salvation as following immediately upon faith.
between dogma and the gospel. When I preach the              In this sense, as salvation in time, it does not follow
Heidelberg Catechism, I certainly  pre&h  dogma. But upon faith as a condition, but it includes faith. Faith
no one has ever accused me of preaching cold-intellec- is part of salvation itself.
tualism and dead doctrine when I preach on the Heidel-          Nor is this the meaning of the text. Whenever the
berg Catechism. To me the preaching of the Cate- future tense is used for salvation in Scripture, it either
chism or the preaching of doctrine is the same as the expresses the futurity of the eternal Messianic king-
preaching of the gospel. True dogma is only system- dom or certainty or both. And the text undoubtedly,
atized truth of the Scriptures and is absolutely indis- refers to the first meaning mentioned, although the
pensable. And also when the Rev. Petter tries to intro- third, (both the future glory and the certainly of sal-
duce his theory of faith as a condition into our church-     vation),  is by no means excluded.       Thus the text
es, he simply introduces nothing but another dogma.          means: Whosoever believeth has the sure promise of
And that other dogma is in my conviction not the             future salvation in the kingdom of eternal glory."
gospel.                                                      That this is the meaning is very evident from the con-
   And now for the tex:s which the Rev. Petter tries         trast : *`But he that believeth not shall be damned."
to quote to prove his proposition,  Faith is a condition.    Also this damnation to which the text refers denotes
   It is deplorable that the Rev. Petter offers no thor-     the damnation in eternal desolation, not in time. And
ough exegesis of the texts which he adduces.                 therefore, the contrast of the text demands that also
   The first Scriptural proof is contained in the fol-       the future term "shall be saved" refers not to any
lowing paragraph :                                           salvation in the present time, but to the eternal Mes-
                                                             sianic glory in the kingdom of heaven. But if this be
   "Thus the simple words in the exhortation to bap- true, and it is true, then the text certainly offers no
tism: He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.      proof at all for the proposition which the Rev. Petter
Here the salvation is in the future and is expressed as      tries to prove, that faith is a condition unto salvation.
following upon, being related to, believing and being        For they that are saved by grace through faith, and
baptized."                                                   that not of themselves, are certainly saved already in
   It is evident that the Rev. Petter offers no exegesis the present time and can never lose the salvation of
at all of this text. Yet exegesis is sorely needed,          eternal glory.
especially if he wants to appeal to this passage of
Scripture as a proof for his contention that faith is a         But we have no more room. in the present issue to
condition unto salvation. All the Rev. Petter offers as discuss the other texts which the Rev. Petter adduces
a sort of an explanation is that "the salvation is in the as proof for his proposition that faith is a condition
future, and is expressed as following upon, being re- unto salvation.
lated to, believing and being baptized." But the ques-                                                       H.            H.
tion arises immediately: what is that future salvation

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

                                                              quickening and refreshment.  If this were not true,
   THE TRIPLE KNOWLEDGE                                       they could not possibly serve as signs. But although
                                                              it is true that these natural elements are in themselves
                                                              signs and are able to express in themselves certain
 An Exposition Of The Heidelberg symbolic significance, they thereby do not constitute
                                                              sacraments. The institution, that is, the setting aside,
                       Catechism                              the setting apart of the water in baptism from all other
                                                              water, of the bread and wine in the Lord's Supper from
                        PART TWO                              all other bread and wine, that setting apart, that point-
              O f   M a n ' s   R e d e m p t i o n           ing out by God of these signs, that divine act whereby
                 LORD'S DAY XXVIII.                           He Himself connects His Word with those signs, that
                                                              institution `is essential in the constitution of a sacra-
                               1..                            ment.
        The Institution of the Holy Supper. (cont.)              It is therefore perfectly proper and very important
                                                              that the Heidelberg Catechism calls special attention
    But let us now attend to the contents of the Lord's to the institution of the Lord's Supper. It was, as you
Day we are discussing at present.                             know, at the occasion of the last passover  which the
    There are no less than three long chapters in our Lord ate with His disciples and which He had greatly
Heidelberg Catechism `devoted to the explanation of desired to eat that the supper of holy communion was
the sacrament of communion. In Lord's Day 28 we instituted.
! have the general exposition of the meaning of this             It is hardly possible to explain the Scriptural record
sacrament, together with a reference to the institution concerning the last  passover  of Jesus with His dis-
of the same. In Lord's Day 29 the relation between ciples in any other way than by assuming that it was
the sign and the thing signified is explained ; while in      on the regular day, that is, the fourteenth of Nisan,
Lord's Day 30 a comparison is drawn between the that the Lord celebrated it. Thus we read in Luke
Lord's Supper and the popish mass.                            22:7: "Then came the day of unleavened bread, when
    In the present Lord's Day, therefore, we are called the passover  must be killed." This, therefore, refers
to discuss first of all the institution of the Lord's to the slaying of the paschal lamb, which was always
Supper.                                          .            done on the fourteenth of Nisan. And all the rest of
    We wish to remind you once again that it is essen- the account in the gospel according to Luke is in accord
tial for a sacrament to be definitely instituted as such, with this assumption. For we read, vss. 8-14: *`And
-instituted by God through our Lord Jesus Christ. he sent Peter and John, saying, Go and prepare us
A sacrament that is not definitely instituted by God the passover, that we may eat. And they said unto
for His church to receive and to observe would be a him, Where wilt thou that we prepare? And he said
contradiction in terms. That institution is very im- unto them, Behold, when ye are entered into  .the city,
portant. Water as such does not constitute the sacra- there shall a man meet you, bearing a pitcher of water ;
ment of baptism  ; nor do bread and wine as such have follow him into the house where he entereth in. And
 any significance as sacramental signs in themselves. ye shall say unto the good man of the house, The
 No more than any `red light on the road which you            Master saith unto thee, Where is the guest chamber,
 may see has the significance for you that you must where I shall eat the passover  with my disciples? And
stop your car, no more has water and bread and wine he shall shew you a large upper room furnished: there
 as such the significance for you that it is a sacrament make ready. And they went, and found as he had said
 of God through which God will cleanse your soul from unto them: and they made ready the Passover. And
 sin or feed your soul unto everlasting life. When you when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve
 see a red light on the road, the question is whether that    apostles with him." The same is true of the account
 light is instituted.' If it is not, you do not and do in Matthew : "Now the first day of the feast of un-
 not have to stop. You may see all kinds of red lighks        leavened bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto
 on the road, and when you see them you ask the ques- him, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat
 tion whether they are private red lights or whether the Passover? And he said, Go into the city to such
 they are instituted and have the authority of the  gov- a man, and say unto him, The Master saith, My time
 ernnment. And only when that latter is the case, you
                         .                                    is at hand ; I will keep the passover  at thy house with
 stop ; otherwise you simply travel on. It is true that my disciples. And the disciples did as Jesus had ap-
 red in itself is symbolic of danger. It is true that pointed them; and they made ready the Passover. Now
 water in itself is symbolic of cleansing. And so it is when the even was come, he sat down with the twelve."'
 also true that bread in itself is symbolic of spritual -And the same account is found in Mark  14:12-17.
 nourishment and that wine is symbolic of  heavenly Hence, it was undoubtedly on Thursday evening, the


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                        249

fourteenth of Nisan, that the  iLord celebrated this eth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire.
passover  with His disciples. No further explanation And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your
can possibly be given to the accounts in the  synoptics.    shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and
The theory t-hat in that year the paschal supper was ye shall eat it in haste: it is the Lord's Passover. For f
eaten on the fifteenth of Nisan, instead of on the four- I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and
teenth, in order to maintain the view that Jesus died will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both
at the same time that the paschal lamb was slain,           man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I
certainly can find no support in the Biblical record. will execute judgment: I am the Lord. And the blood
Others claim that Jesus held the paschal supper on shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye
the thirteenth of Nisan, and therefore a day early.         are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over. you,
BGt also this is not in harmony with the account of and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you,
the synoptic gospels ; and besides, it would mean that when I smite the land of Egypt. And this day shall
the paschal lamb, which must needs be offered in the be unto you for a memoria1;  and ye shall keep it a feast
temple, could not have been eaten.                          to the Lord throughout your generations ; ye shall keep
   Now what was the significance of the Passover? it a beast by an ordinance for ever." And so, finally,
It was in the first place also a harvest feast, which was that Old Testament  passover  was in the third place a
celebrated in the promised land, and therefore, the feast that had typical significance. We would not say
land of the covenant. On the sixteenth of Nisan the         that circumcision and, the passover  constituted two
first sheaf of the harvest was waved before the Lord.       Old Testament sacraments. Circumcision, of course,
Thus we read in Leviticus  23:9-11: "And the Lord. was a sacrament. The passover  was in itself no sacra-
spake unto Moses saying, Speak unto the children of ment; but it closely approached to the New Testament
Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land conception of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper.
which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest there- Israel celebrated its deliverance accomplished, and at
of, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your the same time looked forward to its deliverance as it
harvest unto the priest: And he shall wave the sheaf was to be realized in the blood of the Lamb that was
before the Lord, to be accepted for you : on the morrow to be -slain.
after the sabbath the priest shall wave it." However,          It was that passover  which Christ Jesus changed
it was above all a feast of commemoration, remember- mto the New Testament sacrament of the Lord's Sup-
ing that the Lord had passed over the dwellings of His per. For that purpose He took not the lamb, but bread
people that were covered by the blood of the lamb in and wine. The lamb could not serve the purpose of a
the night the Destroyer went through the house of           sign in the Lord's Supper.       The paschal lamb was
bondage to kill all the firstborn of the land. And be- positively the very last lamb that could ever be eaten
sides, on the  passover  the people commemorated that and that could ever be sacrificed. The lamb which was
great deliverance from the house of bondage by the          eaten by Christ and His apostles, that had been carried
mighty hand of God. For thus we read in Ex. 12 :3, ff. :    into the temple and sacrificed there before it was
"Speak unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, in carried into the upper room, that lamb of the  passover
the tenth day of this month they shall take to them which Christ so greatIy  desired to eat with His apostles,
every man a lamb, according to the house of their was the last that was ever and that could ever be
fathers, a lamb for an house: And if the household typically slain.            For at that  passover  the Lamb of
shall be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor &God stood ready to be sacrificed. And therefore, that
next unto. his house take it according to the number of lamb could not serve in the New Testament as the
the souls ; every man according to his eating shall make sign of the sacrament. It was typical of the sacrifice
your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without that was to be accomplished on the cross. And there-
blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out fore it could not look backward to that accomplished
from the sheep, or from the goats: And ye shall keep sacrifice. But the Lord took bread, the bread that
it until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the also was eaten at the  passover  and the wine that was
whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill drunken when the third cup, the cup of thansgiving,
it in the evening. And they shall take, of the blood,       was taken up at that supper. The bread and wine
and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper instead of the Iamb Christ definitely instituted.
door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.            That they were so instituted to serve as a sacra-
And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with ment, and therefore as signs and seals, is evident from
fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they the words spoken by the Lord at this institution. The
shall eat it. Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with bread and wine were separated from all other bread
water, but roast with fire: his head with his legs and      and wine by those spoken words. We read in Matt.
with the purtenance thereof. And ye shall let nothing 26 :26, 27 : "And as they were eating, Jesus took bread,
of it remain until the morning; and that which remain-      and blessed it, and break it, and gave it to the disciples,

