268                                                              T H E   SiTANDARD   B E A R E R

                     The Standard Bearer                                                                  _____-
           Semi-Monthly, except Monthly  in July and August                                                          ED.ITORIALS
                                P u b l i s h e d   B y
               The Reformed Free Publishing Association                                                              Protestant Reformed
                   BOX 124, Sta. C., Grand Rapids, Mich,
                       EDITOR: -  Rev.  H.  Hoeksema.                                                        It is by no means with an unmixed feeling of joy
Contributing Editors:  -  Rev. G. M. Ophoff, Rev. G.  Vos, Rev.
R. Veldman, Rev. H. Veldman, Rev. H. De Wolf, Rev. B. Kok,                                               that  The  Standard Bearer celebrates the twenty-fifth
Rev.  J.  D. De Jong, Rev. A. Petter, Rev. C. Hanko, Rev. L.                                              anniversary of the existence of our churches.
Vermeer, Rev. G. Lubbers, Rev. M. Grittkrs, Rev. J. A. Heys,                                                 Rather is our sentiment expressed in the text from
Rev. W. Hofman.                                                                                           Ezra 3 :lO-13, on which the Rev. C. Hanko preached
  Communications relative to contents should be addressed to                                              on the occasion of this celebration, and while we are
REV. H. HOEKSEMA,  1139 Franklin St., S. E., Grand Rapids,                                                thankful to the Lord for what it pleased Him to do
Michigan.                                                                                                for and through .our Protestant Reformed Churches
  Communications relative to subscription should be addressed
to MR. J. BOUWMAN, 1131 Sigsbee St., S.E., Grand Rapids 6,                                                in the past,  nevertheIess  we feel like "many of the
Mich. Announcements and Obituaries must be mailed to the                                                  priests and Levites and chief of the fathers", who
above address and will be published at a fee of $1.00 for each                                           -"wept  with a loud, voice", when they compared the
notice.                                                                                                  foundation of the house of God that was then laid with
Renewals-.-Unless a  detinite  request for discontinuance is  re-                                        the glory.  of Solomon's temple which they had seen.
ceived,  it is assumed that the subscriber wishes his subscription
to continue without the formality of a renewal order.                                                        The reason for this attitude on our part must ,be
Entered as Second Class Mail at Grand Rapids, Michigan.                                                  evident to all that read our papers.
                                                                                                             As Protestant Reformed Churches we no longer
                    (Subscription Price $2.50 per year)                             '                    present a united front as far as the truth is concerned.
                                                                                                             And although it might probably be expepted that
                                                                                                         no church in the world could stand for any length of
                                                                                                         time on the basis of such pure and strong Reformed
                                                                                                         truth as that which is represented by the Protestant
                                                                                                         `Reformed Churches; and although, years ago, at an
                                                                                                         outing of our young people, I said that I conceived of
                                                                                                         the possibility that, if I lived' long enough, I, would
                                 CONTE.NTS                                                               be cast out once more ; yet it cannot but be a cause of
MEDITATION-                                                                                              ' deep sorrow when, after so short a time, this departure
                                                                  . .
       Tot Weenen Geroepen .___ _- _....I_..__ -__ . . . . . -____ ___.._._.___.  . . . ...265 from the pure basis of the Protestant Reformed truth
            Rev. G. Vos                                                                                  becomes evident.
                                                                                                             Pou.probably  consider me a pessimist.
`EDITORIALS-                                                                                                 But this I deny.
       Protestant Reformed ..__._.______...  _ .__..._ -__ .._. ~....-~-......-:.....268                     I am thoroughly convinced that God will preserve
       As To Conditions ._-_-_..__.._  _________.._________~  _ ._.._ _ .___ - __._....____._..  269
       Faith A Condition Accordin`g to Scripture ? . .._____._  I_-._ 271                                His-Church through Jesus Christ our Lord even unto
            Rev. H.  Hoeksema                                                                            the end of the world, and that the gates of hell shall
                                                                         .                               never overwhelm her. And in that faith no one can
       An Open Letter To Rev. A. Petter ._ _______  _ ____._._. . ..---...275                            ever be a pessimist.
            Rev. H. Veldman                                                                                  But, at the same time, I am also thoroughly con-
       Rejoicing  .In Oak Lawn ._____ __I______ -__.___-_ ______. - __..._.  _ ________..._  230         vinced that Christ uses His Church as His battle host
            John Buiter, Clerk                                           *,.                             over against the powers of darkness, that His Church
                                                                                                         *is where the Word of God is maintained and preached
THE DAY OF  SHADOWS-                                                                                     in all its purity, that the Protestant Reformed truth
       David's  Wars  and Their Significance  _______.__I  __ __________  ..--281                        is the expression of that pure Word of God, and that
            Rev. G. M. Qphoff                                                                    I  ~    exactly in the measure that we depart from the basis
SION'S  ZANGEN-                                                                                          of that pure Protestant Reformed truth we lose our
       Zalig In Des Heeren Vrees __________ _____. __-___-  ______. _ I_______ _ ____ 284                power as the battle host of Jehovah, and compromise
            Rev. G. Vos                                                                                  with the enemy.
                                                                                                             Recently there are indications of such eompromise.
IN HIS  FEAR-                                                                                                It is not necessary for me to point out those indi-
       Called  ~To His Praise _______________ _______________-__  _____,_  ._.____________  -.286'
            Rev. J. A. Heys              1                                                               cations. You know as well as I do to what I am refer-
                                                                                                         ring.It is being said that some are emitting an entirely


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                        269

  different sound from that which is blasted from the gress into a traditional conditional theology.
  trumpet of those men that always stood for the Pro-                But rather than go backward, he will go forward
   testant Reformed truth, that the conception of the and continue to develop the pure Protestant Reformed
   latter is not' the doctrine of our churches, and that truth of God's eternal covenant.
  most of the Protestan Reformed do not think as they.               To do this is the specific calling of the Protestant
   And a conditional theology is being introduced, the Reformed Churches.
   sound of which is surely foreign to our Protestant Re-            Failure to do this is our death. It is the end of our
   formed truth.                                                  distinctive existence.
           The statements to which I refer above have never          And that is the reason why, under the present  cir-
  been openly challenged, still less contradicted. And cumstances, I cannot wholeheartedly join in with the
   as, long as they are not given the lie, I have no choice joy of celebration.             ir                  H. H.
   but accept them as true.
           Are you surprised, then, that on this twenty-fifth
  anniversary? I rather mourn than celebrate with re-
  joicing?                                                                      As To Conditions
           But, I ask, what is the heritage of the Protestant
   Reformed Churches? Is there any part of the truth                 In our last article under this heading we referred
   which they have emphasized and further developed in to Canons III, IV, 12, which speaks of regeneration.
   distinction from other Reformed Churches?                      And at the close of that article we had several ques-
           To this question some, perhaps most of us, will tions- which we now shall discuss.
   answer: the Protestant Reformed Churches deny the                 The first question in whether, if faith is a con-
   theory of common grace. And that is, of course, true. dition, regeneration must not also be considered as
   Rut that is a mere negative answer.  iAnd we must conditional, as something which man must fulfill in
   have something positive. No church can live by a mere order that  ,God may give him the grace of regeneration.
   negation.                                                      That would seem to be almost an impossible concep-
           Others will answer more positively: the Protestant tion, but it is also a conception which seems to be
   Reformed Churches teach the doctrine of sovereign implied in what the Rev. Petter writes in Concordia
   grace ; and that is also true. But, after all, that is not of Feb. 2, `50. For there he writes that the Spirit of
   their peculiar heritage and their particular contribu- regeneration, the Spirit of salvation, comes after re-
   tion to Reformed theology. Do not all Reformed pentance and is related to the latter as a condition.
        Churches believe,. officially, at least, the same truth? Do And ,that certainly is the -preaching  and teaching of
   not even some Baptist churches eonfess  this ? It may many  &minian preachers. If the sinner will fulfill
   be true that the Protestant Reformed churches lay the condition of opening his heart and of accepting
   more emphasis upon this truth than other Reformed the Lord Jesus Christ, the Spirit of God will enter in
        churches, but it cannot be said that the doctrine .of and regenerate him and make him a new man. Also
   sovereign grace is their peculiar heritage.                    the grace of regeneration, according to them, is depen-
           If you ask me what is the most peculiar treasure of dent upon an act of man and upon a condition which
   the Protestant `Reformed Churches, I answer without he must fulfill. But this is certainly not the Reformed
   any hesitation: their peculiar view  ,of the covenant.         truth. And it is quite contrary to the article which we
           And what is their particular conception?               quoted from the Canons. For there we read: "And
           It stands closely connected with their denial of this is the regeneration so highly celebrated in Scrip-
        common grace, and with their emphasis on the doc- ture, and denominated a new creation :+ a resurrection
~ trine of election and reprobation.                              from the dead, a making alive, which God works in
           Moreover, it emphasizes and carries out the organic us without our aid." How absolutely unconditional is
        idea.                                                     the grace of regeneration presented here in this article.
         I Briefly stated it teaches that God realizes His eter- It is sometimes alleged by those that do not understand
        nal covenant of friendship, in Christ, the Firstborn of the Reformed truth that Reformed theologian, and
        every creature and the Firstbegotten of the dead, especially Protestant Reformed theologians, deny or do
        organically, and antithetically along the lines of- elec- not sufficiently emphasize the responsibility of man.
        tion and reprobation, and in connection with the or- And it seems that one of the motives that a&u&es  the
        ganic development of all things.                          Rev. Petter to speak of conditions is rooted in that same
  _,       That is, in a nutshell, the peculiar Protestant Re- misunderstanding of the relation between God's sover-
        formed heritage.                                          eign grace and the responsibility of man. But let me ask
           He that has been captivated by this beautiful Re- the question : Is man responsible for his own regenera-
        formed truth must have nothing  of anything that tion? That is, indeed, an important question. For,
   smacks like Heynsian theology, nor will he ever retro-         mark you well, if he is not responsible for his own
                                                            e

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

regeneration, but if this is absolutely and uncondition- really not complete, or so that at any stage of ,Zhat
ally a work of God, he cannot be responsible for his         work of God in us His work is conditioned by and
faith, which is  roo"ed  in regeneration, nor for any contingent upon anything that we must still do. And
other blessings of grace. But what does the article          also this is most emphatically denied by Art. 12 of
say'! It tells us that regeneration is a new creation.       Canons III, IV. When God has wrought regeneration
That means, therefore, that it is a work of God absol-       in the heart of man, which is the principle of subjec-
utely and uncondi:ionally,  in which man has no part tive salvation, that work of God is entirely' complete in
whatsoever. Just as it would be the height of absurd-        itself. It is not in the power of man to be regenerated
ity to teach that the creation of man, the manner of         or not to be regenerated. The work of Gad is sure and
his creation and the nature with which he was crealed,       absolutely unconditional as far as the application of
was conditioned upon anything in man himself, so it          salvation to the sinner is concerned.
is also the height of folly that regeneration, which is         Still more. The  ,question is also whether it is in
a new creation, is at all contingen: upon or conditioned the power of man after God has regenerated him either
by anything that man may do or will or desire. Just to be converted or to remain unconverted, whether it
as Adam was not responsible for his own creation, so is in his power after God has given him the principle
the elect are certainly not responsible for their own of the new life either to believe in Christ or not to
regeneration. Besides, the article tells us #that regen- believe. Also on this question we find the answer in
eration is a resurrection from the dead, a making the article of the Canons. The article states that re-
alive.    And that presents the work of regeneration generation is not affected by such a mode of operation
again as absolutely unconditional. The dead certainly "that after God has performed his part, it still remains
cannot fulfill any conditions. Nor  can God possibly         in the power of man. . . .to be converted or to continue
require of the dead #that they fulfill any conditions. unconverted ; but it is evidently a supernatural work,
Nor can the dead ever be held responsible for their          most powerful, and at the same time most delightful,
own regeneration. Nor can the regenerated be held astonishing, mysterious, and ineffable; not inferior in
responsible for the fact that they ever were regener- efficacy to creation, or the resurrection from the dead,
ated. And to this the article adds, to make it absola:ely    as the Scripture inspired by the author of this, work
sure that regeneration is a work of God alone and that declares ; so that all in whose heart God works in that
it is performed upon us and in us unconditionally:           marvellous manner, are certainly, infallibly, and ef-
"which God works in us without our aid." We, there- fectually regenerated, and do actually believe." From
fore, have absolutely nothing to do with our own re-         this it is very evident that neither regeneration, nor
generation, which is the beginning, and at the same          conversion, nor repentance, nor belief in Christ is in
time the principle, of all our salvation as it is wrought    any sense conditional upon the work of man, upon his
within our hearts and as it is applied by the Holy Spirit will, or desire. When God works His grace in a man,
to the elect.                                                iF, is not in his power and it is not in his choice either
       The next question which we ask in connection with to be converted or to remain unconverted. But he
Article 12 of III and IV of the Canons is whether there must be converted. When God works His grace in the
is any part of the work of salvation left for man after heart of any man, it is not in his power either to re-
`God has accomplished His part. This is answered pent or not to repent, which is an element of con-
negatively by the article in the following words : "But version. But he must and does actually repent. When
this is in no wise effected merely by the  exkernal          God works His grace in the heart of any sinner, it is
preaching of the gospel, by moral suasion, or such           not up to him to decide whether he will believe or not
a mode of operation, that after God has performed his        beheve  in Christ. But he must believe in Christ and
part, it still remains in the power of man to be regen-      actually does believe. For the work of regeneration, .
erated or not." Now regeneration is in principle the and therefore, all the work which is implied in the
whole of salvation as it is applied unto us. All the         application of salvation to the sinner is not inferior
benefits of salvation are already implied in the one in efficacy to creation or to resurrection from the dead.
principal benefit of regeneration. I therefore put the And all in whose heart God works that  marvellous
question in this way, and ask whether there is any           grace are "certainly, infallibly, and effectually re-
part of salvation left for man to do after God has ac- generated, and do actually believe". Such is the mar-
complished His part of the work of salvation. Mark vellous work of grace which God performs sovereignly
you, I do not deny that after that part of the salvation     and unconditionally upon the sinner.
`which ,God  works within us there is a part which we           The question must still be asked : what is the proper
do fulfill as the inevitable result and the fruit of God's conception of the relation between God's part and
part. Bu: the question is simply whether there is any man's part, between the work of God and the activity
part of the work of salvation as God works it within us of the regenerated sinner, between faith and believing?
left to man, so that the work of God's salvation is             But this we must  Ieave till next time .     H. H.


                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                          271

     Faith A Condition                                       does not alter the fact that salvaiion here refers to
                                                             the final and future deliverance in the Messianic king-
            According To Scripture?                          dom of glory. In other words, it does not mean sal-
                                                             vation in the dogmatic sense, salvation in the sense  tha:
                                                             we are already saved through faith by grace. On the
   The next passage to which the Rev. Petter appeals contrary, the future means, if 1 .may paraphrase .the
as proof that faith is a condition which man must ful- text : "they that are saved by grace and through faith
fill before God will give him salvation is taken from and call upon the name of the Lord shall surely be
Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost, Acts  2:21:          saved in the final day of the Lord." Hence, the text
"And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on has nothing to do with faith as a condition.
the name of the Lord shall be saved." Now also of this          3. That "to call upon the name of the Lord" cer-
text the Rev. Petter offers no exegesis whatever. He tainly is not simply the same as prayer in its narrower
merely makes the following remarks: "Though the sense, but refers to the entire act of public confession
fulure  form often expresses also certainty, yet here it and worship which believers offer to God in the midst
follows upon the calling upon the name of the Lord, of the world and whereby they reveal themselves as of
and is future with respect to that calling action."          His party. It "signifies' not only the public worship  oi
   Now let us note:                                          God, but inward worship also, in which the confession
   1. That according to Rev. Petter not only faith of the mouth is also the expression of the heart."
but also calling upon the name of the Lord is a con-         (Keil, in loco). It is, therefore, a very conscious and
dition unto salvation. In other words, the order ac- emphatic act of faith, of that faith which by grace God
cording to him is: faith-calling on the name of the works in the hearts of the elect. And therefore, to say
Lord-salvation. Mark you well, according to Petter that faith is a condition unto calling on the name of
faith and that activity of faith which consists in call- the Lord, and that, in turn calling on the name of
ing upon the name of the Lord is not the way in which the Lord is a condition unto salvation is pure nonsense.
the Lord leads His people unto salvation, but is a con- They that call upon the name of the Lord already are
dition which man must fulfill before ,God will ever save saved and are consciously saved. Before they can ever
him. The fulfillment of this condition is, of course, call upon the name of the Lord, they are regenerate?,
before salvation. Before a man is saved at all he is they are called by the efficacious call of God through
able to call upon the name of the Lord. I get the im- the gospel, and have come to the conscious act of be-
pression that the Rev. Petter means by calling upon lieving.
the name of the Lord simply the act of prayer. This             4. That "the calling upon the name of the Lord" is
must mean, if words mean anything at all, that before the fruit of the calling of God according to the text
God regenerates a man, before God works grace in his in Joel. For we read: "That whosoever  shah call upon
heart, he is able to pray. I say again :. if words are the name of the Lord shall be delivered: for in mount
not empty, but mean anything at all, this must be the Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord
meaning of Petter's explanation. And this is simply said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call."
Arminianism.                                                 The remnant here is undoubtedly the remnant accord-
   2. That Peter in his sermon on the day of Pentecost ing to the election of grace. And the calling is the effi-
quotes from Joel 2 532 : "And it shall come to pass, that    cacious calling `of God which is rooted in and based
whosoever shall call on the" name of the Lord shall be upon that gracious election. Thus Calvin understands
delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall the text correctly: "But it is not enough to hold, that
be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the rem- the church of God is only in the remnant; it must be
nant whom the Lord shall call." Now we may re- also added, that the remnant abide in ,God's church for
mark that both in the sermon of Peter and in the con- no other reason but that the Lord has called them.
text in which the passage occurs. in Joel, the idea is Whence then is it that there is a portion in the church
entirely eschatological. It places us in "the day of the which shall remain safe, while the whole world seems
Lord". Hence, it does not refer to the work which to be doomed to destruction? It is from the calling'
God performs in the heart of man in time and, as             of God. And there is no doubt but that the prophet
Petter would have it, immediately upon man's calling means by the word, call, gratuitious election. The Lord
upon the name of the Lord, but to future salvation,          is indeed often said to call men, when He invites them
that is, to salvation in the end of time, in the parousia, by the voice of His gospel; but there is what surpasses
in the coming of the Lord in the final kingdom of that, a hidden call, when God destines for Himself
glory. That is the meaning of the future tense, con-         those whom He purposes to save. There is then  an
nected with which is, of course, also the notion of inward call, which dwells in the secret counsel of God ;
certainty. That according to the context the entire and that follows the call, by which he makes us really
new dispensation is included in the day of the Lord the partakers of His adoption. Now the prophet

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

means, that those who will be the remnant shall not through the preaching of the gospel that arouses the
stand by their own power, but because they have been hearers to act and repent is entirely forgotten.
called from above, that is, elected. But that the elec-           3. After this response, according to the Rev. Petter,
tion of God is not to be separated from the outward not according to the text, the hearers receive the Holy
call I allow; and yet this order ought to be maintained, Spirit of salvation. It makes no difference to the Rev.
that God, before He testifies His election to men, adopts Petter whether this is Ze Spirit of regeneration and
them first to Himself in His own secret counsel. The sanctification or not. ln other words, even the Spirit
meaning is, that calling is here opposed to all human of regeneration is, according to the implication of
merits, and also to virtue and human efforts ; as though Petter's reasoning, given on condition of faith and
he said, `Men attain not to this for themselves, that          repentance.    If you will believe, the Spirit will re-
they continue a remnant and are safe, when God visits generate you. And this is exactly the stuff one may
the sins of the world; but they are preserved by His           hear from many an Arminian preacher over the
grace alone, because they have been chosen.' Paul              radio.
also speaks of the remnant in Romans 11, and wisely               But all this is sheer dogmatism on the part of Rev.
considers that passage, `I have kept for myself seven Petter and ,ignores  all sound exegesis. Let us there-
thousand.' " I conclude, therefore, that also in this          fore carefully attend to the words of the text in its
passage t.here is no ground or proof for the proposition       context.
which the Rev. Petter tries to defend, that faith is s            The text does not begin with a question of the
condition.                                                     hearers, but with the announcement of the effect of
   Again the Rev. Petter refers to a passage from the the preaching of  Peter upon them. Not to begin
same chapter in Acts. And I quote him: "It is to be            with this announcement is a very important omission
noticed also how Peter in this same connection  speaks         on the part-of Rev. Petter. For this announcement
to these people. They ask, `Men and brethren, what clearly shows that God's salvation and the application
shall we do?' Upon their question Peter tells them of that salvation is first and  eflicacious and absolutely
to act. He says, `Repent and be baptized. . . .for the unconditional. What is this important announcement?
remission of sin and ye shall receive the gift of the          It is this: `"Now when they heard this, they were
Holy Ghost.' It is remarkable that first is a question pricked in their heart."
of the hearers  ;  secondy,  an arousing to response  ; and       What did these men hear? A word of man? The
thirdly, thereupon the gift of the Holy Spirit. Now word of Peter? Not at all. They heard the preaching
howsoever we understand this `gift of the Holy Spirit', of the Word of God, the preaching of the gospel. And
whether as a power-sign, such as the apostles were therefore they heard Christ Himself. The preaching
themselves using in their speaking of tongues, or of the gospel is a means of grace, that is, it is a means
whether we understand it as we use it today, the Spirit whereby the Holy Spirit works grace and faith in our
working regeneration and faith and love, it makes hearts. Thus it is according to the Heidelberg Cate-
essentially no difference. It certainly is the Spirit"of       chism : "Since then we are made partakers of Christ
salvation revealing Himself in some of its stages. And and all his benefits by faith only, -whence doth this
the Spirit as so seen comes upon, after, related to re- faith proceed? From the Holy Ghost, who works faith
p e n t a n c e . "                                            in our. hearts by the preaching of the gospel, and con-
   Now if words have their proper meaning, in the firms it by the use of the sacraments." Lord's Day
vocabulary of the Rev. Petter as well as in mine, as XXV, qu. and ans. 65. And the same truth is taught
they should have, the above paragraph is Arminianism in Scripture in Romans 10:13-E  : "For whosoever shall
of the worst kind. Mark you well, I do not say that call upon the name of the Lord' shall be saved. How
the Rev. Petter is Arminian. But I do emphatically then shall they call on him in whom they have not
state that his interpretation of the text is Arminian believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom
through and through. And it certainly cannot be de-            (whom) they have not heard? And how shall they
duced from the text itself. Consider what the Rev. hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach
Petter teaches here:                                           except they be sent? As it is written, How beautiful
   1. He begins very arbitrarily, without any regard are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace,
to the context, with a question of the hearers. That, and bring glad tidings of good things!" Now here on
of course, leaves room for the false impression that the day of Pentecost there was a preacher that was
salvation and its application begins with man. The sent, in the person of Peter, through whom it pleased
question referred to is: "Men and brethren, what shall Christ to speak His own efficacious Word to the hear-
we do?,,                                                       ers, and through whose words the hearers could hear
   2. Then Peter tells them to act and arouses them to         Christ Himself speaking to them. That, therefore,
repentance. Also here the divine factor is entirely left was first. And that did not depend on any condition
out of view. That it is not Peter, but the Holy Spirit of man whatsoever. With this, and not with the ques-


