                                                                                                                                                    -.  ._.  __
 V O L U M E   X X V I I   .              March 1, 1951  - Grand Rapids, Michigan                                                        NUMBER  11.

             ./I                                                                             and here we have the result.: Christ is on the tree of
'  M%DIT-ATION                                                                               shame and dishonor. Satan has  won his war!

                                                                                                 But has he?
           The Dying Christ  -
                                                 I                                               There is a .masterpiece  in existence, depicting the
                                                      _-.                                    awful scene `of the cricifixion.  And with marvellous
                    "Yes&,  when He had cried again with a loud voice,                       skill the artist has -depicted  on the fact of Satan, hover-
           yielded up the ghost. And, behold,  the veil of  the                              ing above the cross in a dark and  lurid background
              temple  was rent i$ twain from the top'to the bottom;-                         of clouds, a sardonic leer or grin, but in it there is
             `aad the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; and the                           also an unspoken question of awful dread: Did I have
             graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints
             which slept arose, and,canie out -of the graves after                           t h e   v i c t o r y ?
             Hi,s. re&rrection,' and we+ into the holy city, and ap-                             I wonder what exegesis Satan put on the perfectum
             peared unto many. Now when the centurion, and                                   of Jesus: It is finished,!
             they that were with him, watching  IJesus,   saw the'                               And then that loud cry of Jesus as Hi3 bowed `the
             earthquake, and those things that were. done, they                              head.and gave up the ghost. Satan must have.heard  it. .
             feared  greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of
             God."-Matt.  27:50-54.                                                          He certaihly  was.: there at the time.
                    "And when Jesus had .cried with a loud voice, He                             And the import-bf  the last crossword ! Father, int\o
             said, Father, into Thy hands I cpmmend  my. spirit:                             Thy hands I commend My spirit!                   .              ..
             and having said  thu? He gave  u,p the ghost."                                      Also the&terrifying signs at the death of Jesus :
                                                                        - L u k e   23:46    the earth quaked, the rocks rent, the graves were open-
    Everything surrounding this awful cross is won-                                          ed, the veil was, rent, and even from the top to the
derful.                                                                                      bottom, signifying that it was God's hand !
    We feel a great humility when we set ourselves                                               Of course,  Sattin. now. knows that with all his
to say something about `bne of its episodes. This is                                         hatred of God irrthe persecution of Jesus, he did noth-
true of every attempt at exegesis of the Holy Word ;                                         ing but  he@  to. lay  -the foundation of the holy city
but how much more when we  attempt,to  say some-                                             where. the perfected kingdom shall be to &God's praises *,
thing of the dying Christ of ,God!                                                           forever !
    It was early when we arrived at the place of a                                              !Sorrows  o f   S a t a n !
skull. The rulers. of the people had done everything
with expediency and dispatch.. They must haxe con-
gratulated one another, and themselves. There! That                                             Yes, Jesus died on the cross.
is  w&k that is well  done. We are rid of Him, who                                           I And  what marvellous things happened at His
really ;was a thorti in %ur si'des ! At nine  c?clock  in                                    death.
the &orning it was finished, as 4ar as their nefarious                                          First, He cried ,with a loud voice just before He
labor"`iyai concerned. The Christ (in their eyes, the                                        died, and said :. .Father,  into Thy hands :, I commend
pseudo-Christ) hurig ofi the cross. Let now every one                                        Hy spirit!  1                             i'            -;.,
look to Him.  1                                                                               `. This -is a quotation from Psalm 31;. And yet, it is               _
    IOh yes, the devil had his hour, we read ; and he                                        no quotation, for they are the words of His own speech
certainly used his  bon? Every spirit or  niati at his                                       as He spoke, them through the mouth of the `prophet
post, each doing the thing that fitted the hellish plot;                                     many ages before. He sj&ply enters His own- words


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           242                                      THE  S,TANDARD-  BEARER

           and deepens them to the utniost and fullest signifi-             into the temple, and His own hands ripped the* veil
                                                                                                                                         _
           cance.                                                           in twain.!
                  Father,  in'to Thy  ,handB I commend My spirit !                   There is *Gospel joy in that act.
           I..h&ar in these words an exuberant'gladness; it sounds0                  For' ages "it was told the church that God dwelled
           to tie like a shout of victory. `That is especially so           in the  lioly of  holies,  `and that no one might  etiter
           whtin we connect this last crdssword  with the one He. there that he die not. The high priest might "enter
          utteked just before: It is  fi(@hed!                              there once each year, but he did so because .of the
             We realize full.  well  that His physical death is             fact- that he was an official, a copy, a shadow, a type
           part and "parcel , of' His ' humiliation  ; and that His         of ,One who was to come. -But God was not at home
           body must rest in the grave sd that He might show                for just anydne. That.had  to wait for more gladsome
           tp, the church of all ages that He has overcome Beath            d&ys.
           in all its agonizing phases,. to show that He opens                       The holy of holies was shut to all men because of
          ..: the grave fo? all those that follow Him. But .let .us         their evil, filth, corruption and guilt:
           also see that this last cry of Jesus signifies that He                    And this is the  ,Gospel:  a  Man was found who
           is  goi.ng  HOtiE ! He is going Home!  Home'to God,              would `open the door `that led to the ..holy $ of holies,
           His Father iri heaven.                                           the Home of God. And that Man is Jesus. He will
                  From the moment that Jesus bowed His head'and             rend the veil, and that veil-is His dwn flesh;
           died; He arrived in the arms 9f God and at once He                        Do you notice how God's timing is absolute and
           was in the  midst of great rejoicings and  jqbilant              pkrfect,?
           singing.                                                                  At the .moment  Jesus died, the veil is relit, thk
                  The Blood of the New Testament arrived.                   body and the soul of Jesus are parted in death, and
                                                                            so the opening is made that leads to the inner sanc-
              `I realize full well that the victory began with His          tuary.
           resurrection, but I would like to contrast this last               I think that Sanhedrin appointed .an able com-
           crossword with .the fourth, ,and then we will. realize           mittee to see to this strange phenom&on ; and that
           that Jesus, came to  kest  .in Father's arms. In His
           ar'ms the spirit of- Jesus rejoiced. ' Moreover, `in His this committee did good work: the veil was repaired
                                                                            or a new one bought and installed. . I shudder at the
           second crossword He had already prophesied: todaz~               implications of such an act.. It says: I refuse to enter
           thou shalt be with Me in Pu~ac&e!
1                                                                           the sanctuary. And if we note that the sanctuary,
               &d in Paradise' it is well with Jesus! What in- or rather, the opening into the sanctuary, is the sym-
          expressible contrast to'the cry from out of the depths            bolic representation of the open arms of God, the
           asd Prom out of the impenetrable darkness of-a few               matter becomes so horrible that we tremble.  San-
           moments before !        There He  felt-forsalken of  Go&         hedrin, through its able committee, gave notice to- God
           `here He is in the  hand  of  Father.  Hhere  He  ex-            that they refused His Son"!
            perienced  an' agonizing agony; .here -He, experiences                   But to the church of Jesus Christ, this act of God
           the delight-of heaven.                                           is Gospel joy.
               `There is glory already in His dying, a glory that             The door is open!
            shall progress to dizzying heights of the New JeYlu-.                    Heaven itself lies open to our wondering gaze.
          salem  in  &is final day.                   . .                   s : `Through the death ?f Jesus a new and living way
                                                                            is opened to the heart.of God.           i
                                                                                     Oh no, we will not repair that breach, which God
     I      _. Yes, the. Christ of God died;`                               made.  Buf; we will come, we do come to Thee, for
                                                                            Thou art our .God in this -dying Christ !
                  And both-the church and the world shall know it.           The blessing of a dying Christ!
            God will take care that this date does not pass un-                .:               .
           noticed. Awful things shall happen.                                         2 :              (=y4-
                  The veil of the temple was rent in twain frgni the
          top'to the bottom.                                                         The etirth did, `qiake and the rocks refit!    1
                  Why is that added to the holy record?                              If yo,u lived in places where earthquakes- happen
                  Undoubtedly it points to the fact, that all this cross    you' see more of the import of th+ testimony than if
           and dying, all this redemption and glory,--is a work             you have never before felt the earth shake beneath
            of  i;he Triune God. He will not give His praises to            your feet.
           another. For Himself He created, all things ; well, it           We speak of terra  firma,  the firm and stable
            sh+ become evident that also recreation is His own earth !
           +Qrk alone.                                                               Well; if the creature is to bZ at rest'and comfort-
              ,The  ?e-51  ia  r.&:  0  ;yks?  I&  Go&  Teached down able, the earth should be firm. It belongs to oBr nature


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            I

                                             THEhTANDARD  B E A R E R '                                                        243

e to live upon terra firma. It is tunnatural' if the earth       Another sign of the last day, and wrought for your
  quakes.* It should not be, according to'~the  ordinances    and my comfort' in the valley of the dead in which we
  of creation.                                                dwell here below.,                        `."1 .
     But let us not accuse God when He takes the earth            Oh yes, at the last day the graves of the saints
  in His hands in order to shake it and cause. all manner     shall be opened and they shall not only appear unto
  of hardship .and fatality.                                  many, b&they  shall walk at liberty in the new Para-
      It is not `God who is to blame ! Perish the thought'! dise of God forever and ever.               -
  We, it is. man himself, who is to blame. We have               What beautiful contrast! When Christ is made  '
  turned the foundations of the earth  .upside down .ready to fill the grave, the graves of  His'saints  *are
 _ through our sin and iniquity. You can find that in         opened. It is the Gospel in wondrous acts of God.
 the Bible  .too:   Shin is perverseness. And that word       His death'is our life. His burial is our resurrection.
 `is akin to the earthquake. ,Oh, I am certain that when His agony is our bless. Shall we not love Him?
  the judgment day comes all the calamities thtit shall           The marvel of God's everlasting Gospel !               -
  befall the wicked shall be beautifully right, entirely          The blessings of the dying Clrist! -.:
  just, wholly righteous. Our condemnation shall equal                              ,ckilw              .;.c      :.:
 our corruption.
      The earth must be moved, `God's justice demands.            The victim of Sanhedrin, Pilate,. Herod, and the
  it. He has done so many times. It really was not            wicked world had died.
  the first time the earth quaked when Jesus died. In             Their representative and officiating factotum, the
 . the `Old. Testament. they reckoned their years some-       centurion, could testify to the fact. IGod took care of
  times from "the great earthquake". God has rocked           that ! He had not only seen the "death of this Strange-
  the world in His anger- many times.                         Man, but he also saw the attending signs.
      But I must tremble when I remember a word from             And he marvelled with great admiration.
  Paul': Once~ more I shall move the earth; and all              A great change had come about.
things !                                                         First the howling mob with:their  gibes and jokes
     And that is anticipated every time there has been        and taunts and sneers, reviling the dying Christ.
  an- earthquake, and especially when Jesus died. It was         And now the quaking earth, the rending rocks,
  a prophecy of. the final earthquake of the last day.        after the inexplicable three hours darkness ! And the
  The rending of the veil, is a blessing, but the rending mockers flee in great fear !
  of the earth and of the rocks is a curse, or, rather,          `The strange death of this victim: he cried with a
  the promise of the final curse of God when He shall         louid voice, .and then such mystifying language: "into
take the earth and shake it in the full revelation of         Thy hands I commend. My spirit I"
  His righteous anger. I think that there shall be an            -It was all  s-o unusual, so strange, so out of the
  eternal earthquake in hell.                                 ordinary  f
      But there is- a blessing in it for you, my brother,        `God will have His witnesses even out of the Roman -
                                                                                                                   -.
 I a blessing in disguise.                                    oppressors.                                                ..
      The splitting earth and the. rending rocks. tell you        No, I do not know if the testimony of this man
  that on the basis of the dying Christ there shall..come     spelled salvation for him. He may have ,meant  : this
  a palace that is built on?he immovable rock, and the        dying  man. is more than an  .ordinary  mortal. We
  rock is Christ. And Christ the Rock is the revelation       know that the superstitious- Romans believed in the
' of God the Rock. Deut.  32:4.                               gods dwelling with men.
      The rocks that split and the  earth that quaked            But; at any rate,, this man must be a witness for
  when the Christ died tell the church that they shall        God. Even as Nebuchadnezzar, `the wicked king of
  stand. secure forever on the `rock of `God's everlasting    the (Old Testament. He must attest unto- -the great
  l o v e .                                                   .deed  of almighty-God, when His Christ died.
     ,Oh, the blessings of a dying ,Christ !                     But I like to believe that this centurion is a repre-
                                                              sentative of God's elect out of the `great heathen world
                 ,            -    -                          that will find all their joy in the dying Christ, but
                                                              then the, Christ who rose `again, and is now sitting at
      He bowed the head and -gave up the. ghost !             the right hand of ,God !
      Presently loving hands will take. Him down from             0 God! We thank Thee for this dying Christ, for
  the cross and lay Him in a grave.                           His blood speaks good- things, better things than the
     `But when His body is separated from His spirit,         blood of Abel !
  it spelled life for many bodies of the saints that were        -`Good  Friday is good, for it tells me that His death
  resurrected and who appeared unto many after Christ's       is my life for evermore !            j
 -resurrection.                         I
                      *-                           D                                                            G. Vos.
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                     '  E D I T O R :   - Rev. H. Hoeksema.                                                                     . .
       Communications relative to contents should be addressed to                                                       <That the promise of the gospel is not "a gracious
 REV. H. HOEKSEMA,.`1139  Franklin St.,, S. E., Grand Rapids,* offer of salvation on the part of God to all men, nor
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                                                                                                                       soever ~believeth  in Christ crucified, shall not perish,
                                                                                                                       but have everlasting life. This promise, together with'
                                                                                                                       the command to repent and believe, ought to be de-
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                                                                                                                       clared and published to all-nations, and to all persons
                                      C O N T E N T S                                                                  promiscuously. and without distinction, to whom God
MEDITATION-                                                                                                            out .of .his good pleasure sends the gospel."
           The Dying Christ _______ ~~ _____.__________________________________.....~........  -241                            The Synod of the Christian Reformed Church, 1924,
                Rev. Gerrit  VOS .
 _`.I                                                                                                                  appealed `to this part of the Confession to support its
 E D I T O R I A L S -   :.                                                                                            doctrine of' common grace.. According to this theory
         The Declaration Of Principles .  ..~ ____..___________.................~. 244                                 the promise of the gospel is a well-meaning offer- on
         Dr:  Schilder  and` The Declaration  _____________.______________________  248                                the part of #God to all that hear, and is.therefore grace
           Answer To Brother Flikkema  ____ _______________________ I____: _____._..._  249.                           to all to whom the gospel is preached.
                Rev.  H: Hoeksema  c-                               ,'                   1                                     But in this the Synod was utterly mistaken.
 `_        Of Books ____ :...: ____________________.~......~.~......~....~...  _ ____i  _____.__: _________. 251               Note, first of all, how the promise of the gospel is
               Rev. H. Hoeksenia                                                                                       here described:  ". . . The  +promise of the gospel is,
                                                                                                                       that whosoever believeth in Christ crucified, shall not
           The End Of Hamilton ________________________________________ 1 _______._......  251                         perish, but have everlasting life."
                Rev. H. Veldman                                                                                                To be sure, the viewpoint here is different from
          .Rev.  Petter Replies ____________________.....~~.......~............................~  254                  that of  .the quotations we made before from the Canons
               Rev. G. M. Cphoff                                                                                       and from the Baptism Form. It evidently refers to
 FROM HOLY WRIT-'                                                                                                      the promise as preached, rather than to the promise
           Exposition Of Hebrews 10:19-25 ______ _____ _____________ :: .________ _ __._ 257                           essentially. And as such the promise is heard in a
                Rev. Geo. C. Lubbers                                                                                   saving sense, received, and appropriated, only by faith.
 IN' HIS FEAR-                                   -.            -                                                       In the second place, do not overlook the fact that the
           Church Membership In His Fear ___________________________________ I  .._. 259                               promise' is here presented not- in all `its contents, but
              Rev. H. C. Hoeksema.                                                                                     only as everlasting life. It has in mind only the pro-
 C O N T R I B U T I O N S -                                                                                           mise of the goal, and not that of the means to. reach
           Twee Vragen aan den Heer Hessel De Jong ____.___...._  :..260                                               the goal. Hence, it is said that the promise is that
                Ds. J. van Raalte                                                                                      they who receive it shall have eternal life and not
                                                                                                                       perish, and, that it concerns only those that believe in
           A Letter From Neerlandia ______ _ ____________ :...:........ ____...  _ _..... ,.261
                L .   W i e r e n g a   S r .                                                                          Christ.
                                                                                                                               Now the question is: does the preaching of the
            A Letter to the `Editor _____________________ ___ ________________.~  ______.._.__..  261                  promise, according to this canon, make the promise a
                Geo. Ten Elshof                                                                                        conditional offer, dependent on any prerequisite which
           About The Declarations _____________________________ I __._. _____._ __.._.._._._.. 262                     man must fulfill in order to obtain the promise? Or
                R e v .   W .   Hofman.                                                                                does also this canon, tihen read in the light of its con-
            A Final Report ________________.__  _ _____._ _ ______________ . 
                                                                                    ..I ______._._____....____  264    text, present the promise as- an unconditional oath of
                Rev. M.  Schipper                                                                                      ,God that He will infallibly lead all the elect unto sal-
                                                                                                                       vation in Christ through faith?

