  V O L U M E   X X V I I                      March i5, 1951 - Grand Rapids, Michigan                           NUMBER 12,

                                                                              Eerst dan dat .lijden van Christus naar den schijn.
          MEDITATION                                                          Hij  yerschijnt op het  toneel der historie als  eq
                                                                          rijsje, als een scheutje op een afgehouwen  tronk. En
                                                                          we vragen weer :' wat kan men daar nu van verwach-
                                                                          ten,? Verwacht men, kan men verwachten, dat daar
                                                                          een  forsche boom uit zal groeien? Natuurlijk niet.
  De Waardij Vati Het Lijden Christi Dezelfde gedachte vonden we in die wortel in een
                  Wa&lijk hij heeft onze  kraiheden  op  zich  ge-        dorre aarde. Fr was imniers geen gedaante noch heer-
                nomen,  en onze smarten heeft hij gedragen;  dooh         lijkheid in den Christus, dat wil ieggen, voor -bet oog
                tvij ,achtten,hem,  dat hij geplaagd, van God geslagen    des vleesches ? En zoo is het vandaag nog. Niemand
                en  verdrukt  was. , Maar  hij is om onze  overtredin-    bemint Jezus van nature, want Hij biedt niets voor
                gen verwond, om onze ongerechtigheden is hij ver-         "bet vleesch. En  ZOO wordt Jezus de  verachte.  bij uit-
                brijzeld; de straf, die OTIS den vrede aanbrengt, was     nemesdheid;  Niemand is ooit zoo  veracht  als  Jeius,
                op hem, en door zijne striemen is ons genezing  ge-
          .-    worden.         -.                                        onzen Koning. Laat mij slechts 6Bn voorbeeld mogen
     .                                             4esaja   53:4-5.       geven. Men zette Hem op zekeren dag naast een
     Het eerste vers van dit hoofdstuk komt tot ons met                   moordenaar en rebel: Bar-abbas. En toen vroeg Pila-
een vraag : Wie heeft onze prediking geloofd ? En het tus  aan het eelste wat de aarde toentertijd kende,
  antwoord zit in de vraag in, nameilijk:  Niemand ge-                    namelij$,  het Israel Gods: Wien wilt ge, dat ik U zal
  loofde die prediking, d.w.z. niemand van nature. En                     loslaten?    Wien begeert ge `van deze  tyee? En ge
 wat mag de  reden zijn? Dit: die prediking was zoo                       weet het antwoord.      Men  v@koos  Bar-@bbas; den
 vreemd. Door` ellende tot  verlossing was  bet  thema moordenaar, boven Jezus Christus; den Zoon van God.
 van die pre'diking,  en dat begrijpt het nattiurlijk  ver-               DL& Hij was  We1 `de onwaardigste  otider  de  me&
  stand niet, en wat de natuurlijke  menseh  .niet  be-                   schen,          /
 grijpt verwerpt hij. Dat de eeuwige zaligheid komen                         En inen -heeft Hem gehaat boven'alles, omdat .Hij
 moet door het smartelijke lijd& van den gehoorzamen                      kwam met zulke groote pretenties, en met zulk een
 knecht des Heeren, en niet door ons eigen pogen en                       mensch-veroordeelend-getuigenis. Hij zeide  v&n  Zich-
 &even en goede werken, ziet, dat wil er niet bij den                     zelf : Ik ben de Zoon van God ! Ik berr de Messias.
 hoovaardigen mensch in. Wat wij  -  zagen was een                        Ik ben-de GoBI. Ik ben het Brood,  het Water en het
 worm en geen mensch. En de  worm, werd  veracht.                         Licht der wereld. En d$or Mijn kruisdood en vreese-
 We hebben daar  wa$ van gezien den vorigen keer,                         lijk lijden zal Ik Mijn kerk  ve\rlossen en tot  groote
 i-dat we stilstonden bij den lijdenden  kn&ht des Heeren.                glorie brengen. En ziet, dat kon men n-iet staan.
 We willen nu wat velr;cier  gaan, onder den afgebeden                    Want dat vernederde  den mensch.. Hij zeide immers :
 zegen des Heeren.                                                        Ik stel Mijn lqen vqor d'e sehapen! Groote pretenties,
                                                                          want Hij zeide van Zichzelf: Ik ben  de yeg tot den
                                                                          Vader; ik ben de weg, de waarheid en het leven.
     En nu willen we zien hoe die knecht des Heeren ge-                      Maar  als we Hem aanzagen, zoo  bemerkten  we;
 waardeerd is door het oude bondsvolk, en ook door                        dat Hij een mensch was die zeer zwak was, en zeer
 ons.  Als we als  thema schrijven: de waardij van                        ellendig. En toen hebben we de conclusie getrokken:
het lijden  Christi, dan  zieli we eerst dat  lijden naar                 God haat Hem ; ,God plaagt H6mj `God slaat Hem en
den schijn, dan  naar haar  wezen,   en  &&lijk  naar                     God vgrdrukt  Hem. En daarom achtte men, dat Hij
 ,haar  vru&t.,                                                           em  snoever was, En -men kruisigde  Hem. En het