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

and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the be surprised, therefore, that also in the Heidelberg
cup and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying,            Catechism we find a detailed exposition of the Lord's
Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new Supper and its institution.
testament, which is shed for many for the remission of                                                      H. H.
sins." Cf. Mark 14:22-24.   .And the account in Luke
22 :19, 20 is virtually the same : "And he took bread,
and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them,
saying, This is my body which is given for you: this
do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after            Baptism Of Adopted Children
supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my
blood, which is shed for you." By these words there-
fore the bread and wine of the Lord's Supper are defi-          Brother M. K. from K.  Mich., asks the following
nitely separated and instituted as sacramental signs question :
and seals.                                                  Rev. H. Hoeksema, Editor
   And notice, in the second place, that the Lord insti- Standard Bearer  '
tuted this sacrament very definitely that it might be       Grand Rapids,  Mich.
observed by the church. For it was  instikuted  by a
very definite command of Christ. When  He gave the Dear Sir:
bread to the disciples, Be said: "Take, eat; this is my         I am interested in the question regarding the bap-
body." And when He gave the cup to them, He said:           tism in our churches of adopted children.
"Drink ye all of it; for this is my blood of the new            The question more specifically put is as follows:
testament, which is shed for many for the remission         Is it necessary for an adopted child to be in the line
of sins." And according to the account in Luke the Lord of the generations of the believers, as proven by the
added : "This do in remembrance of me." From these religious background of the child, in order that the
words it is very evident  t.hat the Lord instituted a child may be baptized?
sacrament which was to be observed throughout the               I would like to ask that this question be discussed
ages by His church in the world. And that the observ- in the standard bearer so that we all  may  derive bene-
ance of this supper is of great significance is evident     fit from the discussion.
from the fact that the institution of it. was repeated                                  With brotherly regards,
by special revelation to the apostle Paul, who tells us                                                    M. K.
ill .I C0r. 11 43-26
              .d         : "For I have received of the Lord Reply :
that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord
Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took              There is much difference of opinion regarding this
bread: And when he had given thanks, he brake it,           question in the Reformed Churches. My own consistory
and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken       has always given a favorable answer to the question al-
for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the            though never #quite unanimously. I would, therefore,
same  manner also he took the cup, when he had supped,      advise the brother, before he proceeds with the adop-
saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood :         tion of such a child, to consult his own consistory.
this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.        $/Iy own opinion is as follows:
For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup,          1. That a child is adopted from a nominally Chris-
ye do show the Lord's death till he come." There can
be no doubt that when the apostle writes here  tha: he tian community most probably is guarantee that in the
                                                            recent past it belonged to the generations of the peopIe
had received this commandment concerning the Lord's
Supper from the Lord, he means that he had received         of God. It is true that those generations were cut off,
it by special revelation and not from the rest of the       and that, as a general rule, the branches cut off are not
apostles. And this fact that the Lord from heaven grafted in again:, But exceptions to this rule are not
gave a special revelation to the apostle Paul, who had excluded.
not been personally with the Lord in His earihly so-            2. That it is under the providence of God that a
journ, concerning the institution of the Lord's Supper      child, that has lost its parents or has been abandoned
certainly emphasizes the importance of this sacrament.      by them,' is adopted by Christians, by covenant  parents
And we are not surprised, therefore, that the church        that can and will vouch for the bringing up of the child
throughout the new dispensation, from the very earli- "in the aforesaid doctrine."            '
est times, attached great significance to that institu-'        3. When God established His covenant with Abra-
tion of holy communion. The church guarded jealously ham and his seed and instituted the sign of circum-
that feast of commemoration which at the same time cision he emphatically commanded that. all that were
was a sacrament of nourishment. And we need not in his house should be circumcised, even he that was


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                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                       251

"bought with money of any stranger" that was not of his own will, who understands that the mind of the
his seed.                                                     flesh is emnity against God?  who  can speak of his
    For the above reasons I am inclined to think that knowledge,  since the  ,natural  man receiveth not the
an adopted child such as is referred to by Mr. K.             things of the Spirit of God? In short, who dare sug-
should be baptized.                                           gest any thought, since he knows that we are not suf-
    But I gladly invite discussion.                           ficient @f ourselves to account arqthing as of ourselves,
                                               H .   H .      but that  otir  sufficiency  is  of  God? And therefore
                                                              what the apostle says ought justly to be held sure and
                                                              firm, that God worketh in zw' both to wiU and to work,
                                                              for His good pleasure. For there is no understanding
                                                              nor will conformable to the Divine understanding and
                                                              will but what Christ has wrought in man ; which He
              OUR DOCTRINE                                    teaches us, when He says : Apart from Me ye can do
                                                              nothing."       -
                                                                 And now let us call attention to the Canons of
             The Counsel Of God. (8)                          Dordrecht. That these Canons are infralapsarian is
                                                              evident from their approach to the issue which con-
   God's Counsel Exclusively Divine and Sovereign.            fronted them. The  ,very first statement declares that
                                                              all men have sinned in Adam, lie under the curse, and
    Over against. the CArminians  the Fathers of Dord-        are deserving of eternal death. Hence,, the Fathers
recht defended the sovereign and unconditional char- take their position in the midst of sin and death. They
acter of the counsel of God and set forth their findings begin with fallen man.           This is Infralapsarianism.
in the well-known Canons of Dordrecht.                        However, this does not imply that they fail to empha-
   Before we call attention to these Canons we would size the sovereign character of God's predestination,
remark that also our Confession of Faith maintains election and reprobation. In the first Head of doc-
the unconditional character and sovereignty of the            trine, which deals with Divine Election and  Reproba-
counsel and will of God. In the only article which tion, the sovereignty of the Lord's decree is beautifully
directs us to the Lord's Eternal Election, Art. XVI,          emphasized and maintained.
we read, and we underscore: "We believe that, all the            Having established the utter misery of mankind
posterity of Adam being thus fallen into perdition and in Art. I, and having set forth the love of ,God  which
ruin by the sin of our first parents, God then did mani- the Lord  has revealed in the sending of His only be-
fest Himself such as He js; that is to say, merciful and gotten Son into the world, Art. III gives expression
just: merciful, since He delivers and preserves from to the means whereby some are brought to faith. Al-
this perdition  nil whom He in His eternal and un- ready in this article mention is made of the good
changeable counsel of mere goodness has elected in pleasure of Jehovah, and we underscore: "And that
Christ Jesus our Lord, without any respect to their men may be brought to believe, God mercifully sends
works;  just, in leaving others in the fall and perdition the messengers of these most joyful tidings to whom
wherein they have involved themselves."                       He  wal and  at  ,what time He  pleases; by whose minis-
   And in Art. XIV our Fathers emphasize the sover- try men are called to repeniance  and faith in Christ
eignty of God's  salvaiion  by emphasizing our utter crucified. How then shall they call on Him in Whom
and complete depravity in these words: "And being th.ey have not believed? &ilnd  how shall they believe 6%
thus become wicked, perverse, and corrupt in all his Him whom they have not heard? AnA how shall they
ways, he has lost all his excellent gifts which he had hear with+ a preacher? And how shall they preach
received from God, and retained only small remains except they be sent? (Rom. 10 :14, 15) ."
thereof, which, however, are sufficient to leave man             In Art. IV mention is made for the first time that
without excuse; for all the light which is  iti us is not all men are saved. There the Fathers declare that
changed into darkness, as the. Scriptures teach us,           the wrath of God abides upon those who believe not
saying:  The tight shineth in the darkness., and the          this gospel, whereas such as receive it and embrace
darkness apprehendeth  it  not;  where St. John calls Jesus the Saviour by a true and living faith are bjr
men darkness. Therefore we reject all that is taught Him delivered from the wrath of God and from de-
repugnant to this concerning the free will of man, struction, and have the gift of eternal life conferred
since man is but a slave to sin, and can receive  nothing,    upon them. Notice in this article that, in'contrast  to
except it have been given him from heaven. For who the arminians who did not dare to speak of the certain
may presume to boast that he of himself can do any            perseverance of the saints, we read of the  &`t  a!'
good, since Christ says: No man cometh  to me, except         eternal life which has been conferred thpon us. And in
the Father that sent Me draw Him? Who will glory in the. following fifth article the question is asked:


$?52                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

Whence this faith and unbelief, to which our atten- according to election, this eternal decree. Hence, God's
tion has been called in Art. IV? We are told that the eternal decree is the cause of our faith, not its fruit.
cause or guilt of unbelief is in no wise in God, but in And we should also note that this same Divine decree
man himself. It must not escape our attention  here          is the cause of the failure on the part of others to
that this article identifies "cause" with "guilt". The believe. Hence, it is not true that God reprobated
viewpoint is therefore subjective, that of man's sin- them because they do not believe (reprobation on the
ning. The article explains why the sinner, from his basis of foreseen unbelief), but they do not believe
subjective viewpoint, rejects the gospel, does not be- because of the Lord's sovereign and righteous decree.
lieve. And the answer is that the cause or guilt of             In Art. VII the same emphasis is laid upon the
this unbelief is in man. Unbelief is sin. Man sins, unconditional and sovereign character of God's counsel
not because the Lord drives him to sin, but because of election, and we quote: "Election is the unchange-
he wants to sin. Once again, the viewpoint here is able purpose of God, whereby, before the foundation
the subjective responsibility of the sinner. In this of the world, He has out of mere grace, according to
sense the cause of unbelief is never in God but in the the  sovereign good  pleasure   of  His own will,  chosen
sinner. In him is the desire to sin, to reject the gospel from the whole human race, which had fallen through
in unbelief; this desire is never in the Lord. To main- their own fault from their primitive state of rectitude,
tain the latter would make the Lord the Author of sin. into sin and destruction, a certain number of persons
But  faith,~  according to this fifth article, is the free to redemption in Christ, Whom He from eternity ap-
gift of God. Consequently, if faith is the free gift of pointed the Mediator and Head of the elect and the
God, it must be evident that the Lord then determines foundation of salvation. This elect  .number,  though
who believes or does not believe. And to this question by nature neither better nor more deserving than
which involves the Divine determination of all things, others, but with them involved in one common misery,
also of faith and unbelief, the Fathers give an answer God has decreed to give to Christ to be saved by Him,
in this first Head of doctrine.                              .and effectually to call and draw them to His com-
   Art. VI is the first article which mentions God's munion by His Word and Spirit; to bestow upon them
eternai  decree. This article reads as follows: "That true faith, justification, and sanctification  ; and having
some receive the gift of faith from God, and others do powerfully preserved them in the fellowship of His
not receive it, proceeds from God's eternal decree. Son, finally to glorify them for the demonstration of
For known unto God are all His works from the begin- His mercy, and for the praise of the riches of His
ning of the world  (Acts  15:18,  A. V.)    Who worketh      glorious grace ; as it is written : "Even as He chose
all things after the counsel of His  will (Eph.  1:ll.)      us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we
According to which decree He graciously softens the should be holy and without blemish before. Him in
hearts of the elect, however obstinate, and inclines love: having foreordained us unto adoption as sons
them to believe  ; while He leaves the non-elect in His through Jesus Christ unto Himself, according to the
just judgment to their own wickedness and obduracy. good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of
And herein is especially displayed the profound, the His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the
merciful, and at the same time the righteous discrimin- Beloved."-Eph.  1:4-6. And elsewhere: "Whom He
ation between men equally involved in ruin; or that foreordained, them He also called: and whom He
decree of election and  reprobakion,  revealed in the called, them He also justified: and whom He justified,
Word of God, which, though men of perverse, impure, them He also glorified."-Ram. 8 :30. We should note,
and unstable minds wrest it to their own destruction, in this article, how the Fathers combat the arminian
yet to holy and pious souls affords unspeakable con- notion that the election of God is based upon foreseen
solation." It is true that also this article is infralap-    faith. This article emphasizes, in no uncertain man-
sarian  (as are all the articles), but the fact remains ner, that the election of God is the cause, and not the
that the Fathers ascribe both, the faith of some and fruit, of our faith, justification, and sanctification. We
the failure to believe on the part of others, to God's read that the Lord decreed to give the elect to Christ,
eternal decree. We read: "That some receive the gift that they should be saved by Him, and effectually to
of faith from God, and others do not receive it, pro- call and draw them to His communion by His TNord
ceeds from God's eternal decree." Emphatically the and Spirit, to bestow upon them true faith, justifica-
Fathers in this article deny the arminian contention tion, and sanctification, to preserve them powerfully
that the Lord has elected upon the basis of foreseen in the fellowship of His Son, and finally to glorify
faith. Whereas, according to the arminians God elect- them for the demonstration of His mercy ; and all this
ed those that believe so that God's election follows upon must occur for the praise of the riches of His glorious
their believing, in this article we are explicitly told g       r    a    c    e    .
that the hearts of the elect (mind you, the "elect")            In Art. IX the error of the arminians, that election
are softened and that the Lord inclines them to believe is based upon foreseen faith, is literally repudiated by

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

the Fathers, and we quote: "This election was not whether committed before or after believing; and hav-
founded upon foreseen faith and the obedience of faith,        ing faithfully preserved them even to the end, should
holiness, or any other good quality or disposition in          at last bring them, free from every spot and blemish,
man, as the prerequisite, cause, or condition on which to the enjoyment of glory in His own presence for-
it depended ; but men are chosen to faith and to the           ever. . . . This purpose, proceeding from everlasting
obedience of faith, holiness, etc. Therefore election is love towards the elect, has from the beginning of the
the fountain of every saving good, from which proceed world to this day been powerfully accomplished, and
faith, holiness, and the other gifts of salvation, and         will  hencef  orward  still continue to be  accompLished,
finally eternal life itself, as its fruits and effects, ac-    notwithstanding all the ineffectual opposition of the
cording to the testimony of the apostle: "He hath gates of hell ; so that  the elect  in due time may be gath-
chosen us (not because we were, but) that we should            ered together into one, and that there never may be
be holy, and without blemish before Him in love."- wanting a Church composed of believers, the founda-
Eph.  1:4.    This article certainly speaks for itself.        tion of which is laid in the blood of Christ; which
Election is not based upon any foreseen good, but is may steadfastly love and faithfully serve Him as its
the fountain of every saving good, from which proceed          Saviour  (Who, as a bridegroom for' His bride, laid
faith, holiness, etc.                                          down His life for them upon the cross) ; and which
   And in Art. 10 we are told that the good pleasure           may celebrate His praises here and through all eter-
of the  (Lord is the sole cause of this gracious election:     nity." Need we' question where our Fathers stood in
"The good pleasure of God is the sole cause of this            regard to the character of the Lord's eternal decrees?
gracious election ; which does not consist herein that Need we wonder whether they believed ,that election
out of all possible qualities and actions of men God has is the "heart of the church"? And need we question
chosen some as a condition of salvation, but that He           their belief and conviction with respect to the absolute
was pleased out of the common mass of sinners to               certainty of the eternal salvation of the elect?
adopt some certain persons as a peculiar people to                We would conclude our.quotations  from the Canons
Himself, as it is written : "For the children being not by calling attention to Articles 10, 11, 12, and 15 of
yet born, neither having done anything good or bad, the  Third  and Fourth Heads of Doctrine, and we quote :
etc., it was said unto her (namely, to Rebekah), The           "But that others who are called by the gospel obey the
elder shall serve the younger. Even as it is written,          call and are converted is  not to be ascribed to the
Jacob have I loved, but Esau I hated (Rom. 9:11, 12,           proper exercise  of free will,  whereby one distinguishes
13). And as many as were ordained to eternal life himself above others equally furnished with grace
believed. (Acts13  :48)  ." This article, too, is complete- sufficient for faith and conversion (as the proud heresy
ly clear and needs no elucidation. The Fathers said of Pelagius  maintains) ; but it must be wholly ascribed
the things they wanted to say in a language which to God,  Who, as He has chosen His own from eternity
people could not fail to understand. It is evident from in Christ, so He calls them effectually in time, confers
these articles in the first Head of doctrine that they,        upon them faith and repentance, rescues them from
in these Canons, emphasized the unconditional and              the power of darkness and translates them into the
sovereign character of God's decree of predestination, .kingdom  of His own Sorz; that they may show forth
consisting of election and reprobation.                        the praises of Him Who has called them out of dark-          _
   Also in the second Head of doctrine of these Canons ness into His marvelous light, and may glory not in
this truth of God's sovereignty is beautifully expressed themselves but in the Lord, according to the testimony
and maintained, as in Articles IX and X, and we quote :        of the apostles in various places. . . . But when God
"For this was the sovereign  counsel and most gracious accomplishes His good pleasure in the elect,  or works
will and purpose of God the Father that the pti&en- in them true conversion, He'not only causes the gospel
Zng and saving efficacy of the most precious death of to be externally preached to them, and powerfully il-
His Son should extend to al2 the elect, for bestowing luminates their minds by His Holy Spirit, that they
upon them alone the gift of justifying faith, thereby may rightly understand and discern the things of
to bring them infallibly to salvation ; that is, it was        the Spirit  of  ,God;  but by the efficacy of the same
the will of God that Christ by the blood of the cross, regenerating Spirit  Hue pervades the inmost  ,recesses
whereby He conformed the new covenant, should ef- of man;  He opens the closed and softens the hardened
fectually redeem out of every people, tribe, nation, and heart, and circumcises that which was uncircumcised;
language, all those, and  those only,  who were  from infuses new qualities into the will, which, though here-
efemtity  chosen to sa8vation  and given to Him by the tofore dead, He quickens; from being evil, disobedient,
Father; that He should confer upon them faith, which, and  refractory.,  He renders it good, obedient, and
together with all the other saving gifts of the Holy pliable; actuates and strengthens it, that like a good
Spirit, He purchased for them by His death; should tree, it may bring forth the fruits of good actions. . . .
purge them from all sin, both original and actual,             And this is that regeneration so highly extolled in