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                                             T H E   - S T A N D A R D -   i3'EABE'k  *-  -_                                    245
                                                                                                1
          The  firoi-deo   -might  iadeed be said to be a' con-          cannot  Bossibly mean th,at the promise of everlasting.
      diti'onai  d&k,  if  M,  tha.t  is,  the promise, or  .even the    life is. a conditional offer. But it teaches :
 preachitig  of  the  promi&,  did not  inelude  more than                   1. That the preaching of the pron$se  is as to its
      the goi%1 df &ma1 life,                                            contents pai-titular : the promise of eternal life is not
          But this is c&t&& ii& t;2ie c&e.                               fok: all thit hear the go'spel. Nor is the promise for
          The promise of God, and ev@ the preaching of the               all that sire' baptized. But it is particular, that is, for
      promise, also includes all that is nece&&l'y' %s reach             all that believe in Christ.
      `that goal. It includes the gift of  the. Holy  Spi&:               2. That  IGod includes in the promise the gift of
      and therefore, it includes  l&e  `applica$ion   df all the . faith Which He b.estows  only on the elect.
      benefits of salvation to the elect. The  $romise  `in-                2. That therefore the  protiise is an oath of God'
      cludes `the gift of faith. That this is t&e meaning is             by which He leads the elect infallibly to salvation.
      plain at once if we read Canons II, A, 5 in the light of IOnly the elect belie"ve. The promise is only for them.
      what follows in the same chapter.                                  `And them #God leads infallibly to everlasting life and
          In Art. `7 we read: `%ut as man> as &y believe,                glory.
      and' are' iXelivered and saved from sin and destryetion               `To this Carions II, A, 5 sdds:
      through the.  death  of  ,Chsist,   abre indebted for `this            1. That this particular `promise must be proclaim-
benefit soielg to the grace of God, given t&e& in Christ                 ed `generally,. or promiscuously, to all that hear the
      from @Veri&&ig, aad not to Oiiy m&t 0% their own:"                 gospel. The ,gospel  is proclaimed by men, and there-
          `And in A& 8 : `TOY this `was the sovereim  eounbel,           fore it  cannot be preached to  th;? elect alone: And,-
      and most gracious will and purpose of ,God the Fathe%;             eften if it were possible that men could preach only
      that the' quickening aad saving efficacy sf the most               t6 the elect, this certainly is not the will of >God. Ac-
      jZWf6tiB death of l%Ckwi &umId t&tend to till the elect,           cording to the l;evelation  of Scripture it is evident that
      <Or bes&&g upon them alorie the gift of justifying                 it is the will of Gbd. that not only the elect, `but also
      fsith, thereby to: bring. thekil iafailibly to salvation :         the reprobate, shall hea? the preaching of tlie gospel,.
      that is, it ~8s the w bf &dj thbt chid lay ttie bi00a              in order that God may be justified, ,and sin may be-.
      of the crass, whqy'eby ho, coilfirmed  the niq covenant,           e81i2d  revealed as' sin indeed.
      &pllstiid  effd,u~iiy  3%deWi   hit of  every  pX@iC!j  tribe,       2. That it must be proclaimed together with the
      ha&t, and language, all those, and those only, w'izd               caizliirldnd `to repent and believe. The expression "the
      were -from eternity chosen to salvation, and given to              command to repent -and believe" is by no means the
      him by the Father ; that he should' confer upon them               same as saying "the condition of faith and repentance".
      faith, which together with all the other savjng gifts              When we speak of a condition, the implication is that
      of the  Holy Spirit, he purchased  *for  t&em `by his              ,God dffers the sinner-something which he can receive
      death ; should purge them from all sin, both original              providing he first fulfills  the condition of faith and
      and actual, whether committed before or after beli&v-
 .                                                                       repentance. But a command is unconditional. Un-
      mg; .and having faithfully preserved them even to the              belief is sin. ,And not to repent means to walk and
      `end, should at last bring the& free from every spot               continue to walk in ,the way of sin. The' natural tian
      and blemish to the enjoyment of  .glory `in his  oti               has no right to live in unbelief and sin before God.
 _- presence foreyer.`!                                                  -Hence,*  God commands him to believe and to. repent,
          Here, too, it is evident that according to the Re-             unconditionally. And by the preaching of the gospel,
- formed Confessions the promise is  all-inclqsive.' For                 together with the command to repent and b;elieve,  the
      to be sure, the promise of the gospel is a d&laPation              sin of the natural man is sharply revealed and aggra-
      of the eternal will of God to save the elect. It is,               vated, and God is .justified when He judgeth. Faith
      according to this article of the `Canons,. the. declara-           however, is a gift of .grace. ~ And by, that gift of faith
      tion ,of the wi!l -of God that He shotild redeem out of            the believer fulfills his part of the covenant. He does
      every nation, tribe, and tongue all the elect, and them            believe atid repent indeed. -He walks in a new obedi-,
      .&one ; that He should 3orifer upon the de& the gift of            ence, and by faith cleaves to the one God, Father, Son,
      saving faith, and upon them alone ; that He should                 and Holy Ghost, and trusts in Him and loves Him'
      confer upon the elect, and upon them alone, all theI with all' his -heart and mind and soul and strength,
 saving gifts of the Holy Spirit which Christpurcha,sed                  forsakes the world, crucifies.his  old nature; and yalks
      for them, that He should purg_e them from `original                in a new and holy life.          :
      and actual sins, and should lead them infallibly to ever-            And finally, this same-canon teaches that this gospel
      lasting glory. Such is the, eternal will o$ God,  ,and             is preached wherever and to whomevel- God- sends it,
      such is the declaration-of the Promise in the gospel,              and that, too, according to His good pleasure. E v e n
      as we  haGe it in  Scriptuie.        It is, `therefore;  all-      the gospel is not preached to all men. Many there are
      inclusive.-                                                        that Fever hear the gospel. This is true ,of thousands
        Hence, Canons II, A, 5, in the Jighi of- the cpntext, upon thousands of heathen, that-.liped and still live
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      2 4 6                                          T H E .   ST;ND;a.R.lj  B E A R E R                      .

       o&side of the pale of Christendom. And besidks, it is             to all: the children that are baptized. It is .&ompared
     true of  many- children that  dfe in infancy and are                to a testament in whiih a father has bequeathed a
nevertheless  sabed without hearing  .the preaching of                   certain sum of money. which is deposited in the `bank,
     the gospel,  becauSe they, as well as the adults, are               and which every one of his children, head for head,'
       included in the- covenant of <God.                '               may draw from the bank upon his decease. ;S& God
               In the meantime we have already `proceeded with           has written the, ntities of, all the children, head for
       our discussion of the Declaratiori of Principles to what          head, that ark baptized, atid that are born in. the his-
       is found under II, B. There .the  -D&claration states:            torical line ofrthe covenant in His teststment,  sealed
       "That Christ. died only ,for the elect, and that the sav-         by the death of Christ. They, in other words, all have
      3ng  effieaey of the  de5th of Christ extends to tliem             a check in'thkir pocket, which they may cash in the
       only. This is evident from the Canons of Dordrecht,               bank of  `hea;en.      This promise God seals, that is,
       II, A,  8." Apd then we quote frBm the cbnfessions                swears by `an oath, unto all the baptized children in
       this same eiihth article of canons 11, to which'we al-' the sacrament of baptism.' Such is  the meaning of
       ready referred above. - Frem this article we briefly the objective pro&se  to all the children that are born
       conclude in the Declaration:,                                     in the line of- the historical dispensation .of the cove-
               "1. That all the covenant' blessings are for the elect    nant.
       alone.                                                                   So far the Liberated agree with Heyns. That this
               "2. That (God's promise .is unconditionally for them      is true is-.evident  from the ,quotations  we made in our
       only: fbr God cannot promise  what was not-objectively            last number of the Starnda&? `Bearer, the quotations
merited by Christ.                                                       from Dr. Bremmer in'the Reformatie and from Prof.
      .,       "3. That the promise of God bestows the objective         Veenhof in his AppBl.           ,
       right of salvation not upon all-the children that are'             According to both Heyns and the Liberated, how-
       born under the historical, dispensatibn of the covenant,          ever, there is a condition Attached to this promise.
       that' is, nbt tipon all that are baptized, but only upon          This condi$ion  is faith and obedience, or repentance.
      the spiritual seed."                                               : They differ, as we have pointed out repeatedly,-
               iLet  hs briefly  elucid&? these  th?ee items quoted      at least Dr. Sehilder differs;-in regard to the question
       from the Declaration.                                             of preparatory grace. According to Heyns,  a!1 bap-
:              &s to the first of ,these three items, the truth cf       tized children have sufficient grace either to accept or
       this ought to be evident to all that can read aIJd are            reject: the promise, to bring forth good fruits of re-
     willirigito subscribe' to the Reformed Confessions. That            pentance or stinking fruits of unbelief. It is `this
            all the coienant blessings are for the elect alone  Is       preparatory  grace that distinguishes the baptized child-
      -literally stated in =so many words in the article of the          ren from the &ildren of the world, according to Heylis.
      Canons to which we referred above. For the article                 The liberated, as far, as we- know, do not ,subscribe
       states that it is the most gracious will and purpose of           to this particular, theory of. Hey&.
       God the Father ."that the quickening and saving efficacy                 However, they stand before the question,  .whi& has
       of &he most precious death of his $on should extend to            never been answered, whether or not faith is iticluded
       all the elect, for'bestowing upon them alone the gift of          in the promise of `God. That it is, is very evident from
       justifying faith, thereby to bring them  &fallibly' to            the doctrinal  pari of the Baptism  Forin, where we
       salvatioiz."' And again, the article-states that "it was          read : "In like manner, when we are baptized in the -
       the will of God, that Christ by the blood of the cross,           ndme of the Holy Ghost, the Holy *Ghost  assures us,          -
       whereby `he confirmed the new covenaht, should ef-                by, this hi!y sacrament, that he will dwell in .us, arid
       fectually redeem out of every people, tribe, nation,              sanctify us to be members of Christ,, applying unto us
     I, and language, all those, and those only, who were from           that which `we have' ifi Christ, namely, the washilly
       eternity chosen to salvatitin, and given to him by the            away of our sins, and the daily renewing of our &es,
      ,Fath&r  ; that he should confer upon them faith, which            till we shall  finally~ be presented without spot  or.
       together with all the other saving gifts I of the Holy            wrinkle among the assembly of the elect in life eter-
      Spirit, he purchased for them bx his death ; should                nal:)' The application of all that we have in Christ
     . purge. them from all sin, both original. and actual,              certainly includes the gift of faith.- It therefore  is
       whether committed before or after believing, and hav-             un$oubtedly.part  of the promise of IGod to us. But if
       ing faithfully preserved them even to the end, should             this is tpue, how is it possible that faith can be a con-
       at last bring them free from every spot and blemish               dition unto  the  promi;se?  Is the condition of faith a
       to the  enjoymerit of glory  iii  his presence forever." prerequisite unto the gift of faith? Evidently this is
      "rhis point, therefore, needs no further explan@ion.               absurd. But if faith is not included in the promise,
               As to "2",Jhis  reflects upon the Heynsian.view of        the question is`: where does it-come from? For there
       the prom@e. According to Heyns, and also. according               is no gift of God which is not prqmised us. _ Yet, th'e
       %Q the Eiber&dZ God's promise  is $r~ objectike  bequest          Liberated insist that faith is .a gift.,&  God? and that
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                           I                  T    -    H     E         S      T      A    N    D    A    R    D       BEiR'E'R          247
                                                                                                                .._ _--- .._._-_ --..
it is not of. us. This problem, then, they have .never                       tincotiditionaliy not for all, neither for all the children
solved. And therefore, we would like to have them                            that are born df believing parents, but.only for believ-
answer the question: is faith as a condition, a pre-                          ers, that is, for the elect. Now Art.' 8, of Canons II, A,,
requisite unto the promise of`%ith?.                                          emphasized "that the quickening and saving efficacy
         Iii distinction from all this the Protestant Reform-                 of the most precious death of @is Son should extend
ed believe& maintain on the basis of the Confession,                          to all the elect, for- bestowing upon them alone the
including the Baptism Form:                                                   gift  of justifying faith, thereby to bring .them infal-
  . 1. That ,God-camJot  promise what is not objectively                      libly to salvation." And again, in the same article we
merited by Christ.              And  accordiqg to' A& 8, He                   r&ad that it was the will of ,God to redeem "all those,
merited all $he blessin&`of salvation for the elect only. -and those only who `were from eternity chosen to salva-
 Atonement is particular, limEed only  t; the elect.                          tion, and given to him by the Fathel; that he should
 There is; therefore,,tti  use the figure of the testament. confer upon them -faith, -which together with'all the
or the bequest that is deposited $1 the bank, no capital                      other saving gifts of the Holy Spirit, he purchased for
for all the children that are baptized in the bank. them by his death." Now Qu. 66 of the Heidelberg
 God does not issue false checks. The promise; there-                         Catechism speaks of the sacraments, and tells us that
fore, and all the blessings of `salvation, are for the elect 'they are "appointed of God for this end, that by the
alone.  .~  `~                                                               use thereof, he may more fully declare and seal to us
         2. This promise  ihcludes the gift -of faith. This                   .the promise of the gpspel,  viz., that he grantsus freely
also is literally stated in the ari@le. from the `Canons                      the remission of sin, and life eternal." And the queg-
which we quoted above: "that he should confer upon                            tion is : who are meant by the personal pronoun us in
them faith, whidh  tog&&r  with all the  &her saving this answer of the Heidelberg Catechism? -Does that,.
gifts of the Holy Spirit, he purchased for I them by. refer to all that are b&n u@der the historical dispen:
his death."                            ..I                                    sation of the covenant, in other words, to all that. are
         3. Faitti, therefore, is got a condition, but belongs                baptized? Or does it refer to believers, and therefore,
to the fulfillment of the promise, and is a God-given.                        to the elect? The +nswek is plain: the latter only can
means br instrument whereby the (elect may lay. hold                          be meant. And therefore, both baptism and the Lord's
on. and appropriate the promise df eternal life and ,,Supber  are sacraments which #God has appointed for
glory.                                                                        the purpose of sealing unto His own people, the be-
    &nd therefore we  con$ude "that the promise of lievers, the elect,`the promise  of the gospel. And there-
God bestows the objective right of salvation not upon                        fore the promise of -the gospel is only for them.
all the child-ren that are born under the historical -dis-                          .But there is more ifi the Declarati&  on this point.
pensation of the covenant, that is, not upon all that . It continues':                                                -
are,baptized,  but o&y upon the spiritual seed."                                    "This is  also. evident from the Heidelberg Cate-
    `The Declaration continues: "-This is also evident ' chism, Qu. 74 : `Are infants also to* be baptized? Yes :
from other harts of otir confession, as, for instance:                        for since they, as well as the adult, are included in the
         "Heidelberg Catechism, Qu. 65: `Since then we.are covenant and church- of God ; and since redemption
made partakers of Christ and all his benefits by faith                        from sin by the blood of Christ, a&d the Holy Ghost,
only, whence doth this faith proceed? From the Holy                           the author of faith, is promised to them no less than
 Ghost, who works faith in our hearts by the preach-                         to the ad@ ; they must therefore by baptism, as a tiign
ing of the gospel, arid confirms it by the `tise of the                       of the covenant, be admitted also into the Christian
sacraments.' "                                                                chhrch: and be distinguished from the children of un-
         "And in Qu. 66: `What .a& the sacraments? The                        believers, as was done in the old covenant or testament
' sacraments are holy visibie signs and seals, appointed                      by circumcision, instead of which baptism is idstituted
of `God for this end, that by the use thereof, he may .in the new covenant.'
the more fully declare-and seal to us the promise qf                                "That in j this question, and. answer of the Heidel-
.the gospel, viz., that he grants us fregly the remission                    berger not all the children that are baptized, but, only
of sin, and life eternal, for the sake of that one sacri-                    the spiritual children, that is, the elect, are meant is
fice of Christ, accomplished bn the cross.' "                                evident. For :
    !`If we compare with these statements frdm the
   `.                                                                               ."l. Little infants surely cannot fulfill any. condi-
Heldelberger  what was taught concerning the saving tions. And if the promise of  ,God  iti for them, the
efficacy of the'death of Christ in Canons II, A, 8, it is                    promise. $s infallible and unconditional, and. therefore
evident that the pr.otiise of the gospel which is sealed                      only for the elect.
-by the sacraments concerns onljr the belieSers,  that is:
                                                        _.                          "2. According to Canons II, A, 8, which we quoted
t h e   e l e c t . "                                                        above, the `saving eflicaey  of the death of Christ is for
    This last statement also ought to be very, evident. t h e   e l e c t   &lone.
The point we .wish to make here is that the promise is                              "3. According to this answer of the Heidelberg
                 .
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                  2 4 8                                Ct+iE.  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