 266                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEA.RER  _,j,.
                                                    -.           .,..                        .
 is  we1 duidelijk, dat  degrootste   haat over Hem kwam, `. Leest den tekst nti` n6g eens, en !aat ons din ook
omdat Zijn geheele verschijning, lijden en  krui$dood           die  andere  woord& onderzoeken  die  tiezamen  met
 predikte onze zonde-schuld, eti dat konden de menschen. `krankheden gebezigd worden  OF de zonde van #Gods
 niet staan. De bloed-theologie  is niet populair. (~.          volk af te meten.  I ie, zijn deze : onze overtredingen,
        Dus als ge mij zdudt vr$&n:  wat is Ed@ waardee-        onze  ongerechtibheden.  En de smart die deze geeste-
 ring yan* dien lijdend.en  kneeht  des Heeren, rdan is het     lijke krankhedei met zich brengen vindt ge ook in den
`antwoord vaQ de .Sch&jft:  Hij#.werd geacht een m&sch          tekst. Zij' is deze: de straf, en de striemen..
 te  zijn  die  te mijden was. Want de hand Gods was                     Welnu, de tekst z&t,  d&-`ge  z&j het lijden  `van
 tegen Hem ten kwade. Hij leed, en het was duidelijk, - Christus moet s verstaan : Christus nam onze krank-
Q dat zulk lijden over Hem kwam vanwege Zijn godde- (.,,, heden op zich, en daardoor kwam Hij te `staan voor
 loosheid.  SGod was tegen Hem. En  dqaroti:  weg  ,Fgt: ,God die  geen' uitzonderingen op Zijn  regels toelaat.
 Hem ! Als het er op aan komt, dan hebben we veel               En moest den Zoon  geslagen, geplaagd en verdrukt
 liever Ba.r-abbas, al is het dan o&, dat die man een           word&n.         Hij ontvangt onze straf en Hij  ontvang?;
 m`oordenaar is.                                                onze striemen.
                                                                         En let er nu op, dat de tekst zegt, dat Hij die krank-
                                                                heden op Zich nam. Leest daar niet overheen. Daar
                                 _.                             zit een wereld van liefde Gods in. En dan bedoel ik
        Maar  wat.  `was het lijden van  3ezus naar zijn        de  ,liefde pan  Christqs waarmede Hij  allereerst den
 wezen?                                                         Vader minde. Hij nam die krankheden op Zich. Daar
        De tekst  gecft daarop een voldoend antwoord. Dat, zit.in de gehoorzaamheid der liefde.. Hij wistdat  God
 lijden was plaatsvervangend. Hij leed om onze krank- dit van Hem  Wilde. Hij moest slachtoffer  worden
 heden.                                                         voor hen die dook God bemind waren van eeuwigheid.
        Krankheden  beteekend hier  tiiet physische krank-      Hij w&t, dat God in Hem wild& openbaren hoe lieflijk
 heden,  zooals de tering, kanker,  diphtherie, enz. De         en hoe groot Hij is van goedertierenheid. En zoo boog
 Heilige Schrift is vol beeldspraak. Zoo ook hier. Die          Hij gewillig  bet moede hoofd en ging het  hellelij-
 krankheden zijn geestelijke-ethische krankheden'. Om' den in.
 U eefi duidelijk voorbeeld te geven van het gebruik                     Zoo mo'et  be het lij,den van Jezus waardeeren:
 van zulk een beeld, moet ge. eens luisteren naar Jesaja
 1:5b en- 6. Daar'vindt'ge  een beschrijving Ivan den                                       tiw
 zoqdigen   toestand  vaiz het  historisehe  Israel van  Je-
 saja's dagen. Dat is duidelijk .uit het verband  daar.                  En moeteA  we onder dit thema nog &n ding duide-
 Er staat:  Het gansche hoofd is krank, en het gansche          lijk  maken.  Het  is. dit. Als Jesaja al maar spreekt
 hart 4s mat; van de voetzool af tot het hoofd t'be is ei-      van "wij" en van "ens" en van "onze", wat bedoelt hij
 niets `geheels  aan hetzelve,  maar wonden en striemen         dan daarmee? Spreekt hij daar van  alle menschen
 en etterbuilen, die niet uitgedrukt poch verbondeti zijn,      die ooit leefden,-en nog leven zullen? .Bedoelt  Jesaja
 en geen derzelve is met olie veracht. En zooals we             te  `zeggen,  dat JezUs Christus de krankhcten van het
 zeiden, het verband  van deze woorden duiden aan, dat          gehkele  menschelijke  geslacht, hoofd voor hoofd, op
 deze  beschrijving   doelt  op de zonde van  Isrliel. En       Zich nam?
 zoo is het ook hier. Onze krankheden zijn de krank-                     En dan moet ons antwoord zijn: Neen, dat kan de
 heden d'ie geestelijk zijn. En zij zijn het bewijs, en bedoeling  niet zijn, want dan moest daarop volgcn,  dat
 de openbaring van den geestelijken dood die in ons             alle menschen die ooit leefden, nu leven, -of nog leven
 woe& en woelen zal totdat- de mensch naar ziel en              zullen, alle naar den hemel gaan. En naar Gods Woord
 lichaam ondergaat in den eetiwigen.  dood.                     weten we beter. De. Bijbel' zegt zelfs: velen zijn ge-
        Nu dan, die krankheden iam Jezus op Zich. `En           roepen, maar weinigen uitverkoren. Dus verreweg
 dat verklaart  ook Zijn lijden. Geestelijke, krankheid,        het .grootste  gedeelte van het menschdom gaan ve?-
 en dat is de zonde, is oorzaak van smart.                      l&en. Dat is we1 een verschrikkelijke leer, maar het
        Hoe zit dat?       3           ,     ,`_                is de waarheid.
        Hier is het antwoord. God heeft het van voorlaig                 Bedoelt dan Jesaja, dat Christus de krankheden
 gegeven  : de ziel die zondigt zal sterven. God .zeide  dit, van het geheele Israel op zich laadde? Neen, dat ook
 ook  aan het ,begin van de historic; Ten dage dat ge           niet,  w&t Gods Woord zegt. ons duidelijk, dat niet
 daarvan eet zult ge den dood `sterven. En God komt             allen Israel zijn die uit Israel zijn. Alleen de kinderen
 daar tot- in der eeuwigheid niet van terug. En er zijn der beloftenis' worden voor het zaad gerekend.
 ook geen uitzonderingen op dien regel:  De krankheid,                   Wat dan?
 en dat is de zondej roept om straf. En &t bndergaan                     Hier is  bet, antwoord: God kent degenen die  de
 van de straf- Go& brengt smart,                                Zijnen  zijn, Er is een bock geschreven  door God, eg 0


                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEviRER                               .'                      267.

  in dat boek zijn de namen geschretien  van een $olk,             En het resultaat, de vrucht ?
  dat uitverkorenen heet. En voor dat volk kwam Jeztis;            De tekst,  zegt h&i ons in twee woorden : genezing
 .De kr"ankheden van dat.volk  neemt Hij op Zich. Voor         en, vrede.
  d8t volk ondergaat Hij de straf en voor dat volk wordt           Door  Zijr+e  stk"iemen is ons  genezing   geworden.`
  Hij gestriemd. Dat is de eenvoudige  en doorloopende         Zie"daar  in eenige woorden de  vru.cht van Jezus' lij-,
  leer der. Heilige Schrift.                       >           .den. ,                    -
     En zoo we+ onze Jezus verwqnd,  en `verbrijzeld.              Olize ziekte is dat wij God haten en Zijn wet over-
  Voor de uitverkorenen werd  -Hij gestriemd .en, moest        tredefi.  En  genezing  is, dat door Jezus' lijden en
  Hij de straf ondergaan. Dat is het Eyangelie.          _     .sterven,  _allereerst,  de  schuld weggenomen is. Dat  ii
     En als ge mij dan vraagt : Maar hoe, kom ik t'e           de rechtelijke genezing. En door wedergeboorte, be-
  weten, dat ik  uitverkoren  ben, dan is het antwoord         keering, geloof ' en heiligmaking worden. we genezen                    .
  gemakkelijk. Ziet ge,  .op een  keer zeide de Heere          van het itiwoqend verderf. Hallelujah!
  Jezus: Ik geef Mijn leven voor de schapen.  In&en                En het eilide  is vrede. Och lieve, wat zal ik daar
  ge een uitverkorene- zijt, dan wordt gij ,gemaakt  tot       van zeggeri ? Vrede is het eigen leven van Gods Vree-
  een schaapje van .Jezus kudde. Dan wederbaart  Hij U,        verbond. 1~ God is het de harmonie ,tusschen  Vader,
  en dat beduidt, dat Hij U v&n &en wolf tot een s,chaap       Zoon, en den Heiligen Geest. Op de onmetelijke
  maakt. En als ge blijft vragen en zegt: Maar hoe             oceanen van Gods verbondsleven is er nooit de kleinste
  weet ik dat ik een schaap ben? Dan is het anttioord:         rimpel van oneenigheid of disharmonie. Maar, -in-
  ge hoort Jezus' stem. jen ge volgt Hem. En het resul-        tegendeel, `ze lieven en leven het verbondsleven vol-
  tatit is, dat g& het eeuwige leven van Hem ontvangt.         maaktelijk van eeuwigheid tot eeuwigheid.
  Daar zullen we straks wat meer van zeggen. Alleen                Welnu,  in- dat leven  worden  we opgenomen. De
  dit nog : die uitverkoren is, gelooft het Woord van .God.    vrede  aGods woont dan in Uw hart. Ik -kan het mis-'
  kls ge gelooft in den gekruisten Christus bewijst ge
voor  Uz_elf en  voor anderen, dat ge een  `uitvekkoren        schien niet beter  uitdrukke.ti dan te zeggen:  Als  gij
  kind van `God zijt.        -                                 den vrede #Gods hebt, dan zijt -gij in harmonie met
                                                               den hartslag van den IjrieEenigen VerbondsGod!
     Luistert naar Jezus' eigen stem. Hij is de waar;
  heid, dus kunt ge U op Hem verlaten. Hij zegt dit:               De Heere geve het aan U en aan mij !
  Ik Len de goede Herder, en Ik ken de mijnen en word                                                               G .   V o s .
  van de mijnen gekend. En Hij zegt verder, in  het-
  zelfde hoofdstuk (Johannes 10 : 14 .en i'7) "`Mijne scha-
  pen hooren Mijne stem, en Ik ken dezelve en zij volgen
  Mi j:" Is dat duidelijk genoeg?                                            A PRAYER IN WAR AND  PEACE