254                                 T H E   S T A N D A R D  IBEARER

Scripture, that renewal, new creation, resurrection
from the dead, making alive, which God works in us               THE DAY  OFSHADOWS
without our nid. But this is in no wise effected merely
by the external preaching of the gospel, by moral
suasion, or such a mode of operation that, after God                      David's Prayer
has performed His part, it still remains in the power
of man to be regenerated or not, to be converted or           That the revelation to David, by Nathan forms a
to continue unconverted ; but it is evidently a super- prophecy that reached its final fulfillment in Christ
natural work, most powerful, and at the same time and the realities founded on His atonement is plain
most delightful, astonishing, mysterious, and ineffable.; from the use that the New Testament Scriptures make
not inferior in efficacy to creation or ihe resurrection of that prediction. "To which of the angels said he at
from the dead, as the Scriptures inspired by the Author any time, I will be to him a father and he shall be to
of this work declares ; so that all in whose heart God me a son (Heb. 1:5). Here the writer quotes Nathan
works in this marvelous manner are certainly, in- literally (II Sam. 7  :14), his purpose being to  estabbsh
fallibly, and effectually regenerated, and do actually with the Old Testament Scriptures the pre-eminence
believe. Whereupon the will thus renewed is not only of Christ as compared with the angels. The Modern-
actuated and influenced by God, but in consequence ists deny that the prophecy is Messianic. The Pre-
of this influence becomes itself active. Wherefore also millenialis:s,  to be sure, see in it a refer&ce to Christ;
man himself is rightly said to believe and repent by but they exclude from His kingdom the church, and
virtue of that grace received. . . . God is under no       so they end with Nathan's prophecy in the Jews.
obligation to confer this grace upon any ; for how can        As already has been stated, our revelation sheds
He be indebted to one who had no previous gifts to a wonderful new light on the question of the identity
bestow as a foundation for such recompense? Nay,           of the "seed". It is all significant that in the prote-
how can He be indebted to one who has nothing of vangel-the Gospel as first proclaimed-the "seed",
his own but sin and falsehood? He, therefore, who          according to the language used, is a person-a personal
becomes the subject of this grace owes eternal grati- seed-and only secondarily a seed in the collective
tude to God, and gives Him thanks forever . Whoever sense. "I will put enmity between thee and the woman,
is not made partaker thereof is either altogether re- and between thy seed and her seed ; and he-not they-
gardless of these spiritual gifts and satisfied with his shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise  his  heal"
own condition, or is in no apprehension of danger,         (Gen. 3:X). The Lord's way of stating the matter
and vainly boasts the possession of that which he has did not escape the attention of Eve. For when she had
not. Further, with respect to those who outwardly brought forth her first-born child, she jubilantly ex-
profess their faith and amend their lives, we are bound, claimed, "I have received cc  rnun with Jehovah". It
after the example of the apostle, to judge and speak may be assumed that the insight into the revealed
of them in the most favorable manner ; for the secret mind of God of the saints of subsequent ages was not
recesses of the heart are unknown to us. ,And as to less profound than that of the first mother of our race.
others who have not yet been called, it is our duty to They as well as she must have perceived that it was a
pray for them to God, Who caIls the things that are        personal seed of which the Lord had spoken in the first
are not as if they were. But we are in no wise to          instance.
conduct ourselves towards them with haugliness, as            The Confusion of Tongues was calculated to raise
if we had made ourselves to differ."                       new questions bearing on the "seed",-questions that
       The position of the Reformed Fathers is therefore always must have been present to the minds of God's
unmistakably clear. Although the Canons are infra- believing `people. Of what nation was the "seed", the
lapsarian they maintain the absolute sovereignty of personal seed, to be born ? Of what family and house?
the Lord. The counsel of the Lord is strictly sover- After so long a time, the Lord gave answer. Having
eign and unconditional. They maintain unconditional first proclaimed him as the "seed" who should gain
election. Also with respect to the doctrine of reproba- the  ascendency  over. the malice of the devil, having
tion they declare that the Lord is God and .He alone. thereupon enclosed him first in the generations of
That some receive the gift of faith from God and           Shem (Gen. 9  :25-2'7),  thereupon in  t,he family of
others do not receive it proceeds from God's eternal Abraham (Gen. 12 etc.), third in the tribe of Judah
decree. They reject, therefore, the proposition that       (Gen. 49 :9-12)) the Lord ended in setting him forth
God's predestination rests upon foreseen faith or un- as the prince of David's house, who should build a
belief. The predestination of the Lord is absolutely house for God's name.            And that prince is Christ.
so.vereign.                                                That His kingdom and throne will be established for-
                                                           ever must imply that He will atone the sins of His
                                        H. Veldman.        house-the church of the elect-and that thereupon


                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                        255

with His house He will be raised from the dead to a pass. This is the instruction for man, God's believing
blessed immortality. That is the sign that it is He.        people.    And by this instruction, God's promise to  r
   That David had .understanding  of these things is them, which is the only ray of light that pierces the
not an idle conjecture; it is a fact attested by the        darkness of their night, they live.
apostle Peter in Acts Il. `Men and brethren," said             So interpreted the utterance with little effort can
the apostle to the multitude, "let me freely speak  unto be harmonized with what David is reported to have
you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and        said at I Chron. 17  :17, "and hast regarded me accord-
buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day.         ing to the order of a man of high degree". According to
Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God what David and his house are in Christ,-a house of
had sworn wiIh an oath to him, that of the fruit of his     men blameless and holy in love before God. The man
loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ of low degree is fallen man  ; he is man apart from
to sit on his throne ; he seeing this before spake of       Christ. He is the reprobated.
the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left         "And what can David say more unto thee? For
in sheol, neither his flesh did see corruption."            thou Lord God knowest thy servant," `knowest him
   Having received Nathan's prophecy, and having with a knowledge that is determinative and creative.
understanding of and tasting t.he blessedness of the He is thus a sheep of thy pasture, thy workmanship.
hope that it held forth, David went in-in the tent          His  seekings and askings, his praise and thanksgiving
that he had stretched for the ark of God-and sat are thy work in him. Thou knowest them  all  even
before the ,Lord,  and said. Let us closely at:end  to the before they rise in his heart and are upon his lips.
words of his lips. Then we will know how God's be- Yet thy servant shall say more unto thee, not to inform
lieving people pray,  when they sit before the Lord- thee as to the state of his heart. He cannot, for thou
~&UC@  sit before Him-in His holy temple..                  knowest him. Nor. does he prolong his prayer in thy
   "Who am I, 0 Lord God? and what. is my house, ears in the vain imagining that by his words he  mu&
that thou hast brought me hitherto? `me a sinful man.       induce thee to be gracious unto him and his house.
Yet thou hast brought me on the wings of thy redeem- That, too, would be unutterable foolishness. Because
ing and pardoning love hitherto-me and my house !'          (so David continues) "For thy word's sake, and ac-
David is humble and contrite. His glorying is in Christ.    cording to thine own heart, hast thou done all these
It can be explained. He stands in God's presence.           great things. . . . " `according to thine own heart and
   "And this was yet a small thing in thy sight, 0 not according to the heart of fallen and depraved man,
Lord God  ; but thou hast spoken also of thy servant's who can only will to hate thee. Truly, according to
house far away," `has> said that his house and king- thine own heart, and word and counsel. Thy love is
dom and throne will be established everlastingly be- self-motivated. Thy counsel  stands. Thy Word is
fore thee.' Marvelous mercy !                               living and life-giving ; it is faithful and true.
   "Is this the manner of man, 0 Lord God?" is the           "According to thine own heart. . . . And to make
next statement in David's prayer.       It is a difficult thy servant know", `that he may praise thee. And he
utterance. I silently pass by the many ways in which shall praise thee evermore, prolong his prayer ever-
it has been interpreted to Concentrate on what I believe lastingly. For Thy love constraineth him'.
to be the right explanation . The Hebrew text reveals          "According to thine own heart. . . . Wherefore
t.hat it is a positive statement and not a question ; and thou art great, 0 `Lord God. . .  .". `Thou doest all
further that the Hebrew word rendered "manner" in thy good-pleasure. Thou workest all things according
our versions is  for&z  from the verb  jarah,  to  teach. to the counsel of thy will. And thou hast mercy on
Torah, then, is properly  inst~mction,  do&kc.  There- whom thou wilt have mercy. For thou art great'.
fore it is the Hebrew word also for l&u', e.g. the law         `Verily, thou art great. "For there is none like
of the sacrifices. "This is the law, instruction, doc- thee, neither is there any God beside thee." `Thou art
trine, of or for man, 0 Lord God." So the statement God and none else'.
must be translated. The pronoun "this" looks back to           `Great thou art. . . . "according to all that we have
t,he Lord's promises to David and his house, tha: had heard with our ears," `regarding thy people and all
just been communicated to him by the prophet Nathan,        thy marvelous works which thou hast wrought in  be-
and by which the Lord had also instructed His servant. haIf of thy people.' "For what nation in the earth is
For the Lord's promises, being revelatory, are instruc- like thy people Israel." `No nation in the earth is like
tion. And by this promissory instruction the Lord in fhy people, they being a people "Whom God went to
His boundless love had constituted man-David and redeem for a people to himself, and to make him a
his house, lost and undone apart  from Christ's grace- name  ,and to do for thee great things and terrible,
a  lega heir of salvation, and had obligated Himself to for thy land before thy people, which thou redeemest
save man.    And the Lord cannot lie. And to His to thee from Egypt, from the nations and their gods."
power to save there are no limits. All will come to         And this people is the church of the elect, the family