                  Catechism, the Holy Ghost; the author of faith,  .is          infant, and a conditional way `for the adult. But there
                 promised to the little children no less than to the adult.     is only on& way. And that one way is the way of sover-
                 And  Gqd surely fulfills His promise. Hence, that              eign grace which.*God  bestows without any conditions
               promise is  surely only for  the.elect."                         upon all His elect. Hence, we-maintain that the pro&-
                     I want to place all the emphasis. in this connection       ise is not for all, not even for all the children that are
               . .on the element that &he' promise ii unconditional. For        born `of belie@& parents, but that it is for the elect
                 if it were not, a little child, an infant, could never be      alone; for .the spiritual seed, and : unconditional.
                 said to have the promise of God.                                                          i                               H .      H.
                   Let us take for example ah infant at the momept
                 -that it is baptized, say a child of two weeks old. The
                 questiqn is : d"oes that little child have the promise that
                 he is redeemed from iin by the blood of Christ? Does
                 God promise to that infant that the Holy Ghost ,will                Dr. Schilder And The Declaration,
:  .,            dwell in him, and, that `God through the Holy Spirit
                 will give unto that infant the true and saving faith,
                 and, therefore all th'e benefits of salvation? Or, as the '          In the present tissue of the- Stan&& Bearer I have
                 Baptism Form has it, does God assure to that child             nbt much space left for my r,eply to Dr. Schilder. But
                 that the .H$y ,Ghost  will dwell in it and sanctify it to ,I must call attention to a hit of reasoning that, -to my
                 be member of Christ, and apply unto it all that which          mind, is rather  confusing, and because it is confusing
                 -it has in Christ, namely, the washing away of sins, and       is also dangerous, especially because it cpncerns sotie
                 the daily renewal of its life, until it shall finally `be      very specific terms'of the conf.ession. Dangerous it is,
                 -presented  without spot or wrinke among'the assembly          because. Dr. Schilder presents `those terms of the con-
               of the elect in life eternal? Moreover, let us  presup-          fession in so uncertain. and ambiguous a light that no
                 pose;as certainly is very well possible, and as certainly      one knows anymbre what is their contents, and that
                 we may assume  that in the covenant it is most general-        anyone can, apparently, r&ad his `own meaning into
               ly the case, that God fulfills His promise of salvation t               h    e    m    :
                 and the Holy Spirit unto that child, either b.efore or               I had almost tirritten that my colleague in the old
                 during or. immediately after baptism. Then it must             country isjuigling the terms, btit since this word has
                 be very evident that the promise which God gave to             the connotation of intentional deception, I will not
                 -that child is absolutely tincon<itional. That child cer-      use it.                         _  (
                                                                                     The reader will remember that Dr. Schilder critic-
  -  .' tainly cannot hear the gospel., It cannot hear or under-
                 stand the demand of repentance and faith. Hence, to            ized the statement, in the Declaration of Principles
                                                                                that ,election is the sob fountain and cause of IXW snl-
         -.      that little infant th;e promise of God is surely uncon-
                 ditional. If we don't want to fall into the error of the       vation. He. very definitely stated that he did not be-
                 Baptist, then we certainly must fiaintain and teach            lieve that these  terms were  coriect.               Cf. the last
                 that faith- and repentance are'not conditions unto the         S t a n d a r d   Bear&r.  -L
                 promise and unto -our entering into the co'vevnant  of               I called his. attention to the fact that both these
                 God, but that the proinise of God is unconditional.            termst occur literally in the confession.
                 $3uppose,  moreover, that that same infarit dies when it             But before I did so some other reader of D,e R'efor-
                 is a half year old. Then God will surely realize all the mntie called his attention to the&me mistake.
                 benefits of- salvation to that child that has neve? been            Now, what does he  do.? Does he  admit that he
                *able to fulfill any conditions whatsoever.                     made a mistake, and thatj ,when he wrote `as he did
                     Nor can you possibly maintain that although the            above, he did not think of it that the termspf`fountain"'
                 .prc@ise is unconditional for. little children, it never; -and "cause" were confessional terms? On the +n-
               ,, theless  becomes conditional when the children grow up        trary, he attempts to explain the terms in such a way
                 and become adoles,cents and adults. To be sure, when that, while he, apparently, still does not believe that
                 that child grows up and comes to ykars of discretion           they are coyrect,' he, nevertheless, is in harmony with
                 and understanding, it will assume its part of the c&e-         the contents of the confession.                              _'
                 nant of God, cleave to the one God, Father, Son, and           .     I will quote and translate only the essential p&ts
                Holy `Ghost,  love Him with all his heart and:mind  and         of what he writes in this `conn&ctionc; ;
                 soul and. strength, forsake the world, crucify its old               "One might ask: hilt is ndt that objection irriagin-
                 nature, and walk in a new and holy life. But that is           ary?.? .Do not the Canons silso say, I, 9, that election
                 not a condition, but is the fruit of the salvation which ,,is `the POI.?NTAIN  of all saving good? . -. .
                 God according to His promise. has first b&&owed upon                 `6To be sure, it stands there, afid for that reaLson
         .       that child. There are not two different Gays bf  sal-          I stated immedititely that no 6ne that uses this term
                vation, an uticonditional way for the child, for the little     shal! be, troubled by us . . . (By the way, this &ate-


                                       \                                                                                      `-.


                                          TiiE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                   249
                                                     -
  me& is very clearly not true. Dr. Schilder certainfs                  cisely, they mean ground, and he criticizes the simple-
  did not write that it was for that reason, i.e., for $e               tons that want to bind the people to the words of the
 r&son that the term "fountain" is a confessional term,                 confessions.
  that he would not trouble anyone that used it. Fact is,                  But does he not understand that, on this basis, we
  heidid not think about the eonfessioti,  and, therefore,              cannot have confessions ?
  dfi'wittiilgiy criti&ed'it,  !&XV coild he possibly trouble             0 If we. may juggle terms in this fashion, words mean
  anyone for using % pireiiji saiife&Gnal  term? H.H.) .                nothing anymore.
     "But when one wants  td.  b&d  zmd  stirpea, and                      I think that Dr. Schilder stands on  dapgerous
  wants to fasten people by a sharper ex:pressisti  to a .ground here.  _*
  new binding, then we say: pardon, it says `foufit8in'
  (precisely what the Declaration says,' HLH.). And
  fountain .I, or source ; (fons) signifies, if you want' .to              But let me, in conclusion, remind the reader once
  make asharp distinction, very often, .consciously,.some-              more of the history of this little but important skir-
 _ thing quite different frqm `cause' . . . `(True .cnoug+,             mish..                _
                                                                   ,
  but  "cause", of which colleague Schilder stated .that                   1. We, on our part, did not, in the De&ration of
  it can refer only to time, nlso occurs in the confession              Prilnciples,   ..insist upon any sharper  ac&ntuation or
  with  referene@  to  God%  eteynal.;good pleasure. And                binding to. any .dogma,  but simply .used  the terms of
  whoj please, is trying to bind people to ahy sharper                  the confession.  _
  d.ogma&ei  exppession?. We eetiainly do not, but sim-                 ' 2. D`r.. Schilder declared those confessional terms
  piy  use the  terms  of!  the  eoilfo&on, Hence, all this             incorrect, and wanted to put the term ground instead.'
  Brgumentation is  nui  &id  vdidj.,          '          `.            That, according,to him,-is a more precise and, sharper          .
      "That means, therefore, that i: ha% ndthing against term than cause .and foy,ntc&.
  the word `fountain', and nothing  %g&st  the word                        3. Exactly because of those confessiohal  terms in
  `cause' (He did though, in his first writiflg &@.ttt  `this      the Declaration, he accuses us of wrongfully binding
  matter : he did not believe that the terms were CX~Z%&,          the people.
  and blamed us for our  slouchy termihology,  H.Hj,
  although this does not occur in this passage of tEe                      4. Instead of admitting that he erred, and that he
confession of. Dordt (but it? nevertheless, does occur, `.never  thought of the confessions, he makes things
  H.H.), as long as you allow me to say, what I, speak- `worse by depriving the terms of the confessiop of all
  in.q more precisely, want to understand by it; and from               objective meaning.                               t
  this it will have to .appear whether I agree with the                    A dangerous .business.             s
 CONTENTS of the Confession.? (I underscore, H;H.) .                                                                     H .   H .
     "But one must not fasten me, in a niore defined ex-
  pression with sharper binding. to the Word; the term
' `cause'. (The Declaration .is not guilty of this, H.H.) ;
  for then &t is possible thci,t he that uses it, takes, ,it up
  brroneous-ly,  aml that `then it is in conflict with  the                 Answer $0 Brother -Flikkem&
  contents of the conf,ession; ctnd that he that repudiates
  it exactly .thermith  protects the coatents.`of the GOTL-                It is, evidently, not clear to brother Flikkema'what
 `fession over against `errors of a later date."" (1 under-             is meant bay III, A, of the Declaratidn  of Principles:
  s c o r e ,   H . H . ) .          "                                  "We repudiate the teaching that the promise is con-
      I maintain that in the underscored sentences theuse               ditional and for all that are baptized.?'
lurks a  &eat  dangdr. They really imply that terms                        He asks the question whether this also implies our
  hav& no objective meaning, that, when our confkssion i participation in these promises, i.e., the application of
  says one thing it may meun something entirely. differ-                all the benefits of salvation+. His question is, evident-
  ent; .when our confession speaks of fountain and cause                ly, .whether  `the unconditibnal  promise also includes
  it may mean ground, when one faithfully uses the                      all the blessings of salvation in the subjective sense
  terms of `the confession he may militate again& iti                   of the word.
  contents, and when one argues against the terms of                       flow, I have written  rather extensively on this
tli'& confession he may defend its contents! In  c&her                  question in recent numbers of the Standard Bearer,
  wd'sds,  the terms of the confession have no objective                before brother Flikkema wrote his contribution. I
  sig&ficance,  their' meaning is so- ambiguous, obscure,               may, therefore,, refer him to those articles in! the hope
 -and'uncertain,  that anyone can read his own meaning that they shed light-on his question.
;-into it.  '                                                                                           0          If pot, he better
                                                                   write again. ,
      When Schilder reads in the confession the terms                      Yet, in .spite of the fact that I must needi repeat
  cause and f owntain, he says that, speaking  more.  pre-              myself, I will briefly answer-him once more.