                                                                     Father, our children keep!
                                                                     We know not what is coming on the earth;
     :O, er zijn veel meerdere getuige@ssen in de Heilige            Beneath  the shadow of Thy heavenly wing,
 Schrjft ,die ons huidelijk  aantoonen of we binnen dan              0 keep them, keep them, Thou who -gave&
  we1 buiten zijn, of we naar den hemel  reizen, dan we1                  them birth.
  op weg  zijil naar de hel. Denkt, b.v.,  aan de  zalig-
  sprekingen : Zalig zijn de armen van ge&t,  die treuren,         Father, draw nearer  US  !.
  de zachtmoedigen, die hongeren en dorsten naar de  ge-             Draw firmer `round us Thy protecting arm;
  rechtigheid, enz.      Denkt  aan dien  armen tollenaar:          "0 clasp our children closer to Thy side,
`0  ,God `wees mij iondaar genadig!  bie man ging af                Uninjured in the day of earth's alarm.
  gerechtvaardigd naar zljn huis, meer dan die. . . .
     Er zijn duizend getuigenissen ip de Schrift die agn-            Them in Thy chambers hide !
  toonen wie "binnen en wie buiten zijn. ,Om `niet meer              0 hide them and preserve theln calm and safe,
  te noemen: de uitverkbrenen gelooven in ,Christus, en              When sin aboulids, and error flows abroad,. . .
  boor Hem, in God. Gelooft gij?                                   And-Satan  temi>ts, and human passions chafe.
     Als nu maar duidelijk geworden i:, dat het. wezen
  van Jezus' lijden is geweest, het  dragen van onze                 0   k e e p   them  u n d e f i l e d !
  krankheden, en da$ is het dragen'van onze ongerechtig-             Unspotted from a tempting world of sin;
  heden,  bnze overtredingen, en daarom ook van onze                `That, clothed in white, through the bright city
  straf eii van onze striemen. En. dat Hij dat gewillig-                        gates,
  lijk deed, uit  ,het motief  sder pure liefde Gods. Het           `They may with us in triumph enter in.                .
  was Zijn eteti en drinken om.den wil Gods te doen.                  :r:._:                   -Horatius Bonar.
                                                                     `. .                                    `I.


2 6 8                                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R .

,,                The                                        Standard                                             Bedrrer
            Semi-Monthly,  except  Monthly   in  July   and  August                                                     E D I T 0 R.1 A'L S
                                     Published   By
                  The  Reformed   Free  Publisl&g   Association   5
                      Box  124,`Sta.  C.,  Grand   Rapids,  Mich.                                                The .Declaration  Of Principles
                          EDITOR:   - Rev.   H.  Hoeksema.                                    e
       lcbmmunications  relative to contents should be addressed to                                           Redemption from sin by the  bloGd of Christ, and
 REV. H. HOEKSEMA, 1139 Franklid  St., S. E., Grand Rapids,                                                  the  Holy Ghost, the author of faith, is promised to
 M i c h i g a n .                                                                                           infants no less than to the adults.
      Communications relative to subscription should be addressed
to  Mr. J. BOUWMAN, 1350  Gildings   SE.;. Grand  Rapids   7,                                                   Thus the Declaration of Principles quotes from the
 Mich.  Announcements and Obituaries must be mailed to  .the                                                 Heidelberg Catechigm,  question and answer 74.
$?ve  address and  will  be published at a fee of $1.00 for each                                                `Attend, please, closely to the meaning of these
notice.                                                                                                      words, and ,you will surely acknowledge that the pro-
R&ewals:-Unless  a definite request for  discontiimance  is re-
ceived, it is assumed that the subscriber wishes his subscription                                            mise is not\conditional and cannot possibly b&
to continue witho& the formality of a renewal order.                                                            What `is meant, in th'ese words by the promise?
                                     Price:  $3.00  per  year                                                   Is it a prediction of what God will do in the future?
Entered as  Secpnd  Class Mail at Grand Rapids,. Michigan.                                                      The answer is, and must be, negative.
                                                                                                                For, first of all, it is' a distortion of the term to
                                                                                                             say : a.promise  is a prediction. The promise, of couYse,
                                                                                                             include a prediction-and often does. Thus it is with
                                                                                                             respect to the promise o!f the first coming of Christ
                         _      '                                                                            as well as with' "the promise of His coming" the
                                     CONTENTS                                                                second time. But even then, the main idea is- not a
                                                                                                             prediction, but a  promise,  a pledge, an oath of God
MEDITATION-                                                                                                  that He will surely save His people, and, therefore,
           De Waardij  Van Het &ijden Christi  __.____: __________________ :_.._. 265                        "is vowed only to the elect. The destruction of Jeru-
               Rev. Gerrit  VOS                                                                              salem is  also a prediction, so is the destruction of'
EDITOtiIALS-                                                                                                 Babylon, but this surely cannot be called a promise.
           The Declaration Of Principles _._______________  1____:  _____________________ 268                to those cities. A promise, therefore, though it may
               Rev. H. Hoeksema                       --.                                                    be predicted as to its xertain fulfillment, can never be
                                                                                                             called a prediction.
                                                                                                                          .               -.
           We Need The declaration  ________________....__________________  ~_____.______.  272                -. And that the promise is, indeed, an oath of God to
               Rev. H.  Feldman                                                                              lead the elect infallibly unto salvation is taught us in c
 OU.R  I~OCTRINE-   1                                                                                        so many words in Heb. 6  :16-18 : "For men verily
           The Creation  ,Of The Spirit World  __.__.______________________________  276                     swear by the greater; and an oath for confirmation js
               R.ev.  H. Veldman                                                                             td them an end of all strife. Wherein God,  .willing
           Rev. Petter Repeats Still  Anzther  of `His Accusation .  ...278                                  more abundantly to shew unto the heiTs of the promise
              Rev. G. M. Ophoff                                                                              the  inwnutabilit~ of  ,His counsel,  confirmed it  by,.an
                                                                                                             oath: That by two immutable things, ip which it was
FROM HOLY  WliIT-                                                                                            impossible for God to lie, we' might have a strong co&
           Exposition of Luke 2:40-52  ._______________..__..' ___.___.__..._........ :...281                solation, who have fied, for refuge to lay hold upon
               kev. Geo. C. Lubbers                                                      .                   the hope set before us."
PERISCOPE-                                                                                                      Secpndly,  that the promise meant- in question and
           1924  Still Binding in the Chr. Ref. Churches  _________:   ._.... 283                            answer `74 of the Heidelberg Catechism,  camiot refer
               Rev. J. Hower+yl                                                                              to a prediction of what God will do in thg future, but
      CONTRIBUTIONS-                                                                                         is a pledge of God that He surely will fulfill His
           About the Declaration (II) ________...___.__.:  ____ 
                                                                            _ ____________._i  ______ 
                                                                                                   ,.-2X5    promise and that, too, unconditionally,' is evident from
             Rev. W.  Hofmati                                                                                the fact-that, in this answer, the promise is said to be
           Where Do We Stand? . . . . . ___...____  _..._ _____.._....._....._...  * .....i..-  I...286      for infants no less than for the adults.
           Antwoord Aan Ds. J. Van Raalte  ________._ _ __._.._..___ _ . .._....._._  287                       Now, in the first place, many of those little child-
               Mr. H. De Jong                                                                                ren die in infancy, and if the promise is a prediction,
                                                                                                             the fulfillm&t  of which must wait until those &hat are
           Letter To The Editor _.____ _ ______._ _ _._.: ._._.._..___._....._....~.~...~......  :.287       comprehended in. the covenant of *God come to yea?s
               Mr. 0. Monsma                                                                                 of discretion and are in a bosition  to fulfill the con-
                                      '  #                                                                   ditions, it certainly has no meaning for them.