                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                         273

tion of the hearers, the Rev. Petter ought to have be- dition. The hearers do not take the initiative whatso-
gun his exegesis. For that is very important.             ever.    It is the Holy Spirit, that regenerated them
   Now, what was the immediate effect upon  the and called them to faith, that now unconditionally
hearers of the Word that was spoken by the apostle rouses them to the activity of repentance. And when
Peter? We read that they were pricked in their they thus repent, that repentance is not a condition
hearts. The heart is the very center of our life from unto salvation and unto the remission of sins, but is
a spiritual,  ethica viewpoint. From the heart are the the active fruit in the hearers of the grace of God that
issues of life. All our thoughts and desires and long- wrought in them and that was first and uncondi-
ings and aspirations are centered in the heart and  are tional.
given ethical, spiritual direction by that heart. We         This is proper exegesis of Scripture. And this is
read that the hearers were pricked in their hearts. the teaching of our Reformed confessions. Let me call
Who was the author of this pricking? The answer is your attention once more to an article of the Canons
evidently: Christ, by His Spirit, through the -preach- which I quoted in another connection before, Canons
ing of Peter? And what does it mean that they were III, IV, 12: "And this is the regeneration so highly
pricked in their hearts? It evidently means that the ceelbrated in Scripture, and denominated a new  crea-
Spirit had already efficaciously regenerated them and tion: a resurrection from the dead, a making alive,
called them to repentance principally: for the Spirit which God works in us without our a1d . But this is in
gives the grace of- repentance,. and the fruit of thir no wise effected merely by the external preaching of
grace is that we repent. That is also the interpretation the gospel by moral suasion, or such a mode of opera-
of Calvin in his commentary on the book of Acts. And tion, that after God has performed His. part, it still
we quote :                                                remains in the power of man to be regenerated or not,
   iiThey  were pricked  in'their heart. Luke doth now to be converted, or to continue unconverted; but it is
declare the fruit of the sermon, to the end we may evidently a supernatural work, most powerful, and at
know that the power of the Holy ,Ghost  was not only the same time most delightful, astonishing, mysterious,
showed forth in the diversity of tongues, but also in and ineffable; not inferior in efficacy to creation, or
their hearts which heard. And he noteth a double the resurrection from the dead, as the Scripture in-
fruit; first, that they were touched with the feeling of spired by the author of this work declares; so that
sorrow ; and secondly, that they were obedient to all in whose heart God works in this marvellous man-
`Peter's counsel. This is the beginning of repentance, ner, are certainly, infallibly, and effectually regener-
t,his is the entrance unto godliness, to be sorry for our ated, and do actually believe. Whereupon the will thus
sins, and to be wounded with the feeling of our           renewed is not only actuated and influenced by God,
miseries."                                                but in consequence of this  influen&,` becomes itself
   Now, note, that although the hearers on the day of active.. Wherefore also, man is himself rightly said
Pentecost were pricked in their hearts by the Spirit to believe and repent, by virtue of that grace received."
of Chris', through the preaching of the apostle Peter        All this is most beautifuhy  taught in the words of
and that therefore they were already principally re- the text from Acts from which the Rev. Petter tries
generated and had received the gift of grace that is to deduce conditions.
called repentance, they must still be roused to the          From all this it ought to be perfecty  evident that
activity of faith and to the activity of repentance by the gift of the Holy Ghost to which the text refers is
the same Spirit of Christ and through the same preach- certainly not the Spirit of regeneration and sanctifica-
ing of the apostle Peter. Hence, when the hearers ask tion, the Spirit that applies the salvation in Christ to
the question in amazement and perhaps somewhat            us, but the Spirit that bestowed special gifts, such as
even in despair because of the great sin which they the gift of tongues and the gifts of healing  ,and the
had committed when by wicked hands they had taken         gifts of prophecy upon the church in the first stages
the Lord of glory and crucified and slain Him, "Men of its existence in the world. How could they possibly
and brethren, what shall we do?" they receive the  ans- receive the Spirit of regeneration upon condition of
were of God through the preaching of Peter: "Repent, faith and repentance? And, in corroboration of this
and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus interpretation, let me quote once more from the. com-
Christ for the remission of sins." For, mark you well, mentary of Calvin, &z loco:
it was not Peter that aroused them to activity and to        lrYe  shall  .rece<ve  the  gift  of the  Spirit. Because
repentance.    His word could  not  possibly have that they were touched with wondering when they saw the                 .
effect. Rut the Holy Spirit, Who first pricked them apostles suddenly begin to speak with strange tongues,
in their hearts, regenerated and called them, now Peter saith that they shall be partakers of the same
through the same preaching of the apostle Peter rouses gift if they wil pass over unto Christ. Remission of
them into conscious activity of repentance and bap- sins and newness of life were the principal  things
tism. Mark you, in all this there is absolutey no con-    and this was, as it were, an addition, that Christ


 273                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEARER
 _II-                                                                              -.
should show forth unto them his power by some visible         the gospel. Reformed it is to say that God gives His
gift. Neither ought this place  to be understood of the salvation to His people in the way of repentance, a
grace of sanctification, which is given generally to a!1 grace which He by His Holy Spirit implants into our
the godly. Therefore he promiseth them the gift  uf hearts, and, which again He brings into conscious
the Spirit, whereof they saw a pattern in the  divers'jy      activity through the preaching of the gospel. And so
of tongues. Therefore this  dolh not properly apper- it is Reformed to teach that God  uncondi:ionally gives
tain unto us. For because Christ meant to set forth           His Holy Spirit to the elect, works into their hearts
the beginning' of his kingdom with those miracles, they by that Spirit through the preaching of the gospel the
lasted but for a time ; yet because the visible graces need, the hunger and thirst for His grace and Spirit,
which the Lord did distribute to his did show, as iZ          and thus causes them to acknowiedge  Him as the only
were in a glass, that Christ'was  the giver of the Spirit,    Giver of that grace and Spirit through prayer, which
therefore, that which Peter saith doth in some respect is the highest expression of thankfulness. God gives
appertain unto the whole church: ye shall receive the His Holy Spirit and grace not on condition of prayer,
gift of the Spirit. For although we do not receive it, but in the way of prayer, which He Himself works in
that we may speak with tongues, that we may be pro- their hearts.
phets,, that we may cure the sick, that we may"work              That is Reformed.
miracles; yet it is given us for the better use, that we          Note, in the first place, that according to the Heidel-
may believe with the heart unto righteousness, that berg Catechism prayer is the chief part of ihankful-
o  1~. tongues may be framed unto true confession, that ness which God requires of us. The question is: Of
n-e may pass from death to life, that we, which are           thankfulness for what? And the answer is, of course:
pool  and empty, may be made rich, that we may with-          For all the salvation which God has bestowed upon the
stand Satan and the world stoutly.        Therefore the one that prays. He is thankful for Christ and all His
grace of the Spirit shall always be annexed unto bap- benefits, for the incarnation of the Son of God, for
tism, unless the let be in ourselves."                        the cross and reconciliation in His blood, for the resur-
   But it seems that the Rev  .Petter  after all finds rection of Jesus Christ from the dead, for His exalta-
some support for his theory that faith is a condition tion, His intercession for His people in heaven, for the
in our confessions. He refers to Lord's Day XLV, hope of His coming, for the gift of the Holy Spirit and
the first question and answer; and he writes: "Thus the application of all the blessings of salvation through
also the Heidelberg Catechism  s'ays, `He gives His Him, for justification and the forgiveness of sins, for
Holy Spirit only to those who ask Him.' " All explana- the adoption unto children and heirs, for regeneration
tion of this passage from the Heidelberger is wanting. and faith and sanctification, and for the hope of final
But it seems that the Rev. Petter means to say that           glorification in the way of perseverance unto the end.
God gives His Holy Spirit to anyone only on condition This implies, therefore, that prayer is not a condition
of prayer.                                                    unto the reception of all these benefits, but that the one
   Now let us try to explain this question and answer that prays and is thankful for them has the Holy Spirit
of the Heidelberger a little more in detail. They read and grace before he ever prays. Only one tha: pos-
as follows :                                                  sesses grace and the Holy Spirt of God in Christ Jesus
   `Why is prayer necessary for Christians?                   can pray at all. It is the chief part of thankfulness.
   "Because it is the chief part of thankfulness which        Now thankfulness does not imply that we can ever
God requires of us: and also, because God will give his       remunerate God. We can never do anything for Him.
grace and Holy Spirit to those only, who with sincere' He does all for us. We can never add anything to the
desires continually ask them of him, and are thankful         founfain of life, but only drink from it. And  thcre-
for them."                                                    fore, thankfulness is principally the act of faith where-
   Now it seems to me that the Rev. Petter is a little by we acknowledge God as the Giver and as the over- .
off the track. He was going to prove the proposition flowing Fountain of all good.
that faith is a condition. And now it seems that every-          What does it mean, then, that according to the
thing becomes conditional. In the preceding he spoke Catechism "God will give His grace and Holy Spirit
of repentance as a condition. And now he implies that to those only, who with desires continually ask them of
prayer is a condition which man must fulfill in order him, and are thankful for them ?"
that  ,God may give him His grace and Spirit. But                It must be evident from all that we have said on
perhaps that is the inevitable tendency of conditional prayer as the chief part of thankfulness that God is
theology. But I insist that this is not Reformed. Re- always first along the whole line of salvation and the
formed it is to teach that God applies His salvation to application of salvation to us. Otherwise we could
us in the way of and through the instrument of faith never be saved. Hence, the Catechism cannot and does
which He implants in our hearts and which He causes not mean that God will not send His Spirit in your
to come to conscious activity through the preaching of heart and regenerate you and call you and give you


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                            275
-^-_--------.-----  "             II.-^^               -      -    -
faith and justify you and sanctify and glorify you
unless you first ask Him. Re does not bestow His An Open Letter To Rev. A. Petter
Spirit and grace upon us on condition of prayer which
we must first fulfill before He will bestow His grace                      First, brother, I wish to reflect upon your ar&le
upon us. But He will bestow His Spirit and grace in which appeared in the  Concordia  of Feb. 16, 1950,
the way of prayer. And that means that all His salva- page 4. I  *quote the following paragraph which ap-
tion, His Spirit and grace, are bestowed upon us as pears at the beginning of this article: "The reader
rational and moral creatures. God never deals with
us as with stocks and blocks. He wants us to be con- may recall that at one time the Rev. Veldman demand-
scious and to taste His grace and to glorify Rim with ed that we ban the concept of conditions. And I show-
thankfulness. You know, it sometimes happens in the ed with reference to writings from him and from the
hospitals that a sick person is incapable of eating Revs. Hoeksema and Ophoff that  suCh banning as
and of tasting his food and that he must be fed through heretical would also adversely effect the Revs. Hoek-
his veins. In this fashion God does not and will not sema and Ophoff and himself." This paragraph, there;
feed the grace of His Holy Spirit, feed the Bread of fore, -asserts that I, denying the concept, "conditions",
Life, to His elect. Then they would never taste His conlradict what I wrote in past writings. Will you
glorious grace.     And we would never acknowledge please show me where' I advocated this concept? I
them with thanksgiving as the Fountain of living would appreciate it if you were to quote these state-
waters, as the over-flowing Fountain of all good. And ments which you declare that I made, fully and in their
God woud never be glorified. Hence, God first gives context, if they appear in numbers of Concordia? 1
us His Holy Spirit and regenerates us unconditionally. ask this because I do not have all the past Concordias.
He first brings that life of regeneration through the If these statements can be found in the Standard
preaching of the gospel to conscious activity. And then Bearer, just refer me to the statements as such, if you
we begin to feel the need of the grace and Spirit of                    please, and where they appear. I recall that you, in         '
God. We begin to hunger and thirst for righteousness. the past, referred lo a paragraph in one of my Stan-
We begin to feel the need of the forgiveness of sins and dard bearer articles in which I quote a paragraph of
justification in the blood of Christ. We begin to feel Prof. Berkhof. But I also remember that I called your
the need of being delivered from sin and of sanctifica- attention to the fact that you erred when you inter-
tion. We begin to feel the need to be preserved in preted my quoting the professor as an indorsement of
the midst of the world in order that we may persevere the use of "conditions".
in the faith. In other words, we begin to feel the need                    Secondly, your implied charge that I do not preach
of the Holy Spirit and grace which God has already a "full-orbed" gospel has remained unaltered until
given to us before we ever felt the need of them. And this day. You will recall that a "full-orbed" gospel,
in the profound sense of that need we pray, and in according-to your opinion, must contain the element of
that prayer acknowledge God as the  ,Giver of all good conditions. I replied ah the time by saying that my
things, and glorify Him as the Fountain of all good.                    preaching has been devoid of the use of this termin-
And then in the sure response of that true prayer He ology, presented to you a summary of my preaching,
continually bestows His grace and Spirit upon us, we and asked you what I lacked in my preaching. There-
acknowledge Him once more for the very gift of prayer upon you discovered that the word "faith" did not ap-
and are thankful to Him that we may give Him pear in my summary, and this, you declared, might
thanks.                                                                 have been due to a vital lack of my preaching. I am
    That is the explanation of Question 116 of the sure that you realize `that the element of faith is not
Heidelberg Catechism.                                                   lacking in my preaching. This is made plain to you.
    That is truly Scriptural.                                           Fact is that I, in that summary, merely wished to call
    And that, and that only, is Reformed truth.                         attention to the fact that we must hear and see and
    IAnd in this Reformed truth there is neither room walk and talk, etc., but that all this is due to the fact
for nor need of the term  condition.                                    that Christ makes us to hear and see and walk and talk
                                                     H. H.              etc. At the time I also asked you what you understood
                                                                        by faith, inasmuch as, evidently, it is exactly this ele-
                          1: *  *  *                                    ment of faith which constitutes such a vital element
                                                                        in a "full-orbed" gospel preaching. Now I wish to
                         CLASSIS EAST                                   set forth in this article, more elaborately, that the
                                                                        Scriptures deny the element of conditions. And  I
will meet in regular session at the Hope Protestant will do so with the question constantly before me, and
Reformed Church Wednesday, April 5, at 9 :OO A. M.                      which I now repeat to you: Brother, what do I lack?
                                 D. Jonker,  Stated Clerk.              As a preacher of the gospel, I surely desire to preach


276                                  T H E   SrfANDARD   B E A R E R

a "full-orbed" gospel. The question, therefore, con-          Another truth of the Old Testament to which  1
cerns me.                                                 would call attention is the introduction to the law of
                                                          God as given to Israel from Mount Sinai. The Lord
               Fkom the Old Testament.                    introduces the law with the statement : "I am the Lord
   First, I would call your attention, and also the at- thy ,God, Which brought thee out of the land of Egypt,
tention of all our readers, to the fact that several of from the house of bondage". Here you have the Lord's
the "if clauses" in the Old Testament have been ex- giving of His law to His people, Israel. And you may
plained in the Standard Bearer by the Rev. Ophoff. also regard this introduction as applying to the entire
You have called attention to these clauses in the Bible law, the ceremonial and civil included. And the Lord
without any explanation. You have not made a single introduces His law by calling Israel's attention to their
attempt to refute the Rev. Ophoff's detailed explana- deliverance. And I expect to show that the New Testa-
tion of these Scriptural passages. This I hardly con- ment does the very same thing. Hence, our obedience
sider ethical. We should certainly bear in mind that to the law rests upon our deliverance. And every Sab-
the Rev. Ophoff set himself unto the explanations of bath this same law is read in our churches, always
these texts after you referred to them in your Con- introduced by these words. Consequently, our obedi-
cordia articles. You should also bear in mind that        ence is the fruit of God's deliverance, and therefore
these articles reveal much painstaking effort on the unconditional. Have you any objection?
part of Rev. Ophoff. It certainly is your duty to re-         Thirdly, I would es11 your attention to the Divine
fute these articles of Rev. Ophoff, at least, Rev. Op-    purpose of the law as held before us in Gal. 3  24. It
hoff's exegesis of these various passages, and not to     is true that this text is found in the New Testament,
continue to quote them (without any explanation) and but, then, it refers to the Old Dispensation. In this
simply ignore Rev. Ophoff's explanation of them. Until text we read: `Wherefore the law was our school-
you refute Rev. Ophoff, our readers must surely accept master to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justi-
his interpretation of them over against your complete fied by faith". This signifies, I am sure, that God gave
lack of exegesis.                                         Israel His law in order to impress upon His people
   Secondly, I wish to call attention to a few passages the truth that salvation is solely in and through Christ,
from the Old Testament. We understand, of course, To be sure, the law as such led the people of God to
that these few passages can be multiplied, although I Christ in the sense that the shadows and symbols
consider them of great importance. The first passage pointed to the Christ. But it is just as true that the
which I would quote is Gen. 3  :15 : "And I will put very `contents of that law emphasized the truth that
enmity between thee and the woman, and between Israel's only hope lay exclusively in the blood of the
thy seed and her seed ; it shall bruise thy head, and coming Christ. Or, if you will : the purpose of the law
thou shalt bruise his heel." I *do not quote this pas- was to emphasize the truth of the  uncondilionality
sage, brother, or any other passage, because I proceed of salvation.
from the assumption that you deny these passages or           Finally, not to quote any more passages from the
have  difiiculty with them. It is merely my purpose to Old Testament, I preach fully what we read in Is. 3 :10-
call attention to them and bring them sharply to your 11: "Say ye to the righteous, that  i'; shall be well with
attention and that of our readers. This text is im- him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. Woe
portant. :It is a key passage. It explains all of history. unto the wicked ! it shall be ill with him : for the re-
This text simply ascribes the struggle of all ages to ward of his hands shall be given him". We say to the
the living God. It is the Lord Who sets enmity be- righteous that it shall be well with him, and unto the
tween the seed of the devil and tha't; of the woman.      wicked that it shall be ill with him. The righteous is
He alone! I declare, therefore, brother Petter, that he who has been rendered righteous by the Lord. This
the spiritual struggle of the ages, as according to Gen. also implies that, because he is righteous,  he must walk
3:X5, has its sole cause in the everlasting God. He righteously, and that, therefore, only as in the way of
establishes His friendship in our hearts and lives, and righteousness he shall experience the good. The wicked
He does it alone. He alone is sovereignly responsible we must command to repent in the Name of the Lord,
for the continuous struggle between the forces of light and to him must be proclaimed nothing but ill. Will
and darkness, sets them in enmity over against each you please show us that, to do this text justice, I must
other, and He does it unconditionally ! The desire to preach "conditions". I preach this text'without  con-
fight the good fight of faith, and the desire to fight ditions, in fact, with the repudiation of conditions.
that good fight of faith even until the end, is solely of Is my preaching a "full-orbed" gospel? I am serious
the ,Lord. Or, if we may state this truth in New Testa- about this, brother. Preaching this to the righteous
ment language: It is given unto us, not only to believe and to the wicked, what do I lack? What would you
in Him, but also to suffer for His Name's sake. You say, in connection with a text such as Is. 3  :10-11, which
believe this, do you not? Hence, what do I lack ?         would be lacking in my presentation of the text?


                                           TEE S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                       277

 Passnges from the New Testa,ment  which stress the          have been foreordained. And, to lay all possible em-
      TrQh that char Calling  is the i%uit of the            phasis upon this truth, the apostle declares that our
                          Grace of God.                      faith is a gift of God. Upon this latter thought we
                                                             will have sometning to say later. But again I have
i Corinthinns  15:.58.                                       shown from the Scriptures that our calling, our walk
   This passage reads: "Therefore, my beloved  brelh-        in all good works is presented as the fruit of the work
ren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in of  ,God. Fruit, no conditions. To say that the Lord
the word of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your saves me upon the condition of faith, or gives me the
labor is not in vain in,the Lord."                           enjoyment of salvation upon the condition of faith is
   I am particularly interested now in the word, the same, is it not, as to say that the Lord saves me on
"therefore", which introduces this passage of God's the condition that He does it alone ? Permit me to
Word. This word expresses the idea that this text is shorten this by saying: God saves me all alone.
a conclusion based upon the preceding. We read in
the preceding text: "But thanks be to God, Which  giv-       Ephesiuns  5:1-8.
eth us the victory through our- Lord Jesus Christ".             We will not quote this somewhat lengthy passage.
Hence, our calling as expressed in verse 58 rests upon .Attention  could be called to many things in this Word
the fact that we have the victory in Christ Jesus. Our of God. In this passage the Church of #God is admon-
calling, therefore, to be stedfast, etc., is the fruit of ished not to walk as the children of disobedience, not
this victory, and this victory is a pure gift, because to be partakers with them {verse 7). And, this ad-
for it we give thanks unto God Who gives us this vic-        monition the apostle bases, in verse 8, upon the truth
tory. Hence, no conditionality here, but fruit.              that, although we were sometimes darkness, we have
II Corinthiuns  6:lF.                                        become light in the Lord, and that, therefore, we must
                                                             walk as children of light. In this text we have the
   We read: "Wherefore come out from among them,             complete gospel for the Church of the living God.
and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the We were sometimes darkness. We have become light
unclean thing; and I will receive you".                      in the Lord. We must walk as children of light. And
   Again I am interested in the word, "wherefore", we must walk as children of light because of the fact
which introduces this text. Also in this text the apostle that we have become light in the Lord. Again we re-
expresses a conclusion which is based upon the fore- peat: no conditionality, but fruit.
going. And in that preceding text we read : "And what
agreement hath the temple of God with idols ? for ye Phil. 2:12-13.
are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I         W e   r e a d : "Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have al-
will dwell in them,. and walk in them ; and 1 will be ways obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much
their God, and they shall be My people". We should more in my absence, work out your own salvation with
note the following. "Ye are the temple of the living fear and trembling. For it is God Which worketh in
God". Paul here expresses a fact. And they are the you both to will and to do of His good pleasure."
temple of the living God because the Lord has said              I will have opportunity to return to this remark-
that He would dwell in them and walk in them. This able text. I just wish to quote it now, and call atten-
is a Divine speaking, an almighty speaking, a speaking       tion to the fact that it is the Lord Who works in us both
whereby God irresistibly establishes His dwelling in to will and to do. And this He does of His good pleas-
them and with them. Therefore they are to come out ure, that is, for the sake of His good pleasure, that the
from among them. Hence, our calling to come out Lord's good pleasure may receive all the praise and
from among them again rests upon the Lord's work in the honour.
us. We repeat : no conditionality, but fruit.                Romuns   1o:zo.
kphesians  2 :8-l 0.                                            We read: "But Esaias is very bold, and saith, I was
   -We read : "For by grace are ye saved through faith ; found of them that sought Me not; I was made mani-
and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of fest unto them that asked not after Me".
works, lest, any man should boast. For we are His               Some time ago, brother Petter, I called your at-
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, tention to this text, and asked you to harmonize the
which God hath before ordained that we should walk doctrine of conditions with it. Until now, you have
in them."                                                    not acceded to my request.  ' But please notice, also in
    Surely, this text speaks for itself. Notice, please, this text, that the work of the Lord is presented here
that we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unconditionally. Fact is, the Lord is found of them
unto good works. Hence, these good works are the who sought Him not, and was made manifest unto
fruit of His creative work in us. Besides, these works       them who asked not after Him.