      250                                     .THE  S T A N D A R D   .BEARE.R

>            First of all then, shall we agree on the definition if .means or instrument, and since it is o.nly by faith-that
     :the term "condition" as' I understand it, and as it is,          tie are justified and sanctified and preserved, it ought
      undoubtedly, understood by all that employ the term.             to be -pery plain to any Reformed man that all the'
      It is this: "a condition is a prerequisite which -one            blessings of salvation, included in the promise of God,
      must fulfill in order to, and before, he will or can             a r e   u n c o n d i t i o n a l .
      receive something from someone else." With respect                   What all~this has-to do with responsibility I faii to
      to the case in question, i.e., the promise of God, there-        understand, unless you mean to say that man is re-
     -fore,  w,,e may define a condition as a prerequisite which       sponsible fox his own salvation, for his own regenera-
      we, which man must fulfill, in order in, and before we,          tion, calling, faith, etc., in other words,. unless you
      or man, .can receive the promise;i;e.,  all the blessings        want to maintain that man is responsible for his re-
      of salvation." This is a correct definition. .And this           ceiving the grace of  ,God.. But that is  itipossible.
      is, no doubt the meaning of the term in the-popular              Man is no gore responsible for his own regeneration
      mind.                                                            than Adam was for `his own creation, than the dead
        . Secondly, as I have explained in the articles r+ are for their owri  regurrection.  Why then bring the
     Perred t.o above, the promise of God certainly includes           quest&n of r.esponsibility in connection with conditions,
      all the blessings of salvation, objective and subjective,        unless we want to. become thoroughly Arminian?
      all that we objectively have in Christ: recpnciliation,              Man is responsible, `not for what *God does, but for
      t6e forgiveness of sins,  the.  adop$on unto children,           his own moral acts.
      eternal life ; but also :' the Holy Spirit, regeneration,            What is responsibility? It is that state of man in
     . calling, fajth, justification in the subjective sense, sanc-    which he is the free agent, i.e., the conscious and will-
      tification, and pr&servation  or perseverance.                   ing subject of all his moral actions before and in re-
             Now, I apply my definition of "condition" and you         lation to God.
      will agree with me as a Reformed man that, if this                   Adam was free to serve Gdd, but so that he coilld
     promise is conditional, i.e., if it is depending upon any         turn about and chdose  against God. He'did the latter.
     `prerequisite which we must fulfill in order to receive           That was his responsibility.'          .
      the promise, it, i.e., the. promise, lies exactly beyond           The natural man is free only to sin. He cannot,
      our reach, is forever unattainable.                              2nd will not, and cannot will to do righteousness. And
             Just apply the test.                                      when he comes into contact with the gospel he will not,
             Leti us apply it now only to the subjective posses-       and cannot will to receive it, because he hates the light
      sion of tile blessings of salvation.                             and loves the darkness. That is his responsibility.
         "The promise includes the. blessing of regeneration.              But the redeemed and regenerated and called and
      Is  this blessing conditional, i.e., dependent on anything       believing child of God. is free in the highest sense of
      we must -do before we are regenerated? I don't care the word: he is free only unto righteousness. Prin-
      noti whether you believe in mediate or immediate re-             cipally he can never sin anymore. :O, yes, sin is- still
      generation `(pe!rsonally,  I believe that the seed of re- `in his members, but even over against sin he is free.
      generation is 3mplanted in our hearts immediately).              What he hates he does, but he hat& it neyertheless.
      But no Reformed man will say (the Arminjan will)                 l&ience,  to be sure, by baptism we are obliged unto a
      that the blessings of regeneration is conditional. jf it         new obedience, "namely, that we cleave to this one
      were, no man, dead in sin and trespasses, could be re-           God, Father, Son, and Holy, Ghost; that we trust in
      generated. The very fact that God is fir& in apply-              him, and love him with- all our hearts, with all out
     ing unto us His promise makes the promise necessarily             souls, with .a11 OUY mind, and with all our strength ;
     unconditional..                                                   that we forsake the world, cru,cify our old nature, and
             The promise includes tl3.e efficacious calling, i.e~.,    walk in a new and holy life." That is our responsi-
     that  .work of God whereby we are translated  fro?                bility, our part in the covenant of God. But it is a
      darkness into light, from death into conscious life,             respo?sibiIity  tihich we fulfill, not `as a condition to
     through the preachjng of-+he gospel. It includes the              obtain the. promise, but as those that have already
     gift of faith, whereby .we are ingrafted into .Clirist,           obtained the promise, the fruit of .God's part in the
     and receive all His benefits. What must man do as a `coveinant, which He, unconditionally, and by His ab-
     prerequisite, pray, to receive the gift of faith? Must solutely sovereign grace, applied unto us. It is. the
     he pray  for it, perhaps? But prayer is already an                re,4ponsibiility of highest freedom. And that is what
     act of faith. Must he hear.the preaching of the gospel?           the Heidelberg Catechism means when .in answer to
     But he camlot hear without faith? What then? Must the question whether the doctrine of free justification
     he repent and obey? But faith is before repentance                does not make men careless and profane, it teaches us
     and  obedierlce.  He can do absolutely nothing unto               that "it is impos&le  that those, who are implanted
     salvation before God gives him the qaving'faith, And ,+to Christ by a true faith, should  `not bring forth
     since &it& itself is not .a condition,. but a God given fruits of thankfulness."
                       L
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                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                           251

      See, brother, that is the Reformed, and surely the
.Protestant  Reformed! truth concerning responsibility.                         The find. Of Hamilton.
      And by`all this talk about  respons'ibility as if it
 `were dependent on conditions, `we are in danger of                                Deceitful Dealings.-cont.
 losing our Protestant Reformed heritage.
      That is one reason why we surely must adopt the                     Thirdly, speaking. of "deceitful dealings," I refer
 Declaration of -Principles.      1                                 to my suspension the evening of January 12, 1951,
                                                   H. H.  '         and the consistory's reasoning last summer when they
`i                                                                  refused to enforce `their binding decision of last June
                                                                    5.     I was denied tl;e pulpit January 12 of this year.
                                                                    `The ground of the suspension was that I refused to.
                                                                    submit to the basis as willed by the consistory. At
                         Of Books                              :    this meeting of the consistory elder Van Huizen said
                                                                    that I had offended the  congregatioh of late in my
                                                                    preaching. When I asked him whether I had offended
 ?he-  Erethren of the  Common  Life,-  by Dr. Albert               anyone `personally he answered in the negative, but
       Hyma. Published by the Wm. B. Eerdmans Publ.                 declared that I had offended members in my preaching
       ,CO., Grand Rapids, Mich. Price $3.50.                       becauge  of my emphasis upon the truth that the prom-
      This is a very interesting and  wotih&hile book,              ise was not general but only for the' elect.      Now I
 written  &by a scholar, yet accessible to every reader who         would like to have our readers bear this paragraph in
 is inter,ested in church history. It describes a phase             mind because I intend to return to it. Last summer,
 and period of church history of which we heard even                as our people know, the consistory refused to enforce
 in the Christian School  in the old country.            "The       their binding decision of June 5. TheJi reasoned that
 Brethren of the Common Life", living in the latter                 we must bar none from the congregation, that we
 pant of the fourteenth and the first part of the fif-              have the pure preaching,  that the preaching must
teenth  &ntury  beloilg  to the  for,erunne&   pf  the  Re-         drive out those who do not really belong to our church,'
 formation. In a very interesting way, Dr. Hyma pic-                and that we must not prevent anyone from coming
 tures such men  as.  #Gerard  ,Gr.oote,  Florentius  Rade-         under that preaching, .which would be the case if we
 wijns, Gerard Zerbolt, and John Cele. Especially Zer-              should bar people from the fellowship of `-the chul%h
 bolt, the best' scholar of the movement, is esteemed               by maintaining that binding- decision of June 5. Eld&
 very highly by the author.                                         Van Huizen went so far as to declare once t&at if the
      The entire last part- of the book is designed to -p-rove      Liberated churches would ever have the boldness to
 that, whil,e Thomas $ Kempis is the compiler of the                differ `from the Protestant Reformed Churches he
 famous Imitatio Christi, yet not he, but Zerbolt is its            would not hesitate to c&l the Liberated churches false.
 real author. Of the truth of thjs we are not able to               And deacon L. Klapwijk once remarked that we have
 judge, though it must be admitted that the author of-              the pure preaching of the truth, yea, that we were
 fers some strong arguments in favor of his' contention-.           purer than the Liberated Churches of the Netherlands,
 Yet we cannot escape the impression that Dr. Hyma                  dnd that it.was our calling to maintain  fhat pure truth,
 was somewhat prejudiced against T@mas & Kempis                     although, at the same time, he, would  n& commit him-
 in favor of Zerbolt.                                  H. H.        self as far as the maintaining of the binding decision.
                                                                    of June 5 was concerned;. Elder Hart heclared at the
                                                                    time that we have the pure preaching, and that there
                         -:-----                                    was no  dlfference."betweeti  him and me. The  other
                                                                    deacon, John Tog, although never voting in support of
                                                                    the undersigned but always against him, never .com-
                                                                    mitted himself. I now ask our readers: did this con-
       Eternal life God's Word proclaims                            sistory ever.have the intention to maintain the doc-
       to lost and dying men ;                                      trine of our churches:! Were they ho,ne&  when they
       By it alone we know the Lord,                                declared that I must continue to preach the truth pure-
       unseen by mortal ken.,                                       ly, according to our churches? Did not the consistoryj
       Then spread the Word, God's gracious Word,                   at their meeting of ,Jap, 12, 1951, whenthey suspended
       .and love it more and more;                .                 mk, declare that they $d not agree with my emphasis
                                                                    upon the Protestant Reformed truth? I maintain that
       0 may it be our strength and sword,                ,         the consistory of -`Ha&lton never intended--to safe-
       till earthly strife is o'er.                                 guard the truth of dur churches, that they never in-
                                           -Selected.               tended to be a Protestant Reformed Church, and that


 252                            0  T H E   S T A N D A R D   BE~ARER

they never intended to bar anyone %rom the fellowship our fellowship. OThey simply gave no heed to whatever
 of this church, When the church visitors met with o~ir we said. It was simply the question whether we might
 consistory the evening of Sept. 11 (the Revs. Hanko accept members  ihto our church who  were and in-
 and Blankespoor) L. Klapwijk asserted that it lies in tended to remain Liberated. This was the sole issue.
 the very nature of the case that people who join a This was made plain over and over again. Neverthe-
 ch&ch  may not agitate against the doctrine of tk.:l.        less, in spite of the fact that the barring of children
 church. Nevertheless, when a certain G.  Hutten asked of God from the table was not the issue, and in spite
to be admitted into the fellowship of our congregation of the fact that elder Van Huizen was fully acquainted
 and boldly wPote the consistory that he did not agree with this, he persisted, in his congregational prayeu?
with the Protestant  Reformed truth and intended to the Sunday afternoon of last Jan. 14, to say before
 agitate agaifist that truth, brother Klapwijk said noth-     God and the church that it was a matter of barring ~
 ing but voted to admit the brother into our f,ellowship.     people of the Lord from the communion table. This
 I call these dealings deceitful and hypocritical. And was sirnply a pubiic untruth. I tdld the brother ihis
 our readers mu& bear in mind that no one ever visited after the afternoon service, and added that it was im-
the undersigned to discuss'with him our truth or any- possible for -me-to  `pk.ay that prayer, and that I might
thing which was said  in a sermon. When I, at the             expect of him th&t, if he wanted to mention the issue I
 cdnsistory  meeting of Jan. 12 of this year, when eldei      in his prayer, he should at' least- state the &sue fairly
Van Huizen said that he objected to certain emphasis          and honestly. And, in the same meeting with the con-
which I laid upon our truth in the preaching, asked           sistory that Sunday afternoon of last Jan; 14-..(this  was
him why he had never visited me he answered me that said at a meeting of the consistory members) I, in the-
it.wotild  be no use to visit me because they could not light of the fact that the consistory had "how begun to
do anything with me anyway. And- this same brother            criticize me because of my emphasis upon the Pro-
repgatedly  declared,last  summer when I visited immi- testant Reformed truth, had been deceitful when ~11cy
grants with him (this  he would say to these immi- had mactitained  last summer that I should preach the
grants) : "Once I' was: just as Liberated as you ; but        Protestant  Ref.ormed  truth and that the preaching
now I have learned to be silent, because I  canfiot           would take care of those who really did ndt belong
reason against Rev. Veldman; you just listen to liim." to us. I confess that I was angry at Van Huizen that
Strange dealings, are they not? This impossible con- ,Sunday afternoon of last Jan. 14. ,But I was provoked
dition in .the congregation began last July and the `first    at the things he had said in his congregational praye:,
week of August.           I                                   and also at <heir deceitfulness for first declaring that
               Sunclay, January 14, 1951.                     I should pre&ch the Protestant Reformed truth and
                                                              then -criticizing me, at the time of my suspension, be-
    The foregoing paragraph will throw light upbn that cause of my emphasis upon the particular character
which I am now about to write iri connection with the         of the promise. Never before had I had ariything per-
Sunday  of' Jan. 14 last. The undersigned attended            sonal :with any -con@+ory member except Hart, until
both services. Elder Reitsma read in the morning this Sunday of last Jar+ 14; I repeat : the'congregation
service and announced to the congregation the suspkn-         of Hamilton never intended to become Protestant `Re-
siori of the pastor. Elder Van Huizen read in  thi            formed. In all my dealings' with these "immigrants
afternoon. In'the afternoon service Van Huizen men-           here, I never  heard one favorable  cotient  on Rev.
' tioned in his prayer that children of the Lord hag been     Hoeksema's meditations in the Dutch language`; in
barred from the table of the Lord, or rather he accused fact, the only $ime that the immigrants evinced any
our churches of barring chiidren  of ,God from the table      interest in the Standard Bearer was when the Declara-
of Cotiunion. This I could unde&tand  if the matter           tion was about to make its appearance. `This is simply
had never been discussed. iSurely the church visitors a fact.
remember how they argued with the consistory exactly
on this point, that it was not an issue of barring peciple              The Weeik of January 1.4-20,' 1951.
from the table. Surely, the ,classical  committee must           Monday, January `15, I wrote a letter to the- con-
remember how they argued with the consistory on this          sistory kequesting the privilege of addressing the con-
point, and attempted to make clear to them that it was        gregation after the afternoon service on Jan.. 21 for
not a matter of barring children of God  frofi~`the           the purpose of enlightening the .congregation  in con-
Lord's Supper.. And how often did not the undersign-          nection with my suspension. ,I was told then- that
ed deny this accusation of the consistory ! This never arrangements would be made to call a meeting of the
was the issue. And, let me  say that the consistory consistory. However, no word reached either Reitsma
understood this very well. They simply insisted on            or the undersigned.     Wednesday noon `we received
maintaining their accusation because they did not word (I called John Ton, he did not call me) that the
wish to bar "true members of the true church" from            consistory meeting had been .held the Tuesday even-