                                        TliE  $TANDA.RD  B E A R E R                                                      269  -  '
                                                                                         .
         But, secondly, it lies in the very nature df ihe @dtiga realization of the promise is ruled out. For what. is
 nant,  dispensation that ,God ful$lls His promise of sai-         first : the effect OT the cause? you answer : the cause.
 vation in the majority, yea, in by far the majority of            What is first: the author or that which he works?
 them, in infancy, befbre  there can be any question of            You say : the author. Very well. It `follows : 1; that
 cbnditions. I say that this lies in the very nature of            the promise includes the gift of the Holy Gliost  ; 2. that
 the covenant dispensation. whji &~ould Cod place His the promise includes the gift of faith; 3. that faith is
 covenant children in the sphere of His &ti&%&,  where the fruit of `the realization of the promise,  and cannot
 the Wocd of God has its influence, where &h@ ehflq ia             be a condition for receiving the pro&se. It is a means,
 brought into contact ivith the promise of the g%pel,              a God-given means, whereby we may and do lay hold
 where the operations of the-Holy Spirit are ddmin&,               on all the blessings of salvation included in the promise
 I say, why should God place His children in that sphere           of God. Faith cannot be a condition to receive,faith.
 for the first few years of their- life, in fact, until they .        That faith is nothing but an instrument or means
 can fulfill conditions, as .cleaicl ohhildrren? I say, there-     whereby God brings us into saving c&tact with all
 fore, that it lies in the nature of the covenant dispen-          the benefits of 7 Christ, is the language of our Confes-
 sation, that God fulfills His promise, in by far the              sion& throLigho&t.
 majority of  c&s&`, in  i@&ncy,  In infancy He gives                 It. is safe to adhere to the plain language- of our
 them Bis Holy Spirit, in infancy ffe regenerates them             confessions rather than to introduce all kind's of ques,-
 and implants into their heslrt the Q&P%,  the faculty             tionable innovations.
 of faith, in order that from infancy they may be under               That God actually ful{ills His promise of' the Holy
 the saving influence of the Holy :Spirit and tli" gos@l,          Ghost, the author of faith,. to, childrsn  as well as to
`in the sphere ox the covenant. `The promise is, there-            adults,. and that, therefore, little children have the
 fore, not a prediction df what God will do:  ifi some             faith before they can hear the preaching of the gospel,
 future time, but an oath of God, an immutable piedge              and before they can fulfill any, conditions, is -also the
 that He will lead the elect infallibly to salvation.         _    conviction of Ursinus, one qf the authors of the Heidel-
         Besides, this is also a matter of general- experience berg Catechism, who, in his exposition of question and
 in the covenant of God. You ask any nor&al  covenant              answer 74, writes as follows:
 child that belongs to the children of the prolnise, when.            "But, say our  oppogents,   .the church ought  to'be
 he comes to years of discretion, whether he is. con-              satisfied with the profession of faith.. This we admit,
' scious  6f any particular moment or time  ig his life            atid we would add, that to be born in the church; is,
 when he was converted, or when he .began to believe               to infants, the same thing as a profession of faith.
 in the God of his salvation, and he will reply in the             Faith is, indeed, necessary to the use of baptism with
 negative. But you ask him whether he believes that this distinction.  Actua! faith is required in adults,
 he is converted, a,nd whether he has a sincere desire and an  inclin&ion  to faith  in infants. There are,
 to walk in the way of God's covenant, he will just as             therefore, four terms in this syllogism, or there is a
 surely answer- positively. In. other words, his ex- fallacy in understandink  that as spoken particularly,
 perience is that ,God fulfilled His promise unto him all          which must be understood generally. Those who do
 his life -long, even before he was conscious of it, and not believe, that is, who have no faith at all, neither
 surely before he could fulfill any conditions. It is,             by profession nor by inclination, are not to be baptized.
 therefore, quite contrary to the general experience of            But those who are born of believing parents have faith
 norm&l covenant children to say that the promise of               as to inclination. We a!so-deny the minor proposition;
 God is a prediction which God will fulfill in some                for infants do believe after their manner, or according
 future time, when. the covenant child comes  tq years             to the condition of their age; they have an. inclination
 of discretion, and when he is capable of fulfilling               to faith. Faith is in-infants potentially and by inclina--
 conditions.                                                       tion, although not actually as in adults.  Fdr, as in-
         And what is the contents of the promise according         fants born of ungodly parents who are without the
 to the 74th answer of the Heidelberg Catechism? It                church, have no actual wickedness, but only an inclina-
 is "redemption from sin by the blood of Christ, and               tion thereto, so those who are b&n of godly parents
 the Holy Ghqst, the author of faith.`.' Also this shows           have no actual holiness, but only an inclination to it;
 very clearly that the promise is unconditional, and that          not -according to nature, but according to the grace of
 faith is not a,condition  in order to obtain the promise.         the covenant. And still further : infants have-the Holy
 It might conceivably be said that .the promise is con-            #Ghost, and are regenerated by him. John the Baptist,
 ditioned by faith, if it included only the redemption             was filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's
from sin by. the blood of `Clirist, although even. this is         womb, and Jeremiah is said to have been sanctified
not true. But now the promise is said to include also              before he came out of the womb. (Luke 1:15, Jer. 1:5)
 `ihe Holy Ghost .as the ,a&hor of faith, the very possi-          If infants noti have. the Holy Ghost, he certainly works
bility of presenting faith as-a condition to receive the           in. them regeneratiori, good inclinations, new desiT,es,
                                                     . . .

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270                                  ;  T H E   S T A N D 'A R D   B E A R E R

and such other things as are neces.sary for their salva-          In other w'ords, the promis'e  of God inc!udes.  the gift
tion, or he at least supplies them with every thing that          of .faith, and since faith is included in the promise, it
is requisite for their baptism, accordilig to the declara-        cannot be a  condtion  unto the promise. Moreover,
tiont of peter. `CBn any man forbid water to them who since faith is wrought only in the elect, .it is evident
have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? It is for that the ljromise is not for all, nor for all the children
this.  peason that Christ enumerates little  ,.children           that are born under the historical dispen?ation  of the
among those that believe, saying, `Who shall offend               covenant, but for the elect alone.
one of these little ones that believe in me.' (Matt. 18 :6)          ;God,  therefore, fulfills His promise infallibly and
In as much' now as infants are fi,t subjects for bap-             unconditionally and in the elect `only.
tism, they do not profane it as the Anabaptists wicked- i'           In article 34 of the sa$.e confession we read:
ly affirm."                            _'                            "We believe. and confess that Jesus Christ, who is
       The Declara$ion,  therefore, is perfectly correct, and     the end of the law, hath made &n end, by the shedding
stands entirely on the basis of the confession, when it           of his blood, of all other sheddings of blood which men
states that "the prdmise is infallible an4 unconditional;         could. or would tiake as a propitiation or satisfaction
and therefore only for.the elect."                                for sin: and that he, having abolished circumcision,
 .' The Declaration continues :                                   which was done with blood, hath instituted the sacra-
       "The same is taught in the Netherland Confession,          ment of baptism instead thereof ; by which we are re-
Articles 33-35. In Article 33 we read:                            ceived into the church of God, and separated from all
 : "We believe that our gracious God, on .account of              other people and strange religions, that we may wholly
our weakness and infirmities hath ordained the sacra-             belong to him, whose ensign and banner we bear; and
ments for us, thereby to `seal tirito  us his promises, and       which serves as a testimony to u.s thatPhe will fbrever,
also to be pledges of the good will and grace of Gjod             be  otir gracious  `God and Father. Therefore he has
toward us, and also to nourish and strengthen our                 comtianded  all those, who are his, to be baptized with
faith; which he hath joined to the Word of t,he gospel,           pure water, in the name of the Father, and of. $he
the better to present to our senses, both that which he' Son,. and of ,the Holy Ghost; thereby signifying to us,
signifies to us by his Word, alld that which he inward-           that as  tiater washeth away the filth of the body,
ly works in our ,hearts,-thereby  assuring and confirm-           when poured upon it, and is seen on the `body of the
ing,.in us the salvation which he imparts to us. Fy baptized, when sprinkled upon him ; so doth the blood
they are visible signs and seals of an inward and in-             of ,Christ,  by the power of the Holy Ghost, internally
visible thing, by means whereof God worketh in us the             sprinkle the soul ,cleanse it from its sins, and regener-
power of the Holy Ghost. `Therefore the signs are not             ates us from children of wrath. .Not that this is ef-
vain- or insignificant, so as to deceive us. For Jesus fected b$ the external water, but by the sprinkling of
Christ is the true'object presented by them, without              the precious blood of the Son of God ; who is our Red
whom they would be of tie momelit."                               Sea, thrbugh which we must pass, to escape the tyran-
       . Now, notice in the first piace,~ that this article of    ny' of Pharaoh, that is the devil, and to enter into the
our. Confession speaks of the sacraments in getieral,             spiritual land of Canaan. Therefore the ministers, on
and, therefore, of baptism as  ,well as of the  Lgrd's            their part, administer the sacrament, and that which
Supper.                                                           is visible, but our Lord giveth that which is signified
       Notice,, in the second place, that. both the sacra-        by the sacrament, namely, the gifts and invisible grace;
ments, baptism as well as the Lord's'Supper,  are said            washing, -cleansing, and purging our souls of all filth
to nouri& and strengthen our f'aith. They, therefore,             and unrighteousness ; renewing our hearts,. and filling
are certainly for believers. Without `faith, the sacra-           them with all comfort; giving unto us a true assurance
ments, to be sure, are not vain,  .no more than  the-             of his? fatherly goodness ; putting on us the new man,
preaching of the Word is ever .vain, but they have no             and putting off the old man with his seeds."
saving efficacy. They are a savor of death unto death.               Now let us read this, first of all; in connection with
       Notice, thirdly, that the.sacraments  are said to seal, what was said of the sacraments in general.
the promises of God. The questioni  now is : what is                 In the Heidelberg Catechism, question and answer
implied in these  promises of God. ,Do these promises,            66 we read that the sacraments are visible signs and
that are signified and, sealed by the sacraments, only            seals of the promise of the gospel. In`the Netherland
imply the objective salvation, redemption through the             Confession we read that the sacraments seal unto us
blood of Christ, or do they include the actual `impart&           the promises of God.                        .
tion of that stilvation, regeneration, callihg, faith, etc.. ?     - Again the Iquestion  is : what is the promise? What
The latter, for the article plainly states that the sacra-        is included in the promise?' Does it imply only the
ments also present to `our senses "that which he in-              objective bequest of salvatitin, or does it include also
 wardly works in our hearts; thereby assuring and con- the application of that salvation, including, therefore,
firmiBg in  us the salvation  whi'ch  he  impart3  to  ~~~:" the gift of faith, by the Hbly Spirit?
                                                 -.
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                                    1           .