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

I John 4:lO.                                                   the sovereignty of the counsel of the Lord is also em-
       We read in this text: "Herein is love, not that we phasized by Romans  11:33-36.  Who hath been the
loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to counsellor  of the Lord? Or, who hath first given to
be the propitiation for our sins."                             the Lord, that it then should be recompensed unto him
       This passage speaks for itself, does it not? Herein again? God is first, strictly and always. This would
is not love that we loved God. But that Re loved us. be enough to make the doctrine of conditions impos-
Yhe line of salvation is always vertical, never runs sible. How can there be such a thing if the Lord does
from the bottom to the top, from man unto God, but all His pleasure, and if He is solely responsible, there-
always from the top to the bottom, from the living God         fore, for whatever takes place. in the midst of this
to us. And we understand,  I am sure, that God's love world?
is always first, throughout our entire lives. The Lord            Secondly, the doctrine of conditions is also impos-
always finds us as sinners, as people who hate Him. sible because of what the Scriptures teach us in con-
We hate Him, always and constantly. And He loves nection with the suffering and death of our Lord. We
us, first, always and constantly. Conditions? Where? are born, also conceived, hopelessly lost in misery and
       These passages,. brother, can easily be multiplied. guilt. We read in Is. 69  :16-17: "And He saw that
This you know. Is it possibie to preach on these pas- there was no man, and wondered that there was no
sages conditionally? However, if `these texts rule out intercessor: therefore His arm brought salvation unta
the element of conditions, then this element is ruled          Him ; and His righteousness, it sustained Him. For
out by the Scriptures, because the Word of God is not He put on righteousness as a breatsplate, and an helmet
in conflict with itself.                                       of salvation upon His head; and He put on the gar-
                                                               ments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with
The Lime of Salvation, from the beginning to the end,          zeal as a cloke." What a passage! Need we emphasize
         presented in Holy Writ cm Unconditional.              that the Scripture here presents our utter hopeless-
       This is already emphasized in a text such as Romans ness, and that our salvation has been wrought solely
8 :29-30 : "For whom He did foreknow, He also did by the arm of the Lord? However, this is not all.
predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, Scripture not only teaches us the truth of man's utter
that He might be the  fir&born  among many brethren. hopelessness and guilt. It does not merely teach us
Moreover, whom He did predestinate, them He also that we are by nature estranged from the living God,
called : and whom He called, them He also justified ; &rangers  with respect to the fellowship of the ilord.
and whom He justified, them He also glorified."                But, the unconditionality of our redemption through
  This, to be sure, is a striking passage. It is such the cross receives further emphasis when we note that
because it presents to us the  eniire  chain of salvation,     the Lord loved us while we were sinners. It is not
from the foreknowledge of the Lord even unto our only true that there was no man to effect deliverance,
glorification. And it must be perfectly evident that but we do not desire such deliverance. The Christ of
this entire way of salvation is ascribed exclusively to God dwelt among us. He stood before us and pro-
the Lord. Please note the repetition of the pronoun,           claimed unto us, hopelessly lost sinners, that salvation
"He". And this, brother, includes everything. It in- is alone possible through His flesh and blood. And we
ciudes our salvation, objectively and subjectively and killed Him! We spit in His face, scourged His back,
consciously, everything. And it is attributed to the put a crown of thorns upon His head, nailed Him to
living  <God. Conditions? Where?                               the accursed tree. And,  Ne loved us. He did not
       However, let us call attention to this fact somewhat    merely love and save us in spite of our enmity, but
in detail. First, our salvation is presented in Holy through our enmity. But, the fact remains that our
Writ as solely determined by the unchangeable and redemption upon the cross of Golgotha was affec'ed
sovereign counsel of the Lord.          That salvation is, by the living God, by the arm of Jehovah, not merely
therefore, rooted in God's eternal thoughts. I need in spite of our enmity and hatred, but through that
not, of course, prove from Holy Writ the doctrine of hatred and enmity. Conditions? I pray you, where
election. Only, I wish to show at this time that the are they? And I wish to state right now that if the
Scriptures emphasize the sovereignty and  uncondition-         work of redemption upon the cross is unconditional,
ality of this counsel. We read, for example, in Isaiah then the entire way of salvation is unconditional. It
46 :lO : "My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My         is not true that one part of salvation is unconditional
pleasure."      This is important.     The Lord's counsel and that another part  of that salvation is conditional.
shall stand. Why? Because  He  will do all His pleasure. The salvation'of the living God never reaches us except
And He will do all His pleasure. This means every- as condemnable, wicked, hopelessly lost and vile sin-
thing. All our faith and hoping and loving, all our ners. However, there is more, much more.
sorrowing and laughter, all our fighting and strug-               Thirdly, may I call attention to the fact that, when
gling, etc. .And the Lord will do it, He alone. Besides, the Lord bestows that salvation of the cross upon us,


                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                         279

we always receive it as hopelessly corrupt and dead presented here as the fruit of the work of the Lord in
sinners. Surely, I need not dwell at length upon this us. Surely we must will and do. We must hope and
point. In the past, I have called attention to the fact believe and pray. We must fight  ,Ihe good fight of
that the sicknesses which Christ's cures are striking raith even unto the end. We must seek and knock and
because we always read of the dead, the blind, the deaf, ask. We must hold fast to that which we have. We
the lame, etc. What this means we all understand.             must run the race, seek the things which are above
It means that by nature we are spiritually deaf, blind, and not the things which are below. We mus: put off
lame, etc. We cannot hear, see, walk. etc. We are the old man and put on the new man. We must come
conceived and born dead in sins and trespasses. This to Jesus and seek all our salvation in Him. We must
also renders the doctrine of conditionality impossible. oppose the wicked world which lieth in darkness and
The remonstrants because of their theory that man             manifest ourselves as children of the light. But, re-
can of himself will the good, feverishly clung to their member, it is God who works in us both 20 will and to
theory of conditions. But we believe that man is of           do. Hence, our entire conscious life is presented here
himself dead and blind  atid deaf. This means that as the fruit of the living God. Conditions? No, but
salvation can never begin in him, that nothing can fruit. And therefore an obligation which rests upon
proceed from him upon which the Lord would begin us as such reborn and changed children of the living
His work. This also explains why the Scriptures em-           God.
phasize that all our willing and doing is the fruit of           One more thing. So that there may  not be a single
the grace of the Lord, as we have shown from many             stone unturned, not a single straw to which vain man
passages. Consequently, I submit to you, brother Pet- may cling, the Scriptures also emphasize the truth
ter, the truth that also the beginning of the work of         that the entire way of the perseverance of the saints
salvation is us is strictly unconditional, proceeds wholly    is ascribed to the living God. Listen ! I read in Phil.
from the Lord.                                                1:6 : "Being confident of this very thing, that He which
    Fourthly, I would call attention to the fact that, ac- hath begun a good work in you will perform it until
cording to Scripture, the means whereby we receive the day of Jesus Christ." And the same truth is held
salvation is wholly of the Lord. I refer to the means before us in John 6 :39 : "And this is the Father's will
of faith. I have already quoted Eph. 2%10.. We are            Which hath sent Me, that of all which He hath given
,told in that passage that faith is a gift of God. And, Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again
intercepting the carnal objection that this  f5ith  should at, the last day." This means that Christ has received
be ascribed, in some small measure, to man, we are            the commission from the Father to save all those who
t.old emphatically that it is not of works lest any man have been given Him of the Father and to raise them
should boast. To be sure, we must believe. We must            up at the last day. In other words, the salvation of
hope and love, etc. However, faith is a gift of God. the ele'ct is the work of God in Christ from the begin-
To say that my conscious enjoyment of salvation is ning even unto the end. And, finally, when life's jour-
contingent upon faith is surely not the same as the           ney has been completed, when we shall have fought the
doctrine of conditions. The doctrine of conditions does good fight, have run the course, have kept ,I he faith,
not refer to ,the way in which I enjoy the blessedness then also the Lord shall not fail us; then He will take
of salvation, but to the condition on which the Lord          us through that final valley of death and give us the
bestows that salvation. To say that God gives salva- crown of everlasting life and victory, as we read it in
tion on the condition of faith implies that we divorce 2 Tim.  4:8: "Henceforth there is laid up for me a
that salvation from'faith and render :he work of God crown of righ:eousness,  which the (Lord,  the righteous
dependent upon faith. On the other hand, to declare           Judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only,
that my enjoyment of salvation depends upon faith but unto all them also that love His appearing." And
means that we can receive and enjoy salvation only            in that day .we shall realize, as we have never realized
as a sovereign gift from !he living God. But, we should before, that the doctrine of conditions was a human
please bear in mind. that also faith is presented in          invention, and that our  salvat.ion was purely the work
Holy Writ as the gift of God. This, however, is not           of the Lord, from the beginning even unto the very end.
yet all.
    Fifthly, all our walk of life is presented in the                       Some Concludinng  Rernarhx.
Scriptures as the fruit of the Spirit of the Lord. We            Brother Petter, I have not written this because you
have already called attention to various passages in          do not know these things. What I have done in this
the Word of God. But, in this connection we would             article you know. I have attempted, in brief, to follow,
once more remind our readers of Phil. 2 : 12-13. Notice,      from the beginning to the end, the way of our salvation.
please, .that we read in that text that it is God Who         I haye referred to this salvation from the subjective
works in us both the willing and the doing. Hence,            as well as  t.he objective point of view. And  I have
our entire life, all our believing and hoping, etc.,  is      shown, upon the basis of Holy Writ, that this entire

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

way of salvation is presented in Holy Writ as the work
If :he Lord, for us and in us and through us. First,                        Rejoicing In Oak Lawn
I would ask you: Why do you persist in saying that
the Fathers made liberal use of the term "conditions",                As is well known in the circles of the Protestant
and ignore the pertinent observation of t.he late Pro- Reformed Churches, there is a small struggling church
fessor Bavinck, which you may find in his Reformed in Oak Lawn, Illinois. Recently events of joy have
Dogmatics, Volume III, page 225, and I quote: "In the transpired in her midst and it is of these that we
first period the Reformed freely spoke of conditions would write at this time.
of the covenant. But when the nature of the covenant                  On October 12, 1948, we received the sad news from
was more deeply thought into and had to be defended Rev. M. Gritters that he believed it was the will of God
against Roman Catholics, Lutherans, and Remon- that he should leave us and take up his labors in Pella,
strants, many in their hearts objected to the usage of Iowa. Although this saddened us, our efforts were
that language and avoided it." Does this observation at once put forth to procure another under-shepherd.
of the late Professor mean nothing to you?                         This, however, proved to be a difficult thing for we
   . Secondly, you deny in your article in Concordia sent out a call to nine different ministers and always
of February 16, 1950 that you ever wrote that the                  received the answer that they did not feel free to come
covenant is conditional. Yet, you did write, according to Oak Lawn to labor as undershepherd in our midst.
to a quotation from your article, see Volume 25 of the But thanks to our Covenant God that in response to our
Standard Bearer, page 350, of "conditions of the cove- tenth call we received the glad tidings from Rev. G.
nant". What do you mean ?                                          Vanden  Berg that he believed that it was the Lord's
       Thirdly, you agree with me, do you not, on the              will that he should come over unto us and help us.
following :                                                        This news we received with gladness on December 24,
       1. God's promise is unconditional.                          1949. We were informed that due to family circum-
       2. God saves unconditionally as far as Es work              stances it would be some time in February before he
is concerned.                                                      would be able to come unto us. This was a period of
       3. All our doing and willing is His work, and there-        expectation that did not seem too long for now we had
fore the fruit of His grace and Spirit, and therefdre something definite toward which to look forward. On
unconditional.                                                     the fifteenth of February the Rev. Vanden Berg and
       Finally, you have stated in past articles that the family arrived in our midst and on the seventeenth of
element of "conditions" constitutes a vital part of a February we came together to see the Rev. Vanden
"full-orbed gospel". I have presented in this article Berg installed. Our moderator, the Rev. M.  Schipper,
the entire way of salvation as unconditional. Conse-               preached for us on this occasion and chose for his text
quently, I lack something in my preaching, and, hence,             II Timothy 4 : 1, 2. He pointed out  that:  not only had
my preaching falls short of a  "fuli-orbed"  gospe! we received a new undershepherd from the Lord. but
preaching. Will you please point out to me and to all that required also that we as church of Jesus Christ
our readers  .what we lack?            For this question you must never desire anything else from him than the
must assume responsibility . I do not think that you               pure revelation of the Word of God, for if the congre-
will deny this. And, in this connection, I would also gation sought anything else it would be in error. He
suggest to you that you give some consideration to                 also charged our minister that his constant work must
Rev. Ophoff's painstaking explanation of the "if" be that of preaching the Word in season and ou' of
clauses in Holy Writ.                                              season. Thereafter, our moderator read the form for
                                                                   installation and installed our pastor in his office. Oul
                                                H. Veldman.        new minister then pronounced the benediction.
                                                                      On Sunday, February 19, Rev. Vanden Berg preach-
                             *  *  *  a!                           ed his inaugural sermons. In the morning service we
                                                                   were privileged to hear him preach the Word from
                                                                   Col&sians  4 : 17, "Take heed to thy ministry which thou
                       `IN MEMORIAM                                hast received in the Lord that thou fulfill it". `He took
  The Board of the Eastern League of Ladies Societies extends      as his theme: "The Minister's Charge". He pointed
its sympathy  to Mrs.  R. Veldman (president of the League)        out to us the calling that was his and again it was
in the loss of her mother                                          shown to us that not only the minister must bring the
                     Mrs.  .H. Vander Vcnnen                       Word but the congregation must also be receptive to
                                                                   that Word. In the afternoon service, Rev.  Vanden
   May the Lord grant the necessary grace in this time of          Berg brought out attention to Phillipians 2  :I$16 and
c`orr0%`.                                                          spoke on the theme: "The Wonderful Calling of the
                                  Mrs. Geo. Ten Elshof,  Sec'y.    Faithful Church". Attention was called to the res-


                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D .   B E A R E R                                     231
sponsibility of the congregation to hold forth the Word
of life and we were also reminded of the seriousness
and greatness of the calling we have in the midst of                  THE DAY OFSHADOWS
this sinful world. In order to fulfill this we must see
that we have nothing proclaimed from our pulpit at
any time other than the full counsel of God. Then only                        David's Wars
will it be possible for pastor and congregation to go on
and walk in the ways of Jehovah.                                         And Y'heir Significance
    Thus Oak Lawn is again, after fifteen months of             We now pass on to the events narrated in  `chapter
vacancy, privileged to have her own minister. May 8:1-14. As was stated, it is best to suppose that the
God richly bless us both.                                   wars and victories of which this section makes men- ~
    On February 23, the congregation came together tion preceded the quiet at chapter 7 :l, and David's
again to formally welcome her new pastor and family.        decision to build the Lord a house. Here the text
A very enjoyable evening was spent in the house of states that David dwelt in his house and that the Lord '
God with various members and societies of the congre- had given him rest round about from all his enemies.
gation favoring us with speech and song. At the close We must now have regard to David's victories over
of the meeting Rev. Vanden  Berg responded and led us the heathen of which that rest was the crown.
in closing prayer.                                              The subjugation of the Philistines was first. David     .
    We also wish to state here that it .is our prayer smote  &and subdued them; and he took  the bridle of
that the Lord may keep our pastor's former charge and ammah out of their hands. The expression in italics
in His Own time may bring unto Grand Haven a new is obscure. Doubtless it is a proper  name---Matheg-
undershepherd. We, likewise, would extend a word of ammah-of some city in the heart ,of the enemy terri-
thanks to our moderator, the Rev. M. Schipper,  who so tory perhaps Gath. For the  ,Chronicler has for this,
willingly and ably always stood ready to serve and          "And He took ,Gath and her towns out of the hand of
help us during our vacancy. We also gratefully ex- the Philistines (I Chron. 28 :l) . So were the people
press our thanks to the congregations who frequently of Israel finally delivered from an enemy that had
loaned their ministers to us, and, finally, we are grate- afflicted them for centuries.
ful to all the brethren who came to us to break the             David's next campaign was against  ,Moab.  The
Bread of Life for us. We like to say yet, that there is relations here at one time had been friendly as when
besides the emptiness which a congregation feels dur- David had entrusted his father and mother into the
ing a vacancy a joy of heart as she receives proof of       care of Moab's king (I' Sam. 22 :3, 4). But Moab in
the love `of the denomination and as we are one in some way had grossly offended as is indicated by the
Christ, so we may understand and carry each other's severity of the punishment inflicted upon the arms-
burdens. Oak Lawn was privileged to have almost bearing Moabites.                 "He smote Moab and measured
uninterrupted pulpit supply from either the  classis or them with a line, casting them down to the ground;
the school and in this way we have had a very rich          even with two lines measured he to put to death, and
fifteen months having a wide variety of talent come with one line to keep alive." Usually in those days a
to us to bring us the glad tidings of God's Word for defeated army was pursued by the victor and slain
which we thank our Covenant God.                            in the flight almost to the point of annihilation. But
      Consistory of the Oak Lawn Prot. Ref. Church.         the army of Moab had been captured almost whole.
                           John Buiter, Clerk,              The captives were ordered to lie down on the ground
                                                            in rows and two-thirds were marked off for death and
                                                            slain.
                                                               David's next encounter was with Hadadezer (Hadar-
                        * *  t  *                           ezer as in Chronicles). "David smote also Hadarezer,
                                                            the son .of Rehob, the king of Zobah, as he went to
                                                            recover his border at the river Euphrates". Zobah,
                                                            the capital city of Syria, lay east of Israel's  trans-
                      CONSISTORIES :                        jordanic territory and beyond the northern border
                                                            thereof. The dominion of its powerful king, Hadadezer,
  Consistories or Agents :-please return the unsold included a great part of the desert between Palestine
copies of the Acts of 1949 together with the money and the Euphrates and consequently the southern part
for the copies you have sold, to:                           of Syria.
                             Mr. D. Jonker,                     Smarting under the defeat that as Ammon's ally
                             1210 Wealthy St., S. E.        he previously had suffered at the hand of Joab (10 :13),
                             Grand Rapids 6, Mieh.          Hadarezer brought out the Syrians that were beyond


  282                                  T H E   STA.NDARD  B E A R E R

  the Euphrates for a new war with Israel (10  :16).         eighteen thousand men". He added to his stature as
  Bearing of it, David, in the language of the text a warrior by another great military  a:hievoment.
  "turned his hand at the river Euphrates". (So reads But the text here presents a difficulty. "The valley of
  the Hebrew text and not as our English versions have salt" lies in the territory of Edom so that a battle with
  it, "He went to recover his border at the river Eu- Syrians in this valley seems out of the question. The
  phrates". The subject of this Scripture-statement is text here is manifestly corrupt. The parallel passage
  David; it is not Hadadezer) . David's victory was in Chron.  18:12 has Edom. "Moreover Abishai the
  complete. He took from the adversary  "a thousand son of Zeruiah slew of the Edomites in the valley of
  chariots and seventeen hundred horsemen and twenty salt eighteen thousand". The Hebrew words for Syria
  thousand footmen", perhaps the entire military force.      (arm) and Edom (edm) differ only by one letter.
  ,4 number of horses sufficient for 100  chario:s tvere While David was far from home contending with the
  spared and the rest were laimed. What David did Syrians on the Euphrates, the Philistines saw their
  with the footmen and the horesmen is not stated. chance to gain possession of southern Canaan. On
* On his return David encountered an army of Syrians his return, David by his general,  Abishai,  inflicted on
  from Damascus coming to the aid of the vanquished them terrible punishment. Garrisons were put through-
  Hadarezer.      In the ensuing battle they suffered a out all their territory, and they became tributary to
  severe defeat as is indicated by the fact that they lost D a v i d .
  22,000  men. To hold all these peoples in subjection,         Thus had David Overthrown all the nations that
  David placed posts in their territory. They became his had been menacing Israel from the north to the south.
  servants and paid tribute. `:And the Lord preserved On their ruins he founded a dominion equal to that of
  David withersoever he went". When all the king's any of the great kings of the east. To these wars is
  tributary to Hadarezer saw that they were defeated affixed a description of David's government over his
  by Israel, they sued for peace and served Israel (10:      own people, "And David reigned over all Israel ; and
  19).                                                       David executed judgment and justice unto all his
         The golden shields of Hadadezer's servants (that people" (8 : 15). "And Joab the son of Zeruiah was
  is, of his guard) David sent to Jerusalem. "And from over the host", had supreme command over  the army.
  Be:ah  and from Berothai, cities of Hadadezer, king "And Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was recorder",
  David took exceeding much copper." The Chronicler writer of chronicles. "And Zadok the son of Ahitub,
  adds a word in respect to the use of the booty, "there-    and Ahimelech the son of Abiathar, were the priests."
  from Solomon made the copper sea and the pillars and Seraiah was the scribe", that is, the secretary. "And
  the copper vessels."                                       Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over both the  Chereth-
         "When Toi king of Hamath heard that David had ites and the Pelethites. . . ." These two names desig-
  smitten all the hosts of Hadadezer he sent  Joram  his nate David's bodyguard. The origin of the names is
  son to king David. . .  ." (8  :9, 10). Chronicles has unknown. In I Sam. 30 :14 one of these words is the
  Hadorum instead of  Joram.  The latter is perhaps name of a tribe dwelling near Philistia. It seems to
  Hebraization of a foreign name. The mission was to         indicate that David had taken his bodyguard from
  salute David and to bless him-speak words of praise foreign tribes. If so, the members of this guard were
  and appreciation-for his victory over Hadadezer ; in not heathen but foreigners who had been converted to
  the words of the text, "because he had fought against the Lord and incorporated in the commonwealth of
  Hadadezer, and smitten him".  Toi was grateful. "For Israel. They were "strangers". The law made pro-
  Hadadezer had wars with  Toi",  wars of aggression vision. for them. As circumcised, they were privi-
  that aimed at bringing Toi in his power. In Joram's leged to eat the Passover. "And David's sons were
  hand was a present consisting of vessels of silver, of chief rulers", that is, princes.
  gold' and of brass, indicative of the desire to enter         So had the Lord given David rest round about
  into a relation of friendship with the victor. David from all his enemies. He was now decided to build the
  dedicated the present to the Lord as he had done with Lord a house.
  the booty of the conquered nations, thereby confirming        To appreciate David's successes in war, regard
  that his wars and victories were of the Lord. The must be had to the boundaries of the land that the
  spoils were from Aram (Syria), Moab, the children of people of Israel, in fulfillment of the promise, was
  Ammon, the Philistines, Amalek and Hadadezer. In made to inherit.              The southern boundary was the
  Chronicles the list includes also Edom. These were wilderness of Zin. This southern line stretched by the
  the nations that had been subdued (8:12). Ammon's side of Edom southward below the dead sea. The
  name is also mentioned. The conflict with Ammon is western border was the Mediterranean sea. The north-
  told in chapter 10.                                        ern limit was a line drawn from the dead sea on the
         "And David made him a name when he returned west to Mount Hor on the east. From that point the
  from smiting the Syrians in the valley of salt, being line descended from the mountains southwards to


                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                        283

 Riblah to the east of  Ain, and going down still further destroy them". The same command is repeated in
 struck the east side of the sea of  `Chinereih.    Still Deut. 20  :16, 17 in these words, "But of the-cities of
 further it ran down to Jordan and thence along that       these peoples which the Lord thy. God doth give thee for
 river to the Dead Sea, Numbers 34.                        An inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that
    In a word, the land that the Lord gave to His people breatheth : but shall utterly destroy them-the Canaan-
 extended southward to the wilderness of Zin, was bor- ites-as the Lord thy God commanded thee: that they
 dered on the west by the Mediterranean sea, reached       teach you not to do after all their abominations, which
 to the western crest of the *Lebanon on the north, while they have done unto their gods ; so shall ye sin against.
 its eastern border rested on the north-estern shore of the Lord your god".
 the Sea of Galilee and then ran down to the Jordan.         How the nations that inhabited the vast regions
 In this strip of land, approximately 160 miles in         beyond the borders of Israel's proper home were to
 length and whose greatest width measured but 50 be dealt with istold us in Deut.`20:10-15,  "When thou
 miles the Lord planted His people. (It did not include comest nigh unto a city (in that region beyond) to
 the territory occupied by the two and a half tribes fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it. And it
 east of the Jordan.) The land of Israel's abode was shall be, .if it make thee answer of peace, and open
 thus. comparatively but a small region.                   unto thee, then it shall be, that all the people that is
    But according to Genesis  15:18 ; Exodus 23  :31;      found therein shall be tributaries unto thee, and they
 Deuteronomy  1:7 ; and Joshua  1:3, 4, it was an im- shall serve thee. And if they will make no peace with
 mence region that extended to the Euphrates on the thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt
 east and to the river Nile on the West. It thus in- besiege it : and when the !Lord thy God shall deliver it
 cluded the whole of Arabia. Let us quote: "In the unto thy hands, thou shalt smite every man thereof
~ same day the Lord made a covenant with Abraham, with the edge of the sword. But the women and the
 saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from little ones and'the cattle and all that is in the city, even
 the river of Egypt (the Nile) to the great river (Eu-     all the spoil therein, shalt thou take unto thyself ; and
 phrates)  ", Gen.  15:18.    And afterwards to Moses, thou shalt .&t the spoil of thine enemies, which the .
 "And I will set thy bounds from the Red Sea even to       Lord thy God hath given thee. Thus shalt thou do
 the Sea of the Philistines (Mediterranean) and from unto all the cities of these nations "who dwelt in that
 the Arabian desert unto the river (Euphrates) ", Ex. vast region beyond.
 23:31.  And still later, "Every place whereupon the
 soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours:  from-        Let us take notice. The Canaanites had to be de-
 the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the river stroyed. No peace might be proclaimed to them. -Nor
 Euphrates, even unto the uttermost sea (Mediterran- did they desire peace with Israel. (The one exception
 ean) shall your. coast be", Deut.  11:24. And finally was the ,Gibeonites) . Hearing of Joshua's approach,             -
 to Joshua, "Every place that the sole of your foot shall they prepared for war and went forth to do battle with
 tread upon, that have I given you, as I said to Moses.    Israel's army. Thus they asked for the doom by which
 From your wilderness to this Lebanon even to the they were overtaken. "For it was of the Lord to hard-
 great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the en their hearts, that they should, come against Israel in
 Hittites, and unto the great sea (Mediterranean) to- battle, that he might destroy them utterly, and that
 ward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast", they might have no `favor, but that he might. destroy
 Joshua  1:3, 4.                                           them, as the Lord commanded- Moses, "Joshua 11: 18.
    The fact, thzn, is this. According to Numbers 34          But now Israel's inheritance also included, that
 Israel's `inheritance was small.  I-4ccording  to other vast region beyond and the nations that dwelt therein.
 Scripture passages, it was a vast region. There is no The Lord had promised. These nations, therefore,
 difllculty here. The smaller region was Israel's proper were David's, for the asking. "Ask of me", said the
 home as is proved by the fact that it was the only Lord in the first instance to David (and in the fmal
 land divided among the twelve tribes by the lot of        instance to Christ. For David was a prophetic per-
 God. Its original inhabitants were Canaanite tribes, son), "and I shall give thee the heathen for thine in-
 all of which were under the ban of God and thus mark- heritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for
 ed for destruction. "And the Lord spake unto Moses thy possession", Ps. 2 :8. Now  a' different treatment
 in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho, saying, had to be afforded these nations. Not being under the
 Speak unto the children of Israel  ,and say unto them: ban of God as were the Canaanites, peace had to be
 when ye pass over Jordan into the land of Canaan then proclaimed unto them. If they made answer of peace,
 ye shall drive out the inhabitants of the land before they were spared and became tributary unto David.
 you", Num.  30:50-56.  And again at Deut.  7:2, "And         Completing this article will have to be done in the
 when the Lord thy God shall deliver them-the Canaan- next article,
 ites-before thee, thou shalt smite them and utterly                                            G: M. Ophoff.