                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                          253

ing before, and we would receive word per letter.' This          This missive speaks for itself. A long comment is
consistdri meeting, we understand, was illegal. Nei-          not necessary. Our readers will notice that my sus-
ther Reitsma nor I had been notified of the meeting.          pension was lifted and also that ,I was virtually de-
This implies, of,,course,  that any decision taken at that    posed at the same consistory meeting. The second
meeting was also illegal. Well, Friday noon the under-        paragraph speaks of "returning  ~to the decision of
signed received a letter from the clerk of the consis-        Jan. 12 and instead of the suspension of Rev. Veld-
tory, which we.now quote: "Honorable Sir : The breth-         man." Hence, my suspensidn was lifted. At the same
ren, L. Van Huizen, J. Ton, and the undersigned have          time, however, the beginning of the letter declares that
decided to acknowledge you and br. R,eitsma no longer         Reitsma and I are no longer acknowledged as the legal
as legal officebearers of the Protestant Reformed             officebearers and that they present themselves as the
Church of. Hamilton. From this it follows automatic-          legal consistorp. Here we are virtually deposed.  VJe
ally that they present themselves as the legal consis-        should also note that Reitsma was virtually deposed
tory, and now follows, a literal copy of the decision         at a consistory meeting without being notified of this
which we have taken ih this capacity (qualiteit) . `The       consistory meting. He was simply deposed without
consistory of the First Protestant'- Reformed Chprch          a hearing, yea, without being informed that there was
bf Hamilton, in their gathering of Jan. 16, 1951, feel        a consistory meeting,. And, mind you, he was the vice-
themselves constrained to return to their decision of ,president of the consistory. They speak of their "re-
Friday, Jan. 12, 1951, and instead of the suspension of       f ormatory striving" (ref ormatisch streven] within our
Rev. Veldman, to separate' from the communion of              church+. Does anyone wonder what kind of striving
churches, upon the ground that they  ar8 conscious of         this  is?  Atid they declare  &emselv& willing to return
the impossibility to exercise their officelaid upon them      to our fellowship as soon as we once more live ticcord-
,ti:y Zhrist ; inasmuch as the attitude of Rev. Veldman       ing to Scripture and the Confessions, whereas in the
and the elder:Reitsma  last Sunday make it impossible         meantime the undersigned has the testimony of the
for us to continue .in the ecclesiastiqal way, while 1t       consistory that, he preached the full Word of God, sub-
appears that the churches in the States do not exer.cise      jectively and ' practically, and also that they never
the least effort to reveal any conception of oar difi- heard him say anything which, in their opinion, was
culties. This, however, does.not imrjly  th&t we, on our      not in harmony with those Scriptures and the Con-
part, do not wish to be Protestant Reformed, but it           fessions. (Of course, they mean the Scriptures and the
merely implies that we' a&use Rev. Velaman and the            Confessions as they interpret them.
communion of churches .(kerkverband)  that they make             Friday noon, Jan. 19, I contacted Jahn Ton by tele-
it impossible for us tb find a place for our reformatory      phone. I told him that I had received the letter and
striving in the communion of churches. The fact that          also that I desired to meet'with the oncsistory that
Classis East answered: No, upon. our request to make          evening. Things had to be arranged and discussed.
Rev. Veldman 1oose;and  in addition adopt;d the report        I have already stated  that the consistory meeting of
of the classical committee, .in which it is declared that     Jan. .16 was illegal and that therefore the decisions of
through  dur action,  a?e guilty of violating  .our  oath     that meeting were illegal. This implies that the depo-
of office and, secondly, as if we, sin against our sign-. sition of Reitsma was illegal, that therefore my sus-
ing of the formula of subscription and that we also           pension was still in effect, for, 3nasmuch as the meet-
sin against'the second [question 02 the. Baptism  Form        ing of Jan. 16 was illegal  and therefore everything         .
and the first question to them who publicly confess           decided after that metiting  also illegal,. things simply
their faith, proves to LX?abundantly  that Classis E&t        were as they were before the consistory meeting df
at least completely maintains the binding. They con-          Jan.  16.  -The synod of Middelburg,  1581,, treated a
sider themselves obligated to make a fmal appeal to           case exactly as .this. The provincial synod of Brabant
the church requesting that justice be done. Where-            came to that Synod with the' question whether con-
unto we declare that this severing from the communion         sistory meetings were illegal Then all the .memb'ers
of churches is in effect only as long as the Protestant       of the consistory had,not been notified of a consistory.
Reformed Churches maintain the anti-scriptural bind-          meeting but only such members had been- notified of-
ing, and will return to this fellowship as soon as they       the  meeting  who were in agreement with a certain
again begin to live according to Scripture and the Con- motion or viewpoint.           Our readers will understand
fessions. They also ~declare herewith that- they wish that this question of the Synod of Brabant fits our.
to live in fellowship with all who heartily subscribe         present case  ii1 Hamilton exactly.      The Synod of
td"Holy  Writ and the Three Forms of Unity, and de-           Middelburg, 1581, decided that decisions taken at such
cide to seek association (toenadering) with the Free          a consistory could be declared illegal by, a legal ,con-
Reformed Churches rjf Canada." Thus far the letter            sistory, and that unusual gatherings were' orily then
which the undersigned received from the consistory,           legal when all-the members had been properly notified.
which we have translated into -the English.                   Surely the "consistory meeting" of  .Jan.  P6 was an

                                                                                 .
           d                                    .


       254                                         T H E   S T A N - D A R D   .BEARER

       unusual meeting, 3 meeting when the president and            said that the service was scheduled for the Labor
       vice president were "read out" of the consistory, and        Temple.` These people evince no regard whatsoever
       the `decision was reached to sever connections with          for the Church Order. knd they surely have no inter-
     the Protestant' Reformed Churches. `It is for this             est in the Cause of the Protestant Reformed Churches:
       reason, and also because final arrangements had to <They had regard for our churches  bnly as long as
       be made that the undersigned urgently requested a            they could affiliate themselves with our churches, as
       meeting  of the consistory. We wished to impress upon        Lib~erated.
      the "legal consistqry" of Hamilton that they had acted            Thi,s concludes the history of the Protestant Re-
       contrary to the Church Order, that matters therefore         formed Church of Hamilton. I need say no more.
       stood as they were before the "consistory'meeting" of        This is already my third article. May our Protestant
       Jan; 16. I was told by John Ton  that this meeting           Reformed Churches learn from this experience and
       which I requested-would be difficult, inasmuch as the        once more vow to hold fast that which we have.
       "legal" consistory was meeting that evening with the                                                  H. Veldman.
       congregation. Hence, also without our knowledge, a
       congregational meeting was being  held the Friday
       evening of Jan. 19, 1951. I persisted in Yny request
       for a consistory meeting, told  the- brother that the                       Rev. Petter  l&plies
       consistory meeting .of Jan. 16 was illegal and that
       therefore afiy decision taken that evening was also              In his latest article Rev. Petter accepts my chal-
.      illegal. In the evening V& Huizen called ine to tell         lenge th?t he disprove, my argument to the effect that
       me that I would be given no opportunity to meet with         the  "ori`gination" of the "Declaration was perfectly
       the consistory, that they were through with Reitsma          orderly in the point of view of `the requirements of the
       and also with me (these were literally his words), and       Church ,Order and therefore ethical, absolutely so.
       that any arrangement which the consistory must make             But the trouble is that in meeting this challenge
       in my behalf they would.make. When this brother re- Rev. Petter is not-fair. First, he completely igrfores
       marked that any decision the consistory must make            my argument. He takes absolutely no notice of. it.
       they would make, he meant to say (as he did say) that        Second, he conveniently glides over the point at issue.
       any decision they would have to ,inake  concerning me        Third, all, he,does in a positive way is to repeat his
       they would make and without my being present.                own reasonings.' r
          Even so, o?ie final attempt was made to convince             First, Rev. Petter completely ignores my bositive
       these erring brethren of Hamilton of the error and           argument. That argument is thip : (see The Standard
       folly of their ways. The  updersigned  did not attend        Bearjer'for  Jan. 15).
       the services in the ILabor  Temple the Sunday morning            1. That Art. 30 of the Church Order distinguishes
       of  Ja'n. 21. However, my wife -did. Also  .brother          two kinds of matters:
       Reitsma went to the service that morning. He .went               a. ,Such as originate and, if possible, must be- fin-
       there to read to them out of the Church Order and con-       ished in the minor assemblies (consistory and classis).
       vince them that they must undo their folly of Jan. 16           b. Such  as pertain to the churches of the major
       and- whatever happened. subsequently. The deceitful-         assembly (synod) in common, and that therefore db
       neSs of these people and their hatred of our churches        not originate in minor assemblies to be dealt with a_nd,
       b&came fully apparent that Sunday morning. One of            if  possible,.finished  in them.
       the "brethren!`, of whom the undersigned can say that            Is this true or is it not true? Let Rev. Petter say.
       his relationship with him had always been  mbst cordial
       (brother Linda of Brantford) simply. poured out his              2. That our mission work pertains to the churches
       gall upon the undersigned, declaring,  a&?,pg  other         of the major assetibly (synod) in common.
       things, that I had never preached a good sermon as               Is this true-or is it not true? Let Rev. Petter say.
       long  a,s> I had been in Hamilton. When he was toid              3. That therefore the management of our Missiod
       `that it had always been said that I was reformed, he        work pertains to the churches of the major assembly
       replied that I had been reformed only in a half way.          (synod) `in common, and that, accordin&ly, Art. 51 of
       `When my wife entered the room where the service             the Church Order rules that "the mission work of the
       was to be held, the people already assembled there           churches is reguZatecl  by the general synod in a mission
       !eft the room and left' her sitting alone in. the room.      order."
       Reitsma was told.upon  his arrival that the service was          Is this true or is it not true? Let Rev. Petter say.
       to be held at the home of John Ton.. We heard the                4. That therefore the management of mission work
       evening befdre -that the service `tias to be held in the     is done not in consi&ory and not in classes ;but in the
       Labor Temple. Besides, one of the deacons, when he           major assembly (synod) alone.
       arrived for the service the.Sunday. morning of Jan. 21,          Is this true or is it not tru.e? Let Rev. Petter say.

                                       -.     -
                 `_

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

      5. That the management of mission work by synod               nore it; and as sliding over .the issue simply repeat his
  includes also providing the Mission ,Committee  and the           own reasonings. That certainly is not meeting my
  Missionaries with a Formula, for:                                 challenge.
      a. The Mission Committee is a committee of synod                 Rev. Petter glides over the issue. I am making this
  and accordingly is mandated not  by the consistory of             plain right now. He  writes: "I believe my charges
  the calling church. nor by classis but by synod alone.            against the origination of the Declaration were plain
   (Art. 4, Constitution of the %I/Iission  Committee, p. 4'7,      enough for :a11 to-see that it was out of order and hier-
  Church Order).                                                    archical. These points are as follows,: The request of
      b. Though sent and called by the local congreg;;              the Mission Committee came  to_ synod  contra$y  to
  tion, the missionaries as preachers of the gospel repre-          C(hurch  O(rder) (Art.) 30, for  fonly such matters
  sent  a!1 the churches. Therefore also anp Formula                shall be dealt with (by synod-O) as could not be fi$-
  for the organization of churches placed in their hands            ished in the minor assemblies.' d The other matters per-
  sets forth not what the calling church alone but what             taining to the  `cliurches  in common' of which the
  all the churches believe- to be the iruth of our Confes-          Church ,Order,  Art: 30, speaks, could not be handled
  sions (the Three Forms of Unity). From this it neces-             in the minor. assembly."
  sarily follows that such a Form may not be finished in               Remark. So speaks Art. 30 of the Church Order.
  the minor assemblies ; it must be finished and adopted            I have no comment. But *e must now pay strict at-
  in synod for approbation by all the churches.                     tention to What ReTi. Petter next writes. It is this:
                                                                       "But this mission question (the question of the
      Is this true dr is it not true? Let Rev. Petter say.          Form-O) could be finished in a minor assembly, and
     6. That synod therefore did not override the first             that is where it belonged.? `To which I reply: "Y&s,
  part of Art. 30 of the Church Order in providing the              that is correct, it could be finished in a minor assembly,
  Mission Committee with E+ Formula, and this because,              providing it belonged solely to the local co&istory of
  for reason! just stated, the `matter of constructing,             the calling church or .to the churches of' cla&sis in com-
  adopting, and approbating a Form belongs to the                   mon. But that precisely is the issue. Rev. Petter con-
  churches of synod in common.                                      veniently evades it.                             s
      Is this true ?r is it not true? -Le;t Re< Petter say.            Is it true or not true that RGv. Petter evades the
      7. That therefore the Mission Committee did not' issue? Let Rev. Petter give anstier.
  override the first part of Art. 30 by directing its re-              In  support  of his contention  .that supplying the
  quest for a Form to synod.                                        missionaries with ;a Form is a matter that could be
                                                                    handled and  jinished  in the minor assemblies  (con-
      Is t&is true or is it not true? L&t Rev. Petter say.          sistory and classis), Rev. Petter appeals also to Art. 38
      8. That the Mission Committee did not override                of the Church  ,Order.  He calls' our attention to the
  the first part of Art. 30 in by-passing the ions&tory             fact that.this article speaks of the C&ssis as the ad-
  a& classis by coming directly to synod, for                       visor regarding organization of churches. True it does.
      a.  Acceding- .to Art. 1 of the Constitution 0-f  the         But the  qbesticm is: the advisor of whom? Synod's
  Mission Committee this committee is appointed not`by              Mission Committee and Synod? Of course. not. How
  the consistory of the calling chul;ch nor by classis but          could classis advise. synod and its cbmniittees. Accord-
  by synod alone ; according to this same article it is             ing to the Church Order classis appeals to synod but
  therefore responsible not to the consistory of the call-          does not advise, it.         The only bodies that  classis is
  ing church nor to classis but to synod alone. (p. 46,             authorized. to advise is its own committees and the
of the Church Order).                                          ,    churches of the classis.  Accordingly, the.first  by-rulk
      b.  According to  A&.  4  of  this  sape constitution,        affixed by our (Protestant Reformed) Churches to
  .the duty of this committee is to carry out all the man-          this article reads,- "The customary usage for the organ-
  dates of synod that pertain to mission activity as con-           ization of new congregations is hs follows: a letter of
  ducted by the churches (p. 47, Church, Order).                    request is directed to the classis or-mark you,-ori
      c. A~ccod@.g to this same. constitution, this com-            the Mission Committee, expressing the desire to organ-
  mittee submits pot to consistory or classis but to synod          ize a congregatioh in a certain locality."
  a written report of its work and findings, together                  Let us take notice. If the request comes to synod's
  with  the recoinmendations it may have to make to                 Mission Committee, this committee goes about the
  synod regarding mission work. (p. 47, Church Order).              busin&s of organization as gnadvisecl by classis. This
                                                                    is plain from by-rule 2) -a rule that  reads, "The
      Isthis true or is it.not  true? Let Rev. Petter say.          classis or-mark you, or-the Mission Committee shall
    In a word,  kev. Petter must not imagine that he                thereupon deliberate whether such organization is pos-
  can dispose of my argument `with a few strokes of his             sible.' . . ." Mark  you  well, the  .rule is  not to the
  pen. He  mu&  face  this argument. He  must not  ig-              effect that synod's Mission Committee and.the  classis

                                                                                                  -.

                                                                                            .