                                           THE  S T A N D A R D   BE.AR`ER                                                        271. .
                                                                                                          -=- -.-. VI--s-%-
          Evidently, according to the above quoted. article of                Substitute for all these personal pronouns of.:the
. the Confession, it includes everything; the whole of              first person that of the third, or again, substitute for
      salvation. For the promise that is signified and sealed them the term .`%ll, ,head  for .tiead",  -or "all that are
      in the sacrament of baptism means that "the blood of               born in the historical line of ,the-covenant", and you
      .Christ, by the power of the Holy Ghost, doth internally           will find that you corrupt the confessions. But substi-
      sprinkle the soul, cleanse it from its sins, and regetier-         tute for them terms like "the believers," or "the spirit-
      &es us from children of wrath, unto children of G.od."             ual seed," and, therefore, the sleet, and you will pre-
      It signifies, moreover, the promise of "the gifts.and              s'erve the truth of the.confession, though, by d6ihg so,
      invisible grace ; washing, cleansing, burging our souls            ybu mar `its personal riote.
      from all filth  and' unrighteousness ; renewing  outi                   Hence, also from these parts of the Confession, it
      hearts; and filling them with all conifort;  giving unto           is evident that the' promise of God is unconditional .and ,
      `us a true assurance of his fatherly goodness; putting             only for the elect.
      on us the new man; and putting off the old man with                -    And, therefore, the Declaration continues':
      all his deeds."                                                         "ThB;t  all this, washing and clealis1ng' and `purging
        All this is,included  in the promise of God.                     of our souls of all filth and unrighteousness, the re-
          The promise, therefore, includes faith.        .T              newal of our  hear&is only the fruit of the saving
          And again I ask : How, then, can faith be a con-               efficacy of th6 death of Christ and therefore is only
      dition* unto the promise? Is faith a condition for -the            for the elect is very evident. The same is true of what
      gift of faith? Or is the act of believing a condition              we read in the same article of the baptism of infants:         s.
      for -regeneration? Is the act of faith a condition for             `And indeed Christ shed his blood no less for the wash-
      God's putting on us the `new man and putting off the               ing of the children of .the faithful, than for the adult
      old man? All this is simply absurd. Hence,, the prom-              persons ; and therefore they ought to' r,eceive the sign
     is& of ,God is absolutely unconditional.                            and sacrament of that, .which. Christ hath done for
         And by the same token, the promise of God is not           them; as ,the ILord con-&ai.ded  in the law, that they
      for all, nor even for all that are born in the historical     should be .made partakers 03 the sacyament of Christ's
      line of the covenant, but oqly for the- spiritual seed,       suffering and death, shortly after they were born, by
      tliat is, for the elect.                                      offering. for theni a. lamb, which .was a sacrament of
          That this is t?ue is, besides, evident from the very      Jesus Christ. Moreover, what circumcision was to the q
      wording of the above quoted articles.                    .    Jews, that baptism is to our children. And for this                  -
          Do not overiook  the fact these articles are part of `reason -Paul calls baptism the circumcision of Christ.'
      a confession of faith. And confessions are not made           1f;according to art. 8 of the Second Head of Doctrine,
      by unbelievers, or by the reprobate, but by beXever++         A, in the Canons, the saving efficacy of the death of
      or by the elect. ,Now, that the believing Church speaks       Christ extends only to the elect, it follotis that when
      in these articles, that it speaks about the promises of       in this,article  of the Netherland Confkssion it is stated
      :God, and  abo'ut these promises _being sealed to them that  `C,hris,t  shed His .blood no less for the wash&
      alone is very plain from the very wording of these            of the children of the faithful than for the adult per-
      articles. Through&t they  `use. personal pronouns  we,        son',, also here the reference is to-the elect  .chilc@en.
      U-S, and' OUT. God is our graciouS.  God, He has ordained               `:Moreover,  that the promise of- the gospel which
      the sacrament,s on account of our. weakness and in-                God signifies and seals in the sacraments is not for all
      firmities, to seal unto  us his promises, and to be `is also abundantly evident from Art. 35 of the s+&!
      pledges of His good will toward us, as well as to             Netherland Confession, which speaks of the Holy sup-
      strengthen o'zw faith. By the sacraments He presents          per, of our Lord Jesus Christ. For there we read:
      to  our senses that which He ilitiardly Works in ozw          `we believe and confess, that our Savior Jesvs Christ
      hearts, and corifirms in us the salvation ,whi& He im-        did ordain  and institute the sacrament  bf the  hdly
      parts to us. By means. of them He works in, us the            supper, to nourish and support those whom he hath
      power. of the Holy Ghost. By means of the sacrament           al?eady regenerated and incorporated into his family,
      of baptism we are received into the church of God;            which is his Church.`-. T
      that we may wholly belong to Him. Baptism serves -                      "In the same a&& we read: `Further, though the
      as a testimony to us that He will. forever be our grac-       sadraments are yconiected  . with the thing `signified,
      iour God and Father, atid it signifies that He regener-       neverth$&s  both are" not received by -all. men : the'
      ates us. In baptism our Lord giveth that which is             ungodly receives the .sa&ament  to his condemnation,
      signified .by the sacrament, purging our souls from           but he doth not receive the. truth of this sacrament.
      filth pnd unrighteousness, renewing our hearts, giving        As Judas and Simon the sorcerer, both indeed received
      unto us a true assurance of his fatherly goodness, .and       the sacrament, but not Christ, who was sighified by it,
      putting on us the new man and- putting off the old            of who& `believers only are made partakers."
      Man with all his deeds.                                       .         "It follows from that that both the sacraments, as

I
                                           7


                                          ,  '                                                           --
 272                                      THE.STANDARD   .BEARE%