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

of redeemed in Christ; it is the true Israel,-a people ised, if God has promised to His own all things.
that will abide everlastingly as a witness of God's           "Do as thou hast said. dnd let thy name be magni-
greatness; of his great love, which is fathomless; of fied forever, saying, The Lord of hosts is the God over
his great wisdom, which is unsearchable ; and of His Israel. . .  ." Israel is a people of wonder. For, ideal-
great might, which is infinite. For He went to re- ly viewed, it is a people redeemed of all its sins and
deem Israel for a people to Himself. He went to re- clothed with heavenly perfection and beauty. And
deem Israel to make Him a name. He went to redeem all credit belongs to' Israel's Redeemer-God. To say,
Israel to do great things and terrible' for Himself, therefore, that the Lord of hosts is that God is to
Not that He was in need of redemption. But He want- magnify the Lord's name.
ed to make Him a name, which should be above every            "And let the house of thy servant be established
name. Wherefore He did great things for His land, forever." David does not say to the Lord that so far
before His people, which He redeemed to Himself as he is concerned it is well that his house perish, if
from Egypt, from the nations and their gods, that His only the name of the Lord be magnified. He knows
people as saved unto God might praise Him, and say, better than to give utterance to such a sentiment,
"Great is the Lord".                                 '     considering, as he does, that, if the Lord's name is to
   And His people shall praise Him evermore without be magnified-and magnified in love by his house-this
end. "For" so David continues, "Thou hast establish- house must be saved, established forever. So he prays
ed to thyself thy people Israel to be a people unto thee f o r   b o t h .
forever: and thou Lord art become their  God,"--estab-        But David is a sinful man. He and his house de-
lished thy people immovably through the atonement serve to be driven by  ,God's curse into everlasting
of Christ on the new earth, where the Lord will be         desolation. He should be asking favors of God, even
their God everlastingly. Yes, David's sanctified and petitioning Him to establish his house forever? He
enlightened mind had penetrated to the heart and core couldn't ask for anything more. For what his petition
of the idea that God is God.                               really amounts to is that God give him all things-
   In the remainder of his prayer David appears as absolutely all things-including God Himself. How
petitioner before  ,God's face. If previously in humble- could he find it within himself-he, a sinful man-to
ness of spirit and joyous amazement he had acknow- direct to the Lord such a request? David has the
ledged the goodness that had been promised him, and solution of the difficulty. It is this, "For thou, 0 Lord
had extolled Gods greatness, he now as pleading on of hosts, God of Israel, hast revealed to thy servant,
those promises beseeches the Lord to establish the word    saying, I will built thee an house: therefore hath thy
that He has spoken. "And now, 0 Lord God, the word servant found in his heart to pray this prayer unto
that thou hast spoken concerning thy servant, establish thee." The solution is this: The Lord has promised
it forever, and do as'thou hast said." If God cannot       unreservedly and unconditionally and according to His
lie, if His promises unto His elect are firm in Him, own heart. And upon that promise he pleads.
must David tell the Lord to do as he has said? He             But will the Lord hold Him to His promise? David
is not telling God, ordering `Him. He is a penitent, again gives answer, "And now, 0 Lord God, thou art
who seeks and asks and knocks, doing so in the firm that God, and thy words be true, and thou hast prom-
assurance that seeking he finds, asking he receives, ised this goodness unto thy servant." That settles the
and that knocking entrance will be given him, and matter as far as David is concerned ; and as far as
this just because, having promised, God cannot lie.        every  _ believer is concerned.    The Lord God is that
His very seeking, being as it is, God's work in him,       God-the very God before whose face David was seated
is the promise already gone into initial fulfillment. and to whom he directs his prayer. And the words
And why should he ask? Because asking is praise;           of that God are true. And He has promised this good-
it is the chief work of praise, of gratitude.              ness unto "thy servant".
   And let us take notice, "do as thou hast said",            Mark you well, not unto all but unto "thy servant"
`promised to me and my house.' He seeks only what and his house. And the servant is Christ and His
has been promised him. Should he seek anything else, house-David's house-the church of  cthe elect. And
anything in addition, anything besides, his seeking His promise-unto this house-is true. For ,God can-
would.be vanity and an abomination ; should be seek in not lie. "Therefore", `this being true, Thou being
prayer the heavenly and the earthy besides; or the         God whose words are true,' be thou pleased to bless
earthy in place of the heavenly. It is a mistake to say the house  *of thy servant, that it may continue forever
that in their prayers the Old Testament saints sought before thee: for thou, 0 Lord God, hast spoken it :
more or less the things on earth, and this in contra- and with thy blessing let the house of thy servant be
distinction to the saints of the New Dispensation, who blessed forever."
seek the things heavenly. Besides, what is there to           So a man prays, who is seated before the very face
seek in addition to or beyond the things that are prom-    of God in His sanctuary.                G. M. Ophoff.

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

                                                            elect and are unconditional. This doctrine, creed is
                  Comispondence                             written. It is the literal teaching of our Confessions.
                                                            It is written therefore. And the fundamental signifi-
Rev. J. Howerzyl.                                           cance of the rejection of the Three Points by our ori-
Dear Brother,                                               ginal three consistories is exactly that implicit in their
                                                            action is the declaration to the effect that "this doc-
   In my last installment I was occupied with your trine" is the literal teaching of our Confessions and
"little difficulty" regarding my statements on written therefore written.         And so these three consistories
and unwritten creeds. As you see it what I wrote on must not be accused of adding points of doctrine to
pages  62 and 63 of the Standard Bearer for Nov. 1,         our Confessions. For they did nothing of the kind.
1949, contains contradictory statements. The state-. What they did, rightly' considered, is to make a state-
ments are these: 1) The Christian Reformed synod ment about our confessions. What they did is to de-
of 1924 officially declared in the first of the Three clare that our Confessions teach "this doctrine". And
(famous) points that the preaching of the Gospel so of necessity they declared that the logical contrary
is grace for all including the reprobate, thus declared of "this doctrine" is in conflict with our Confessions.
virtually that the promises of God are given to all,           Now upon that declaration of our original  con-
elect and reprobate alike. Our three original  con- sistories we, as a communion of Protestant Reformed
sistories officially decided to allow themselves to be de- churches, take our stand, must take our stand. If we
posed rather than subscribe that doctrine, and there- refuse, we thereby deny the very reason of our exist-
by certainly and this of necessity officislly  decided to ence as a communion of Protestant Reformed churches.
adhere and maintain the logical contrary of that doc- If we refuse, we find ourselves under the moral neces-
trine, which is, that the promises of God are given sity of pronouncing our break with the Christian Re-
only to the elect. This decision was written in the formed churches an act that took its rise in sinful flesh,
official minutes of our three original consistories. 2) As also on our side.
yet no one-consistories `or common members through             And right here, I believe, I have hit upon the real
their consistories-has appeared on our synod with a issue in the present controversy. It is this: Is it true,
written statement to the effect that the promises of as our three original consistories declared, that "this
God are given only to the elect, and overture synod to doctrine" is the literal teachings of our Confessions ?
adopt that written credal declaration.      n'or is this One may deny that it is true and take an opposite
necessary, I believe. For zG+uuUy it already has been position. But that one should then realize that the
done,  as  I  tive  just  ma&e  plain. This last sentence, position he occupies is contrary to the official position
the one written in italics has reference to the action of the Protestant Reformed churches; and second, that
of our original three consistories described under 1).      he must prove with the Confession that his stand is
        I can see no conflict between 1) and 2). And I right and that the official stand of our churches is
don't see how there can be conflict. And the reason wrong. He must prove this with the Confessions, I
is simple. The statement under 1) sets forth a fact. say. Why do  I  not add: And also with the Scriptures.
Likewise the statement under 2). It sets forth a fact. I do herewith add: And with the Scriptures. But let                .
How can there be conflict between two statements  each there be no misuhderstanding.  Certainly, in our dis-
of which sets forth a fact. This is impossible.             putations on points of doctrine it would be thoroughly
        Perhaps the conflict that you discovered in my unethical for us to, by-pass our Confessions and make
writing on the pages specified has reference to my our appeal directly to the Scriptures. And this for two
saying almost in one breath that "this creed"-the reasons 1) Our Confessions are documents the doc-
doctrine that the promises of God are given only to trine of which we believe to be the truth of God's Word.
the elect and are unconditional-is  ?uritten  and unwrit- That is what we as officebearers declare in subscrib-
ten.      I removed the conflict by explaining what I ing the Formula of Subscription. Furthermore, we
meant in stating that "this creed" is  unwritten  though promise,: by the aforesaid subscription, "diligently to
written, namely that as yet no one has appeared on teach and faithfully to defend the aforesaid doctrine,
our synod with a written statement to the effect that without either directly or  indirectIy contradicting the
the promises of God are given only to the elect, and        same, by our public preaching or writing." We de-
overtured synod to adopt that written declaration.          clare, moreover, that we not only reject all errors that
And what I state here is true, isn't it?                    militate against this doctrine and particularly those
        Fact is, however, that it is better to refrain from which were condemned by the above-named synod-
speaking of "this creed" as unwritten. Such speaking synod of Dord-but that we are disposed to refute
can only lead to confusion.  :And the reason is obvious.    and contradict those, and to exert ourselves in keeping
"This creed" is written indeed,-`this creed", the doc- the church free from such errors."
trine that the promises of God are given only to the           So then, by-passing in our controversies our Con-