286                                           THE  STANDARD   BEARER

van ellende, honger en kommer. 0 neen. Hij geeft in
rechtvaardigheid en rech't . Hij is rentmeester over. de
hoeveelheid goederen die de Heere hem gaf, en hij is                            I N   HIS.  F E A R
zich bewust, dat hij eenmaal rekenschap zal moeten
geven.
       En dan zal hij eerst geven aan de huisgenooten des                       Called To His Praise
geloofs. Eerst moeten we goed doen aan de broederen,
en dan aan degenen die buiten zijn.                                 Liss that Pmtie. (cont.)
       Tweedens, hi j zal goeddoen, maar hi j zal niet dwase            In our last instalment in this  department we  called
lijk geven, in `t  wilde weg. Hij zal geven,  maar hij your attention to the fact that the lips and tongue play
zal niet alles aa,n den- eersten den  besten geven die an important part in the believer's prophetic calling.
roept en klaagt.                                                    It is about this matter that we would call your atten-
       Derdens, hij zal onderscheid maken tusschen die tion somewhat more fully at this time. For the be-
waarlijk  gebrek heeft, en dien die  valsch is in zijn liever as a. prophet of God is by no means one who
klagen. 0,  er is zooveel bedrog in de wereld. En                   simply receives revelation from God. He is the seer
daarom zal hij zijn  zaken met recht besturen en  be- who has been caused to see things by God, but he is
schikken.                                                           also one who reacts to what he sees. He is one who
       En, eindelijk, hij zal geven in `s  Eeeren  naam. spehks concerning what he sees and hears.
Want God moet de eer, al de eer, hebben van al zijn                     We wish at this jun&ture  to emphasize what we
geven. Want God bezit alles. Het- is niet  goed,   dat              already stated .,before in a general passing remark.
we de indruk achterlaten: wat een  goed  mensch is dat It is this, that man's praise of God with tongue and lips,
tech. We. moeten  den indruk achterlaten: hoe goed  is with pen and  ink,  with confession and song is deter-
God ! En dan zullen de gever en de ontvanger &amen                  mined by and dependent upon that which enters his
God danken.                                                         soul through his. ears and eyes. What he sees and hears
       God geve ons dien geest in  `t geven !                       of God will determine what he says of God. Added to
       En we. hebben  og, schoon_ poorbeeld.                        -this, of course, is the mind and heart which interpret
       Denkt hier  aan Joh. 3  :16. Want  alz&5 lief heeft what is seen and heard. And man having a depraved
God de wereld gehad, dat Hij Zijnen eeniggeboren Zoo?               mind and heart by nature has also a seriously distorted
gegeven heeft. . . .                                                vision and a very faulty hearing. The Scriptures  ,de-
       Wat wondere gave !                                           clare that he does see God's eternal power and God-
   En het motief van die gave is de liefde Gods !                   head. But so distorted is his vision in these things
   Lat ons dan denken,  aan die gave in al ons geven.               that seeing the power and Godhead he sees in these
       En dan zal het ook ~41 zijn met ons !                        things a reason for hating God. And what he hears of
   Want dan zal God den lof ontvangen.                              God-as for example when he hears Him in the thun-
                                                         G. Vos.    der and the tempestinly  convinces him that he has
                                                                    added reasons for hating-Him. We are not over.look-
                              *  *  *  *                            ing this fact when we state that what a man sees and
                                                                    hears determines whether he will praise God or not.
                         IN MEMORIAM                                When `we speak of his seeing and hearing we mean
                                                                    the whole process including that activity of the mind
  On the morning of February 16 it pleased our Heavenly             and  heart. For after all the physical eye does not see
Father to take suddenly  from us and unto Himself  our beloved      any more. than your camera actually sees. That camera
husband father and grandfather,                                     reeeives the light rays upon its delicate film with its
                       ARTHUR VAN  BAREN                            chemical properties which respond to the light rays
at the age of 55 years.'                                            which fall upon them, but even then you still would
  In  this sorrow into which He  led us we are comforted by         not have a picture. You must place this film in var-
the truth of His Word, "Blessed  are  the dead which die in         ious' solutions to develop the f ihn into a medium which
the Lord", and are assured that He will wipe away all tears         you can use to print a  *picture. Similarly when  .our
from our eyes.           1                                          eye is open the light rays proceeding from the objects
                                 Mrs. Arthur Van Baren              in front of us strike that delicate retina which only
                                 Mr. and Mrs.  John  Van Til        God can make-let us praise Him for it-and then,
                                 Rev. and Mrs. John A. Heys         because that retina is connected with the brain by the
                                 Mr. and Mrs. Gysbert Van Baren     optic nerve, that which falls upon that retina is inter-
                                 MY. and Mrs. Tunis Van  Baren      preted by the mind and judged by the heart and mind
                                 Agnes Van Baren                    as to whether it is pleasing or not, whether it is worth
South Holland, Ill.                five grandchildren               looking at or not and such similar things. Cut that


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                     287

optic nevere that connects the retina with the brain        It is IMPOSSIBLE. Let us be humble enough to allow
and you are blind. Your eye may be open and the God to have the last word.
image may fall upon the retina but you s:ill have no           But let us now get down to the matter at hand.
sight. Sight is the whole process. And when we speak Our introduction to it is getting far lengthier, than
here then of our praise being determined by what we we planned, but it is essential to a correct understand-
see of God, we refer to that whole process.
  .                                              _          ing of this matter. We desire to have you consider
       And naturally we are speaking here of the regener- with us then that in the prophetic office of the chris-
ated child of *God. What he sees and hears determines tian there is a constant stream `of eternal spiritual life
his praise unto God.       For the unregenerated never according to which the Almighty  ,Covenant  God meets
praise God and cannot praise Him. They may go               His child, comes into his life by causing him to see and
through the motions `of praising Him.           They may to hear the things concerning Him, thus entering into
appear unto us to praise Him. They may have beauti- his life, having fellowship with him, and according to
ful voices which God has given them, and they may which His child responds by the opening of his lips in
sing the beautiful strains of such beautiful words and praise to His Creator and Redeemer. Through our eye
music as in Handel's Messiah or of many of our beauti- and ear and by means of  ,His Word our Heavenly
ful hymns, and we may then call it good and beautiful. Father, Who has also come into our hearts through His
But that does not mean that God says the same thing Spirit, comes consciously into our life. And then
of these works of the unregenerated.           In fact the through our lips there returns to Him our conscious
Scriptures teach us that He says quite the opposite. and willing praise. Psalm 19 is beautiful in this re-
We are reminded of such a passage as Psalm 50 where spect. The Psalmist first speaks of the mighty works _
we read in verse 1.6, "But unto the wicked God saith, of God in creation, "The heavens declare the glory of
What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or thai        God, and the firmament showeth forth His handi-
thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth?" Their        work." The Psalmist in his prophetic office plainly
true nature is then pictured in verse 19 where God sees God as his Creator. Then he turns to the spiritual
says to them, "Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy and speaks of the glories of God's Word and law. And
tongue frameth- deceit." And though they took God's in these he sees the Lord as his Redeemer. And signifi-
covenant upon their lips God says to them, in verse 22, cantly he cries out at the end of the Psalm, "Let the
"Now consider ye that forget God, lest I tear you in words of my mouth and the meditation'of my heart,
pieces, and there be none to deliver." That is what be acceptable in Thy sight, 0 Lord, my strengkh  and
God says of their beautiful singing. And denying that my redeemer." He had seen the glory of God in the
they do praise Him, though it may look that way to heavens and in the firmament. He had seen the wis-
man, God says in the last verse, "Whoso  offere:h praise dom, the mercy and righteousness of God in His law.
glorifieth  me: and to him that ordereth his conversa- Through his eyes and ears the Lord Himself had come
tion  aright will I show the salvation of God." Note in to teach him and to show him His beauty, and forth
the Hebrew parallelism here. Only he who orders his from the mouth of the Psalmist flows a pure stream
conversation--his whole walk of life-aright does offer of praise. And realizing not only that he is called to
praise and glorify God. Then too we have the power- His praise, but realizing also how far short he falls in
ful word of God that defies all compromise in Hebrews this calling, he prays that the meditation of his heart
11:6, "But without, faith it is impossible  .to please and thus the words of his mouth may be acceptable to
him." That is final! Beautiful renditions of words God Whom he sees and knows as his strength (creator
that praise God! Men are swept off their feet br7 the and sustainer) and redeemer.
vigor and power of the song or moved to tears by rhe           Notice that the Psalmist here states that the heavens
compassionate singing of God's love and Christ's  awf:*l    declnre the glory of God. In verse 3 he states that
suffering! Beautiful and inspiring? Perhaps, accord- there is no speech nor language where their voice is
ing to man's judgment. But the Almighty One, the not heard. Yet this is of course a figure of speech.
Holy One of Israel declares, "What hast thou to do . . .    The sun, moon, and stars, the sky, the clouds do not
that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth?" speak. The idea is that through them God speaks.
And the whole thing has not pleased Him at all, for Every moment, every fraction of a moment God speaks
without faith it is impossible to please Him.. It has through these and declares to us His power, wisdom
pleased Him no more than Cain's sacrifice pleased Him, and goodness, or as Paul states in Romans 1 His "eter
`and positively stated Proverbs  1523 declares, "The nal power and <Godhead". Yet there is something more.
sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord." God put these things there to reveal His eterna1  power
He abhors all these things of the natural man. And and' Godhead, His wisdom and His goodness so that
thus even the works of man in things natural and civil man  would speak. And through man as God's prophet
NEVER please Him, and are never called good by Him. these creatures which of themselves cannot speak will
Without faith it is not simply difficult to please Him. return to God in the form of praise. Turn once also

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

to Psalm 148 and notice all the things which the Psalm-
ist mentions and which he commands to praise God.                                                       ANNIVEiC3ARY
He speaks not only of the angels which- like man arc                       On M-arch 5th, 1950, our beloved parents
ralional, moral creatures, but he speaks of the sun,                                           Mr. and' Mrs. Jerry Lenting
moon, stars, dragons and deeps, fire, hail, snow and commemorated their 40th wedding anniversary.                                                                .
vapours, stormy winds, mountains, beasts, cattle,                          We thank our Heavenly Father with them for having kept
creeping things. fAnd then he ends up with kings of and sustained them together through the years, and pray that
the earth and all people, princes and all judges. of the the Lord may grant them His peace in their remaining years.
earth.    In all these irrational and inanimate things                                                            Their grateful children:
mentioned God reveals through the eye and ear of men                                                       Mr. and Mrs. Ray Bruinsma                        i
and angels His virtues, and then through the lips and                                                      Mr. and Mrs. Donald Couwenhouen
mouth of men and angels praise must rise to God on                                                               and two grandchildren.                               I
high. In that way all God's works  .return to Himself. South Holland, Ill.
And it is the calling of man as he is partaker, of the
anointing of Christ and becomes a prophet of God                                                          *  *  *  *  *
to live to His praise. That is why he was created at
the pinnacle of the earthly creation. That is. why he                                                   IN MEMORIAM
was created in the image of God. He fell and sought
his own praise and today by nature lives only to praise                      The Ladies Society of the Protestant Reformed Church at
men and to ascribe ,God's power, wisdom and goodness                      South Holland, Illinois, wishes hereby to express its sympathy
to men. They praise men for inventing the camera to Mrs. A. Van Baren-and  her family in the loss of their husband
and yet they say nothing of that wonderful eye of .man and father.
which God made and after which and according to`                                                       Arthur Van  Raren
whose principles. of construction man  ,fashions  his                       May the God  OP all grace give them always the peace that
camera. Or else he in his insane folly is ready to say surpasseth all understanding in  this time of bereavement.
that his wonderful eye came from the monkey. Hope-                                                                             Rev.  Mi Schipper,  Pres.
less folly ! But praises be to God, He renewed His                                                                             Mrs. E. Bruinsma, Sec'y.
people  af;er the image of Christ so that anointed with
His Spirit we might see  God,~ we might hear God and                                                      *  *  *  *  *
we might speak His praises. .The heavens declare
God's glory, but you, Christian reader, are called by                                                   I N   MEMORIAM
                                                                                                :/
God to declare with your lips His praises consciously ,The Men's Society of the First Protestant Reformed Church
and willingly. You are called to confess His name of -South Holland, Illinois, hereby expresses its sympathy with
before men. You are called to sing His praises. More fellow members, Bysbert, Tunis and Frank, Gilbert, and John
of this next time, the Lord willing.                 .                    Van Baren  in the loss of their father and brother
                                                           J. A. Heys.                                  Arthur Van  Baren
                            * *  *  *                                       May the God of all grace comfort the relatives with His all-
                           IN MEMORIAM                                    sufficient grace.
                                                                                                                 Rev. Marinus Schipper,  ?&es.
  On February  27,1950,  it pleased the Lord to take unto Himself                                                Michael Van Baren,   Ass%  Sec'y.
our beloved mother, grandmother and great-grandmother,                                                                               .
                     Mrs.  I-I. Vander Vennen                                                             16     *     a?.     L          *

at the age of 76 years. That she is now rejoicing in "the house                                          I N   MEMORIAk
not made with hands, eternal in the heavens" is our comfort
in this hour of sorrow.                                                     The Ladies' Aid Society of the Protestant Reformed Church
                           Mr. and Mrs. John Vander Vennen                pf Kalamazoo, Michigan, mourn the loss of one of its members
                           Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Vander Vennen               and hereby expresses its sincere and heartfelt sympathy to the
                           Mr. and Mrs. Kreno Vander Vennen               family of Mr. M. Westrate  in the sudden bereavement of their
                           Mr. and Mrs. Joe Vander Vennen  ~'             wife, mother and grandmother
                           Miss Della Vander Vennen                                                   Mrs. Gertrude Westrate                   '
                           Rev. and Mrs.  RichardVeldman                    May our Heavenly Father comfort and sustain the bereaved
                           Mr. and Mrs. Herman Vender Vennen              family and give that peace that passeth ail understanding-
                             1 5   g r a n d c h i l d r e n   -                                                          Rev. E. Knott, Pres.
                              1. great-grandchild.                                                                        Mrs. L. De Koekkoek, Sec'y;


VOLUME XXVI                                May 1, 1950 - Grand Rapids, Michigan                                  NUMBER 15
                                                                       now He says: If thou knewest the gift of God, and
  M E D I T A T I O N                                                  who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink ;. thou
                                                                       wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given
                                                                       thee living water. So you see how Jesus uses the
                                                                       natural things as an introduction and an occasion to
     Jesus' Gift Of Living Water.                                      speak of heavenly things. It is striking how often the
                                                                       Lord would do this very thing. Witness, f.i., the  par-
              "Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever             ables of our Lord.
            drinketh of thjs water shall thirst a&in.: But  whoso-        So also here. Jesus will speak of heavenly things,
           ever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall      and finds the occasion in this natural water of the well
            never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall
            be in him a well of water springing up into  ever-         of Jacob.
            lasting life."                      -John  4:13,  14.         But the poor woman does not understand Him.
   All earthly.things are an antithetical picture of the               Her answer shows this very clearly.
things of the heavenly kingdom.                                           My Lord, how canst Thou say such things? Thou'
   And there was no one who saw this better than                       hast nothing to draw with ! How canst Thou say:
                                                                       ask water   of  me7
Jesus Christ the Lord. Also here by the well of Jacob.                                   .
   We know the connection. Jesus departed from                            And then comes our text.
Judea and went through  Samaria  to go to Galilee.                        And that text speaks of heavenly dainties.
And on the way He and His disciples came to the well                      It is a description of the great Gift of God.. Jesus
of Jacob, near to the city of Sichar. And Jesus, being is the Giver of Living Water, and this living water is
weary of the journey, sat down by the well of, Jacob.                  tantamount to eternal life and all its everlasting won-
Then  cometh a woman of Samaria  in order to draw                      ders.
water from the well.                                                      Jesus' Gift of  ,,,Living Water?
   And Jesus saw and recognized His audience. Here
was work to do for His God and His Father. This                                                 -
woman is  ,one of the foreknown and the foreordained.                     Hearken to Jesus !
of  t,he Father. The Lord Jesus must draw her and                         For He is the Giver of Water to the thirsty.
bring her to the consciousness of the Kingdom of                          What is the meaning of this water?
Heaven.                                                                   According to Scripture it has a wonderful signifi-
   The Lord engages her into conversation: Woman,                      cance. That is also the reason why this imagery is
give me to drink!                                                      so often used in the Bible.
   0, it may very well be that Jesus was thirsty, but                     Both'in the OId and in the New Testament you will
we may be very sure that it was more than thirst for                   see how the image of water (and also of bread) is
natural water that made Jesus ask this question.                       used to signify heavenly and spiritual realities.
   The woman is surprised that a Jew would stoop so                       Attend to Isaiah: Ho, every one that thirsteth,
low as to talk to a Samaritan, and also that this Man                  come ye to the waters ! Or: For I will pour water
would talk to a woman.                                                 upon him that is thirsty and floods upon the dry
   Then comes the second speech of the Christ. And                     ground.
in this speech He turns from the natural water to the                     Also Joel's prophecy speaks of water by implication
spiritual water, When He asked the first question:                     when, seeing the outpouring of the Hoiy Ghost in the
Give me to drink ! He meant the natural water. But                     fulness of time, he speaks in raptures: And it shall


33 8      "                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

come  :o pass afterward, that I will pour out My Spirit      water (and bread) it means the approach unto ,God,
upon all flesh ! In this place the gift of the Holy Ghost the seeing of His face, the believing in Christ and the
is pictured also as descending floods of water that are receiving of the Holy Ghost.
pour& out.                                                    j ,`L think that all these bounties are united in one
  ", And let us not forget the most classical text of all wonderful definition which we find in the sermon on
toxts that speak of water in connection with the boun-       the mount. There we read: Blessed are they which
ties of the Kingdom of heaven. I have in mind Psalm          do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they
42.  `There we read: As the hart panteth ofter the           shall, be filled. Here we find the key to a thorough
water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, o God.          understanding of this concept of the  Water of Life
My soul thirsteth for God; for the living God: when          of which the text speaks.
shall I come and appear before God?.                            The righteousness for which we thirst! What is it? :
    And the same is true of the New Testament.                  No, it is not our own righteousness, for they are as
Time and time again, the Lord Jesus would use the            filkhy rags.
figures of water and bread in order to picture to us            It is righteousness which is thought out by God
the bounties of the kingdom of heaven. Attend for            Almighty from before the foundation of the world.
instance to John  635, 48: And Jesus said unto them,         There, in the quiet wakes of eternity, He thought of
I am the bread of life: he- that cometh unto Me shall        this righteousness which would cover His elect as a
never hunger and he that believeth on Me shall never         cloak, and which should permeate them as the oil of
thirst. I am the bread of life.                              the Holy  ,Ghost  who should make them its partakers.'
    Or read John 7 37 : If any man thirst, let him come         This water is further the righteousness of God
unto me and drink.                                           which' Jesus Christ would bring in His incarnation,
    And not to mention. any more, look finally on one suffering and crucifixion. Reason why He is called:
of the last pages of the Scriptures, Rev. 21:6b  : I will    the Lord our Righteousness. He it is that lays the
give unto him that is athirst  of the fountain of the        foundation for our justification.'
water of life freely.                                           This water is also our believing in Christ. This
    I think that it is plain to all my readers that water    living faith, this coming to Jesus is reckoned for right-
(and also bread)- is used in Scripture to indicate the       eousness.    Through faith as, God's medium we drink
heavenly and spiritual bounties of God's Kingdom.            and drink  again unto the satisfying of the soul.
    They all. tell of the Gift of God, the Gift of Living       .And this water shall once be exhibited unto the
Water.                                                       whole Universe so that all may see the wonders of
                                                             its quickening, quenching and glorifying powers. It
                         -cd                                 shall indeed spring up into everlasting life.
                                                                Jesus' Gift of Living Water ! How wonderful !
    But we would like to know more exactly what might
be the meaning and significance of this water of which
Jesus speaks so highly.                                         Oh yes, Jesus is still giving this water of life unto
    And then we find .many definitions in Holy Scrip-        all those that are the foreknown of `the Father.
ture.                                                           But I have a question. What is then the meaning,
    Isaiah seems to have in mind the Holy Spirit. You the contents of this righteousness of which you speak,
will find his definition following hard upon the text I. and for which the children of God thirst?
quoted above in Isaiah 44. He interprets the image in           And here I must speak of many things and of
the following verse and calls the water: My Spirit and       beautiful things.
My blessing. The prophet Joel has the  same.thing  in           It is no wonder that the people of God do thirst
mind.. His floods. that are descending in the latter         after righteousness. It is no wonder that they cry in
days upon the church are the outpouring of the Holy          deepest night, again and again: 0 God my soul  thirst-
G h o s t .                                                  for Thee, for the living God, Oh. when shall I come
    David in Psalm 42 interprets water to be the un-         and appear before the face of <God ?
speakable blessing of standing before God and to see            It is no wonder, for this water is so wonderful to
His face.                                                    the drinker, that I will needs stammer when I try to
                                                             talk about it.
    Jesus calls drinking of that spiritual water "be-           We saw that the Bible calls this water the right-
lieving on Him".                                             eousness of God in Christ Jesus the Lord.
    In another place He calls thirsting for this water          Well, righteousness is that state and condition
the same thing as coming unto Him.                           where you carry away the approval of God.
    Summing up, when the Bible uses the figure of                If I were speaking to children that could not even