 well as `the -preaching of the `gospel, are a savor of             months instead of two months to study &is document.
 death unto death for the reprobate, as well as a savor             But,  Classis West meets, I understand, in March.
 of life unto life. for the elect. Hence, the promise of            H.ence,  the consistories of  Classis West have eight
 God, preached bf the gospel, signified and sealed in               months to prepare their answer instead of two months.
 both the sacraments, is not for all, but for the elect             Quite a difference !
 only."                                                                Thirdly, in the same Concordia of January 4, 1951,
        Thus teaches the Declaration.                               app-ears  an article by brother Van Spronsen of  .-the .
        There is more of this, but about this next time,, D.V.      Netherlands. In this article he mentions my article in
                                                  H. H.  '          the Standard Bearer of  Decembel;  15, 1950. The
                                                                    brother does not comment on my article as such. He
                       c-=qQkuoo                                    merely makes  the remark that also my article strength-
                                                                    ened him in his conviction that we are dominated by a
           We Need The Declaration*                                 fear-psychosis. If the brother  nieans that we, were
                                                                    dominated  bi a  cert& fear of what `we  Repeatedly
        The undersigned, too, wishes to express himself             heard the immigrants express, that we .were mortally
 on ou? Declaration of Principles which was adopted                 afraid  of the things we heard th& say;he is quite
 at our ;Synod of 1950. This I wish to do not because               correct. We fear  la11  arminianism.  And of  artiinian-
 my convictions iti regard to'these principles are un-              ism we heard plenty.      If, on the other  han& the
 known. *-I am convinced that our churches must adopt               brother means to suggest that we had become panicky,
 this Declaration, and that we must adopt it now. Of- he is compl,etely  ,in error. This the. esteemed brother
 this I am donqinced all the more because of my exper-              from the Netherlands can never conclude from my
iences `among the Canadian immigrants `among whom                   article. `On the contrary, brother Van Spronsen, I was
 I labored during the year of 1950. It is  .because   ,of           quite convinced of my calling, of my calling before ,God
 this conviction that I write this article.                         and the churches I am privileged to serve, and I acted
                                                                    from .that  principle of conviction, without doubt and
                     A Few Observations.                            without hesitation. It was not "fear" but conviction,
        First, we need not discuss the church-political angle       and- the love. of pur churches that prompted me in ai1
 of the, Declaration of Principles. It has certainly been           my activity in Hamilton. However,. I'wish that brother
 established by this time that our Synodiof 1950 acted              Van Spronsen would tell us whether the immigrants
 completely within its bounds when it drew up  this                 whom I met and heard express themselves according
 statement of what we as churches have believed %ncl                to my article are reformed. Is it reformed to teach
 confessed.all  the years of our existence. Not even Dr.            an election and a reprobation upon foreseen faith and
 K. Schilder has ,utiered  one word in connectiori with             unbelief, to teach that Christ died  for all, that  the
 this aspect of `the Declaration, and the undersigned               ILord wishesto save ail, that*"1 am not an election man
 has yead, as of now,. sotie ten &t&es by the professor             (ik ben geen verkiezings  man) "?- Or, iS the followi&
 on the Declaration. 03 course, the professor may re-               sfiatement reformed : "God loves every child and wishes
 serve this criticism'for some future articles, but .until. to save every child ; and if that child is not saved it is
 now this criticism has not appeared.                     ,         because he does not believe"? Brother Van Spronsen,
    Secondly, Rev. P.etter  writes in Concordia of Jan. 4,          I do not understand how a reformed man can say such
 1951, that our eonsistories  have about two months to              things. And, why is it that the fact that one does not
 prepare an evaluation and criticism of `the'work  of the           obtain the promise. is continuously ascribed to un-
last` Synod. `The brother refers to the fact that all               belief, also when discussing Rom. 9, whereas that por-
matters for Synod must be brought to the January 2,                 tion of Holy Writ .cle%rly expresses that all simply did
 1951 meeting of  Classis East, including  the reports              not receive the promities? I repeat: ?ve are mortally
 of the consistories on th'e Brief Declaration. And he afraid. of this arminianism.
 bases this observation upori the fact that we. did not                                                        \
                                                                                  A Glaring  Inconstitency.
 get the ftill picture of the origin of the Declaration
 until,>Octob&r when the Acts of the 1950 Synod appear--               I now refer to `the fact that we can say on the one
 ed. Now, in the first place, from October 3,. let us say,          hand, that these Canadian immigrants are fundament-
 until January 3 is a period of three months and not of             ally  Refdrmed,  Scripturally and  Confessionally,  and
two months. Howe&r, already  July 1; 1950, the De-                  must therefore be welcomed into our f.ellowship,  and
 claration appeared in the Standard- Bearer. This                   that, on the other hand, it is also mentioned that the
means that the consistories of  Classis East had six two-point decision of the Hamilton consistor3f  o$ June
                                                                    5, l-950 (only- to accept such who express the desire to
* This article was written ,by the undersigned b'efore  he wrote
the article: The End Of Hamilton. The reader is kindly request-     be further instructed in, otir doctrine and who also
ed to bear this in mind.                                            promise not to agitate against this doctrine) must.&


                                                                                      -


                                          T H E `  S~TANDARD  B E A R E 'R .                                               273

enforced. This I fail to understand. On  ihe one hand                deceived. I am speaking, let us understand, of  the
  it is said that these people `are fundamentally Re- . Immigrants whom I met during my labors in Canada.
  formed and must be welcomed into our midst. This a I have already mentioned some of these things in my
  can. only mean that they ure fundamentally reformed .December 15, 1950 article. Regardless of what Dr. K.
  and must be welcomed as such. If this is not the ,Schilder  msy write in the Reformatie about the De-
  me&fig ,of the above, expression which appeared `in                claration (who, e.g., among us does not believe in a
  oitr missionaries' articles last December 1, I stand to            general preaching of a pBrticular gospel, or who among
  be  ,eokir&ed.   i-t  is  difficult  for me to conclude from       us believes that we preach only to and for `the elect,
  *his  st@emefit   that  these immigrants  mu&  first be            etc.-did we not hear the same thing in  1924?),  the
  thorbiighly   iilstpucted.  And, on the other hand; it is          undersigned knows what he experienced and encount-
  sbici  U-&t Hamilton's  decision of  last June- 5 must be          ered in `our Canadian mission field in the vicinity of .'
  &forced.                                                           Hamilton. People left our church who declared that
    However, this places me in a  quandary.  I  wish  to             theji  WB~"E! starving, under our preaching. Others de- ,'
  emphasize and impress upon our people that the tinder'; clared that they desired more. "conversion" preaching,
  signed  str.uggled with the agonizing thdught that I               and this not in a Scriptural, Reformed sense of the
  would be held rgsponsible  (I mean that I would actual-            word.. f have not met, among all the newly arrived
  Ijr be gtiiitp of thin) for ;t;& collapse,  of our missionary immigrants, with one possible exception, a single one
  activity'& .&~&da,  that this a&iv&  would &&r ship-               who spoke of Divine election as the heart and core of
  WrBsk  b2sBhsB  6f  if&.  II  %@e8t:   this  iii&3  %dr  us  an    the Church. On the contrary, the doctrine of Election
 agoZ&$ig  thiX@it,  What  sane  mBnl  %3X.&l  leoite  8             was hardly mentioned and that of Reprobation com-
  songi-egation  b&i&i such  3s  ,the  tind&gfl&   I&%  be-          pletely ignored. .What we as churches mean when we
  k-d, tail his &ii&m off ihe Clhristiati School and say that the promise concerns only the elect (geldt
  itit6 % lhkh cdnimiiriity  for` the S&O of ~~&irig' the            alleen den uitverkorenen) we all understand. And I
  P&es&nt Reformed cause in Hamiltoti? Bei~%, aware                  do not hesitate to' say that Dr. Schilder understands
  O-i!  the  seriouslless of the situation  sdjli&& i&d Julie
                                                            -  _     this also. However, be this as it may, the undersigned
  and July, I asked Rev. Kok  at the  tin%?  &!  &@  July            mode it perfectly plain to these immigrants. I empha-
  Classis whether children might be baptized  w;ho%                  sized the seriousness of being born under the dispensa-
  parents' could not answer the second baptism question tion of the covenant, of being baptized, of receiving
  in the `affirmative, He answered in the negative. I                the preaching and catechetical instruction, that it were, .
also asked him  whether thorough instruction in  our                 better for the wicked  had they never been born. I
doctrine must precede membership. And this the                       emphasized God's command  to repent,  6ur obligation'
  brother answered. in the affirmative. Last "year, in .before the living God, and the awfulness of knowing
  August, our missionaries visited at OUY home. We dis- the way and not walking in it. I was never as sub-                          I
  cussed, of course, the Hamilton situation.            I asked      jkctive and practic$ as during the months that I have
  them the same questions. And they gave nie the same labored in Hamilton. But, I  -did not add what  the
  answer as Rev. Kok. Moreover, ,they said to me that                immigrants wanted me to add, namely: the promise
  in their opinion the stand of the conhistory  of fiamil-           is for you all. Indedd, I said over and over again that
  ton was weak. Then I also asked them whether we                    the proniise surely comes tg all (as in the preaching,
  should accept anyone who, after instruction, should                etc.), that all must. give an answer to it, etc., but I
  maintain #the Heytisian conception of the coirenant and            could not add the arminian  "tOuch" of a promise for
  the .promise. And their answer was a vehement NO.                  all. In fact, `I have the testimony of the consistory of
  And now we are told that these people are `fundament-              Hamilton that I preached the Word of God fully, sub-
  ally reformed and should be welcomed'into our fellow-              jectivdzj  and  pma&Zcally. Let us make no  .niistake
ship. Frankly, I do not understand. This I call a                    here. The difference between these immigrants arid
  glaring inconsistency. Last August I rejoiced  and                 our churches is clear as crystal. And we owe it to
  was strengthened by the fact that the missionaries                 them and to u&that we present this differenee clear as
  and I saw.eye  to eye. I even mentioned, this to several           crystal. A mere difference `in terminology? Let the
/ people. IOf course, we understand, we were i&king                  /Liberated-  leaders tell  us  what  they `mean by their
 .about the Liberated immigrants.  '                                 terminolbgy.  This we asked them  months  ago.. "We
                                                                     know  tihat we believe, do we not?  Morebver,  I now
              ,Our Need  Of  The  D,eclaration.                      have evidence that these  immigrants do not believe
     First, the Liberated immigrants wliom I met last in the doctrilie  of our Protestant Refdrmed Churches_.
  year, and. we, as Protestant Reformed ,Churches, are ,Mor& of this later.
  widely divergent. Let me, for the sake of our churtih-                Secondly,. we must  lpreserve  dur Protestant Re-
  es and our truth,' declare this with 211 the power and             formed Cause. ;Our Cause is ,God's Cause, is it not?
 Bolemnity   which I can  possibly  muster, Let us not be            The  que$tion  do.es tiot concern  th.e differ&ice betieen
                                          _