258                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
fessions we repudiate  as uns~iptural the very do&k _-.-__. I__ .._....  I__ ..___-_-                --___...._-._
that we declared to be the doctrine of the Scriptures
and that we promised to teach and to defend.                              SION'S   Z A N G E N
       Here you have my more complete answer to the                                                       _._,_--~--
following question contained in your letter, "Is our                   Zalig In Des Heeken Vrees .
covenant theology (that is, the teaching to the effect
that the nromises of God are given only to the elect                            (Psalm 112  ; Derde Deel)
and are unconditional. That is what I understand and                 Hoe verder ik in den psalmbundel kom, hoe lang-
we all understand by our covenant theology. G.M.O.)               zamer  wordt mijn gang. De  psalmen Davids zijn
something additional to the Three Forms of Unity?  kostelijk  en  schoon  en  rijk.
Or do  I correctly reproduce your thought when I state .             In den psalm die we nu behandelen was ik  ge-
that which always has been my own personal position, komen tot het vierde vers. Ik  ~zal het afschrijven:
`that only [Scripture and the Three Forms of Unity are            "Den oprechten gaat het licht op in de duisternis;
binding in our churches and nothing more." What is hij is genadig en barmhartig en rechtvaardig."
binding in our churches is the Scriptures and the Three              Naar de grammatica  staat het woord "oprechten"
Forms of TJnity and what our three original  consis:-             in den derden naamval, dus zijn zij het belanghebbend
ories said about these Forms some 25  years  ago. They voorwerp. En indien ergens,  dan blijkt dat in dezen
said, let me remind, that these Forms teach that the  tekst.   Stelt het U  voor: ze  onbangen  "licht". En
promises of .God, are given Only  to the elect and are het light "gaat  hun op". Wat dit mag beduiden?
unconditional. Also this latter is our official stand.               Dit : het licht  is eigenlijk Jehovah Zelf. God is
       You continue, "And therefore we exactly have noth-         mijn licht, mijn heil, wien zou  .ik vreezen? God is
ing else that is binding, ,neither  do we need' anything bet eeuMg  Light !
further until it becomes evident that the Three Forms                In de Heilige Schrift  is het licht, in den geestelijken
are capable of being inierpreied  in another, unscrip- zin van het woord,  bet inbegrip van alle deugd.
tural manner. If this latter (which  `1 do not believe            Salomo zegt, dat de wet een iicht is. Ook zegt hij zoo
possible) were eve-r  don& then we would need and ongeveer hetzelfde als' in dezen tekst staat : "Maar het
obtain an additional  creed interpreting officially the pad des rechtvaardigen is gelijk een schijnend licht,
parts in our Three Forms not plain. I ask again,                  voortgaande en lichtende tot den vollen dag toe." En
`Do I reproduce Your though correctly  ?" MY reply to ook vinden we dit, in psalm 97 : "Het licht is voor d&
this is as follows. If I understand You  aright,  You rechtvaardige gezaaid, en vroolijkheid voor de  op-
bring up a matter here that I never once touched on in rechten  van hart."
all my writings. It is this: What is to be done with an'             Wat is een oprecht mensch?
ambiguous,  equivocable  statement or statements that                Ik denk, dat de idee van het woord mooi  uitgedrukt
might be found in our Confessions? My answer is. wordt  dool: het woord zelf. In den letterlijken zin
this. If all the people of the reformed world could get van het woord is een ding oprecht,  als het  recht op
their heads together and agree on a clarifying state-  zijn voeten staat. Iets, dat  verticaal  staat.  Evenzoo
ment, that would be fine. Producing such a statement, in den  moreelen,  ethischen zin van het woord. Een
the Reformed would not be making a creed additional mensch  is  opre&t,   als  zijn   gehe&   Ieven   ge&elijk
to our existing and official creeds, as you seem to  verticaal  staat. Ik zou het misschien 266 mogen uit-
imagine-the expression "additional  creed"  appears drukken: een oprecht  mensch' is iemand die de  gerech-
in this excerpt from Your Pen-au they would be doing tigheid in practijk brengt. Het kromme is vervloekt.
is producing a clarifying statement.                                 Men zou de oprechtheid in een mensch ook nog wat
       Herewith, I believe, I have replied to, all your ques-     anders kunnen kenschetsen. Een oprecht mensch valt
*ions.                                                            altijd mee. Hij is van buiten juist zooals hij van bin-
                                   Fraternally,             !,    nen is. Want hij staat geheel en al "recht".
                                         G. M. Ophoff.             . Zoo  zult ge ook eenigzins begrijpen hoe zulken
                                                                  menschen het licht opgaat in de duisternis. Het gaat
                          * *  *  *                               alleen zulken menschen wel, de anderen blijven in de
                                                                  duisternis. Zijt slecht, onoprecht, valsch en boos, en
             SUBSCRIBERS : PLEASE NOTE !                          ge kunt er staat op  maken,  dat ge in de duisternis
       Would you please  refer  to the  due-date  opposite blijft. De duisternis is geestelijk het  tegenoverge-
your name and address on this issue. If your  sub- stelde van licht. Was licht alle deugd, zoo is duisternis
seription is past due please help us by sending in your alle boosheid. Nu dan, als ge homogeen met Uw na-
payment, this would save us time and expense in tuurlijke sfeer zijt, namelijk, als ge boos zijt, zoo
sending out notices.                                              blijft ge ook zeker in die duisternis  gekluisterd.  Er
                                              The Board.          Fs geen ontkoming  aan.

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

                                                                              you termed the "points of friction" in these churches last Mon-
      Wishful Thinking, Lies and Slander day morning should have wrought within you the expectation
                                                                              that it might not go unchallenged. You see, Rev. Schans, I was
             A few days after these lines appear in print, our one. of the passengers on that C & 0 train who rode directly
.     churches will, the Lord willing, celebrate the  twenty-                 behind you all the way from Detroit to Grand Rapids, and I
      fifth anniversary of our denomination. After twenty could not help but overhear your attempts in clearly exposed
      five years have come and gone, one might expect that and sinful glee to inform the pastor from Dutton (I do not know
      among those who cast us out because we would not go his name) of these "points of friction". So loudly did you speak
      the way of false doctrine with them by subscribing of these things that sitting behind you F heard every word you
      to the "Three Points" of Arminianism which they had spoke on this matter and many others without making any
      composed, there would be those who still wished to see speciaI,effort. To hear the conversation of those who sit behind
      our denomination dissolve and that they could thus you in a train is often possible because then the voices of the
      conveniently forget that  sad, period of their history speakers travels directly toward you. But when you were facing
      when they cast out men whom they confessed were away from me and sitting ahead of me, and I was yet unable
      "reformed" and when they had corrupted reformed to get away from your words-and Mr.  SjoercLsma  riding with
      Church Polity in many ways.                                             me also heard all these things without any  difliculty-I  need
             There are also wild rumors as to what individuals not emphasize that your slanderous backbiting and malicious
      in these churches have to say about us. The story gets spreading of untruths, of which you also confessed to your
     around that one of their ministers had stated that our fellow pastor that you do `not know all the facts, was spoken
      denomination was about to "blow up" any day now. loudly and publicly.
      Another congregation is said to be waiting to purchase                    The purpose of this letter is not to call your attention to what
      that "desirable property on Fuller and Franklin", the Scripture says of such malicious evil speaking and lack of
      location of our Fuller Ave. Church. The undersigned brotherly love except to remind you that you will have to answer
      is not given to believe all the stories which come to for it before God's judgment seat. If you believe all these
      his ears and is not writing this article because he heard               things to be true of which you spoke, and if things dare as bad
      such rumors. But the undersigned was exposed to a in our churches as you pictured them to be, why do you not
       speech of lies and slander which do reflect a case of                  pray for us and why did you not urge the pastor from Dutton
      wishful thinking. The speaker was the Rev. M. M. to do so instead of spreading .a11 the filth and dirt of distorted
       Schans, a retired minister of the Christian Reformed facts of which you are not sure and have  only heard a few
       Churches.      The undersigned urged him to apologize things from a Calvin `student whom  yoe confessed to be your
       for his slander and pointed out to him that as long as source of information. And you sat there asking your fellow
       he does not, he is walking in that sin. But this retired passenger if he knew any more dirt and whether he had heard
       pastor, -who did so evilly in `1924 as minister of the                 of this dirt of which you had heard and yet did not know in its
      Kellogsville. Christian Reformed Church, refused even proper setting. Eager you were to spread more evil. But way
       to answer the correspondence of the undersigned. We not pray for us, if you think these things are true. That is your
       t.herefore  publish the following letters which are self- duty then. Your churches believe in praying for everyone, even
       explanatory, and we` let our readers judge the matter the reprobate for whom Christ would not pray, and yet you will
       for themselves. And you Christian Reformed readers, not pray for the Prot. Ref. Churches. Why not, especially
       we urge you to demand an investigation of that illegal when your Synod said in 1924 that our Ieaders were "reformed".
       action of 1924 or write the Rev. Schans and urge him Look up your own Acts. But the purpose of this letter is to
       to make a denia1  in the Banner of this sinful and illegal give you the facts and to set you right on these "points of fric-
       act of his-. In the light of that work in 1924, we are tion" which do not exist.
       sure that our readers can also understand his absolute                   I will briefly give you the facts in the order in which you
       silence now on this matter. That can only be the presented the lie. And I did not take notes while you spoke,
       reason, for from the letter below, it is also evident to but your sIander  was so viIe that at this moment I can still hear
       him that the undersigned can expose much more evil it ring in  my  ears. Ask the pastor from Dutton whether my
       which he so publicly spread abroad about ministers in presentation is not true, and I have Mr. Sjoerdsma for my wit-
       his own churches and their wives, etc. etc.                            ness that I did not write a single thing down But listen once:
             The letters we sent him are as follows:                            1. The Rev. De Jong and the Rev. Kok were not suspended
                                                                              because the one or the other wrote a letter to Dr. Schilder or
       The Rev. M. Schans                           December 13, 1949         to anyone in the Netherlands stating that the differences in  doe-
       West 21st St. Holland,  Mich.                                          trine in our churches must not be emphasized. Please go to
       Dear Rev. Schans,                                                      Hope College. I am sure that you can get all the Standard
         This letter, without a doubt, comes to you as a complete sur-        Bearer article on this matter there in the Library. Study the
       prise.  And yet the very audible and bold way in which you spoke       matter. Do not-go by hearsay. The Rev. De Jong and the Rev.
       so sneeringly and bitterly of the Prot. Ref. Churches  and-of  what    B. Kok are ministers in good standing in our congregations.