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

read as yet, I would simply say: The righteousness of have God, in Christ, and all the benefits of salvation.
God is this, that God smiles upon you for evermore.        For that is exactly the function of the Holy Ghost in
For such it is indeed.                                     the economy of salvation.
   You see, dear reader, there is a standard of good-              That is the Gift of Living Water !
ness, of good conduct from the heart to the thought
and will, to the word and gesture, and to the deeds of                                 -t/3           .
the body and the soul. And the standard of all that                But how long will it last?
good conduct is the Goodness of the living God. When               Jesus said to the woman: Whosoever drinketh of
the thought of your heart, and the answer from the         this water shall thirst again !
lips and the deeds of the body and the soul, are in                Note that Jesus uses here the water of the well of
absolute conformity to God's standard of goodness          Jacob as a figure for all that the earth may give. to
(which, by the way, is His own Being), then you are        us of life and health and strength and gifts and talents
righteous. &id then God smiles His approval upon           and honor and position, of money and possessions,
you.                                                       etc.
   That is righteousness. And that is the water of                 But no matter how much you have of this water
which Jesus speaks in the text.                            that is earthy and earthly, you will thirst again. And
   What Gift of all gifts.                                 there is a very earnest warning in this saying. I hear            .
   Give me that Waler and I shall be happy no matter       in it the terrible thirst in hell.
what betides.                                                      What will it profit a man if he `gain the whole
   ,Give  me that Water and I have temporal and            world and suffer loss to his soul? It will profit him
eternal peace, for I am then at peace with God.            nothing for eternity is long and he will have nothing
   Jesus' wonderful Gift of Living Water.                  to guench his thirst unto all eternity.
                                                                   And so it is.
                                                                   Drink to overflowing of all the treasures and pleas-
   Jesus gives us this wonderful Water of Life.            ures of this world. Pretty soon you are old and ugly
   And now we would in due order review again the and weak. You tremble a little, and stumble a little,
various definitions of God's Word when it speaks of        and finally you fall, you are laid in your grave, while
this water. And then we will see the order of things       your soul goes upward to !God who made it, and finally
in the way it reaches you and me.                          you go to hell, to the second death and there you shall
   First, Jesus Himself is that Water of Life.             thirst forevermore.
   All the thoughts of love and of peace and of right-             All the treasures of the world cannot give me God's
eousness for the people of God are in Jesus. Why,          approving smile.
Jesus is God revealed to us. If we have seen Him we                I need the Water of Life !
have seen the Father, and with it, Father's love and               How long will that last?
loyingkindness.                                                    It will last unto all eternity.
   Therefore, you must have `Jesus in order to have                Attend to what Jesus says: If you drink of the
this Water of Life.                                        water that I will give you, you will never thirst again,
   Second, the Bible also saith that this water means      but it shall be in him a well of water springing up into
coming to Christ and believing in Christ. This water       everlasting life.
must be drunk, and that is the activity of faith. And              Imagine, you will never thirst again !
the same Bible tells us that we are justified by faith.            That is principally true even now, while we are
Our faith is reckoned unto us for righteousness. The       still on earth. There is a satisfaction in the depth of
water begins to live for us and in us through the          us that can never be disturbed. And it raises visions
activity of faith by which we appropriate such riches.     that are passing all understanding. It spells  peace
   And, third, the Bible also calls this water the Holy with God for the possessors. Ask God's people. They
Ghost that would be given to all the elect. And the        will tell you of peace and joy in God through Jesus
meaning and the connection are plain. You cannot the Lord.
have Jesus, you cannot receive Jesus and you cannot                And finally, it is a Gift.
believe on Jesus but by the Holy Ghost. In the work                No, you cannot earn it. Jesus did that.              *
of salvation it is the only function of the Holy Ghost.            It is the free Gift of grace to everyone that is fore-
He takes you by the hand and leads you to Jesus. He known and foreordained of the Father. Jesus knew
takes all the salvation that God has fore-ordained out     this woman.          Together with the Father and Holy
of Jesus and gives it to you through the Word of Jesus.    Ghost He had seen her in the quiet wakes of eternity.
And so you become partakers of Jesus and all His           Therefore, woman, drink of this Water!
benefits through the Holy Ghost. Having the Holy              :She did, and she is waiting for us in heaven!
Ghost of salvation is tantamount to saying that you                                                          G. vos.


I  -.340                                                                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                       II___

                                The Standard Bearer
                 Semi-Monthly, except Monthly in July and August                                                                                               E D I T O R I A L S   `-
                                                P u b l i s h e d   ` B y                                                                                     .-
                         The Reformed Free Publishing Association
                              Box  h4, Sta. C., Grand Rapids, Mich                                                                                T 
                                                                                                                                                     he  --*
                                                                                                                                                            kteformed Ecumenical Synod
                                    EDITOR : - Rev. H.  lioeksema.
      Contributing Editors: - Rev. G.  ILL Ophoff, Rev. G. Vos, Rev.
     R. Veldman, Rev. H. Veldman, Rev. H. De Wolf, Rev.  B.  &ok,                                                                                     Our Synod, this year, has to decide on two very
      Rev. J. D. De Jong, Rev. -A.  Retter, Rev. C.  Hanko,  itev.   L.                                                                           important matters.
      Vermeer, Rev. G. Lubbers, Rev. M. Gritters, Rev.  J.  h.  Heys,                                                                                 The first concerns an invitation to participate in
     ltev. W.  Hofman.                                                                                                                            the discussions of and to send delegates to the Re-
        Communications relative to contents should be addressed to                                                                                formed Ecumenical Synod which, D. V., is to be held
     REV. H. HOEKSEMA, 1139 Fr&klin  St., S. E., Grand Rapids,                                                                                    in Edinburgh, Scotland, Aug. 1953.
     Michigan.                                                                                                                                        The invitation reads as follows:
        Communications relative to subscAption  should be addressed
     to MR. J. BOUWMAN, 1131 Sigsbee St., S.E., Grand Rapids 6,                                                                                   On behalf of The Reformed Ecumenical Synod, in session at
     Mich.         Announcements and Obituaries must be mailed to the                                                                             Amsterdam from 9-19 August 1949, the offleers of this Synod
     above address and will be published at a fee of $1.00 for each
     notice.                                                                                                                                      have the honor to invite
     Renewals:-Unless  a definite request for discontinuance is re-                                                                                                 The Protestant Reformed Church
     ceived, it is assumed that the subscriber wishes his subscription                                                                            to participate in the next Reformed Ecumenical Synod which,
     to continue without the formality of a renewal order.                                                                                        the Lord willing, is to meet in August 1953 in Edinburgh.
     Entered as Second Class  Mail  at Grand Rapids, Michigan.                                                                                    Receiving church will be The Free Church of Scotland.
                                (Subscription Price $2.50 per year)                                                                               The officers include a copy of the basis for the proposed Re-
                                                                                                                                                  formed Ecumenical Synod, as it has been set up by the Re-
                                                                                                                                                  formed Ecumenical Synod of Amsterdam; and express their
                                                                                                                                                  confidence that the
                                                  C O N T E N T S                                                                                                    Protestant Reformed Church
     MEDITATION-                                                                                                                                  will agree with this basis, and may be willing to participate in
                Jesus' Gift Of Living Water ..* . . . . . . . . *..- . . . . . . . . . . . . *..* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .337
                     Rev. G. Vos                                                                                                                  the Reformed Ecumenical Synod of Edinburgh upon it. She
                                                                                                                                                  is requested to appoint three delegates to this Synod, who are
     EDITORIALS-
              The Reformed Ecumenical Synod . . . . . . . . . . . . . * . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340                       expected td agree personally with the Reformed Confessions of
                Correspondence With .the Reformed Churches . . . . _ . . . . . . . ...! 341                                                       faith and with the basis mentioned above.
              Van  Boeken . . . . . . . . . . . . . *.* . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343 The officers kindly request a favorable reply at the earliest
                     Rev. H. Hoekaema                                                                                                             possible date, and, if suitable, likewise of the names of the
     I`HE  TRIPLE  KNOWLEDGE-                                                                                                                     appointed delegates, at the address of the eecond  clerk, Dr. P.
              An Exposition Of The Heidelberg Catechism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344
              Rev. H. Hoeksema                                                                                                                    G. Kunst, Victorieplein 3la,  Amsterdam-Z.
                                                                                                                                                  Committing the Protestant Reformed Church to the g'uidance  of
     OUR  DOCTRINE-
              The Counsel Of God (10) .I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346    the Holy Spirit, and praying forthe  Lord's particular blessing,
                    Rev. H. Veldman                                                                                                                                 the officers of the Reformed Ecumenical Synod
     THE DAYS OF  SHADOWS-                                                                                                                                                                  of Amsterdam
              The Significance Of David's Wars * . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  350                                                             G. Ch. Aalders, Chairman
              On Breaking The Covenant 1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ** . . . . . . . . . . . . ...*.... 351                                                         P. G: Kunst, Second Clerk.
                    Rev. G. M. Ophoff
     CONTRIBUTIONS-                                                                                                                                   We also print here the copy of the basis mentioned
              Mother's Apron Strings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  .353 in the invitation:                   .
                     K. Feenstra (Redlands)
         A Change  In Kalamazoo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..-.......  354                                             A BASIS
                    Homer G. Kuiper (Kalamazod)                                                                                                                                FOR THE
     NON'S  ZANGEN-                                                                                                                                           REFORMED ECUMENICAL SYNOD
              De Lof Des Naams . . . . ..*...............................................  . . . . . . . . . 355
                    Rev. G. vos                                                                                                                   The foundation for the'Ecumenica1  Synod of Reformed Churches
I                                                                                                                                                 shall be the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New  Testa-
     FROM HOLY WRIT-                                                                                                                              ment as interpreted by the Confessions of the Reformed
              Exposition Of Ephesians 2:4-10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  r)
                                                                                                                                       "56
                    Rev. Geo. C. Lubbers                                                                                                          faith, namely, the Second  Helvetic  Confession, the  Heidel-
     IN HIS  FEAR-                                                                                                                                berg Catechism, the Gallican Confession, the Belgic Confes-
              Called To His Praise ..-....,...................................  * . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353                               sion, the First Scotch Confession, the Second Scotch Confes-
                    Rev. J. A. Heys                                                                                                               sion, the Westminster Confession, the Canons of Dordt, the
                                                                                                                                                  Thirty-nine  ArticIes. It should be understood, that these Scrip-


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                341

tures, in their entirety, as well as in every part, thereof, are the    "in reply to and in agreement with the proposal made
i.nfallible  and ever abiding Word of the living Triune God,            in a letter of the Prot. Ref. Churches, to empower the
absolutely authoritative in all matters of creed and conduct,           deputies for correspondence. with foreign churches
and that the Confessions of the Reformed faith are  &epted              to enter into contact with these churches, in order to
because they present the divine, revealed truth, the forsaking          prepare the creation of the relation of corresponding
of which has caused the deplorable decline of modern life. It           churches." (Acts  1948, art. 105 sub 1) ,
has to be emphasized that only a wholehearted and consistent                Aforementioned deputies, making use of this power
return to this Scriptural truth of which the gospel of Jesus            to act, inform you as follows:
Christ is the core and the apex, can bring salvation to mankind              1. They are in wholehearted agreement with the
and effectuate the so sorely needed renewa of the world.                intent of what you express in your letter of Feb. 1948 :
Because of the diversity in the forms of government of the              "Dogmatical differences that may possibly exist be-
Reformed Churches, uniformity of church polity cannot be                tween you and us are no confessional differences",
stressed as a fundamental requisite, except in so far as the            In addition to this, they wish to remark that, in view
principles of this polity are contained in the Reformed  Con-           of the history of your churches and theirs, they know
fessions, as for example the headship  of Christ and the marks          of no dogmatical differences between your and their
of the true Church: the pure preaching of the Gospel, the Scrip-        chwches, even though such differences between per-
tural administration of the sacraments and the faithful exercise        sons in those churches mutually may be or become
of  discipline.                                                         possible on various points.
                       Acts of the Reformed Ecumenical Synod                2. In view of the fact that both your churches and
                                     Amsterdam-1949                     theirs know exclusively of a being bound by the Word
                                       art. 5 and 30.                   of God and The Three Forms of Unity ; that on both
    Our committee for correspondence with foreign                       sides the churches, as the fruit of a struggle imposed
churches considered this matter. They decided to pre-                   on them, have rejected, and by the grace of God hope
sent the pros and cons of sending delegates to the                      to continue to reject, any kind of hyper-Scriptural  or
next Reformed Ecumenical Synod objectively to our                       unscriptural binding; that in this struggle they have,
Synod, and let the Synod decide.                                        on both sides, once again learned to see the sin of hier-
                                                         H. H.          archy, and now desire again to live more consciously
                                                                        according to Reformed Church polity as rooted in the
                                                                        confession and as made valid in your and their Church
                                                                        Order;-they not only fail to see any obstacle, valid
Correspondence With the Reformed before the Lord, to entering into the relation of car- I
                                                                        respondence, but consider that its serious preparation
                         Churches                                       is demanded by Him.
                      (Maintaining Art. 31)                                 3. In order to be able to come with a well con-
                                                                        sidered advice to their  synod,  they like to be informed
    Of no less importance is the matter concerning                      by you whether, also on your part, there can be de-
correspondence with the Reformed Churches (art.  31)                    clared agreement with the standpoint here taken ; and
of the Netherlands.                                                     if so, what would be your opinion of advising a regula-
    We here offer a translation of the invitation we                    tion that would  incIude  at least the following points :
received from the Netherlands Committee for Cor-                           a. That the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands
respondence with foreign churches. The original is                      and the Protestant Reformed Churches shall give heed
found at the end of this editorial.                                     to one another's doctrine and church polity, and to this
       Reformed Churches                                                end also shall keep each other informed about their
         (maint. Art. 31)                                               major assemblies and their decisions, with the possi-
Deputies for Correspondence                                             bility of mutual delegation ;
    with foreign churches.                                                  b. That in regard to possible changes in or addi-
Cornelis Jolstraat 56                                                   tions to the Confession, Church Order and Liturgical
Scheveningen.                                                           Forms, mutual deliberation shall be held as far as pos-
                           To the Deputies for eor"respond-             sible ;
                           ence with foreign churches of                    c. That attestations of membership furnished by
                           the Prot. Ref. Churches.                     the one church group shall be accepted by the other;
                           Scheveningen, July, 1949                         d. That the ministers of the Word in both church
                                                                        communions may be invited to conduct the services in
    Esteemed Brethren,                                                  the ministry of the Word and  the  Sacraments.
    The General Synod of the Reformed Churches in                           For your information `we hereby offer you a copy
the Netherlands, held in 1948 at Amersfoort, decided                    of the Acts of the General Synod, Amersfoort 194%


342                                        `l.`ElE   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

and for your churches a number of copies of the report               punt instemming kan betuigd  worden;  en zoo,  ja, wat uw  ge-
delivered at that Synod and of the decisions taken by                dachten zouden zijn over een te adviseeren regeling, weIke  al-
that Synod ,in TV contact with and the possibility of                thans volgende  punten  zou inhouden:
correspondence with your churches.                                     a. dat de Gereformeerde Kerken in Nederland en de Protes-
       With the prayer that the Lord may preserve and                tant Reformed Churches op elkanders leer en kerkregeering
increase your churches, and may prosper you and                      zullen  acht  geven en mede daartce elkander op de hoogLe  zullen
make you faithful in all your labors, they remain '                  houden van hun meerdere vergaderingen en haar  besluiLen,  met
                     with esteem and brotherly regard                de mogelijkheid van wederzijdsche afvaardiging;
                     the deputies aforementioned.                      b. dat over ev. wijzigingen en/of  aanvullngen  in de  Belijde-
                             W. G. Visser, Clerk.                    nis, Kerkorde en liturgische formulieren  vocr zoover mogelijk
                                                                     onderling  overleg   zal  worden  gepleegd;
       Here  follows the Dutch original of the same letter :           c. dat door de eene kerkengroep afgegeven attesties door de
Deputaten voor Correspondentie                                       andere zullen  worden  aanvaard;
  met buitenlandsche kerken.                                           d. dat de Dienaren des Woords in beide kerkgemeenschappen
Cornelis Jolstraat 56                                                mogen worden uitgenoodigd tot het voorgaan in den  Dienst des
Scheveningen.                                                        Woords.  en der Sacramenten.
                               Scheveningen,  Juli, 1949               Ter kennisneming bieden zij  u  bij dezen nog  aan een exem-
                               Aan'de Deputaten voor correspsn-      plaar van de  Acta der Generale Synode, Amersfoort 1948 en
                               dentie  met buitenlandsche kerken     voor uw kerken een aantal exemplaren van het op die Synode
                               van de  Prot. Reformed Churches.      uitgebrachte rapport en de door die Synode genomen besluiten
                                                                     inzake contact met en mogelijkheid van con-espondentie met  uw
Weleerwaadde  Heeren en Broeders,                                    kerken.
  De Generale Synode van De Gereformeerde Kerkcn in Neder-             Met de bede dat de HEERE uw kerken moge bewaren en
land gehouden in 1948 te Amersfoort,  besloot  o.a. "ter  beant-     vermeerderen en  u in al uw arbeid getrouw en voorspoedig moge
woording van en in overeenstemming met de in het schrijven           maken,  verblijven  zij
van de Protestant Reformed Churches gedane voorslag,  depu-                                     Met hoogachting en broedergroeten
taten  met correspondentie met buitenlandsche kerken te mach-                                   namens deputaten voornoemd.
tigen met deze kerken in contact te treden, teneinde het schep-                                     (W. G. Visser), scriba.
pen van de relatie van correspcndentie kerken voor te bereiden.          It must be remembered that the above letter was
(Acta 1948 art. 105 sub 1).                                          written after the Netherland deputies had met with
  Genoemde deputaten, van deze machtiging gebruik makende,           the Revs. De Jong and Kok, and reached us several
berichten u het volgende:                                            months after the wellknown letter of Prof. Holwerda
  1. Van harte  stemmen  zij in met de strekking van uw  uit-        had come to our attention.
spraak in uw brief van Febr.  1948: "Dogmatische ve=chilIen  die         In view of all that happened since, our committee
er  mogelijk  tusschen u en ons bestaan zijn geen confessioneeIe     advises synod to,send  them as delegates to the Nether-
rerschillen." Zij  willen  hierbij nog opmerken dat zij-gezien de    lands, in order to confer `face to face with the  Nether-
geschiedenis van uwe kerken en de hunne-geen dogmatische             land deputies for correspondence about the question
verschillen Cusschen uw en hun kerken kennen, al zullen  zoo-        of contact between their and our churches.
danige verschillen tusschen de personen  in die kerken over en                                                                 H. H.
weer en onderling op allerlei punten  mogelijk zijn of worden.
  2. Gezien het feit dat zoowel uwe  als hunne kerken uitsluitend
ten binding kennen  aan Gods Woord en De Drie Formulieren                                          8  *  s  *
van Eenigheid; dat de kerken beiderzijds  als vrucht van een
haar opgedrongen worsteling wederom  verworpen  bebben en
door Gods genade  hopen  te blijven verwerpen  alle  boven-  en                    YOUNG MEN, ATTENTION.'
onschriftuurlijke bindingen; dat zij in die worsteling- wederom
beiderzijds de zonde hebben  leeren  zien van  alle  hizrarchie        ' Young men,. who desire to attend our Seminary in
en nu des te bewuster wederom begeeren te Ieven  naar het in         September to prepare themselves for the Ministry of
de confessie gewortelde en in uwe en hunne Kerkenordening            the Word of God, are requested to be present at the
tot gelding gebrachte Gereformeerde kerkrecht, achten zij niet       next meeting of the Theological School Committee
alleen geenerlei voor den HEERE verantwoorde verhindering            to be held in the basement of the Fuller Ave. Church,
voor het aangaan van correspondentie aanwezig,  doch de ernstige     May 19. They should come with a statement of health
voorbereiding  daarvan  ook van Hem geboden.                         from a reputed physician and a testimonial from their
  3. Teneinde te kunnen komen tot een weloverwogen  advies           consistory as to their membership and walk of life.
 aan hun Generale Synode zouden zij derhalve gaarne van  u                                  The Theological School Comm.
 vernemen  of oak uwerzijds thans met het hier ingenomen stand-                                   p)e7', .Rev. J. Blankespoor,  Sec'y.


344                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B.EARER

                                                                passed between those pieces. In  .the same day the
  THE TRIPLE KNOWLEDGE                                          Lord made a covenant with Abraham, saying, Unto
                                                                thy seed have I given this land, from the river of
An Exposition Of The Heidelberg Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates."
                                                                   Now the meaning of this passage is very plain. 1.t
                     Catechism                                  was customary for covenanting parties to divide sacri-
                                                                ficial animals and place the pieces in juxtaposition over
                      PART TWO                                  against one another, in order that both the covenant-
            O f   M a n ' s   R e d e m p t i o n               ing parties might pass through those pieces. The
                LORD'S DAY XXVIII.                              meaning evidently was that the covenanting parties
                                                                would$ rather be  cut in pieces and pass through death
                               3.                               than ever violate the covenant. Now in the case of
       The Significance Of The Lord's Supper.                   the covenant which God ratified with Abram it was
                        ( c o n t i n u e d )   _,              not Abram and God that passed through those pieces,
                                                                but God alone in the symbol of the smoking furnace
   Now the Lord's Supper signifies first of all that            and the burning lamp: meaning, of course, in the first
`God establishes His covenant with us unilaterally, that        place, that God established His covenant alone, without
is: He establishes it alone and sovereignly. This is            Abram' as a party; and in the second place, that God
expressed in Question and Answer 75: "How art thou              would rather die than ever violate His covenant. And
admonished and assured in the Lord's Supper, that               this was realized in the cross. For in the death of the
thou art a partaker of that one sacrifice of Christ, ac-        Son of God on Calvary God established the basis of
complished on the cross, and of all his benefits? Thus :        righteousness for His everlasting covenant, and vir-
That  Christ- has commanded me and all believers, to            tually testified that He, God, in Christ, would rather
eat of this'broken bread, and to drink of this cup, in          pass through death than ever break His everlasting
remembrance of him, adding these promises: first,               covenant with His people. This, therefore, that God
that his body was offered and broken on the cross for           established His covenant in the death of His Son,
me, and his blood shed for me, as certainly as I see            that through that death of the Son of God He estab-
with my eyes, the bread of the Lord broken for me,              lished a basis of righteousness, and upon that basis
and the cup communicated to me ; and further, that he           promises the forgiveness of sins and everlasting life
feeds and nourishes my soul to everlasting life, with           in the fel!owship  of His friendship is the significance
his crucified body and shed blood, as assuredly as I            of the signs of the bread and wine in the Lord's
receive from the hands of the minister, and taste with          Supper. These are  ,the promises of which the Heidel-
my mouth the bread and cup of the Lord, as certain              berg Catechism speaks in Question and Answer 75.
signs of the body and blood of Christ." That God                   In this respect we may indeed say that the Lord's
establishes His covenant with us through the death              Supper is the wedding ring which Christ puts upon
of Christ as a sacrifice for our sins, and that therefore       the finger of His bride, the wife of Jehovah, and which
He was reconciling us unto Himself, not imputing our            she may wear as a sure pledge in this present world.
trespasses unto us, is the central significance of. the         The church, the bride of Christ, is still in the world,
Lord's Supper. He al&e establishes His everlasting              while her Husband is in heaven. She is not yet finally
covenant with us, and  ,that,  too, absolutely sovereignly :    joined to her husband, although in principle she is
for he established it forever with the elect in the death       risen with Christ and placed with Him in heavenly
of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. This was pre-                places. She still waits for the heavenly wedding. And
figured already in the ratification of the covenant as          while she is in this world, she finds, as far as she is
revealed to Abraham, according  .to Gen. 15  9, ff.:            concerned, abundant reason to despair of ever being
"And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three               married and joining her heavenly Bridegroom. For
years old, and a she goat of `three years old, and a            by nature she is unfaithful. According to the old man
ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young           of sin she is still an adulteress. In the body of this
pigeon. And he took unto him all these, and divided             death the motions of sin are still within her. And
them in the midst,. and laid each piece one against             although it is true that in principle she loves the ILord .
another: bu,t the birds divided he not. And when the            her  <God  with all her heart and mind and soul and  '
fowls came down upon the carcases,  Abram~,drove                strength and delights in the law of God after the in-
them away. And when the sun was going down; a                   ward man, she still notices another law in her mem-
deep sleep fell upon Abraham ; and, lo, an horror of            bers, warring against the law of her mind, and bring-
great darkness fell upon him. . . . And it came to              ing her into captivity to the law of sin which is in her
pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark,            members. Rom.  7:22, 23. According  ,to that other
behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that law, she still commits adultery. Resides, in this world