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

  Supralapsarianism and  Xnfralapsaiianism.  Let us           clared literally. In fact, this consistory had promised
  please not confuse or becloud the issue. `The question the undersigned to support him, fully in all his Pro-
 concerns the eternally sovereign and particular char-        testafit Reformed preaching and teaching. This surely
  acter of the grace and salvation of our God. Twenty-        implies that they declared themselves willing to. bind
  five years ago we disposed of the Heynsian conception       themselves to my preaching and. teaching (as a Pro-
  of the covenant and the promise. Ttienty-five years         testant Reformed minister). Thereupon the  consis-
  ago we vowed before the living God. to maintain the         tory decided to refuse all binding, declared themselves
  truth of C&d's absolute sovereignty. This is the. issue,    unwiiling to bind themselves and the congregation
  the same issue which was also decided at the Synod of       of Hamilton to the Peotestant  Reformed truth. And
  Dordt in 1.618-1619.  `Did we, in 1924, .believe that we    finally. the consistory had the boldness to ask the re-
  were maintaining something new? It is  .not a ques- lease of the undersigned because h& refused to submit
tion of the responsibility of man or of a gene&l preach-      to, them, thereby paralyzing his labors in Hamilton:
 .  jng of- a particular gospel. How often have we as         Arid when I, after the recently held classical' meeting,
 Protestant Reformed Churches not maintained these            asked the consistory of Hamilton what they desired
  truths ! The question is simply this : shall we permit      they simply said to me : submit to us. I declared. at
  people to affiliate themselves with our churches who        our recently held classical meeting that I distributed
  chit the very heart and core out of our churches ,and       cdnsiderable  Protestant Reformed literature among the,
  the Reformed truth? To this I say :. God forbid ! We        immigrants whom I vis.ited  last year, and never had
  must be concerned; not primarily for immigrants who         an oppoftunity to discuss. this literature with them.
  refuse to be or become Protestant Reformed, but for The implication of this is, of course, that they never
  our churches. The Protestant Reformed Cause is, i!n         intended to' become Protestant Reformed. Until now
  this country, nothing.else  than the Reformed maintain-     I have been some eleven mbnths in Hamilton, and dur-
  ing of `the Confessions. What would brethren, such as       ing all this time never received one visit fro& one for
  the professors, Bchilder, Holwerda 2nd Veenhof, etc.        the purpose of discussing with .me our Protestant Re-
  say if a horde of Protestant Reformed immigrants            formed covenant conception. In fact, unmarried co&
  were to descend upon the Netherlands, seek member-          fessing hembers  were urged to attend the confession
  ship in the Liberated Churches, continue to receive         class which I was conducting for those who had ex-
  their literature out of America and intend to maintain      pressed the desire to make confession of faith. for the
  and disseminate their Prdtestant Reformed conception        purpose of acquainting themselves with our truth, but
  and conviction in the Liberated Churches? ' Surely, If -never appeared.         These are  facts. And  togay the
  the Liberated immigrants are ladvised net to join t&e       Protestant Reformed Church at  hamilton has  dis-
  Protestant Reformed Churches if they must submit            appeaped  simply because they refuse to be a Pro-
  !o the Protestant Reformed. covenant conception, then       testant Reformed Church. In constant touch with
  no Protestant Reformed member, who maintains-that           the Netherlands, they are simply determined to re-
  covenant conception, -would be permitted membership         main  fbiberated,  and thjs I mean, if you please, in
  in the Liberated Churches. It' is said that there is no     distinction from our Protestant Reformed Churches.
  rooni for the Liberated within the Protestant.  Re-         Do we' need the De&ration? And this, if you pJease,
  formed Churches, as Liberated  ; to this we reply :         is gene&l. Very rarely did I meet a Liberated immi-
  neither is there room for the Protestant  Beforined,        grant in our  ,Canadian mission field who really in-
  as Protestant Reformed, within the Liberated Church-        tended to join the0 Protestant Reformed Churches for
  es. At least, such has been my experience `in our           the sake of those Churches. For this statement, too,
  Canadian mission field.                                     I have abundant evidence.
     Thirdly, let us bear this in mind:: this `(to remain         Besides, several immigrants  have expressed the
  Liberated in their conception -of the covenant and the      desire that  w.e organize many churches in this Can-
  promise) is exactly what these immigraets intend to         ladian province of  ZOntario,  ,as  ?n  iS&nia,  \London,
  do. They have  ino intention of becoming Protestant         Orangeville, ,+c. What would happen'if we had more.
  Reformed. This, too, I wish to emphasize with all the       churches in Canada than-in the United #Stat,es?  Does
  power I can possibly muster. In fact, they have been        anyone doubt? I ask: do  .we need a distinctly Pro-
  advised out of the NetheGlands to remain Liberated,         testant Reformed basis for the organization of Pro-
  receive their literature from  ihe Netherlands, and         testant Reformed Churches? Do we need the Declara-
  spread it in our Protestant Reformed Churches. Of           tion ?
  this fact `(that they intend to remain Liberated) the'          Furthermore, we reven have churches, `besides our
  congregation of Hamilton furnishes us with a striking       congregations in Canada, who can verify the truth.
  example. The consistory simply refused to function          that these Liberated immigrants remain Liberated and
as a  Protesta&   Reforrnad  consistory and desired to        have no intention to become Protestant Reformed. T&
  continue  Vithet  ai$  binding.  This.  they  have  de-     undersigned can also verify%& sta-tern&t,


                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEARE.R                                              275