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

        shall deliberate together, but tha,t.the classis or synod's            that belongs solely' to the consistory of the calling
        Mission Committee  .?&a11 ,  deli&&e.  This is as it                   church or to the missionaries or' to the Mission Com-
        should be. Fdr I'repeat, classis does not advise synod                 mittee, and this for all the above-stated reasons.
        a n d   i t s   c o m m i t t e e s . -   -      . . .                     It also can be stated this `way : the k&d of .Gospel
       Z-_-L;: .Is this trg$ or iS it hot true'? ` Let Eev. Petter say.        that our missionaries proclaim in the field is not their
       1L `": Let us take notic$also `of, this : If tl%$y&quest `ccmes         concern alone ; it is. not the concern 0-f  the Mi~~i0li
       `i&i :,synod'S; li%issioq Committee, claSsis d+s. nc& $.ven             Corn_mittee  alone, nor of the  cons&tory  of  the tailing
s      +&is% i&e &nstitorzj  of the calling church~  The .reaso$               church, ndr of the ciassis alone. On the contrary, the
       {is that ri$`advice,ismin  ard&r. w Fdr &%ording to Art. 4              kind of gospel that our missionaries proclaim in the
       "df'the i=onstitutibn  of `synod's Nission Committee, this              field is the tioncern of $IZ the churches, And the reason
      `com'mittee   `serves in conjunction  not with the  consis-              is again simple.. `The missionaries,  .-as was  stat&
       `$bUy.  .of"the  tailing  6hurch "but," and I now  quote; represent in their gospel preaching all the churches.
       `*`with t"k'i missionar~j'in the `organkxtion of new con-               and ,not merely .,the calling `congregation alone; .and
       i~~egatiods,  &ving d~dvic& and per+nission thereto, atic1              certainly not  t&e  tiission, committee  alpne, but, I  r&
        to  officde  at such  organixatiorzis.   This article  ex-             peat all the ch.urahes;  . ..And on this account the..m&
      &ides both the classis and the consistory of the calling                 sioparies are required to subscribe the official creeds
        church: -from the bus&&s' of the organization Of new                   of all the churches. And therefore. also certain!y St
       churches. It limitsthis task solely to the Mission Com-                 is but right and- proper that any statement setting'
        mittee and the n+&o$$, and it .&signs the ta+ of                       forth what.all the church& believe to be the truth of
       ncl&&g solely `to'the Mission Clommittee.                               these, creeds-our Three Forms of Unity-should be
               ' Is this pe dT.is it not true?                                 adopted and approbated by all the churches.
                   ?, g. `F                            Let Rev. Petter say.
                `in,finej, h&$ev. Pkf;ter  can imagine to be deriving              Is this true or is it not true? `Let Rev. Petter say.
                                                                                  .
        suibort for hi&and from Apt. 38' of the Church Or.der                      In fine, the facts of the matter being what they
        i                      s         to  nie~~a'cd&,inndrum.
             ,.".  :.,y,..  3..                                                are, it is a conundrum to me how Rev. Petter in his
                 Further. In support of his stand Rev. Petter  goes            latest article should have wanted to reappear in print
        on. to sky that, and now I quote him, "according to the                wit+ the following statements:
        Constitution of the Mission Committee, this comtiittee                     1. I believe my charhes against the origination of
      -works in conjunction with the calM?zg chvrch and with                   the "Declaration" were plain enough and for all to see
        the rr&s&ona&es." But this' is nqt true. The Consti- that it was out of order and hierarchical.
        tution of the Mission Committea  nowhere states this.
        What A$. 4 of -the`Constitution  &es state is this : that                  2. Hence, this question of :a Form-for organization
       .the missionary works under the., joint supervision .of                 of churches was not a matter of the churches in com-
     - -$he Missipn Committee and the consistory of the call-                  mon, which necessarily goes to synod ; it was a `matter
        ing chure&c  But if so, should n&the Form have been                    for these minor bodies to settle.                             .;.
       &&dled and finished in the .joint meeting of the Mis-                       3. "This Form could have been handled (and fin-
       $on  ,Cq.mmittee. and the consistory?  *Rev. Petter in-                 islied) in a minor assembly or body. Hence it was
        sists that it should.`, But see my.reply to His next'and               treated by synod contrary to C,(hurch 0 (order) (Art.)
        final .aigument.                                                       30."
                .X&v. *Petter's  final argument is Rev. Hoeksema's                 It's a peculiar thing. In one of his earlier articles
      statement to the effect that he (Rev. Hoeksema) could                    Rev. Petter brands the "Declaration" a hierarchical
        have drtiwn upthe Form, and- that the Committee could                  imposition not alone because it was not corrected and
        have..drawn up its own. But Rev. Petter again evades                   perfected in consistory and `Clsissis, but because it was
       -the issue. The question is not whether Rev. Hoeksema' not also perfectled  in synod. It was not the best. that
       .or the Mission Committee or tine missionaries or the                   the churches could produce. But in his-latest articles
       `consistory of the calling church. could have drawn up                  he brands the "Declarations" a hierarchical imposition
        a>Formula,  but whether the production of a Form is a                  becaw.se it should have been finishad in con&story and
        matter that could have been handled, and jiGshed- classis, but was not, which is equivaleilt to calling it
        mark you &nti&ed-by  the Mission Committee or the                      hierarchical because it was perfected also in synod,
        missionaries:,,or  the consistory of the calling church.               and thus does represent the be& that the churches can
       ,A.nd  thgre.  is  but: one  an@wer.  The production of a               produce. It is,certain that as far as Rev. Petter's atti-
        Form c`ould not.be fki.shed in the consistory and the                  tude is concerned the  "Declaratiop" is  .in a bad way.  -
        Classis d? in the Mission Committee or by the mission-                 In .Rev. Petter's court it doesn't have. a &an&. ' FOF
        aries. i `-And the reason is obvious and .simple:  quch a              in his-eyes it is guilty if it doesn't ; it is guilty if it does,
       -"Form'? is a matter that belongs to all the` churches-                     But Rev. Petter must still meet my challepge.
        the &urtihes of synod-in cornyon; it is ndt. a ti&tt.er                                                             G.  M: Ophoff.


              .


                                           THJZ:STANDARD  BBARER                                                     - 257

                                                                     ISuch is the love of which the text here speaks.
           FROM HOLY WRIT'                                           And this love is, as must not- be overlooked, the
                                     I                          energy of our living faith in Christ. It is the energy,
                                                                the living impetus of the faith ihat is everywhere in:
  Exposition, Of Hebrews 10:19-25                               Holy Writ denominated being a new creature in Christ
                                                                Jesus. Such is the faith mentioned in the context of
                             XI.          '     _               our ,verses. And this same love is also that which gives
                                                                us thk assurance that. the hope which is ours will .not
   In this instaltient  we,wish to make a few conclud-          put u%sto shame. For this love is the activating'power
ing remarks on the meaning of the verses 24 and 25 of both faith and love. Only where this love is,  is
df this chapter.                                                there a living faith and hope, and only where this love. ,
  First of all, let us bear in mind, that the precepts          is activated and sharpened, is there a strong and vigor-'
given `in. these verses are not at all the precepts (of the ' Ous faith; revealing itself in beautiful and God-glorify-
law, which a'man man must `don to .&e by the same. -ing works. Here alone will there be. love in good
The admonitions and &he exhortations given here in              works of faith.
these verses, as well as' in all the exhortations of the             This is good-gbspel truth. It is the truth as it is
gospel, are `those that come  to us by virtue of  .the          in Jesus. It is the truth of the nature of the saving
accomplished work `in Christ and because they are a             work 6f Jesus. in His vicarious suffering and death,
part of the ministry of reconciliation. They are,-`there-       in His glorious resurrection and ascension and in the'
fore, most emphatically  pmcepts of the gospel;  they           outpouring'of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost; ,It. is the
call to positive faith in Christ Jesus and His meritor-         truth of the saving work of Christ in regenerating our
ious labors, .and, thus, they call to repentance which hearts through the Holy Spirit, softening the obdurate
is a godly sorrow to have transgressed against the              and hard heart, bending and making wonderfully
holy law of God and a true joy in God through Jesus             pliant and willing the obstinate will, enlightening our
Christ our Lord. And thus these precepts are means              sin-darkened mind so that we may behold the loveliness
employed by-the Holy Spirit, as the Spirit of the risen         of God's precepts, as these are adapted to fi!l the heart
and glorified Christ, to fill us with His fulness of grace      witll great `delight. It is the godd gospel truth con-
and truth. By means of these precepts He writes and             cerning the only way inawhich we experience the full
continyes  to write His law in our hearts as the new' &up of the blessing of ,God, that we have- our joy con-
Covenant enacted upon better promises.                          stantly filled from the fulness of Christ.
   Npw the point in these two verses to which we                     Such is -the truth in Jesus in our text.
would  call attention in this &say is,' that we are ad-              For let it never be forgotten, that it is exactly hat-
monished. and exhorted unto a certain activity of faith red, envy;' strife, malice, fornication,. covetousness that
and love. We are to giv'e heed unto each other unto             are the bitter root in our-lives that rob us of all our
the sharpening of love and good wo&s.                .    _)    joys. The bitterness of life is not in the circumstances.
   Now the Iquestion  here is : what is this Zov)e df which     But these aye in our evil hearts that are loveless. .And
`the text speaks? `Our answer to this is, that in view          thus we do not taste the power of the Cross of Jesus
of the fact, that the writer does .not give any. qualify-       as this comes to us through the Holy Spirit in- the
ing liniitations to the term love, such as love for good,       ministry of reconciliation. For in this hatred there
love for the truth, or love of The bret,hren, but that he, .is nothing of the beauty of grace and of the power of
simply writes: sharpening of ZOM, we understand the             love. In this hatred for God and  .for our neighbor
meaning of love to be the ~mnifiestation of love in its         there is the awful flesh, the flesh that cannot be pleas-
broadest sense. No matter which aspect of love one              ing to God. Even the most holy confesses that in his
may wish to suggest or mention, love here is the love           flesh there dwells no good at all. This is very mani-
in each of these senses. It is the love of God as it is         festly so. Life is rife with this lovelessness. Yea, who
shed abroad in ofxr hearts through the Holy Spirit.             of uB, that knows himself by the light of the perfect
And it is the love for God above all, love with all our         law of .God as he is by.nature, has not observed and
heart and mind and soul and strength and love for our           does not constantly observe this lovelessness in himqelf
neighbor as for ourselves. It is the love of the golden toward others,  `even to the point of glory&g in the
rule: As ye would. have m&x do unto you, do ye- even            `misery of others? And then, whtit is worse, we even
so to, others. And this rule must `then not be under- -c'over  over this heinous sinfulness with the rationtiliz-
.stoo$ again in a certain formal utilitarian sense, but         ing crutch:  Misery  l,ikes  company. Forsooth, this
in the deep sense bf love, the love that is the tie that        saying is  farm from the obeying the precepts of the
binds in ethical perfection. .It is love as the fglfillment     gospel ! Yes,  (0, horror !) we are  s6 evil by nature  '
df the law of God, the law of the Spirit of life in Christ      that' we not only do these tliings but `ere we realize it
Jesds our Lord.                                                 we- even--have a co-delight in those who do this. Thus
                    a  i.                                                       ..' _
                                                                .                                           >
                                           .                                                    1


258-e                                 T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                         _ . __
is the mind of natural man ; it is the reprobate ,mind        and the precepts of the gospel. The .whole church in
that will not keep God in knowledge. <Such is our stark       this world, as she is saved by sovereign .grace, must
blindness by nature. Let us beware !                          seek to .keep this unity of the Holy Spirit in the bond
   Wherefore awake, thou that sleepest, from such             of peace. We may dot just arbitrarily-make divisions
reprobate pursuits. Awake from all hatred and works           in the church where Christ has said: Father that they
of the flesh to the pursuits of works proceeding from         all be one ! We'may  not live contrary to .the interces-
love for God and for our neighbor: IOnly such works sory prayer of the Great .High Priest and Apostle of
arg lovely and beautiful. in thle sight of God before         our faith. ,Only'when  we can say: They are no church,
Whom all things are naked and open. All other works may we separate!
reek with the vile and filthy stench of sin. And this          It seems that this was a passible fault among the
is abominable in the holy nostrils of God. Wherefore          believers of the Hebrews. They separated themselves
let us put off ali sordid filthiness and, superfluity of from the believers of the Gentiles. That is  -sinful.
naughtiness in heartfelt and godly sorrow. Then only b And it is most dangerous.. For it is separation from
will we be able to walk in good works and be able to          the chu-rch  of the living God. Also in the controversy
receive, with all of the. saints, the implanted word that     of the truth we must hold the bond of peace, the, unity
is able to save our souls from death. For  only.thus . of the Spirit. That-is -true from the oftentimes con-
shall we be in the spiritual state- of mind to receive the    tentious men society unto the sometimes not less quar-
pure milk of the word and the admonitions- of the             relsome' Ciassis and Synod. It' may be difficult to
gospel to grow through the same. Then only- shall we          apply- this rule. But the difficulty is in our flesh, in
see the commandment of *God as something 1101.y,  just,       our flesh in which no good dwells.
spiritual and good.  :                               T        - Now  .this may not be; We-must always speak the
   Unto this our text admonishes us. We are to joy            truth in love. And each one must be fully convinced
in one another's joy and thus dwell together in sweet         and*`assured in his mind. Let each one wonk.out his
accord. -Then we shall walk in. the love and truth as         salvation with-fear and trembling. Let him be as
it is in Jesus ; then l&truth  of the Word of the Cross       sensitive spiritually as the sensitive touch of a blind
shall lift up our hearts to the higher plane, to the Rock     Helen Keller when she differentiates the birds that
that is higher than we are. And our lives shall be            are nestled in the branches singing their morning song
such, that they are .full of good fruits, without h.ypo- to the glory of their Maker! . Dear reader: Do you
cricy and partiality.. Our works will then be commend-        ever fear and tremble before God. Tremble before
able by Him who alone is able to say: Well done thou          Him in godly fear, and thus in beauty of holiness
good and faithful servant, entser into the joy- of thy        worship the Lord .`.
                                                                                71 Then you will seek the brethren
Lord. And instead of the sordid aftermath of-an evil          and you will not easily be absent where saints are
.and polluted conscience to grieve over, if not worse,        want to meet.
our works do then follow us, so that the glory-of the            Yes, always we must give heed to each other to the
nations is carried into the New Jerusalem.                    sharpening of `love and good works. And with a view
   Always we.must  give heed unto each other in view          to this'sharpening of love it is necessaryithat  we keep
of sharpening unto love and good works. For such              in touch with one another. We need not go to Jeru;
will be the life of heaven presently in the ages to come, salem  to the temple that is earthly. That is a thing of
and such must also be our life now in view of entering        the past. Wherever men call upon the name of the
into the kingdom presently. Dear reader, such is the          Lord'in Spirit and in truth there God is in their midst.
avowed purpose of this little essay. It is an attempt         But we must. be where this gathering is. We must
to give heed unto this word of the writer to the Heb-         desire to be in the midst of, the saints. Otherwise the
rews to give heed unto one another. It would be the           love of ,God does not dwell in us. And then we do not
stupidity of sin and the blindness of iniquity not to         dwell in the ISecret  Place of the Most High and under
g+ve heed, to this admonition while commenting~on  it.        the shadow of the Almighty.
No one can write  &out the truth  and on the truth               Not to: will to come with the .saints is wilful sin-
without subjecting himself to it, without understand-         ning! Such must not be our walk. We must be in the
ing that we are indeed each moment to live according          gathering of the saints. And we must be amongst the
to' it. That is our spontaneous and donstantly blessed        brethren of our own congregation. Here the Bread
task. And, therefore, we desire to be obedient to this -of Life is broken. Here we meet our God in the
exhortation and give heed also by this article unto one       preaching of the Word and in the .a.dministration  of
another unto the sharpening of love and good works.           the Sacraments. Here we call upon the Name of Lord.
   With a view to such heeding on one another unto               Here we exhort one another unto love and good
love and good works it is necessary that we keep in ,works. -And this we here do the more in the same
touch with each other as'saints in Christ. It is neces-, measure that we see the day,of Jesus Christ o.ur Lord
sary. that we bow before the one Word of the gospel           draw nigh.                         Geo. C. ILubbers;-
             .-                        _  1.