                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                         345          (

she still lies in the midst of death, and the wrath of        We not only see the signs by faith, but  we'also  touch
God is revealed from heaven over all unrighteousness          them, taste them, take them into our system,  and digest
and ungodliness of men ; and therefore she cries out,         them. It is especially this which the Heidelberg Cate-
"0 wretched man that I am! ,who shall deliver me from chism explains in the last part of Answers 75' and 76.
the body of this death?" And in that state and in that        In the former we read : "And further, that he, feeds
condition she has need of comfort. And that comfort and nourishes my soul to everlasting life, with his
she finds, of course, in the Word of her God. But as          crucified body and shed blood, as assuredly as I receive
an added comfort and assurance the Bridegroom puts            from the hands of the minister, and taste with my
the wedding ring on her finger; and looking at that           mouth the bread and cup of the Lord, as certain signs
wedding ring, she may hear the voice -of her Bride-" of the body and blood of Christ." And in answer to
groom saying: `!As often as ye eat of this bread and          Qu. 76, "What is it then to  ea,t the crucified body, and
drink of this cup, you shall thereby as by a sure re-         drink the shed blood of Christ?" the Catechism replies :
membrance and pledge, be admonished and assured of            "But also, besides that, to become -more and more
this my hearty love and faithfulness towards you;             united to his sacred body, by the Holy Ghost, who
that, whereas you should otherwise.have  suffered eter-       dwells both in Christ and in us ; so that we, though
nal death, I. have given my body to the death of the          Christ is in heaven and we on earth, are notwi.thstand:
cross, and shed my blood for you ; and as certainly           ing `Flesh of his flesh, and bone of his bone'; and that
feed and nourish your hungry and thirsty souls with           we live, and are governed forever by one spirit, as
my crucified body, and shed blood, to everlasting life,       members of the same body are by one soul." -,
as this bread is broken before your eyes, and this cup           For this part the Heidelberg Catechism refers
is given to you, and you eat and drink the same with          especially to John 6, which indeed has reference to the      _
your mouth, in remembrance of  ,me." Form for the             Lord's Supper and is extremely importam  for a cor-
Administration of the Lord's Supper.                          rect understanding of this second sacrament;         The
   This, therefore, is the first element of comfort           reference is especially to the conversation which Jesus
and added assurance which the Lord our God through            had with the Jews in the synagogue in Capernaum.
the holy sacrament of the supper .of the Lord gives           It was the day after the miracle of the feeding of the
believers in addition to the promise as proclaimed in         five thousand had been performed by the Lord as a
the gospel.                                                   sign that He is the Bread of life. The Jews, not
   Mark you well, it is not another promise than that         understanding this sign, were very enthusiastic and
which comes to us through the preaching of the Word           wanted to  ,take Him by force to make Him a king.
that is given in holy communion. On the contrary,             But the Lord sent His disciples .across the sea and
both hold forth the same promise. And the promise             withdrew Himself into a mountain. On the next day,
is : "That he grants us remission of sin, and life however, the multitude sought Jesus again in  Caper-
eternal for .the sake of that one sacrifice of Christ,        naum ; and when they had found Him they were cur-
accomplished on the cross."  Heid. Cat., Qu. 66. More-        ious to know how He had come hither from the other
over, the promise both in the gospel and in the sacra-        side of the sea. The Lord, however, not being inter-
ment of the  Soly  $upper  is also co-extensive with          ested at all in mere questions of curiosity, answered
regard to those that receive and partake of it. It is         them: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not
not for all that outwardly hear the gospel and that           because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat*
outwardly receive and partake of the signs of the Holy        of the loaves, and were filled. Labor not for the meat
Supper, but only for those that are ingrafted by a            which perisheth, but for the meat which endureth unto
true faith in Jesus Christ, that is, for the living elect.    everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give unto
They, and they only, can "eat the crucified body, and         you : for him hath #God the Father sealed." John 6 :26,
drink the shed blood of Christ." Qu. 76. And this,            27. Upon these words a very striking and interesting
that is, to eat the crucified body and drink the shed         conversation ensued, which ended, however, -in the
blood of Christ is "to embrace with a believing heart         Jews being alienated from Christ. The chief subject
all the sufferings and death of Christ, and thereby           of this >onversation  was the Bread of Life. At first
to obtain the pardon of sin and life eternal." Qu. 76.        it appeared as if Jesus -and the Jews were discussing
But while in the preaching of the Word that promise           the same ,theme. And the multitude seemed to be eager
of forgiveness and life is fteard, in the .sacrament  of      to receive the bread of life which Jesus could give unto
the Holy Supper it is seen in the signs of bread and          them. For in vss. 32, `33 the Saviour  said unto them :
wine, obsignated as a sure pledge and seal "of this my        "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not
hearty love and faithfulness towards  ~`ou."                  that bread from heaven ; but my Father giveth you
   But there is more.                                         the  ,true bread, from heaven. For the bread of God is
   The signs are not only displayed on the communion          he which cometh down from, heaven, and giveth life
rable to be looked at, but they must be eaten  and drunk.     unto the  .world." And the multitude, still not  under-

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

standing that the .Lord spake of spiritual bread, and
most probably having in mind  `the bread which He so
miraculously fed them on the preceding day prayed                              OUR DOCTRINE
Him: "Lord, ever more give us this bread." There-
upon,  .however,  Jesus begins sharply to disillusion them
by saying unto them: "I am the bread of life : he that                     The Counsel Of God. (10)
cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth                   Supralapsarianism  and Infralapsaricimism.
on me shall never !hirst." Upon this and upon the
words that immediately follow this saying of Jesus                    Many of us are familiar with the literal meaning
the Jews began to murmur. They evidently began to                  of the words, "supralapsarianism" and ` infralapsar-
understand that He was talking about an  entireIy dif-             ianism".    The prefixes,  "supra"  and  Ynfra", mean
ferent bread from  tha: which they sought. And mur- "above" and "below" respectively. The-word "lapsis",
muring, they began to contradict Him: "Is not this                 which we recognize in both words, means "fall".
Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we               Hence, Supralapsarianism means: above the fall, and
know? how is it then that he saith, I came down from               Infralapsarianism means : below the fall.
heaven ?I' But the difference is accentuated when the                In the atiempt  to distinguish between these con-
Lord in His further speech to the Jews in Capernaum                cepts we should bear a few things in mind. On the
emphasizes not only that He is the Bread of life, but              one hand, also the supralapsarians, generally speaking,
that the bread which He shall give them is His flesh.              are careful with respect to the reality of sin, speak of
Thus we read in vs. 51. : "I am the living bread which             a Divine permitting of the fall. They, too, are hesitan,:
came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread.               to say that the Lord willed sin. But, over against this"
he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give             we may assert that the infralapsarians realize  ,ihat to
is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."         teach that God merely foresaw and then permitted sin
.And when the Jews in their unbelief ask the question,             does not do justice to the truth of  ScripLure  and must
"How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" Jesus                 lead to Arminianism. This, of course, would neces-
refers to His crucified body and shed blood in the                 sarily imply that the Lord was prompted and guided,
words  : "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat            not by His own sovereign will, but by the will of man.
the flesh of the Son of man, and'drink his blood, ye               On the other hand, whether one is a supralapsarian
have no life in you. Whoso  eateth my flesh, and drink-            or an infralapsarian in his conception of the counsel
eth my blood, hath eternal life ; and I will raise him             of God, we must bear in mind that we are dealing with
up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and               matters as they exist in the counsel of God. It is im-
my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh,                 portant that we bear this in mind. Beginning with the
and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.               creation of man, historically, and continuing through-
As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the               out subsequent history, the Lord sovereignly realizes
Father: so he that eatet.h me, even he shall live by me.           His counsel. Sovereignly,  tvhether  one is a  supralap-
This is that bread which came down from heaven : not               sarian or an infralapsarian, the Lord calls Kis own
as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that               out of darkness into His marvellous light and the
eateth of this bread shall live for ever." Thereupon others are barred from the blessed fellowship of the
-the Jews became estranged from Jesus and walked                   Lord's covenant and eternal life. There is, to be sure,
no more with Him.                                                  a difference, also in this  respecL,  between the support-
    We must notice that the Heidelberg Catechism calls             ers of both conceptions. We believe that the infralap-
our attention to two aspects of this phase of Holy Corn-           sarian  does not maintain, as does the supralapsarian,
munion. The first aspect is the act of Christ: He                  the truth that God hardens the one as sovereignly and
feeds and nourishes us with His body and blood. And                as efficaciously as He softens and saves the others.
the second aspect is that act of faith whereby we eat              And, finally, God is eternal and His counsel is eternal.
and drink Him in the signs of the broken bread and                 However one may view the counsel of election, as
wine poured out. And the question still is: what does              before the fall or after the fall, we must not conceive
it mean that Christ nourishes us with His crucified                of a temporal order of events in God's decrees. There
body and shed blood, on the one hand, and that, on the             is in the counsel of .the Lord no succession of events.
other hand, we eat and drink Him?                                  God did not decide first one thing and later decree
                                                     H. H.         something else. Everything in the eternal thoughts of
                                                                   Jehovah is eternal.
                         ATTENTION!                                   The distinction between Supralapsarianism and
Synodical  Delegates: If  you have made no arrangements for        Infralapsarianism is rather clear:  OriginaIly,  it is
lodging during your stay here at Hull, Iowa, hlease  inform our
pastor, Rev. J.  D. de Jong, Box 208, Hull, Iowa.                  said, it really involved the question  wheiher God willed
                     BY order of Consistory of CalIing  chuch,     the fall of man. This, however, is no longer the issue.


                                      THE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                             347

All agreed that the Lord willed the fall of man, al-            to Abishai, and to al his servants, Behold, my son,
though it is true that the infralapsarian speaks of this        which came forth of my bowels, seekeh  my life: how
will of ,the Lord in a permissive sense, that the PLord         much more now may this Benjamite do it? let him
willed it in the sense that He permitted it. The Infra-         alone, and let him curse ; for the LoTd  hath bidden
lapsarian begins wih a. fallen mankind. The human               him." And in connection with the sin of David when
race as fallen is his point of procedure.         He does       he numbered the people we read in 2 Sam. 25 : 1: "And
not proceed `beyond the fall of Adam. According to              again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel,
his conception the Lord elected out of a fallen human           and  He moved David against them to say, Go, number
race. And he defines Reprobation as .that eternal de-           Israel and Judah."
cree of .God whereby Jehovah left the reprobates in                Also in the New Testament such "supralapsarian"
the misery into which they had plunged themselves.              texts abound. Thus we read in Matt. 20 : 15 : "Is it not
The Supralapsarian, on the other hand, does go beyond           lawful for Me to do what I zwill with Mine own? Is
the fall, declares that the Lord elected and reprobated,        thine eye evil, because I am good?" This surely sug-
no: fallen men, but men who were to be created and              gests more  .than mere permission. And we read in
who were to fall. The Supralapsarian seeks to explain           Acts  2:23 and 4:27-28: "Him, being delivered by the
sin, coordinate it, and regard it as serving the supreme-       determinate counsel and foreknowledge  of  God, ye
ly glorious purpose of God. Hence, the Infralapsarian           have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and
presents the following order  Zn  the counsel of God:           slain. . . . For of a truth against Thy holy child
creation-fall-election and reprobation. And the Supra-          Jesus, Whom Thou hast anointed, both  Herod,  and
lapsarian presents the following order, also in the             Pontius  Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of
counsel of God : election and reprobation-fall-creation.        Israel, were gathered together, For to do whatsoever
                                                                ThzJ counsel determined  befo,re  to be done."  We will
        Arguments Advanced In Favor Of The                      have opportunity to return to  .these passages from the
                                                                book of Acts later in our discussion. However, it
                                                                should be self-evident that these texts speak of more
   The supralapsarian will, first of all, call attention        than a mere permission. And, finally, not *to quote
to all those passages which emphasize the absolute              more passages, a discussion of this issue would not
sovereignty of God and more particularly His sover-             be complete without the Word of God as recorded in
eignty with respect to sin. Thus we read in Ps. 115 :3 :        Rom. 9 : 17, 19-23 : "For the Scripture saith unto Phar-
"But our God is in the heavens; He hath done whatso-            aoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up,
ever He hath pleased." And in Prov. 16:4 this word              that I might shew My power in thee, and that My
occurs : "The Lord, hath made all things for Himself :          Name might be declared throughout all the earth. . . .
yea, even the wicked for the day of evil." Passages             Thou wilt say then unto Me, `Why doth He yet find
such as Is. lo:15 and 453-9 are also quo'ed: "Shall             fault? For who hath resisted His will? Nay, but, 0
the axe boast itself against him that heweth there-             man, who art thou that repliest against God  ? Shall
with? or shall the saw magnify itself against him that          the thing formed say to Him that formed it, Why hast
shaketh it? as if the rod should shake itself against           Thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over
them that lift it up, or as if the. staff should lift up it-    the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto
self, as if it were no wood. . . . I form the light, and        honour, and another unto dishonour?- What if God,
create darkness : I make peace, and ereate evil: I the          willing to shew His wrath, and to make His power
Lord  ,do all these things. Drop down, ye heavens,              known endured with much longsuffering the vessels
from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness :         of wrath fitted unto destruc'ion: And that He might
let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation,         make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of
and let righ.:eousness  spring up together; I the Lord          mercy, which He had  afore  prepared unto glory." Also
have created it. Woe unto him that striveth with                to this remarkable passage we will have occasion to
his Maker! Let the potsherd  strive with the potsherds          return later.
of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashion-              Besides the texts which we have  quo,ted  and which
eth it, What maketh thou? or ,Ihy work, He hath no              can be multiplied, the supralapsarian will also call
hands ?" ,jAnd in Jeremiah 18:5-6 the same reference            attention to the fact that Scripture suggests  tha,t  the
is made to the potter: "Then the word of the Lord               work of nature or creation in general was so ordered
came to me, saying, 0 house of Israel, cannot I do with         as to contain illustra;ions of the work of redemption.
you as this potter? saith the Lord. Behold, as the clay         There are, e.g., first of all, the parables. Does not the
is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, 0 house        Saviour inform us, in connection with this form of
of Israel." Attention is also called to a text as 2 Sam.        teaching that the Kingdom of Heaven takes place in
16 : 11, in connection with Shimai's cursing of David           parables, as in Mark 4 :ll : "And He said unto them,
as he was fleeing before Absalom: *`And David said              Unto you it is given to `know the mystery of the  king-

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

dom of God: but unto them that are without, all these according to 1 Cor. 15, this only applies as far as their
things (of he Kingdom of  God-H-V.)  are done in historical realization is concerned-it is only from the
parables." This implies hat the Kingdom takes place viewpoint of time that the natural and earthy is first.
through parables, that the earthy is a symbol of the             And, finally, the supralapsarian will call attention
heavenly. And the supralapsarian will tell you that           to the fact that he wishes to emphasize the sovereignty
the heavenly was not fashioned after the pattern of           of God. He wishes to maintain the truth that of God
.the earthy, but that the earthy was fashioned after the      and through God and unto ,God  are all things, also the
pattern of the heavenly, and that the ~Lord, creating         phenomenon of sin.and  death.            ,
the earthy, created it as a symbol of the heavenly.
And this certainly must imply that the Lord, when He                  Arguments Advanced In Favour  Of
created the heavens and the earth, reckoned with the
coming of sin, reckoned with the coming of sin sover-                           Inf ralapsariantim.
eignly, for He made the earthy as a symbol of the                The infralapsarian, in support of his position, will
heavenly, and the heavenly renewal of all things would first of all call attention to the fact that his concep-
be realized only in the way of sin and death-God              tion avoids the danger of making God the author of
builds His everlasting Church and Kingdom upon the            sin. This is probably the most common of all argu-
ruins of sin and death. To this must be added the             ments in favour of Infralapsarianism. And he is very
fact that the earthy creation is one great symbol of          serious and conscientious when he makes this claim.
*the Christ. He is the Sun of Righteousness with heal-        The Infralapsarian is ,dreafully  afraid of making God-
ing in His wings, so called in the prophecy of Malachi        the author of sin. And, to be sure,. we all should be
4% The moon and the stars are symbols of the                  dreadfully afraid of this. This explains why he does
Church. The first symbolizes the Church because, as           not reach, in his reasoning about the counsel, beyond
the moon is the reflection of the sun, so also the Church     the sin and fall of man. He begins with a fallen
has no light in herself but is the reflection of the          mankind. He knows that it will not do simply to
Christ. And the stars are a mighty symbol of the              ascribe foreknowledge to the Most High, and that there
Church from several points of view. The tremendous are passages in the Word of God which are so strong
number of the stars symbolizes the great number of            that we would not dare take them upon our lips were
the people of God. Besides, each star occupies its own        it not for the fact that the Scripture itself employs
place in the firmament  ; so also each child of God           that language. Nevertheless, he dare not account for
occupies his own place in the organism of the Church,         the reality of sin and death in the counsel of God,
the Body of Christ. Moreover, Christ is also the Lion speaks of Reprobation as God's sovereign decree where-
of Judah's tribe, the Lamb without spot or blemish,           by He simply permitted men to remain in their sin
the Bread and the Water of Life, the Morningstar.             and corruption, and will not advance any explanation
The seed that does, and brings forth its fruit in the         for this appearance of sin and evil in the counsel of
way of death, is a mighty symbol of the resurrection.         the Lord. His order in the counsel of God remains:
Surely, this cannot mean that after the Lord foresaw creation-fall-election and reprobation. He fears the
the entrance of sin and death into the world He there- supralapsarian conception because it might involve
upon resolved to build His Church and establish His him in the sin of making the holy and righteous God
eternal Kingdom in eternal and heavenly glory, and            the Author of sin and evil.
that the Lord then resolved. to build that Church after          Secondly, the Infralapsarian will call attention to
the pattern of the earthy. Fact is, the earthy is the         the fact that our Confessions are infralapsarian. And
pattern, and the heavenly renewal of all things is the        this can hardly be denied. The Heidelberg Catechism
completed product, the eternal reality, the building begins with the wellknown question : What is your only
which the heavenly Architect is building and erecting.        comfort in life and in death? And the answer informs
And we know, also among  ear2hy  architects, that not us that our only comfort is that we are the proper+,y
the pattern is first but the idea as it exists in the mind    of our Lord Jesus Christ Who bought us with His 0~11
of the builder. Would not the same thing apply to the precious blood and makes us sincerely willing, by His
living God, the Heavenly Arthitect?  And that Christ          Spirit, to live unto Him. It is clear from this first
is the Sun of Righteousness, the Lion of Judah's tribe,       question and its answer that our Heidelberg Catechism
the Lamb without spot and without blemish-does it begins with the reality of our sin and misery, inasmuch
not all suggest that God, when He creaked these crea-         as it asks us concerning our only comfort in life and
tures, created them as symbols of the Christ? Surely,         in death. Comfort presupposes misery. Hence,  the
the Lord Jesus Christ was not pattered after them,            Catechism's point of procedure is our sin and misery
was He? Hence, the entire earthy creation constitutes         and corruption. And, this .is the infralapsarian con-
one mighty symbol of the heavenly; and although it is         ception. Neither can it be denied that the Canons arc
true that the natural is first and then the heavenly,         infralapsarian. They, too, begin with the reality  oi?


                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                           349

sin. Article  1 of the First Head of Doctrine reads:          told about the entrance of sin and death into this
"As  all men have sinned in Adam, lie under the curse,        world. One need not doubt, therefore, that the Scrip-
and are deserving of eternal death, God would hav-            tural record of the development of God's kingdom
done no injustice by leaving them all to perish, anr:         and covenant is "infralapsarian" throughou:. Scrip-
delivering them over to condemnation on account of            ture begins with the creation and the fall of man.
sin, according to the words of the apostle, Rom. 3  :19,         But this is not all. The infralapsarian can also
`that every mouth may be stopped, and `all the world          point to the fact that the Divine Word is  infralapsar-
may become guilty before God.' And verse 33.: `for all        ian throughout. As far as the Old Testament is con-
have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.' And         cerned, the revelation of the Christ follows upon the
Rom. 6 23 :, "for the wages of sin is death.' And that        entrance of sin and corruption and death. It is after
the infralapsarian views "reprobation" as the Divine          the fall of man that the word of the Lord comes to
decree whereby He merely passed men by, leaving them          the serpent : "I will put enmity between thee and the
in their `misery, is evident from Art. 15 of the same         woman, between her seed and thy seed ; it shall bruise
Head of Doctrine, which reads: "What peculiarly               thy head and thou shalt bruise its heel." In fact, do
tends to illustrate and recommend to us the eterna1           not the very names, Jesus and Christ, presuppose sin
and unmerited grace of election, is .the express testi-       and our utter hopelessness. The name, Jesus, means:
mony of sacred Scripture, that not all, but some only         Saviour, does it not? Surely, a Saviour presupposes
are elected, while others are passed by in the eternai        sin ; in fact, the angel declares that His name shall be
decree; whom God, out of His sovereign, most ju+,             called Jesus because He shall save His people from
irreprehensible, and unchangeable good pleasure, hath         their sins. And, the name, Christ, signifies : Anointed.
decreed to leave in the common misery into which they         And He was also anointed to be our only High Priest
have wilfully plunged themselves, and not to bestow           Who, as our only High Priest, sacrifices -Himself in
upon them saving faith and the grace of conversion ;          order that we might have life through His death.
but permitting them in His just judgment to follow            Throughout the Old Dispensation, the promise of God,
their own ways, at last for the declaration `of His. to be realized in Christ Jesus, comes exactly to a
justice, to condemn and punish them forever, not  only        people lost in sin and darkness. In fact, it is this
on account of their unbelief, but also for all their other    which constitutes the very essence of the promise of
sins. And this'is the decree of reprobation which by          the Lord : His own inviolable word that He will redeem
no  means makes God the author of sin, (the very              and deliver us out of ail sin and corruption and dark-
thought of which is blasphemy);, but declares him to          ness and death into the gIorious  life and fellowship
be an awful, irreprehensible, and righteous Judge and         of Jehovah's everlasting covenant,.         This revelation
Avenger thereof  ." And, finally,  also our Confession        of that Christ becomes ever more glorious and clearer
of Faith, the Thirty Seven Articles, is infralapsarian.       as the coming of Immanuel draws nearer. Moreover,
IArt. XVI is the article which discusses the doctrine         this ever clearer revelation of the Christ is accom-
of Election. However, when these articles finally call        panied by a darkness which grows more intense. The
attention to God's sovereign decree of Election, they         night becomes darker and the light of the Divine
have already discussed the creation of the world, Di-         promise of salvation shines more brightly with the
vine Providence, and the fall of man together with his        approaching coming of Immanuel.
incapacity to perform that which is truly good.
   Thirdly, the Infralapsarian will also call attention          The same "infralapsarian" presentation of salva-
to the fact that the Holy Scriptures are infralapsarian.      tion characterizes the New Testament. in the first
And, neither can this assertion be denied, at least from      place, the very word, "election", is infralapsarian, is
an historical point of view. In the first place, it is        it not? The word means literally: to be chosen, select-
surely true that the infallible account in the Scrip-         ed out of. This certainly must presuppose a human
tures begin with the creation of the world and the fall       race out of which the people of God have been elected,
of man. Fact is, it cannot even be denied that the            selected by the Lord. InfraIapsarianism  teaches an
creation of the heavens and the earth is described from       election in the sense that the Lord chose His own,
the earthly point of view. After declaring that "in the       before the foundation of the world, out of the entire
beginning God created the heavens and the  earth'.' the       human race, and then as fallen. Does not the word,
further description of the  .Lord's  work of creation con-    "election", seem to point in this infralapsarian direc-
cerns itself with the  earthily aspect of the works of        tion? But there are also other passages and truths in
Cod's hands. And in the third chapter of the book of
`Genesis we are informed of the fall of our first par-        the New Testament which apparently point in this
ents, Adam and Eve, in Paradise. The promise of               same direction. To these, the Lord willing, we will
salvation, of the victory of the Seed of the woman over       call attention in our following article.
the devil is revealed unto us only after we have been                                                     Il. Veldman.