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

And on that conference with Dr. Schilder a few years ago onr              5. Carl Reitsma, for that is his name, is not attending Kampen
Rev. Hoeksema and Dr. Schilder did not come to a greater                as sent by our churches on a scholarship. And again it is wish-
separation on the covenant doctrine than before. Look up the            fuI thinking that the Rev. Hoeksema's son was passed by in this
Standard Hearer, Vol. 24, numbers 5 and 8 before you ever say           scholarship. Carl is going under his own arrangement with
that again.                                                             an immigrant in Canada.       And our churches have given no
  2. The Rev. Hoeksema's son was not a professor the  Cura-             scholarship to anyone.    Besides your sneering remark as you
torium did not like or want. And that sneering remark of yours          leered at your fellow pastor that we have only one student in
of *`so-called professors" was not spoken either in love to God         school this year is a gross lie.  at present we have seven
and His Church. The Rev. Hoeksema's son was appointed to a              students and several students in Kampen are working  hard to
postgraduate course to our school by the Synod of 1947 with             make arrangements to attend our school, even in January if
a view to an eventual and possible chair of professor in  Pre-          possible. Rut if we did have only one student in school, do you
Seminary subjects. Then before he could take this course the            rejoice and gloat over it? Why not pray for us that we may
Rev. Hoeksema became ill, and we asked his son to help us out           have more?     You can work along and esteem those who put
with certain Pre-Seminary subjects. <This  he did even while            you out, the Reformed Churches in America, but those YOU put
taking his post-graduate course. Then in two years time the             out may not even enjoy your pity and be the objects of your
Rev. Hoeksema was restored remarkably and even unbelievably.            prayers, Is that brotherly? Is that Christian?
And you people who maintain that material things are blessings            6. The school on Adams St. will open D.  V. in September.
in themr&ves  will have to admit in this recovery of Rev. Hoek-         Work bas not been stopped because  ,most,  of our people are
sema that God's grace rests abundantly upon him, and yet you            against it. If you will look up the records you will find that
continue to hate a man. God continues to bless. What then of            our people a.re far more interested in Christian schools than the
#Genesis   27:29b  . . . .&rrsed be every one that curseth thee, and    percentage your churches can daim. And this school on Adams
blessed be he that blesseth  thee. . . . ? When it became evident       St. is well supported by our people, also fina&ially.  You know
that the Rev. Hoeksema, although greatly restored, could not            of course--and that is for you a sore spot-that we have a con-
bear the full burden of the load he formerly took upon himself,         gregation not only but also a school of our own in Redlands.
it was decided to call a third professor for Seminary subjects.         But did you know that we have had one here too in Hope the
The name of Rev. Hoeksema's son appeared on the nomination              last three years, that one is being built in Rdgerton,  Minn., to
as our Acts will show. The Synod evidently was of the opinion           be opened D-V. in September, and that our churches are work-
that a man with experience in the congregation was more ad-             ing toward providing a Normal training for our teachers ? No,
visable for Seminary subjects. So your distortion of the truth          Mr. Schans, our churches are not as dead as you would like to
fails miserably. And as to so-called professors, why is it that         see them. We hope D.V. to celebrate our 25th Anniversary in
with your Calvin set-up the immigrants in Canada always com-            March, and you will have to admit that by God's grace we,
plain of the light, superficial sermons delivered by your minis-        have not gone backward but forward in these years.  But did
ters and students with weak or lack of exegesis ? That too is a         you ever stop to consider the truth  of  Scripture that if our
fact. First fix up Calvin before casting reflections on our men.        churches are the work of God YOU cannot overthrow them?
  3. Raleigh Huizinga-and  I know the man, he-was our neigh-            And in twenty five years you have not been able to do so. We
bour for many years--may have heard and spread the rumor                are smaller than your denomination, but does Scripture not
that the Rev. Cphoff is in "the dog-house". Rut this too is             teach that the Church is always small?
wishful thinking. And then what of the Rev. P. Vos formerly               Rev. Schans have you ever read The History' of the Prot.
of Walker and the Rev. R.Veldman formerly of West Leonard,              Ref. Churches, by the Rev. H. Hoeksema?  .There is mention
or the late Prof. Kromminga of whom you also spoke with                 made there of a certain Rev. M.  S&arm  of  Kellogsville,  and
his dangerous views?      Why did  YOU  two not limit yourselves        evil works are attributed to him. He has never-denied them
to those in the Christian Reformed Churches who are and were            after the book has been published. Why not? Nothing in that
in the Chr. Ref. *`dog-house"?                                          book as fax as the chistorical  facts are concerned has ever been
  4. The Rev. Kok never wrote a catechism book and the Rev.             denied. Why not? Because it all can be proven. If what is
Hoeksema has not written all our *catechism books and was not           stated there of you is not true, please publish a statement to
in jealousy and envy  .startmg  friction to defend himself. The         that `effect in the Banner or the Standard Bearer. I challenge
Rev. P. De Hoer also wrote many of our books a?ld'if  you would         you to do so. If you do not intend to do so, then by all means .
investigate instead of go by hearsay of things you like to hear,        do not speak no slanderously of us with the record you have
you would find that the Rev. Hoeksema approved fully of these           yourself there and in  Redlands  too. Did you ever-how many
books. But you see, Rev. Schans, that although you spoke so             times have you-preached on Lord's Day 43 ? Look up what is
sneeringly of the Rev. Hoeksema as "the pope", we believe in            stated there if you do not recall.
doing things legally, decently and in order and do not  lightIs           Perhaps you wonder why  T did not identify myself on the
set the Consistory,   Classis  and Synod on a side track. Remem-        train and set you straight right there. I assure you that I,b.ad
ber I924  ? Where was the pope then? Where was he in  Kellogs-          to hold myself. But I did not think that it was wise to display
ville when her minister sent in an overture to Classis which his        before `the unbelievers there present the struggle the church of
con&tory had not approved? That sounds like a pope to me.               Christ has here on this earth. I did not deem a public debate


262                                          THE  .STANDARD   .`BtiARER

and argument there either wise or proper.         I believe God's     also no denial. And how could there be such a denial. There
aChurch to be too holy objectively in Christ to display before the    are witnesses.
unholy world the subjective weaknesses of the flesh wherewith           Of course, the matter now will have to be published with the
we must contend all this life. You felt bold to spread before all     added element of your absolute silence.
the world and before any unbeliever who might listen, and I                                                Yours in Christ,
could tell several were listening, the imperfections and weak-                                                     Rev.  5. A. Heys.
nesses of the Church of God. And you surely left the impression       P. S. In regard to that school on Adams St., I was informed
that you rejoiced in these imperfections.                             after I wrote you that it is  nearIy  completed and is entirely
  And so, Rev. Schans, I am demanding of you that you apolo-
gize to me and to Mr. Andrew Sjoerdsma for these evil things          PAID FOR as it stands, having no debt at ah. That is amazing,
                                                                      and that speaks loudly of the interest and support of the thing
of which you spoke. I demand that you inform the pastor of            by our people. There is also added information in re the matter
Dutton also of this letter and inform him of your apology and         of the Rev. De Jong and the Rev.  Kok in the latest Standard
set him straight on those lies which you told him. And unless I       Bearer, Jan. 15 copy. Please look it up.
secehe such an apology from you I shall feel free to pubhsh  this
matter, which after all you already published all through that
train and made no attempt to keep secret. And there are other
things you  said  about others I will not mention  in this letter,
but you surely felt free to air all  yam ideas loudly and pub-
licly. And so I say again, unless you force me to do so by re-
fusing to apologize, I will say no more. Rut if I do not receive                   FROM HOLY WRIT
Luch  an apology for myself and Mr. Sjoerdsma and a testimony
that you have also set the pastor of Dutton straight, this will
have to be published so that these evil lies are spread no further        Exposition of Ephesians 2:4-10
and you churches may read what its leaders are, saying and
doing. For I seek the welfare of God's Church and seek neither                                     (11)
your downfall nor that of your churches. But I am convinced               In the last paragraph of our former article we were
that I may not allow you to continue to walk in this sinful way.      speaking of the fact, that grace, the grace of God is
                                     Yours in Christ,                 only experienced, seen and known by us as it is his-
                                             Rev. J. A. Heys.         torically  realized in Christ Jesus. This means that
                                                                      there is a definite  date on the calendar in which this
       I                                                              was realized, a time in history, a moment in time when
                                              January  16, 1950       grace had fully become a reality in Christ Jesus. At
The Rev. M. Schans                                                    that moment the shadows and typical-levitical institu-
West 31st St.                                                         tions were abolished,  all righteousness  fuIfilled.  That
Holland, Michigan                                                     moment was when Christ said  : It  is finished. Nothing
                                                                      more needs to be added. It never can, or may, nor
Dear Rev. Schans,                                                     need be repeated. When Christ died He died once hav-
  It is now  more  than four weeks since I wrote you and informed     ing offered Himself wholly through the eternal Spirit
you that if I did ,not receive an apology from you for your slan-     unto God.
derous remarks in regard to our churches, I would have to pub-            That was the thrust of the former article, the con-
lish-the letter I sent to you.                                        cluding paragraph.
  I also sent a copy of that letter to the Rev. Handlogten of             So strongly is this true that Jesus Himself has
Dutton, and no doubt you too have corresponded concerning it.         instituted the  ILord's Supper that this His death should
For that I gave you  sufficient time. And as I stated in my           be remembered. Paul says that Christ instituted this
closing remarks, I am not seeking your downfall nor that  af          Supper "in the night in which He was betrayed". There
your churches. For that reason I waited patiently. For that           was onIy one such night. And this night and the cruci-
reason I am again writing you,' for you know  and I know that         fixion on the day following we remember till our Lord
any sin not confessed is a sin in which we are walking. And I         comes.
do not desire to see you walk in it any longer. But if no letter          It was the night in which grace and the truth in
of apology is forthcoming from you, there is but one thing left       Jesus became a reality. Christ became from God unto
for me to do. Your silence is also your answer then.                  us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and complete
  I will have to publish the matter unless an apology is made         redemption.
in the very near future. And our people and the many people               It is interesting and also comforting to note that
of your churches who have begun to read the Standard Bearer           Christ became this unto us. He, the Christ of God,
af late will be able to judge for themselves what your silence        the Son in our flesh, Who is not ashamed to call us
means.      For not only is there no confession, but significantly    brethren, He became or rather was made  (egeneethee)