                                                                                 :        0                .
  -
                                     T H E   STANDAkD',,BEARER                                                     259

                                                              ready on time in the morning to be in church by 9 :30
              IN' HIS  FE.AR' .  .` or 10 o'clock in the morning. Besides, it is well-nigh
                                                              impossible-.to  go home and come back to church be-
                                                              tween the morning and afternoon services." Added to
       Chur& Membership In His Fear,. this, we wouldn't have time to-take care of our work
                                                              in between services as we should. Hence, we stay
                                                              home in the morning, and we can nicely attend at least
                                                              the afternoon. service.
         Not Forsaking the Assemblies of the Saints.             Now, apart from any practical considerations which
                         (continued) .                        may enter in, let us first' of allview  the matter from
       We do well to remind ourselves once again of our       the point of view of principle. And then the first
 purpose in  .this discussion. We  are' busy with the         question is : Must our place of residence determine our
 practical implications of our church membership, or          attitude toward the church and toward `our church
 with the activity of our membership. And it ,stands          attendance, or must, if at all possible, our life as mem? ~-
 to reason, that when we discuss this matter we must. bers of the church determine our place of residence?
 needs call attention to various errors and weaknesses        It can be- seen at a glance that the latter is the case.
which creep into our lives as church members. `It is          If one should carry to its logical conclusion the prin-
 thus that we find ourselves discussing the deviation         ciple that distance is a proper excuse for failure to
! which-we have called oncerism.            '                 attend church, you finally reach the position that one
                                                              may move so far away that it is simply impossible
       And it is necessary that we receive these remarks      to attend church at  all.* Hence, the principle to be
 in the proper attitude first of all. That means that         foilowed is first of all that we must seek the kingdom
 we do not read them with our eye-on someone else,            of  #God first. And the danger is great that only too  '
 but that with godly fear we examine ourselves. Fur-          often when we are forced to move and to rent or buy
 thermore, especially now as we discuss what consti-          another place, either in the city or in. the `country,
 tutes a proper or improper reason for *absence  from         that we consider only how `good a buy we can make,                              '
 divine worship, we must certainly not read with the          how convenient the new house is, or how, much better
 mental question, "What can I legally get away with?" this farm is than the old one. And when finally we
 Hence, it is also not our purpose to add line upon-line      have closed the deal, we -discover that we are` incon-
 and precept upon precept in this  -matter.       If that     veniently far from church, that it is hardly possible
 should be done, the whole .purpose of ouri discussion        for the children to get to catechism on time, and that
 would fail to be reached. The matter is not after all        the great distance is a strong deterrent for us to join
 legal, in distinction from ethical. If we merely,intend      in with any of the congregational life. Some time such
 to guide our church membership in an outward and             people might wake up to find themselves a couple
 purely formal sense according to certain external rules,     hundred miles from church too. We certainly must
 we would. fall' into the error of boasting in- the flesh.    follow the principle that we have no right to place
 But they that worship ~God must worship Him in spirit        ourselves in such -a `position that it is practically im-       .
 and in truth, must worship Him through the.Spirit,           possible to be -faithful in our attendance as church
 must put not confidence in the flesh, and must glory         members, and then offer that as an'excuse. And posi-
 in Christ Jesus. And therefore, let us remember that         tively, we should always attempt to live near enough                 .'
our calling is not to `adhere merely to some external         to church so- that we `can conveniently and-without too
 precepts  in, this matter of church attendance, and          much temptation to be .absent attend services on Sun-.
 that we should humbly and in a deeply spiritual atti-        day,. join in the weekly functions of the congregation,                   ,,
 tude.examine  ourselves to see if there be any evil way      and have our child,ren in catechism regularly.
 in us.                                                           Besides, of course, there are many practical con:
       With that in mind we may also consider this sub-       siderations, which certainly carry weight in the ease
 ject of reasons for absence from divine worship.             -of those who do live far from church. `First of all, we
 Improper  R,easolns.                                         should be mindful that it belongs to .our human frailty
                                                              that we  easily excuse ourselves. And,the  more difficult
       An excuse which is especially proffered frequently     a thing becomes, the more easily we excuse ourselves.
 in rural districts is that of distance. Cne finds this       Against that we must guard. And that means that in
 to be the ease, incidentally, not only with regard to        case we are far distant from church we must the more
 church attendance, `but also with regard to .the closely     determinedly make up our minds to get to church if                              '
 related matter of Christian instruction. The reason-         it all\ possible.       Instead of excusing ourselves, we
 ing runs somewhat along these lines. We live 25 miles `should diligently bend every effort to gather with the                     -
 from  church:  In  the,  firstOplace, we  can hardly get     people of God. And we may add: we not only should, _
                             `.                                            *I
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260                                   T H E   S T A - N D A R D   B E A R E R

but the earnest child of God wii!l'do this. He will nbt       openly say that they have need of only one service,-
be a, oncer. To be sure, that `may mean that yen have         very unspirit'ually making church attendance a matter
to roll out of bed an hour. earlier on ,Sunday morning,       of their  need, first of all, rather than a matter of
which is  Got pleasant on  a- cold winter morning,---         desire to.worship` the, God of otir salvation. There are
esp'ecially  if there are `chores to do. But if there is      those who "just can't stand to listen to that presche?
an earnest desire to be  present in the services for          twice in one day", eventhodgh  he does b&g the Word
divine worship, that will be tlie first consideration,        of ,God. `There are those' who dislike a certain type of
not the warmth of the bed or the unpleasantness of            preaching, usually. Catechism preaching, even though
chores on, a cold winter's morning. It may also Fean          the church has of old and wisely decided that such.
that you find .it necessary to forego the'trip home be-       preaching is necessary for the maintenance of the
tween services, and that you rmust take your .lunch, truth. There are those who far too easily remain at
along or depend upon an invitation from friends who           home on account of some minor ailnient,  when they
live nearby church. Why not? It may mian that you             could as well. sit .in church as at home. `All such ex-
must take &tra care on Saturday night that you have           cuses are hardly worth mentioning, for to mention
all things in readiness as much *as possible, so that         Fhem is at once to point out their impropriety.     -
there will be tip unnecessary delays on Sunday morn-              Yet these'things occur in the church.
ing: It will mean that the children are taught to pitch          `&id to such as are guilty, `and-whose eyes should
in with household labors on Suiiday morning especial-         fall on these words, I would say: Repent, and pray
ly, so that mother doesn't have ito~ do everything alone.     God to deliver you from this sin.
It all comes down to this,, really: if there's a will,          But above all, let LX not-mentally judge others and
there's a way.                  *                             exalt ourselves above them. par,  in the first place,
       There is also the practical consideration which        yen have nothing-which you have not received out of
arises from a comparison of our present  d&y attitude         pure grace. In the second place, it is'alsb easy to be
with that of the past, even the recent past. Nowadays a oncer ins this sense, that we are present in church in
it must liot be too cold, nor too hot; there must not be      bo'dy,  but absent in spirit. And in the third place,
too much snow, ,and possibly n6t .even a forecast of          there is not olie of us who is not subject :to these temp-
snow ; otherwise we have to stay home.. Some .of our          tations, and "pride conieth before a fall".
parents can teil us of times when they were seldom -_                                              H. C. Hoeksemt.
absent` from church, even when it meant traveling
several miles `twice a ;Sunday by horse and buggy, or
even when they had. to bundle up and go to &urch in                                                                    \
the cutter on bitterly -cold winter' days. And in our                                  Contributions                        e
time of paved highways and ca.rs which yen can heat
as well as your own house, we' coinplain tiuch more                                               Neede, 28 pee. 1950
quickly than they ever did.  A.gain:  .where there's a
will, there's a way!  _'                                      Aan deiz Weleerw. Heer Ds. H. Hoeksema :
       By all means, therefore, if we deliberately or even    Grand Rapids,  Mich.  -                        t
from force of circumstances place ourselves in a posi-            Hooggeachte   Ds.,l$oeksema,
tion in which we'&re  distant from our place of wor-              Zou U me willen toestaan om het volgende  in de
ship, let us face the situation earnestly, and with deter-    Sandwd B'earer  te sehrijven? Ik zou daar zeer prijs
mination  place ourselves  unde?  the obligation to be        op stellen, vooral omdat h&ga&  orn eeti zaak, die ook
`faithful before God in att&ding the means of *grace          PUBLIEK door 6en inzender in dat blad nu twee keer
and all congregational functions connected therewith..        i s   g e n o e m d .
       A far more serious case qf oncerism, however, is
that in which there is simply no desire to attend ser-                  TWEE VRAGEN  AAN DEN HEER
vices without even any apparent excuse, or with a very                                 HE&SEL DE JONG
flimsy excuse. There are those, for example, who'are          Hooggeachte  Heer !  -' ,
too lazy, both physically and spiritually, to.get out of
bed on .Sunday morning for church ; those *ho manage              Tweemaal hebt U in de_ Stanclarcl  Bearer een stukje
to get to church once per Sunday, perhaps, ,in order to       geschreven over een afwijking van de vastgestelde
sooth their consciences, which tell them that they are        kerkelijke Formulieren door predikanten in De Gere-
walking in a wrong way ; or those, sometimes, who             formeerdk Kerken in Nederiand. E6n zou bij gelegen-
knoti that if they don't attend church. ;_at least' once,     heid van een  openbare  Geloofsbelijdenis veel meer
then the elders will  surely pay them a visit. There          hebben- gevraagd, dan officieel is vastgelegd in het
are those `sbmetimes, who openly say that they have           Formulier voor  di?  openbare  Belijdeni~  dqs  Gelooys.
-need of only one service,-very unspiritually, who                Een andere zou andere ,vragen'hebben  gesteld, dan


                                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R   -                       0               261
                                                 -_
  er voorktimen  in het Formulier om den He$igen'Doop                       Dr. Prins  echter verzuimt te  schrijven,. dat die
  tian Volwassenen to Bedienen. Zou ik U vriendelijk                    broeder hem gewezen had op de feiten in de Gerefor-
  -mogen verzoeken om in dit blad publiek te wjllen ant- ( meerde Rerken  begaan. In Art. 29 van de  Geloofs-
  worden  op deze vragen:                 -                             belijdenis  -staat,  wat de valsche kerk  aai;gaat: zij
      1. In welke ,Gereformeerde  Kerk en dooP welken                   grotidt  zich meer op de menschen dan op Christus ;
  predikant eener Gereformeerde Kerk in Nederlahd  is                   zij vervolgt clegenen, die heiliglijk leven naar het
- bij gelegenheid van een  openbare Belijdenis  -des Ge- Woord Gods, enz. Die feiten `(bet v&rvolg$n van de
  loofs afgeweken van het {aarvoor vastgestelde Formu-                  ware geloovigen) heeft die  brocder Dr. Prins  voor-
  lier ?          `,                                                    gehouden of  geschreven.  Maar dat  zegt Dr. Prins
      2. In welke Gerefojtieerde` Kerk en door welken , niet. Dit is echter niet anders dan de zaak waarom
  predikant eener Gereformeerde Kerk in Nederland is                    het gaat verdoezelen.
  bij gelegenheid vari een volwassendoop &fgewekeP  van                    -Hooggeachte Redakteur, gaarn-e zou ondergeteeken-
  de vijf vragen van het daarvoor vastgestelde. Formu- , de deze regelen geplaatst zien in Uw blad te Stan&&
  lier?,                                                                Bearey. Nogmaals mijti dank.              -
             Met de meeste  hoogatihting, Uw dw.                                   c                         L. Wi&enga Sr.
                        J. vdn Raalte
                        `pred.  van de Geref. Kerk van Neede.
                                                                        Esteemed Editor :
                                                                            It is not with pleasure that I again feel coristrained
            A  LETTER FROM  NEjERLANDIA                                 to lift np my pen. I sincerely regret'that  `it is nec.Fs-
                                                                        sary and the more so because it conceriis  your  own.
                                  Neerlandia,  Alta., Canada            material. And, strangely enough, I hope that I  .am
                                                `.,  ' Jan. 13, 1951    entirely wrong and that you are entirely justified in
  Hooggeachte  Redakteur Hoeksema :                                     thtit which r must commerit upc?n.
                                                                            And now to the subject. I refer specifically to your'
      ,Gaarne zou ondergeteekende  eenige plaatsruimte in               latest editorial entitled "Another Reasqn",  wherein you
  Uw blad de Whndard,Bearer hkbben voor onderstaande                    publish a letter from a.?/Ir. A. van ,Dischoven  together
  regelen. -*Bij voorbaat n$jn dank.                                    with your comments' and a  p&Lie note of nchice  to
      Het is naar aanleiding v& den biief'die Dr. Prins                 Chatham's consistory.
  van `Groningen `(Holland) schrijft in De TVachter  van                    I believe that; there is one element which you either
  4 Jullie, 1950, het kerkelijk blad van de Chr. Ger. Kerk completely ignored or of which you were not aware and
  in de U.S.A.                                                          which our readers should.know.  (1) I refer to the fact
      Dr. Prins had in dien brief een paar vragen te de-                that this brother joined our church at Chatham after
  antwoorden van een p,aar belangstellende l.ezers uit                  they were or.gan&cZ. Surely that fact should not have
  Canada of the U.S.A.                                                  been overlooked or neglected. I would not like to be-
      De eene vraag luidt: of die leerbesluiten van het jieve that you deliberately kept this from our readers.
  jaar 1942 niet kuhnen w&den ingetrokken. Dr. Prind                    (2) Surely even the most sitiple should understand
  antwoordt daarop : Die zijn al ingetrokken in het paar                that I do not mean that we mete with two measures-                         -
  1946.. Toen is een pieuwe formule,, een zoogenaamde                   one for those who are charter members and another
  vervangingsformule  vastgesteld. Nu heb ik Dr. Prins                  for those who join us liter. ,Of course, not, but I be-
  gevraagd om officieel bewijs van de intrekking van de                 lieve that we should use discretion and a judgment of
  leerbesluiten. Nu, dit  kaxl hij natuurlijk-niet geven,               love.
  want zij @iti eenvoudig niet ingetrokken. Ik heb dan                      Would it not have been far more. charitable apd
  ook nooit berictit daarvoor van br. Prins ontvangen.                  Lore in keeping with mature disc&ion to not publish
  Het' is eenvoudig misleidend om zoo te. schrijven.                    such a letter but rather have given the brother a per-
      De besluiten. zijn we1 niet gehandhaafd ; .ze.zijn                sonal reply and perhaps privately a@yise the consist-
  genegeerd, en dat is tot schande van die kerketi. Als                 ory that they have a brother in the&. inidst who .does
  een kerk leerbesluiten.neemt,  en later niet handhaaft,               not quite understand the jmplicatiqns of becqming  ,a
  noch ook herroept, wat is <at voor'een kerk?                          member of the Protestant Reformed Churcli? Is such                    -
      Een anderh broeder had hem geschreven, dat de .a manner of dealing considered to be a promoting of
  Gereformeerde,  kerk in Holland stond in het  teeken                  our brother's .welfare? I believe .that we should re-
  van de valsche kerk, en meent dat van die kerk geldt                  serve our sledge on anvil blows for the outright and
  wat in Art. 29 van de ,Geloofsbelijdenis` staat,`en sta:. unrepentant workers of iniquity. But, for our breth-
  pelt dan de zwaarste beschu.ldigingen op tegen de.Gere-               ren' may we be' anything but tender and full pf loving-
  f opmeerde  Kerken.                                  r                kindness? (3)                  -_                   a_"*  -