3.50                                 T H E   STANbARD   BEARER

                                                            approach of Israel's armies, had to be depopulated
          `ITME DAY OFSHADOWS                               when finally captured. The male inhabitants had to
                                                            be slain and the women and the children and the cattle
                                                            carried off as spoil. So the Lord had instructed his
 The Significance of David's Wars people by the mou-h of Moses (Deut. 20 : 10-15).
                                                               There was then a standing promise of the Lord to
                                                            His people, "Ask of me, and I shall give thee the
        We are occupied with David's successes in war.      heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts
As was said, in order to appreciate these successes,        of the  earlh for thy possession (Psalm 2  :8).
regard must be had to the boundaries of the land that          Joshua's victories over the Canaanites was the
the people of Israel, in fulfillment of the promise, was    initial typical fulfillment of that promise. Through
made to inherit . As was explained, according to Num.       the subsequent ages the promise was -progressively
34 this inheritance was small. As was stated it in-         fulfiled by the victories of the judges over the heathen,
cluded but a narrow strip of land approximately 160         and on a scale of unprecedented scope by David's suc-
miles in length and whose greatest width measured           cesses in his warfare with the heathen,-successes of
50 miles. The territory occupied by the two and a           which we already have taken'notice. As was observed,
helf tribes east of the Jordan was added later.-.           he overthrew all the nations that had been menacing
        On the other hand, according to other iScripture    Israel from the north to the south. On their ruins he
passages Israel's heritage was much larger. It was          founded a kingdom that actually did stretch from the
formed of an immense region that extended to the            Euphrates on the east and to the river Nile on the
Euphrates on the east and to the River Nile on the          west. It was an empire as vast as any of the great
west and thus included the whole of Arabia `(Gen.           kings of the East. The achievement of David was pre-
15 :18; Ex. 23  31; Deut.  13; Josh.  13, 4; Deut.          liminary to the golden years of Solomon's reign. It
11:24).                                                     was during these years that the promise reached its
        As was stated, there is no difficulty here. The     climactic typical fulfillment. "Solomon reigned over
smaller region was Israel's proper home as is proved        all the kingdoms from the river unto the land of t,he
by the fact that it was the only region divided by the      Philistines and unto the border of Egypt ; they brought
lot of God among the twelve tribes. Its original in-        presents, and served Solomon all the days of his life"
habitants were Canaanite tribes, all of which were          (I Kings 4 :21). "And  .a11 the kings of the earth sought
under the ban of God and thus marked for destruction.       the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom, that God
Joshua had to smite them and utterly destroy them           had put in his heart. And they brought every man his
 (Num. 30  :50-56;  Deu:.   7:2; Deut. 20  :16, 17). No     present. . . ." (II Chron. 9  :23, 24). "And all the
peace might be proclaimed unto them. Nor did they           kings of the earth sought his presence. . .  ." Whether
desire peace with Israei. Hearing of Joshua's ap-           reference here is to the kings over which Solomon held
proach, they prepared for war and went forth to do          sway, or in addition to the kings of countries adjoining
battle with Israel's army. So did they ask for the          his empire is a question to which the Scriptures give
doom by which they were overtaken. "For it was of           no definike  answer. In all likelihood the latter must be
the Lord to harden their hearts, that they should come      included, seeing that, though Egypt and Tyra lay out-
against Israel in battle, that he might destroy them        side of Solomon's dominion, their kings, nevertheless,
utterly, and that they might have no favor, but that he     were his friends and allies.      Solomon's fame must
might destroy them, as the Lord commanded Moses"            have penetrated far beyond the borders of his empire.
Josh. 11 :lS).                                              It spread throughout  all the countries of the east.
        But in addition to the Canaanite tribes, marked        But David and Solomon were but prophetic per-
for destruction and in whose depopulated land the           sons. The body is Christ. In Him only could the
people of Israel were to be planted and established,        promise under consideration reach its true fulfillment.
the Lord in promise gave to Abraham and his seed            To Him the promise was given. To Him God said,
also that vast region beyond and the nations that dwelt     and said everlastingly, "Ask of me, and I shall give
therein.      But the purpose was different. If the Ca-     thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the utter-
naanite tribes, being under the ban of God and having most parts of the earth for thy possession." Accord-
filled their measure of iniquity, had  ta be extirpated,    ingly, when, through His obedience unto death, the
and their land occupied by the twelve tribes, not so        death of the ignominious cross, He had atoned our sins,
the nations of that vast region beyond. So many of          God "raised Him up from the dead and set Him at His
these peoples as received Israel's army in peace and        own right hand in the heavenly, far above all princi-
showed a willingness to serve God's people in paying        pality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every
them tribute, had to be spared. Only those heathen          name that is named, not only in this world but also
cities of that vast region beyond, that would resist the    in that which is to come: and hath put all things under


                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                         351

 His feet and gave Him to be  ,the heard over all things      can and the democratic parties.        Should these two 6
 in the church" (Eph.  1:20-23). The thrust of this           parties take their position on the same platform, they
 Scripture is plain. Christ's dominion extends to the         would be one party, not two). 3) The practice or
 utmost bounds of the universe. It includes every crea-       system of forming sides on public questions; partisan-
 ture, animale  and inanimate, rational and irrational,       ship. 4) Detachment as of troups. 5) A company
 angels, devils and men. All things have been given or association of persons, as for social enjoyment.
 into His hands. Vested is He with all power in heaven        6) One of the persons who compose, or a body of
 and on earth, wherefore He reigns in the midst of His        persons constituting, one or other of ihe two sides in
 enemies, and simultaneously  throuih the `ages of this       an action o raffair. 7) Specifically, the plaintiff or
 dispensation of the world gathers His church, which          the defendent in a lawsuit. 8) Compact, treaty, agree-
 is His body and He its head and Saviour. For He              ment. 9) Slang,  a person.
 asked of God, and God gave Him  .ihe heathen, all the           Certainly, the body of the believers in the covenant
 nations of the earth, as His inheritance indeed.             do not form one side in a contest with God as the other
    And when all things shall be subdued under Him,           side. They do not form sides against God on any ques-
 and He shall have gathered His church, then comet11          tion, like in  ,these U. S. the democratic party in refer-
 the end, when He shall have delivered up the kingdom         ence to the republican party and vice versa. God and
 to God even the Father. Then shall He also, Himself          the believers do not constitute two distinct associations
 be subject. to God, that God may be all and in all on for social enjoyment independent of each other, but the
 the new earth, where God's tabernacle will be with           joy of God is His people and the joy of this people is
 men, His redeemed people, clothed with heavenly per- God. In the covenant God is not the plaintiff and His
 fection.      Then His kingdom-the kingdom of Christ         people :he defendent in a lawsuit and vice versa. Nei-
 and of God-shall have appeared in glory-a glory              ther will it do to say that the covenant of God with His
 that will be heavenly in contradistinc'.ion  to the glory    people is a treaty or an agreement.
 of Solomon and his kingdom which was earthy, and                In the Scriptures  oneof the symbols of the covenant
 faded and vanished away.                                     is the institution of marriage. Marriage, too, is a
    And the saints of the Old Testament had under-            covenant in which husband and wife according to the
 standing of this. Accordingly, their hope and expecta-       ordinance of God constitute not two but one party of
 tion was not David ; i: was not Solomon ; it was Christ      which the husband is the head. For, says Paul, Adam
 and the things of His kingdom upon which they, too,          was first formed, then Eve; meaning to say that jurid-
 had their affections set.                                    ically  : he man on that account is the head of the
                                        G. M. Ophoff.         woman. Elsewhere the apostle completes the thought
                                                              by saying, "as Christ is the head of the man and God
                                                              is the head of Christ. This being true, the woman
        On Breaking The Covenant                              shall not usurp  authorily  over the man, but be silent.
                                                              I Tim.  2 :15., ILefusing,  she resists the ordinance of
                                                              God; and in her self-will and pride brings disaster
    "And they will break my covenant. which I have
 made with them"  (Deut.   31:1(i). Can the covenant          upon herself and her husband. For God is not mocked.
                                                              To prove his point, the apostle refers to Eve's usurpa-
 be broken? This Scripture says that it can. The
 carnal seed in the church-the non-elect baptized-do          tion of authority over Adam in paradise. Instead of
                                                              being silent and allowing her husband ,to deal with the
 break the covenant. And apart from Christ's grace,
 God's believing people do likewise. That, too, is their      temptor,  she took the lead and had all the say. And
                                                              consider what happened. As deceived by Satan she
 great sin.                                                   ate of the forbidden tree and pursuaded her husband
     First, let us see what this does not; mean.              t,o do likewise.    So, as deceived, she, to quote the
     First, it does  not mean that the carnal seed in the     aposile  once more, was in transgression and her hus-
 church are in the covenant. Let us consider that the         band with her. Through that joint disobedience sin
 covenant has two parts to it. I say parts not parties.       entered the world and death through sin.
 The meanings that the latter term has through its uses          It all comes down to this. In the matrimonial
 Loquendi makes it strictly undesirable. The meanings         covenant the woman forms not a side against the man
 are these (and I now quote the dictionary) : 1) A body       as the other party.     On the contrary, if the vows
. of persons forming one side in a contest. 2) A body         spoken are truly biblical as to their content, what is
 of partisans, especially one of the sections into'which      effected is a legal-ethical union in which the woman
 a people is divided on public questions ; specifically       .i.s of the party of the man. For mark you, the man is
 U. S. politics, an organized group of electorate that        her head and she his "helpmeet" and friend, wholly
 attempts to control government through the election          bent on advancing his interests and not those of an-
 of its candidaLe  to office. (For example, the  republi-     other in her willing submission to her husband.  `LThere-

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

_ fore shall a man leave his father and mother and shall                t,ruth, when we hear it proclaimed and see it set
 cleave unto his wife (and the wife unto her man) and                   forth,-discern the truth, and embrace the truth,
 the two shall be one flesh. To set forth the woman                     take our position on the truth, and build on the
 as a distinct party in marriage is to place her on the                 truth, not on a foundation alongside of the truth ;
 level with the man ; it is to co-operate with the modern               for then we build on the lie. Building on the
 movement that aims at emancipating the woman ; it is                   truth and rejecting every teacher of whom we dis-
 to deny the idea and purpose of marriage as laid down                  cern that he is not identified with  ,the truth-that
 in he Scriptures.        It is conceptionally to obliterate            is our calling. Then we do our own thinking and
 marriage as the symbol of the marriage of the Xamb".                   stand on our`own feet in the right sense.
 It is to destroy the Word of God.                                         We want to be original. We don't want to fol-
     As the woman is of the party of the man, so are                    low. But let us consider this. There is but one
 the believers of the party of Christ and through Christ                who is original and that one is God. When He
 in the Spirit of the party of God in His covenant with                 speaks He speaks of Himself and not what He has
 `His people. It cannot well be otherwise.  (;od is all                 heard. And He speaks the truth. And Satan
 and the believers apart from Christ's grace are noth-                  originated the lie. All that we humans do, can do,
 ing except sinners, dead, undone, and lost in their sins              spiritually, is to repeat either God or Satan, the
 and transgressions. By grace are they God's work-                     truth or the lie, the teacher identified with the
 manship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works,                     truth or the  ,teacher  identified with the lie. The
 which God hath before ordained that they should walk                   question is not whether we repeat ; -we all do. The
 in them. Hence, God has all the say ; He speaks and                   `sole question is: whom do we repeat; and, whom
 His  beople are silent. They do speak, to be sure, but                 do we follow. God's believing people follow God.
 only to repeat in love the word-the word of God-that                   They repeat in love the Word that God in His
 Christ by His Spirit speaks in them. Ethically, there                  love speaks in their hearts through the teaching
 is but one mind in the covenant-the mind of God;                      and preaching of the teachers in the church identi-
 one will-the will of God; one law-the law of God;                      fied with the truth. Let us not imagine that we
 one word-the word of-  ,God ; one gospel-the Gospel                   are and can be original. What have we that we
 of God; one life-the life of Christ; one Spirit-the                   have not received? ,Absolutely  nothing. The be-
 Spirit of Christ dwelling in all the members of His                   lievers follow the teachers who speak the truth.
 body. Verily, the believers juridically and spiritually                But they follow them not blindly and uncritically.
 are of the party of Christ and through Christ of the                   There is but one whom they follow blindly and
 party of G;od. In John 1'7 we find the same idea ex-                   uncritically; and that One is  <God  and His Scrip-
 pressed in this language, "That they all may be one ;                  tures.
 `as thou, Father, art in me, and I in them, that they                    Let no one conclude that the point that I am
 also may be in us: that the world may believe that                     here arguing is that we have in our circles teach-
 thou hast sent me". (From the priestly prayer of                       ers who cannot be followed. Far from that. But
 Christ, John 17 21). To set forth God's people as a                    since it has been said to us of late, now by this
 distinct party in the covenant is to place them on a                   one and then by that one, that we should do our
 level with God conceptionally ; it is to pit the believers             own thinking, these things must be said if we are.
 against Christ and His Father and the Father against                   not to be confused by such talk).
 His people ; it is to destroy the very idea of the cove-            Now back to my subject. There are parts to the
 nant.                                                             covenant, not parties. The first part of the covenant
            (One will say that all I do here is to repeat Rev.     is, that God the Father adopts us, His elect people,
          H. Hoeksema. I should stand on my own feet and           for His children and heirs; second,  *that Jesus Christ
          do a little thinking of my own. Allow me to reply        washes us in His blood from all our sins ; third, that
          to this. Of course all  I. do here is to repeat Rev.     the Holy Spirit sanctifies us to be members of Christ,
          Hoeksema as to the idea that there are not parties       appIying  unto us all that we have in Christ.
          but pa& to the covenant. And why in the world               The fruit of this work of God in His elect people
          should I not be repeating Rev. Hoeksema on this          is that, in response to the command of  <God, they cleave
          point of doctrine. It's the truth, isn't it? That        to this one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit trust in
          it's the truth is as plain as the sun in the heavens,    Him love Him with all their hearts, forsake the world,
          isn't it? Should I not want to be repeating what         crucify their old nature and walk in newness of life..
          I discern to be the truth? Should I want to differ       This is the second part of the covenant.
          with a man for the mere sake of differing with              The carnal seed in the church have neither of these
          him?  Eve did that with God and sided with Satan.        parts. They posses therefore, not the covenant. They
            To be sure, we should and must do our own              are not in the covenant, though born under it.
          thinking in the right sense. We must discern the            Second, and so it follows that "breaking the cove-


                                       T H E S T A N D A R D B E A R E R   i                                            353

  nant" cannot imply that, as being in the covenant, the       ing of the Gospel ; and third, the Holy Spirit in His
  carnal seed of their own free will choose to obey God        work  of  sanctifying God's elect to be members of
  and accordingly in true contrition of heart turn from        Christ and of applying unto them all that they have
  their sins to serve the living God, but that eventually      in Christ--a work also presented to the carnal seed in
  again of their own free will they choose to apostatize       the preaching of the Gospel.
  and accordingly return to their abominations. There               And as this seed does with the first part of God's
  can be no breaking of the covenant in this sense. Once       covenant, so it does with the second part, with the
  a believer always a believer. The saints do not fall         fruit of this work of God in His elect, with  ,the re-
  from grace. But as kept in God's power, they perse-          sponse of the believers to the command of God that
  vere to the end.                                             they cleave to this one God, Father, and Son, and Holy
     Third, that the carnal seed break the covenant does       Spirit, trust Him and love Him with all their hearts,
  not mean that God gives His promise also to this seed        forsake the world, and crucify their old natures, and
  (the non-elect baptized), so that by virtue thereof          walk in newness of life. The carnal seed despises this
  they objectively and legally possess Christ and all the      whole fruit of the work of God in His people also as
  benefits of His atonement and are thus actually saved        presented to it in the preaching of the Gospel. This
  in Him, legally and objectively saved, but that never-       seed despises the command of God, under which He
  theless they choose not to believe, but to despise and       puts it `to repent and believe in God through Christ.
  reject Christ and the heavenly inheritance that is legal-         So in this sense does this seed, so do we all `by               *
  ly theirs in Christ, which they also do. (The view is        nature,' break God's covenant.      We break, trample,
  of the Liberated, that is, of as many of them as I have      despise and destroy it conceptionally and in deed as
  read on the subject). Breaking the covenant is not that.     presented to us in the Scriptures and in the preaching
    Fourth, the expression "breaking the covenant" does        thereof, as presented, not offered, and not given in
 not set forth the covenant as an agreement between            promise except to the elect, to the contrite in heart.
  God and man whereby  *God  promises' to save man on                                               G. M.  Ophofff.
, the condition that he believe, and man promises to be-
  lieve on the condition that God save him, but later
  changes his mind and thereby breaks the agreement
  and perishes in his sins. The covenant is no agreement.                           C o n t r i b u t i o n s
  This and all similar views-such as that God actually
 will save a man on the condition that he believes is de-
 structive of the covenant (conceptionally) and thus                           MOTHER'S  - APRON STRINGS
  destructive of all true religion.                                 In  th.e controversy on conditions and not condi-
     What then, is the meaning of the expression "break-       tional, you often hear this remark of those who agree
  ing the covenant". .How is this being done? By what with the conditional theology: "Well they can't always
  act on the part of the carnal seed? Certainly, it is not be tied to Mama's apron strings  !" The meaning here
  being done in the various senses presented above. And is obvious. By Mama here is meant the professors
  the reason is simple. As was just made plain, the            of our theological school. Especially the Rev. H. Hoek-
  covenant is God's, not mans. It is therefore unbreak- sema, and the Rev. G. M. Ophoff. And the children
  able  ; it is everlasting. The carnal seed is not in the     here are those who have studied in our theological
  covenant to break it, again, I say, in the various senses    school, which happen to be  a11 boys. Now Mother
  presented above. But what is to be done with the ex-         has always taught her boys that salvation is purely by
  pression "breaking the covenant". We must know grace alone, and that that salvation is absolutely un-
 how the passages in which this expression occurs read         conditional.
  in the original. We must attend closely to the Hebrew             So Mother has not  changed.  Neither does Mother
  verb translated "break" in our versions. That verb           misquote. But Mother has proven both by Scripture
 means to break or rend in pieces, trample, declare            and the Confessions that we are saved uncondition-
 null and void.                                                atty.      '
     That precisely is what the carnal seed does with               Therefore those apron strings are really the truth         .
  God's covenant as to both its parts  conceptionally.         founded upon the Word and testimonies of the apos-
 They rend it in pieces, trample, despise and reject it.       tles and prophets of old. They  are  the confessions
 That is what this seed does with the first part of the        that we as Protestant Reformed people confess with a
 covenant. It tramples, despises, destroys concepttin&y        true and living faith.
  God the Father in His work of adopting `His people                Better hold on to those apron strings boys, for that
 as His children and heirs ; and, second, Christ in His        way alone leads Home.
 work of washing His people in His blood.from  all their                                          K. Feenstra,
 sins-a work presented also to this seed in the  preach-                                           Redlands,  Calif.


     354                                    THE  STANbARD  BEAkfik

                   A CHANGE IN KALAMAZOO                                Nevertheless, Rev. H. Veldman left Kalamazoo. A
                                                                    void was created and the burning question was whom
            It is not news to tell you that the First Protestant    should the congregation call? At first Rev. H. De
     Reformed Church of Kalamazoo has had a change.                 Wolf was called but he did not feel that it was the
     The readers are no doubt aware that Rev. H. Veldman ILord's will to go to Kalamazoo. and thus he declined
     has left Kalamazoo to labor in the congregation at             the call extended to him.
     I-Iamillon, Ontario, and that Rev. E. Knott has accept-            Again the congregation extended a call. This time
     ed the call to Kalamazoo to serve as pastor of this            Rev. E. Knott was the called one. He accepted the call
     congregation.      We feel, however, that `you will be         and the congregation looked forward to having a
     interested in a report of the events connected with            pastor once again. We feel that God has blessed us
     this change. Cer,ainly a change in ministers in any            by providing for us so quickly another shepherd to
     congregation' is of interest because of the importance         guide his flock in Kalamazoo.                         _
     of the ministry of the Word in our churches, and so                A fitting service was held on Friday evening,
     it is also in Kalamazoo.                                       March 3, Rev. H. Hoeksema delivered an appropriate
                                                                    and timely  ' installation sermon which was definitely
            For some. time the situation in Canada has been         positive in character and' he emphasized the. necessity
     the focus point of in&rest for our churches and their          of preaching the Word in season and out of season.
.    consistories. In Kalamazoo this was the case also and          `Rev. H. De Wolf conducted the installation of Rev.
     in our discussions of the matters in that connection           Knott and charged him and the congregation. On
     with the Rev. H. Veldman, it became plain that he              Sunday, March 5, Rev. Knott preached his inaugural
     had an avid interest also in the Canadian activity. It         sermon and thus the work of Rev. Knott was begun.
     was, therefore, no surprise that he accepted the call to           We know that in the  final analysis Christ as head
     Hamilton, knowing that he had the matter much on               of His Church is the abiding faithful Shepherd and
     his heart.                                                     Bishop.. We also know that the treasure of the Word
            Leaving  Kalamazoo  was not an easy matter for          is committed to earthen vessels in order that it may
     either Rev. Veldman or the congregation.           He had      become plain that it `is  realIy  the work of Christ. In-
     labored in Kalamazoo for over eight years and most             deed we have had a change in persons in the ministry
     of that time under most adverse circumstances. For             of Kalamazoo, but we are grateful to be able to record
     seven years of that period our congregation had no             that we have the same preaching of. the Gospel, the
     church home and this factor made congregational life abiding and precious truth of salvation from our cove-
     difficult.                                                     nant God. We are assured that God will bless His
            Not only that, but the congregation was very small      people in Kalamazoo and provide them with spiritual
     when Rev. Veldman began his work; only five or six             food necessary unto growth in grace and knowledge of
     families were then present. Rev. Veldman had to labor the truth. Whether we will grow in numbers is un-
     in the face of  .other difficulties also, namely, notably,     important. That may be the case, but on the other
     the defection of the church which now calls itself the hand it may. not be the case also. Numerical growth
     Grace Christian Reformed Church.                               is incidental and secondary.
            These things and many others indicate that the              What the future holds for Rev. Knott and Kalama-
     period of Rev. Veldman's ministry was one of struggle.         zoo, we do not care to speculate. ,One thing is plain,
     Under his leadership the congregation erected a church that the churches in Kalamazoo in general are declin-
     building  of  which it is justly proud. Because of all         ing in their zeal to maintain the Reformed faith. May
     these things, there were bands of all sorts between him we ever be watchful and alert to the dangers of apos-
     and the congregation and it was not easy on him or             tacy and lukewarmness and may the Lord use Rev.
     the congregation to have these bands severed.                  Knott as He has used Rev. Veldman to stir us up, to
            January 32,  1950 was  the occasion of Rev.  Veld-      admonish us, to encourage us, to comfort us, to rebuke
     man's farewell. For me and for the rest of the con-            our sinful conduct and point us to the way of eternal
     gregation it was indeed a memorable occasion. Rev.             life.                                     H. ,G. Kuiper.
     Veldman chose as his text the well known apostolic
     benediction from Phillipians, "The grace of our Lord                                  -::--
     Jesus Christ be with you all, Amen". It was indeed a                                                *
     fitting text. for the occasion and it wil live long in the                ATTENTION  - TEACHERS!
     hearts of God's people here. This was a fitting climax             Redlands  school needs a teacher for grades one to
     to a full-orbed preaching of the Gospel in our church four. Please write : '
     and we are grateful that God in His providence gave                                         John De Pries
     Kalamazoo a ministry that emphasized the vital truth                                        329 Sonora Street
     of the sovereign grace of God.                                                              Redlands, California.