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

righteousness of God for us. There was according to fore, the term which stands for the fulness of salvation
the idea expressed here, a time when this righteous-         as it is realized in Christ and by Him and as it flows
uess was  .not  !/et made to us. The Lamb had then to us from this our Rock.
not  vet been slain. There was then always the not yet.         3. The foregoing is corroborated by the consider-
And in close connection with this the cry of the saints : ation in the text, that this being made alive with
how long,  0 Lord, wilt thou wait in visiting Thy            Christ, is not simply a mighty act of God without  con-
people! But when "grace and  trukh came" in Jesus sideration of Divine justice, but that this is a being
then that element in the "how long" of the saints is no made alive with Christ. This implies that we who were
longer heard. We, the sons, obtain now the redemp- dead in sins died unto this very sin in the death of
tion, the adoption to sons.                                  Christ. Now it may be conceded that the apostle does
   And so when we read in the New Testament of here not. mention the death of Christ in this passage
"grace" it is the New Covenant in Christ's blood that        which is so very rich in meaning. The apostle does
is meant. Here is not abstract reasoning about grace,        not speak here of Jesus' death but only of the resurrec-
but it is the grace of God that liberates the captives, tion and ascension. That is true, yet only in  park.
purifies the conscience, and gives a living hope unto For in the first place Paul does here not merely speak
the day of Christ's return. Then the full grace of of Christ's resurrection, but he speaks of our resurrec-
God will be revealed in "the revelation of Jesus Christ". tion and ascension with Christ. And our resurrection
(I Peter  1:7, 13).                                          with Christ does not merely logically imply (we must
   .It is to this Lrgrabe" that Paul has reference here be careful  wi:h mere logical implications), our having'
in our Scripture passage.                                    been crucified and buried with Christ, but is the plain
  That Paul has  t.his grace here in mind should be teaching of Scripture. In the Divine "must" of Salva-
self-evident to any reader of Scripture who lives by tion and in the satisfaction that must be rendered to
faith in Jesus. For this is the fulness from which the justice of God the resurrection and ascension of
we receive; it is the cup of eternal bliss and joy from the believers with Christ is the reward of  Christ's
which we drink. In ever greater measure it is ours:          la.bors.   This it is taught in Isaiah 53  :lO-11: "Yet it
grace for grace. Still it can do no harm but it will         pleased Jehovah to bruise him, he hath put him to
greatly strengthen our faith to notice the following grief: when he shall make his soul an offering for sin,
in the  t.ext indicating that Paul has this great grace of he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and
God in mind.                                                 the pleasure of Jehovah shall prosper in his hand. He
   1. That Paul here not only contrasts this entire          shall see the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied:
section of the verses a-10 with that of the verses l-3,      by the knowledge of himself shall my righteous ser-
but that he inserts the very heart of the contrast into vant justify many, and he shall bear their iniquities."
ihis section speaking of God's grace in Jesus. The           Wherefore what God hath joined together, namely,
core of the former section's instruction was that we         that atoning death of Christ and His glorious resurrec-
were "dead by reason of our trespasses". Here this           tion and ascension to be Head of the church.  ~ We
truth' is contrasted with the grace of God. It is the must not separate, but we must confess them both in
truth of God's unsearchable wisdom and unders'and-           their wondrous unity as being our undoubted Christian
ing that "where sin abounds grace may' much more faith.
abound". Here Paul cannot w-ait to state all it-implies         Besides, it ought to be observed that Paul does
to be made alive in Christ, but exclaims in the midst        speak of the death of Jesus very elaborately in this
of this sentence in our  tex:: By grace  ccre  ye  saved!    chapter.    In the verses 13 ff. we read: "But now in
Here is the contrast of what "we are by nature" and          Christ Jesus ye  who. sometime were far off have been
what God has done for us in grace. Here we can only made nigh by the blood of Christ." It is needless to
worship in the Lord. And how wonderful!                      say more. That we have been raised with Christ and
   2. That it is also quite evident that, according to       exalted with Christ is according to God's own Word
the presentation in the text, Paul here presents grace rooted in the satisfaction of Jesus' death.'  It is the
as the sum-total of salvation, in all its length and reward for His meritorious labors.
breadth, its height and depth ! For the joyful exclama-         And this salvation in Christ is all of grace. Sea,
tion of Paul in the text follows directly upon the state- it is called grace itself. This is the grace of God mani-
ment : "made us alive  tog&her  with Christ.`"  .And f ested  and realized. . . .realized in the death and resur-
this being made alive with Christ means that we have rection and ascension of Jesus !
been fully delivered from being dead by reason of our           4. Finally, it is quite evident, that grace is here
trespasses and sins; that. we no longer walk according the very real historical grace in Christ's death and
to the course of this world, according to the prince of      resurrection, that it is the all-inclusive grace of God
the power of the air, according to the spirit that now       in Christ once and forever performed on the Cross,
energizes the sons of disobedience. Grace is, there-         which Paul has here in mind. Paul very clearly em-

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

phasizes this in the text. Twice he speaks here in the and now endures forever. And always it is complete
text of our being saved by grace. But he does not fall salvation up to the present. The believer never needs
into mere needless repetition. In the first instance he to add anything. And thus the whole glad tidings of
shows us what he has in mind with salvation by grace,       salvation is reflected in this wonderful form of the
namely, to be made alive with Christ and to be raised verb used here by Paul. If salvation is by grace then
and exalted with Christ and seated with Him  inheaven-      it is `not of works, but then it is also complete, full, rich
ly places. But in the second instance (verse 8) the and ever enduring.
,well-known  text, Paul uses the definite  article. Says       What does this spell for us who are by nature
he: For by  the  grace have ye been saved! R. T.            children of wrath? What does this mean for us who
Robertson has the following interesting note on the are "dead by reason of our trespasses and sins"?
Greek Article : "It is not polite for children to point        That we are saved by grace means first of all that
out objects with their finger. But that is what the         legally we are accounted by God as being righteous.
Greek article does. It points out objects". So here the That. we are made alive with Christ means first of all
ar;icle points out, Paul by means of the article points that the guilt -of our. sin has been removed from us.
out to us, calls our attention once more to the amazing It was the guilt of sin that came upon us in Adam's
and wondrous grace of God in Jesus:  the grace.  The first transgression' that is the legal basis for our con-
well-known grace. Yes, it needed pointing out. The demnation to the servitude of sin. And on the trans-
`saints at Ephesus needed this. And we do too. Let gressions that follows this first transgression in Adam
it sink deep into our souls: by the grace of God we are always the verdict is more guilt andecorruption. Dying
saved. Nay, not by any man-conceived grace of God, we indeed die in our original as well as in our actual
but by the grace of God according to the eternal good sins. To be made alive with Christ therefore means
pleasure of God.                                            that the redemption price has been paid for us, that
    This grace has indeed  sav& us.                         full satisfaction for sin has been made. That there is
    About this too we need to say just a word. It is nothing to add. So very really we are righteous be-
true, that we have mentioned this already in the fore- fore God in Christ, that even- though our conscience
going paragraphs. However, there we were interested accuses us that we have kept none of God`s command-
to focus all of our attention of the truth that grace ments that yet for the sake of Christ's merits we are
has been concretely manifested and realized in Christ. as really righteous before God as though we had never
We also emphasized that Paul has this in mind here. sinned, yea, as though we ourselves had fulfilled all
What still calls for a word is what really the im$icu-      righteousness. The basis of our being made alive is:
Ctin of being saved by grace, that is, what. Paul here the righteousness of God in Christ, without works that
so very emphatically places on the foreground.              we have performed.
    First of all we notice that in the Greek original          However, to be  "made  alive with Christ" legally
Paul employs a form of the perfect passive tense which also implies the right to be called the children of God,
by grammarians is known as the periphrastic perfect. the place of saints in the light. It means that the
It is a periphrased  form of the regular perfect tense.     Father's house with its many mansions we have a
And it is employed to denote that the degree of action place prepared for us. We have the right to draw near
in the verb is complete up to the very present, but also unto God in faith, in the. full assurance of faith and
that it is completed once and for all. There is some to lay humble claim to the rights of children. God we
dispute among the learned about' this subject as to may call our Father and Christ our elder brother, and
whether these perfects are employed to, denote an we may in hope look forward to the time when we
intensive or an extensive idea. We will not enter into shall be manifested heirs of all things. And that is
it. Suffice it to say that the well-established idea of the salvation by grace in Christ.
the perfect tense is not that of point-action but rather       Legally we have our citizenship in heaven. Christ
of durative action ,and then action'completed up to the has entered into the capital city of the whole world,
present. The meaning of the verb largely determines the. New Jerusalem, the heavenly city of God, which
the exact rendering of the tense. And then, again, He has prepared for us,. for which sake He is not
as in this case here in our.text,  the entire context sheds ashamed to be called our God. For Jesus' high-priestly
light on the meaning of the verb. Here the verb means prayer is *for us: Lord I will that those whom Thou
to save. And salvation is here amply circumscribed hast given me may be where I am. And this prayer
by Paul. To that salvation. we have alluded above will certainly be realized. He is able to realize this
and wish to call attention presently. For the present salvation to the uttermost for those who through Him
 it is suffitiient to say that Paul by the use of this perfect go unto the Father, since He (Christ) ever lives  to
tense wished to underscore the completeness of salva- pray for us!
tion in Christ. It is a salvation which is once wrought                                           Geo. C. Lubbers.