                                         -_,


262`           0                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

   And. although' my communication was specifically                     ,Otherwise I would probably have advised brother
directed at $he above editorial, I would like to say' just               T.E. to keep. his article -iF the .pen.
a few words on the manner of dealing with a brother, (4) M&taken love. Would that the brother give some
Ijtsma a few issues ago.  Since when have  we,..when                   - of that love $0 me. It is certainly love of the right
one disagrees with  us,  in.steacl of praying for  ad                  b kind, when I advise a brother to join a church to
plead+ng for his  reperztance or that his eyes may be                   which he belongs, rather than to agitate against
opened to the truth as w@ understand it, we take the                    the doctrine of a church to which he belongs but
easiest possib6e method and invite him to join another               should not.
church ! ? Again, is that a love..for the brother? Is               `(5) I think it is.      .
that  Christian charity? Not in `my book! (4)                 I
   I can well recall a time when I argued rather vehe-              (6.) Who says so?
mently against the doctrine of election. And I used                 (7)  & untruth. Nothing  onesided about it.
the very arguments of the fool who argues with St.,                 (8) `?es, I will forgiie the expression. It is blasphemy
Paul in the  gomans. And perhaps many of us can                     , nevertheless.
recall similar or related differences du$ tp a lack of                                                              H. 3.
                                                                                            `. .
knowledge or even perhaps .of a sanctified walk. And
should to each of these be shown the door rather than
an instruction in love.?
   And, just how would we react if we were placed in                                                Madison, Sotith Dakpta
bimilar circutistances ? Suppose we  were:.placed  in                                               January 29, 1951
the Netherlands and felt ,that our best church home                The Standard Bearer,
was found in the Liberat&d Church. And should we                   The Rev. H; Hoeksema, Editor.
have the courage (and we shduld) to disagree, would
we consider it an earmark of Christian charity if their                       About The Declaration .-
clergy or editors wotild  treat us in other than a gentle-
Christian manner? : Would we expect them to ever                    Dear Brother :
win us by any other means than by that of instructing                  May I kindly request a bit of space in a few issues
us in love?                                                         of the Standard Bearer to express myself around atid
   That is not cotipromising  or .oDening  our doors to             about the Declaration of Principles? I would like to
all.manner of heresy. (5) I do not believe that there               consider the DeQaration:.both  frdm a formal and ma-
is `one sincere member of our churches either among                terial point of `view and will attempt to show that we
the clergy or laity who will comprqmise. And further,               should'not adopt it or, positively, that we as Churches
it is an insult to the integrity and sincerity of all our           should abide by our own tradition of officially standing
people that we are in danger. of being tossed to and                upon the basis of the Scripture and the Three Forms
fro with every wind of doctrine. We are not children                of Unity alone. This does no! mean that we may not
in that respect. And neither can we be panicked by                  and do not have a distinctive interpretation of these
name-calling of those who disagree with us.                         Confessions, but rather that the Confessions them-
  If a declaration must be adopted sim'ply because' a .selves  should be sufficient to lnaintairi our position.
few relative'ly  new'members are not ready to say "Ja                  The addition .of an official declaration would be a
Dominee, Ja Dominee" or even because dne congrega-                  departure from the official stat?, QUO and the oficitil
tion withdraws itself from our communion (6)  fork tradition of our history not only, but also a departure
areasons  which we are asked -to judge from, one $ide              from the official pqsition of the historically Reformed
only `(7)) we surely stand On weak ground.                          Church of .the past 300 years. Our very `name, Pro-
   And, in conclusion, 1' certainly hope we hear no                testant Reformed, declares that we stand in that Re-
more of that talk of the very foundations being shake;.            formed line of the Protestant Reforwiation,  which line
That borders on blasphemy. Since we were children,                 has always officially stood qnly upon the b$sis of Scrip-
we were taught to sing: "The`church's one foundation,               ture and the Three Forms of Unity,since their adop-
is Jesus Christ her lord". Since when-forgive me the                tion in 1618-19.       In  1~24 the Christian Reformed
expression-has. the, tail started wagging the dog ! (8)             Church adopted a corrupted addition to these confes-
                              Respectfully,                         sions and we as Churches continued the traditional
                                 (George Ten Elshof.                official Reformed line. At that time,, too, it was sug-
                                                                    gested that the protesting Churches officially drati LIP
(1) Was not aware. Brother  Van D. did not leave  v a Scriptural contra the Three Points of `24, but over-
    that impression. iSee his article.                             against this `it was maintained that Scripture and the
(2) Evil insinuatiqns. Enough said.                                `Confessions were sufficient to combat  h.eresy.  Hence,
(3) I am not in the habit of refusing contributions.                the adoption of an ,official  interpretation or declaration
                                                 3  -


                                     `T H E   &A.NDARD  B E A R E R                                                            263
                                                                                                  _.
  is a serious departure from the status quo and should         maintaining our Protest&t Reformed heritage and,
  be Y'ejected.                                                 on the other hand, those who do not favor its adop-
      Hoivever, in this introductory article I would like       tion w;ould  open the doors of our churches to Heynsian
  to discuss some of the arguments that have arisen             heresy. IOnce again. I maintain. that this argument
  around the Declaration. It has been stated that the `is invalid and derbgatory.  This argument would de-
  Declaration s&ply expresses the truth of Scripture            clare that the only alternative is: the adoption of the
  and the Confessions, and that if this is not so it            Declaration or the introduction of Heynsian heresy.
  should be pointed out that the Declaration expresses          Now, unless one wishes to judge the mind and motives
  untruth. Hence, the argumknt is, that since it is the         of those who oppose adoption,  it certainly must be
  truth we should declare it.' I maintain that this can-        granted that these brethren have honest convictions
  not be a ground for adopting the Declaration and              and are not motivated by the desire to introduce
  that the argumentation itself  -is incorrect.                 heresy.  It,is even possible to oppose the  adoption  of
      In the first place, this argument may be turned           the Declaration without necessarily opposing the De-
  with greater force against adopting the Declaration.          claration itself.    In the first place, therefore, this
  If the  ~  Declar&ion is simply the clear teaching of         argument is invalid for it certainly lies within the
  Scripture and the Cofifessions it is- superfluous to add      realm of conceivable probability that' there may be
  to these and depart' from the official status quo and         other and valid reasons for rejecting the adoption. of
  historical tradition. Hence, it  i-nay just as well be        the Declaration.
  argued that since the Scripture and Confessidns clear-           In the second place, this argument is unworthy
  ly teach the truths expressed in the Declaration, we          since it discredits those who pppose the adoption'.and                     -
  haye no need for it.                                          stigmatizes them as being desirous of introducing
      But, in the second place, the .argdmentation  is in-      Heynsian heresy. Therefore, it is also derogatory in
  correct. It does not necessarily' follow th& because          that it presents an unwarranted alternative:the De-
  a thin,g is tru.e it must or should. be declared. It' is      claration or Heynsian heresy. If this were true the
  even possible to declare an objective.trtith  and present     Synod need never have sent the Declaration out for
  the lie. Or again the objective truth may be dgclared         discussion Fut could have decided immediately. Or,
  in circumstances and conditions which cause it to be          perhaps better still, a  .case should be made pending
  misconstrued and misunderstood.         So, for example, .dgainst those who would introduce heresy. But the
  one can read on a highway bill-board the objectivev           result is that this argument discredits and denies the
  truth of $3cri$ure  when .a given text is quoted. Yet         right  ,of  --`that very' discussion which Synod  Znvited
  in the mind of those who placed it and in the ci'rcum- when it sent the Declaratign  out for discussion.
  stances and cdnditibns in.w&h it is rebd, it pyesents          In the' third place, the end of this argument is
  the lie of  Aiminiatiism. Now mark well, I  -do not           again, that it would place the .responsibility  for the
  maintain or state that this is also true of the Declara-      burden of proof at the d_oor of those who oppose adop-                -
' tion but only  me$n to show that this  argtimentation         tion of the De'claration.    Once again rather, the. bur-
  is not. valid. Granted t&at the Declaration means to,         den of proof to show why, rests with those who main-
  agd actually does, <express the truth, this in itself can-    tain that we should adopt the Declaration. It might
not serve as a ground or reason for its adoption. The           also be pointed out here that we .as Churches were '
  question still remains why should we de<lare it, why          freed from Heynsian heresy already. in 1924 upon the ,
  is it necessary and why should we depart from. the            basis of .Scripture and the Confessions alone and since
  official historical position?                                 that time have been instrumental in quite successfully
      For,  iri the third place, the result of this argu-       turning others upon that same basis..
 mentation, -is that it lays the burden of proof at the           Now I realize that these arguments  tire not' all
  door of those who maintain that the Declau'ation .is          that is said but are the general conclusions from
 not necessary. However, since the official adoption            various grounds that are  pr&ented as to why we
  of the- Declaration would be a departure from the             should  $dGpt the Declaration. Next time, therefore,
  status quo the burden of proof that we should adopt           we hope to examine some of these grounds.
  it rightly belongs to those who maintain that it is                                                   W .   H o f m a n .
 necessary- and expedient. *Once again, granted that
 what the Declaration expres`ses is the truth- of Scrip-,
 ture and the Confessions, the burden of proof to show
 why it is necessary to declare this beyond the expres-
 sion of-  S&ipture and the  Colifessialns  certainly  lies                    A T T E N T I O N !                 '
 with those who maintain it should be adopted.                                       CLASSiS+  W              E         S        T                *
     It has also been stated that those who belieGe the
 Declaration should be adopted are  coticerned  about           meets in Hull, Iowa, Wednesday, March `7, 1951


                                                    I
                                                                                                                            .
                                                    /                                              _I.,     ..::.
                                                    I
                                                                                      -----:  `.-!`.  `1                    b
 2      6    4    '                    ;yHE              STANDARD-BE-ARER-                         :
                                       _i
                       A Final Report                            number ,of children each has. It would be well that
                                                                 all contributors to the fund keep this in mind. Our
                                                                 society may therefore believe that their contributions
      `Then undersigned was asked to write up a  report          will be carefully distributed and no partiaiity shown.
 of .the results of the election of committee members                   As to the three ministers, we  may report that
 who are to assist the three ministers and their fami-           they are making very good progress at our school.
lies who recently came to us from the Reformed                   In fact they have on several instances already been
 Episcopal Church and who are now attending our                  given license to. speak a word of edification in our
 Seminary.                                                       churches. Atid all three of them have, told the under-
       Some time .a&o printed *ballots  were. sent out to        signed that they still marvel at the wondrous ways
 each one who coptributed'to  their support. The bal-            of God Who has so gra'ciously directed their way to
 lots presented a nomination' of eight. From these               our Protestant Ref,ormed  Churches:                        They all with
 four were to be chosen to serve as a. permanent com- -their famiIies are deeply appreciative_ of all our people
 mittee. The following constitute the new committee:             have done atid*are doing for them, and would like you
 Sidney De Youag; James Kok, Gerrit Pipe, ahd Donald to know of this appreciation.
' Ondersma. At a. recent meeting the committee offi-                   And now, as the title of this a&%&suggests,  this
 cers were chosen as follows: president S. De Young,             is a final report as far as the  und?rsigned  is con-
 vice-president James Kok, secretary G; Pipe; treasurer          cerned. `From now on he will serve only in an ad-
 D. Ondersma. At this peeting a committee was ap-                visory capacity, and all future correspondence should
 pointed to investigate the possibi1it.y  of becoming in-        be sent to .the secretary of the committee,: Gerrit Pipe,
 corporated as a non-profit/corporation. Should this             1463 Ardmore, S.E., Grand Rapids, Michigan; while
 become a future reality,- contributors to the fund could        all cohtributions  should be sent to the treasurer above
 make deductions from their income tax reports of                nabed.                                                M           .         Schippey.
 their contributions. This means also that our society                    .-
 will need a name. Any suggestions will be gladly re-                                    I N   MEMORIAM
                                                                  IThe following organizations of the First `Protestant Reformed
ceived by the committee.                                        Church of  K?lamazoo  express their sympathy to Mrs. P.  Dyk-
       We wish also at this juncture to report that our          $cerhuis and Mr. and Mrs. A. Post and family in the loss  -of
 treasurer re,veals  that sufficient funds .have been re- their husband, father,  azld grandfather,
 ceived  $0, take care of these families for this  &ear.                              Mr. Peter Dyksterhuis
 In round figures-. the  receipts  reached a total of whom  the Lord called home very suddenly on Saturday morning,
                                                                 Febr.uary  3, 1951, We pray that they `may go on in the confi-
 $7,000.00.       The disbursements this year included ,a dence that He doeth all things well and that they who#die in the
 consid&able amount- for moving expenses which we Lord are indked blessed.
 trust will not be necessary again. So that unless                                                                   Men's Society
 there is a :radical change in the cost. of living, our'          .                                                  Ladies Aid
 anticipated :receipts  for the n.ext year will not have                                                   Eunice   C i r c l e   ,
 to be as'high as this year. We can also report that                                                        Yokefellows
' thg three ministers gre able to work a little on the            j The followitig  organizations of the First Protestant Reformed
                                                                Church of  Kalama.zoo  express their sincere sympathy to Miss
 side which means that our care of them will be mad@ J'eanette   Hamminga, and to Mrs. Jennie Weesies and family
 considerably easier. -The committee informs _ us that in the loss of their  mother, danghtkr,  and sister,
 work will soon be made of conducting another drive,                                   Mrs.  Tena   Hamminga
 announcements of which will be made at the proper              who went%to  the reward of the righteous on Tuesday, Feb, 13,
`time. -With but few exceptions, those of our people            1951. We ask for them that they sorrow not as those that have
 who pledged to help in, our last drive responded nobly.        nd hope fpr we believe that those that ,sleep in J&us will God
                                                                bring with Him.
 We are `indeed grateful for this interest and help.                                                       Ladies' Aid  -
 Should those who made pledges still wish to kefp them                                                     Young People's  Soci&y.
 they may send their contributions to Donald  Ondersmti,
 1135  .Chicago  Dr.,  S: W., Grand Rapids, Michigan.                           SUBSCRIEERS - PLEASE NOTE !
 Please specify that your contribution is a payment.               Due to the increased cost of printing The ~tandarcl
                                                                Bearer it has been necessary to raise the sub'scription
 of a- pledge. !Of course, any other contribution will price to $3:00 per year. Th'is- will take effect with the
 be gratefully received  and  acknbwledged.  The com- subscriptions coming due on April 1st and ,thereafter.
 mittee has also decided with the consent of the three Will .YOU  please refer to your subscription date printed
 ministers, that henceforth all financial contributions,         opposite your name on this issue, and if past due, for-
 payments for service etc., to these men shall be re- war,d  a remittance at once. Your co-operation is kind-
                                                                                    At the present time there is no chan&e
 ported to the committee, and that each family. shall ly requested.
                                                                in membership price %hic_h includes the subscriptio<.
 be  cared; for qn an equal  basis proportionate to the                                                              THE BOARD,