   856                                      T H E   S T A N D ARD  B E A R E R
I _"                                --.                              ,God's grace than the truth that we. are saved by grace,
                 FROM HOLY WRIT                                      made alive with Christ in  His resurrection and seated
                                                                     with Him in heavenly places? And was this not mani-
                                                                     fested  `to us when we were dead in trespasses and sins?
          Exposition of Ephesians 24-10                              And is this not `the exhibition now in the present al-
                                                                     ready of the exceeding riches of God's grace, that
                                    V.                               where sin abounded grace did much more abound?
                                                                     Ah, the future pattern of heaven's glory is not con-
          In our exposition of the verses 4-10 of this chapter,      trary to the experience of living faith in the Son of
   we now come to the verses 8 and 9. These read as fol-             God, that is, of the faith that is energized by love-the
   lows : "For by (the) grace are ye saved through faith,            love shed forth in our hearts through the Holy Spirit.
   and that not of you, of God (it is) the gift, not out of             To  b&sure,  the pattern of God's work of salvation
   works lest any man should boast."                                 on earth in the saints being saved is the same pattern
          This is a well known passage. Often this passage           of salvation in the saints in glory in the ages to come.
   is quoted by believers of Reformed persuasion to em-                 We are  completely saved up to the present moment
   phasize the pattern of God's work of grace as it touch-           by grace through faith. We need add nothing nor can
   es their lives in the very foundations. It is a  key-             we ; neither does the believer feel the need of anything
   .passage  by which the Apostle lays down the funda-               additional. For notice: a. That we have the complete
   mental design of salvation as we are saved, taken up              forgiveness of all of our sins, yes, the complete forgive-
   i,n the salvation by faith and made the object of God's           ness even of our sinful nature against which we have
   salvation as this is efficaciously wrought through the            to strive all of our life-time. So completely does God
   Word and Spirit. From this pattern we may not de- justify the godless, so really does He account our faith
   part an inch in our Confessional statement, nor may it            unto righteousness, that I am righteous before Him in
   be otherwise in the fabric of our spiritual life  of  faith       Christ, so very really righteous as though I had never
   and prayer. For it should be clear to all and certain             sinned and had fulfilled all righteousness. The justifi-
   beyond a shadow of doubt, that there are but two posi-            cation in Christ is complete. We have the complete
   tions possible  ; the two positions mentioned and implied         redemption in Christ. b. Yet, we also are saved by'the
   by Paul in the text. They are that either we glory and            grace through faith in this sense, that we have an
   boast in man according to the law of works, or that-we            earnest desire to walk in all good works, that we thus
   glory .in humble thanksgiving to God, according to the            have a true joy in God through Christ by faith.
   law of faith. (Compare Rom. 3 :27 j 1                                And so the law, the inner ,nature and operattin  of
          Now the simple truth of the Gospel is, that God faith  is such that no one shall boast in self. By the law
   alone is the  <God of our salvation. And, therefore, let          of faith all sinful boasting is silenced in  jubiIant  praise.
   him that glorieth glory in the Lord, Such is the                     Wherefore when one says "grace" it-implies "faith" .
   fundamental design of the `Builder and Architect of               and when one says "faith" he already has spoken of
   the Church. That such is indeed the design and pur-               "grace". The two are inseparably interwoven into
   pose of God is taught us in the former verses of this             each other. They fit together' in wondrous unity in
   chapter. In earlier essays we have called attention to. Gods design. And so we are completely saved by grace
   that wondrous design of God to exhibit in the ages to. .through  faith. The apostle says, "through faith". And
   come the riches of His grace in condescending good-               he adds : "and that" (is) not out of you, of ,God it is the
   ness. Thus it must be in the ages to come.                        gift?`. We on our part are thoroughly convinced that
          Yet, that fundamental design now is already evi-           the "that" in the phrase "and  thctt not out of you"
   dent, too, that is, prior to those "ages". The same de- refers to the term "faith" in the former phrase. Bow-
   sign is seen in the fact that we are  ,con&untly  and             ever, not all e,xpositors  of Holy Writ agree with the
   completely being saved up to the present moment by                interpretation we have just stated as being ours. As
   &xxe through faith. Fact is that were it differently              is well known there is a  ,difference  of conviction as to
   now it could never be thus in the ages to come. The               the grammatical construction of the phrase "and  .that
   one is the way to the other; it is the same. Building             is not -out of you, of God (it is) the gift". The point
   of  God  in its  being built  and its final perfection. .It is    at stake, the issue is, whether the demonstrative pro-
   all after one plan and pattern of elective grace.                 noun "that" (tout0 in Greek) refers to "faith" (pistis)
          That is the force of the particle "for" (gar) in the       or whether it refers to the entire sentence, that  is, the
   sentence "for by grace are ye saved througk  faith".              entire salvation there spoken of.
   The design of the riches of grace should be evident to              Now .the reason for this difference of opinion is in
   us even now. We see that design now in the fact that              part one of grammar. There are those who honestly
   we ure saved by grace through faith! Is there a clearer           face the Word of God and feel that the grammar is
   testimony to the fact of the design of the riches of              decisive for the interpretation which makes "that"


                                     T H E   STANDARD   i3EAftEfi                                                  357

  (touto) refer to salvation by grace through faith taken     and so refers not to pisteoos (faith), not to  charis
  as a whole. To this class even Calvin belongs. With         (grace) feminine also, but to the act of being saved by
_ Calvin then faith also is a gift, pure gift. Only Paul      grace conditioned on t,he faith olt our part. Paul shows
  then did not mean to single it out, according to Calvin,    that salvation does not have its source out of men, but
  as a gift in distinction from the whole of our being        from God. Besides it is God's gift  (dooron)  and not
  saved by grace as a gift. But there are others with the result of our work." (we underscore).
whom the matter is different. For them faith and                 Now this is Arminianism pure and simple. Here
  salvation are not wholly gift. Salvation is then a gift,    Robertson lets his Arminianism and Pelagianism run
 but "faith" is then the native correct use of the free-      wild. Faith is segregated from the entire concrete
 will of natural man. And so they segregate "faith"           "by grace are ye saved through faith", and made refer
  from salvation as a whole. Where this is intended it to the "idea of salvation". This latter can only mean :
 is a matter of not merely misunderstanding the mean- Salvation is of God, but we must believe, and this we
  ing of the demonstrative pronoun "that", but it is a        do by our native free-will. It is, therefore, better to
 matter of denying that grace is still grace !    '           either have "that is not out of you" refer to "faith",
     Form the  foregbing  it is evident that just because     and to understand the sense of the phrase as represent-
  someone does not refer the pronoun "that" to "faith",       ing the evident intention of the apostle to emphatically
 L he must not be classified with the Pelagians and Ar-       point out that  faith is the gift of God.
 minians. Far be it from us to do this. But it is true,          In thus doing we shall listen to the voices of both
 that no Arminian and Pelagian will say : "That  ' may        the late Dr. A. Kuyper Sr. and to that of Dr. S. Grey-
 refer to "faith", for faith, too, is a gift of ,God. Then    danus. We find a most significant partigraph  from the
 he is no longer a Pelagian-Arminian  !                       pen of Dr. A. Kuyper on grammatical Greek syntax
     We started to say that this matter of whether            (rules of proper sentence construction) in hjs "Het
  "faith"' is here singled out as the gift of God by the      Werk van den Heiligen Geest". At the  .close  of the
 demonstrative pronoun "that" is in part a matter of          chapter entitled "Onbeholpen Geleerdheid" (a Little
 grammar. We should add that at b&tom it is a matter          Insufficient Learning) the doctor in a "Naschrift"
 oft grammar. For if it is grammatically incorrect in         makes very clear, that it is a common rule which  &i
 Greek to thus use the neuter gender pronoun to refer         be found in any good Greek syntax, that the neuter
 to a feminine or masculine noun, then one should have        gender demonstrative pronoun may have either a mas-
 very weighty raasons to choosing a given explanation         culine or feminine noun as its antecedent, as it has
 nonetheless.                                                 here in Eph.  253. Knyper quotes from  Kiihnert's
     Now it can be stated without fear of contradiction       "Ausf uhrliche Grammatik der ,Griech Sprake" (Detail-
 that it is perfectly good Greek syntax to have a neuter      ed `Grammar of Greek). He gives the following ex-
 demonstrative pronoun refer to a feminine gender             cerpt : "The usage in Greek is very common to have
 antecedent noun. Even A. T. Robertson agrees to this         the neuter demonstrative refer to a masculine or fem-
 in his "A Grammar of the Greek New Testament in              inine noun as its antecedent, and thus the concept is
 the Light of Historical Research", although it is true       taken as a most general thing or being, or also as a
 that does not interpret this particular phrase in ques-      general thought". Kuyper also quotes examples of
 tion as we would do so. But that is not due to his           this usage of the neuter pronoun in Plato, Xenophon
 grammar, but rather to his Arminianism. Writes he:           and Demosthenes, as given by Kichnert.
 "In general, like other adjectives, "that" outos, agrees        This agrees with the remark of Robertson's Gram-
 with its substantive (noun to which it refers, G.L.) in      mar, as given above. However, Kuyper differs from
 gender, number, whether predicate or attributive. . . .      Robertson in this that he wishes to have the pronoun
 But sometimes the construction according to sense pre-       "that" refer to the sunstantive "faith' `and not merely
 vails. .  _  ." And then a little later he says: "In Eph.    to the "idea of salvation".
 2:8 (quoted in  aGreek,  G.L.) there is no reference to         Kuyper very emphatically states that this is good
 "faith" (pisteoos) in "that" (touto))  but rather to the     Greek, that it was thus always understood by the best
 *&&?a   OF salvation in the clause before". Now, to be       Greek scholars, and that thus alone the text itself
 sure, a mere reference to "that" to the "idea of salva-      comes to its own.
 tion" in the clause "for by grace are ye saved" `does           The dogmatic scope. of this passage as developed by
 not constitute sufficient  grounds to suspect of Armin-      Kuyper we leave outside of this discussion for the
 ianism. For even Calvin thus understands the term.           present. We are here only interested in the gram-
 And let it not be forgotten that A. T. Robertson was         matical construction.
 no mere beginner in Greek. We accused Robertson of              In the next issue we hope to listen to what Dr. S.
 Arminianism. To substantiate this we quote from his          Greydanus has to say on this passage and to offer our
 "Word Pictures in the New Testament", where we               own conclusions.
 read : "Tout0  (that) is neuter, not feminine gender,                                              Geo. C. Lubbers.


 358                                  THE  STANbARb  BEARER

                                                              created with his eye upon God so that he could see
          *  I N   H I S   F E A R                            nothing but God and His praise and glory, was led
                                                              to take his eye off God and to look at himself apart
                                                              from God and to think that he was something in him-
              Called To His Praise                            self apart from God and to think that he was some-
                                                              thing in himself, a creature that deserved praise. He
 The  Militant Prophet.                                       who was made of the dust of the earth, who is absolute-
                                                              ly dependent upon ,God for everything is led to seek for
        The prophet of God is a soldier ! In the office of himself the praise which is due God. He who was
 all believers there is no phase of man's calling as God's    made by God is deceived into thinking that he can be
 prophet that is so neglected today and even so readily       (in one respect at least) equal with Him Who made
 denied as that of being a soldier for the truth. Men         him. What folly that the clay thinks that it can at-
 will easily agree with you that the prophetic calling        tain to equality with the potter!
 makes us instructors and teachers. That the prophet             But what are you going to do? That lie has been
 praises God in confession, speech and song is also           developed a thousand different ways, and every single
 generally conceded, but he is usually considered to be false doctrine is only a variation of that original lie.
 anything but a soldier. Is not his message just exactly That is why our Reformed Fathers always maintained
 that of preaching peace? Isaiah is told to cry to Israel     that you find the truth where the preaching ascribes
 that her "warfare is accomplished". The law of God ALL to God and where God is EVERYTHING and
 which he is called to proclaim has for its inner prin-       man is NOTHING. For you will  .find, whatever false
 ciple the command that we love our neighbour as our-         doctrine you examine, that it is characteristic of every
 selves. And is not the general picture of the prophets       false doctrine that it fails to  ascribe to God the praise
 in the Scriptures that of men who patiently endured          due unto Him and usually bestows it upon man. Thus
 vitilence  at the hands of sinful men? We read of no         it is so glaringly in the Roman Catholic doctrine of
 resistance and taking up of the sword. And Jesus             salvation through good works. The glory of God in
- declared that if a man smite us on the cheek, we should     Christ as He realized salvation for His people is taken
 turn the other cheek rather than to strike back. And away, and you, not Christ, and not God, are able to get
 so a militant prophet seems to be a contradiction* in        your `relative out of purgatory by your gifts and works.
 trrms.                                                       Then you cannot praise God from Whom all blessings
        Yet by a sovereign decree of God His prophets are     flow. Some of that praise will have to go to the indi-
 militant prophets and soldiers for the truth. And he         vidual who was good enough to' pay  a  sum to the
 who refuses to be a militant prophet of God ceases to        church or to undergo tortures of the body to get you
 be a prophet of God. He who ceases to be a militant          a step or two higher in Purgatory and closer to heaven.
 prophet fails in his calling to praise Him Who alone         Thus it is with the free-will doctrines of Arminianism
 is worthy to receive praise, thanksgiving, adoration         and Pelagianism which preach a helpless Christ Who
 and honor. Man is a rational, moral creature and no          can only knock at the door of your heart but cannot
 stock and block. Even after his fall he did not lose         open it. God is not everything in that scheme of sal-
 this thinking-willing nature. He continues to think          vation. He is nothing in it. And man is everything,
 and he continues to will. And in his thinking he             because unless he acts  ,God  must wait. Shall we praise
 either opposes the lie or he succombs to it. Either          God then for His waiting? Is that not a wonderful
 he wills the lie or he fights it. And he who succumbs        virtue of His that He is so patient with us and so lov-
 to the lie and wills to have it present, published and       ing as to wait for us to ask for Christ to come into our
 defended cannot praise God. He allows and defends            hearts? That sounds so pious, and you hear so much
 that which seeks to deny His praise. The lie never           of that blasphemy today in song, but it is not pious. I
 praises God. In fact the lie was first uttered in order      is blasphemy and one phase of  .the development of that
 to induce man to behave as though God had no right           lie of Paradise of which we wrote a moment ago.
 to praise of man and that man had the right to God's         After all did not the devil also seer-n very pious and
 praise. To praise God is to extol Him for His good-          concerned with God's praise? Did he not tell Eve
 nesses, to tell Him that He is God, to make mention          that she would be like God to know whatwas good and
 to Him and unto men of His virtue and glory. For             evil? Look how much better she could serve God, if
 this purpose man was created. But the devil  came            she knew these things ! Was it not after all the tree
 with the lie which declared that man would die if he         of the knowledge of good and evil? But even apart
 ate of the fruit of that tree, and instead it was a way      from all that, are we doing justice to God's sovereign-
 for man to obtain praise for himself, he could become        ty, His power, His justice, His holiness, to say that He
 like unto God so that instead of living for God's praise,    patiently waits for us to open a' door He CANNOT
 he could live for himself.  <And thus man who was            open? He is indeed patient and we praise Him for it,


                                      THE  STANDARD   BEARER                                                               359  .

but He is never patient with our sins, our rebellion,           Himself by putting enmity between the seed of the
our unbelief. He is longsuffering to  usward  in that           devil and the seed of the woman, between the World
He does not yet come in judgment upon the world be-             and the Church. He declares that HE will put that
cause He is not willing that any of His elect should            enmity in the hearts of His people for the devil, his lie,
perish. Many must yet be born, many must yet be                 his kingdom and all that for which he stands. By
regenerated and called into the light. Not till the last        virtue of that work God makes His prophets soldiers                       .
one is called into the light will He come in judgment.          of the truth. He makes them hate the lie and this
He was patient, 0 so patient, with Lot when he tarried          promise declares too that  t.hey  will FIGHT FOR THE
in Sodom, but not with his sinful lingering. And He             TRUTH.
did not wait patiently for Lot to leave. It was in His             In its narrowest sense, of course, the text refers to
patience, if you please, that God took him by the hand          Christ Who is The Seed of the Woman. And He it is
and pulled him out of the destruction. So He always             in His battle for the Truth Who crushes-not bruises,
does, and so HE OPENS THE DOOR OF OUR                           as the English translation has it-the head of the ser-
HEARTS! That free-will offer of salvation philo-                pent and therefore also gives the death-blow to the lie.
sophy is not to the praise of God's name. He must               But it also refers to His entire Church, all the elect
be praised for His power as well as His patience and            seed of the Church. Even then, however, do not over-
a doctrine which denies either one is not to His praise.        Iook the fact that Christ, our Chief Prophet, was a
We would enumerate other doctrines of men, if time              militant Prophet. Indeed, He did not make use of a                   .
and space permitted. Such heresies as Unitarianism              sword of steel, but powerfully He wielded the sword
which denies that the Son and the Spirit are Divine             of the Spirit which is the Word of God (E'ph.  6 :17).
persons does not praise God. The theory that the                Furiously, unrelentingly He fought the devil with that
creation week was thousands of years in duration, the           sword in the wilderness for forty long days and nights.
theory of Seventh Day Adventism, and any theory of              `His whole ministry was one of opposition to the lie.
men you may mention in one way or another denies                He was therefore a militant prophet. Yet when they
God the praise that is due to Him, for they all deny            smote Him on the cheeck,  He turned the other cheek
one or more and thus all His virtues. It would be an            to them. Even before Pilate and the High Priest,
interesing  study to see the relation between all the           though they treated Him shamefully and cruelly, He
theories of men one could find and that original lie            never returned one deed of violence, yea on the cross
of the devil.    But  ,time does not permit it in this          He still prayed, Father, forgive them, for they know
series.  2                                                      not what they do. Yet He continued to praise God and
   Now, then, what are you going to do about all these          to fight for the truth.     And when a godless Pilate
lies of the devil whereby the praise that is due unto           boasts of praise that he thought ought to be coming
God is denied Him? Doesn't it bother you? If you                to him thinking that he could set Christ free, He re-
are a child of *God,  it must and will bother you. If  it       minds him that the praise must be God's and that if
does not touch you at all, then you are not a prophet of        God did not give this godless governor the power, he
God. That may be stated more strongly. If false doc-            could do nothing at all. He fought for the glory and
trines in their denial of God's praise  .do not  .touch  you    praise of God to the very end.         .
ut a21 and have NO effect upon you, then you have not              And so it must be with us. Not with the clenched
been born again by the Spirit of Christ. That is what           fist, not with the arm of flesh, not with bitter words
Scripture says. For no sooner had the devil succeeded           of slander and sarcasm, but with the sword of the
in leading man down that way of denying God  <he                Spirit which is the Word of God, we are called to fight
praise due unto Him and on the way of seeking his               the good fight of faith.
own praise that God comes with that wonderful prom-                In the next installment we hope to say a little more
ise that HE will overthrow that work of the devil in            about this matter of being militant prophets, but in
the lives of His elect people. `Here, too, let it be stated     closing ,this time le us indicate a few texts which speak
God is seeking His own praise and is not leaving it up          of this literally. We have such texts as Jude 3 which
to man to open the door of his heart so that praise to          speaks of contending for the faith ; Ephesians 6 : 11-17
God may yet be realized by man. Adam opened no                  with its militant ring, and James 4  :6 which speaks of
door of his heart, he fled from God, and instead of             resisting the devil, the original word here meaning to
asking God to save him, he tried to cover the door of           set oneself in array over against another.
his heart with "fig leaves" to try to keep God from                                                         J. A. Heys.
looking in to see the filth within. But God tore the
"fig leaves" away and made it plain to Adam that in                                               .
his salvation all the glory and praise must be ascribed                           c-G=+oc-=zx0<30
to God. And then He told the devil in the hearing of
Adam and Eve that HE was going to get praise for

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

          NORMAL COURSE FOR TEACHERS                                                          IN MEMORIAM
       The Synod of 1949 has instructed the Theological              On March 29, 1950, it pleased our Lord `to take unto Himself
School Committee to execute its decision to have a                 very suddenly our husband, father and grandfather
normal training course for teachers in Protestant Re-                                    Mr. Ben Veldkamp
formed Schools.         Such a course has now become a
possibility. It will be a six-weeks course, to be given            at the age of 59 years.
in Grand Rapids, beginning on the week of July 9,                    That his life was Christ, His death gain  :s our comfort.
1950. There will be three evening classes per week,                                               Mrs. Ben  Vcldkamp
with two hours per evening. An enrollment fee of                                                  Mr. and Mrs. Peter D.  Swieter
$5.00 will be charged to cover costs of supplies, inci-                                           Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Yeldkamp
                                                                                                  Mr. and Mrs. Bert Veldkamp
dentals, etc. Anyone interested in this course will                                               Mr. and Mrs. Ben Veldkamp
kindly contact the secretary of the Theological School                                            Mr. and Mrs. Harry Veldkamp
Committee  before  May 1'7.                                                                       Mr. and Mrs. Gaylord Alofs
                        The Theological School Comm.                                              FRY,
                                                                                                  Bernard
                        per, Rev. J. Blankespoor, Sec'y                                           Arnold
                         1513 Godfrey Ave., S. VI.                                                Gerald
                         Grand Rapids, Michigan.                                                      and five grandchildren.
                                                                                                *  * *  *
                          *  * * *
                                                                                         IN MEMORIAM

                         ANNIVERSARY                                 3e  Zollandsche   Mannen  Vereeniging van de  Eerste  Protes-
                                                                   tantsche Gereformeerde Kerk te Grand Rapids, Mich.,  betreurt
  On May 6th,  1950, our beloved parents,                          bet verlies van een harer leden,
                Mr. and Mrs. Donald F. Rietema                                           Benjamin Veldkamp
                                                                   en wenscht bij dezen  hare innerhjke  deelneming uit te spreken
wil1 celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary. We are thankful     aan de weduwe en de overige naverwanten. Moge de God des
to our Heavenly F,ather  that He has given us Christian parents    he& hun rijkelijk met  Zijnen  troost bedeelen.
and a home where we may know the fear of the Lord.                                                         N. Dykstra, Pres.
  It is our earnest prayer that the Lord may sustain and bless                                             G. Borduin,  Seer.
them and grant them His peace in their remaining years.
                    Their grateful children:                                                    * 8       v:     *     ,

                               1Mr. and Mrs. Ben Rietema                                      IN MEMORISM
                               Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Rieterna
                          "     and one grandchild.                  The Choral Society of the First Protestant Reformed Church
Open House Saturday, May 6th                                       hereby expresses its heartfelt sympathy with a fellow member
afternoon 3:00 P.M. to 5:00 P.M.                                   in the loss of his father
evening  7:OO P.M. to 9:00 P.M.                                                               Mr. B. Veldkamp
                                                                     May the God of  all grace comfort the relatives in their sorrow.
                           *  * *  *                                                                    G. Vink, Pres.
                                                                                                        A.nnette Vanden  Berg, Sec'y.

                         IN MEMORIAM

  The Ladies' Society of the Protestant  RefdrmedXhurch  at
Bellflower, California, wishes to express its sincere sympathy                                IN MEMORIAM
to Mrs. Ernest De Groot and her family in the loss of their          The Ladies' Society of the Hudsonville Prot. Ref. Church
father and grandfather                                             would express herewith its sympathy with four of our member-
                                                                   ship,  Mrss.  Steven, Henry J., Andrew and Gerrit Holstege, in
                        Mr.  Teunis  Jansma                        the loss of their father-in-law
                                                                                              Lamb&  Holstege
  May our Heavenly Father comfort and sustain them in this           May the hope of the glorious resurrection assuage their
time of bereavement.                                               grief.
                                    Rev. L. Doezema, Pres.                                              Rev. Gerrit Vos, Pres.
                                    Mrs. S. Bylsma, Sec'y.                                              Mrs. John  VanOverloop,  Sec'y.