        To this we may add that the consistory of Hamilton answer in the negative. And jret, if we have much in
    insists that they were organized, not ,upon the basis           comm& with those whom I*contacted  last year, I as-
 of the Three Forms of Unity as interpreted by the sure our readers that we have everything in common
    Protestant Reformed Churches, but simply upon the               except that which constitutes the very heart and core
    basis of the Three Forms of Unity. With this they               of `our Protestant .Reformed  Cause and `truth. hind
  mean that the Protestant Ref armed  emphasis upon. the            you, these peop1.e tiho left our church of Hamilton be-
    truth is extra-confessional, is not necessarily contain- cause they did not agree with us and our doctrine,                -
    ed ih those Three Forms of Unity. Hence, a man can never appeared at a consistory meeting and never
    believe in the'Liberated view of the covenant and the' visited with the undersigned to discuss their probleins
    promise and stahd upon the`Three Forms of Unity as              and  griejances.  Neither did they point to a specific
    well as a member  of the Protestant Reformed Church-            point of doctrine with which they did not agree. They
    es. And the consistory of Hamilton has maintained               left us simply because they were never of us and never
    that they were never boun&  to the Protestant Reform-           intended to become Protestant  Ref.ormed.  Do our
    ed  collceptiop  of the truth, but only to those Three          readers now understand why I thanked `God `when the
   -Forms of `Unity, and that no person may therefore `be           Declaration of Principles was announced?
    excluded from the  fellows_hip of the church simply 0              Fourthly, what. sound argument. can anyone pos-
    because he believes in the Liberated conception of the          sibly raise against this Declaration of Principles? We
    promise and of baptism. Do we' need the Declaration,            deal with immigrants who do not hesitate to say that
    a specific setting forth of our Protestant  Refd`rmed :they stand upon the Word of God and upon the Three
    doctrine? What this stand of Hamilton implied atid              Forms of Unity, for the simple reason that, upon that
  what the results were will become -plain in the'follow-           basis, we would be compelled to accept persohs from
i n g   p a r a g r a p h .                                         several Reformed churches who all stand upon the
        I have already told our readers in my article which    same Bible and the same Forms of Unity. `This means
    appeared in the Standard Bearer last Dec. 15 how I         that we must discuss the truth with them. But how?
    labored in Hamilton. At a consistory meeting which         This we  &all  do certainly as `Protestant Reformed
   was held the Thursday evening of Jan. 11, 1951, seven       Churches. We certainly intend tom teach them in the.-
   families severed connections with `our Protestant Re-       Three Forms of Unity as 4nterpmted by the Protestant
    formed Church of Hamilton. All sent in a written           Reformed  Chumhes.  That is the solemn calling and
    request for their papers. Six families declared that       duty of every office-bearer, yea, bf every member of
   they did not agree with the doctrine of our  tihurch        the Protestant Reformed Churches. We-must surely
    (mind you, these families boast of the fact that they      have the Declaration, be it written or not written and
   stand  uljon our Three Forms of `Unity). Another de- merely understood. It  i&  .&id that this Declaration
    clared that he had discovered lately that he was Liber-    will bar Calvinistic, Biblical, Reformed people from
   ated at heart. Still another expressed the thought that our churches. Will someone please make plain how it -.
   the Liberated view and the Protestant Reformed con-         is possible that  _this Declaration can bar reformed
    ception could not exist  side by side, whereas at a        people from our fellowship? Is this -Declaratipn per-
   recently held meeting of the young people of Hamilton       haps not  calvinistic; biblical, reformed, confessional ?
   it was stated that the opposing views of the Liberated      BiTt, is it not merely a statement of that .wliich we, as
   and the Protestant Reformed could not exist together        Protestant Reformed Churches, have believed all the
   in'the same society (and then we are told in Concordia      years of our existence? Only, the Heynsianism:`which
   that the Liberated and we have so much in common).          we rejected some twenty-five years &go once- more
   A third party wrote the consistory that the P.rotestani     rears up its h&ad and seeks to infiltrate into ocir :Pro-
   Reformed Churches proclaim a pernicious or ruinous          testant Reformed Churches. This is the experience.`of
    (verderfelijk) doctrine. And at a recent consistory the undersigned. Pi-of essor S@ld& may then write
   meeting an elder declared that I had been offensive to      that he is reformed and also that he would;never sub-
   the people in the Divine services because I had main-       scribe to this Declaration. To this we answer :. "Pro-
   tained that the promise is not- general, whereas he         fessor `Schilder, we do not understand how ~0.~1,  as the
   also stated that I should have preach&d so as not to        reformed man which we always believed you to be,
   hurt their feelings. Certain leaders among us may           can be in disagreement with this Declaration. But we
   declare that  the Liberated and the Protestant Re- know what ,we have encountered in our Canadian mis-
   formed Churches hade much in common,  `but the              sion field.. And we also know these immigrants have
   undersigned assures our readers that this is not the        little respect for the doctrine of :God's  sovereign and
   opinion of these former members of the congregation         unconditional predestination. We wish to stand upon
   of Hamilton. I ask in all seriousness: do we need the "the Reformed truth that salvation is of God alone,,
   Declaration? No Liberated immigrant, when  -asked           from the beginning even unto the end, that grace is
   whether, he believes `in the Three Formi of Unity, will
                         ;                                     exclusively particular, also sovereignly." Let, then,
                                                _              .


       276     '                            T . H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R :

        the Liberated, if they `wish to maintain a general pro- it would bar these calvinistic, biblical, and reformed
        mise, etc., go their own ecclesiastical way. tie will immigrants. It is said that the Liber&ed detest bind-
        maintain over against their view of a general promise      ing. I assure you that they intend to bind our church-
        our view that God's promise is particular and uncon-       es to their own  c?nception of  the covenant  .and the
        ditional. Both cannot dwell together underneaih.one promise. I declare, solemnly, in .the light of my i3wn
        roof. They contradict each other. Besides, our Liber-      personal experiences, that the people among whom I
        ated  immigraqts have absolutely  nb intention that have labored, notwithstanding that all those who join-
        these views shall dwell  together underneath one roof.     ed our church last year did so` upon the promise that
        They firmly intend,that their copception  shall triumph. they would be further instructed and not to agitate,
        It is indeed either-or, one or the  .other.  And,  bur     have no intention that the Protestant Reformed truth
        Protestant Reformed conception is surely not, accord-      and thei+ conception of. a general promise shall exist
        ing to the flesh. The undersigned  once asked an immi- side by side. I assure our readers that it is exactly
        grant family which is easier to say to`his children,       our distinctively Protestant Reformed truth, which we
        that God loves them all and would save them all, or believe iti founded upon our Confessions, which they
        that the, prom&  is exclusively particular and uncon-      reject. And if the result of the Declaration is that we
        ditiolial..  And when this party answered me that the exclude from OUT fellowshi-p  such as those among whom
        former was easier I countered with the question why the undersigned might labor this last year, people who
        the' Protestant Reformed Churches then continue to         have no intention of being or becoming Protestant
        preach. and teach the latter. Indeed, our view is not      Reformed, this would be reason enough. We must.
        of the flesh or according to the flesh.                    have the Declaration because our only right of exist-
           We' remarked in the preceding  paragriph that           &nce lies in our distinctiveness, and this `is the issue
        according  tom some we must not have the Declaration       at stake. May the Lord give us grace to hold fast that -
        because it would bar Calvinistic, Reformed, Biblical which we have.              1
        people from our churches. I wish to conclude this                                                 H. Veldman.
        article with the following which I have `also experi-
        enced h&e in Canada among these Liberated inimi-
        grants. Last July and Ahgust it was maintained by
        the consistory that we must bar none from the fellow--
        ship of our church&, and that therefore the two-point
        binding of June 5 was wrong. The consistory main-                    OlJR,DOCTRINE  .
        tained that  the preaching must drive the "undesir-
        ables" out. At that time, ziBd also later, it was said
        that the. Protestant Reformed truth is the'purest pre-     The Creation Of Tie Spirit World
      sentation of the, truth today, and that the purity of
        this truth must be maintained. But, we must not bar                                   (4)
        people from the church and thereby exclude them from               THEIR SERVICE AND ACTIVITY
        this purest preaching of the truth of the Word of God.
        At that time we told the cons&tory that the result         The idea of the gamdia~ angel.
        would be, if we permit all these immigrants to join           Apart from other passages of Holy Writ which
      our church: instead of witnessing  the fact that the have been quoted in support of the idea of guardian
        preaching drives  .o& these undesirables, we would wit-    angels and their intercessory prayers (Deut. 32  :8,
        ness the fact that they would drive out the preaching. Daniel  10:13,  20,  12:1, Rev.  1:20,  2:lf.f., Job  33:23,
        And what has now been the experience of th&nder-           Zech.  1:12, Luke  15:7, Rev.  X3:3), the one place in
        signed?, I am accused of oifending  the people because     Scripture which accords this conception most support
        of my emphasis upon the Protestant Reformed doc-           is Matt. 18 :lO : "Take heed that we despise not one of
        trine and am told that the preaching niust be such as      these little ones ; for I say unto you, That in heaven
        not to hurt and offend: 0, it is true, that never did      their angels do always behold the face of My father
     ' anyone visit me to call my attention to anything that       which is in heaven." We read in Daniel 10 :13, 20 and
        I had said from .the pulpit. In fact, the consis&y k;as    12 :l : "But the prince of the kingdom of Persia with-
        even until now never singled out a single expression       stood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of
        which I used from the pulpit. In, Hamilton we witness      the chief princes, came to help me ; and I remained
        the spectacle of a Protestant Reformed minister being there  ivith the kings of  persia. . . . . Then said he,
        held captive within his own  church and forbidden Knowest thou wherefore I come unto thee? and now
        to preach distinctively. Do we need the Declaration?       will I return to fight with the prince of Persia: and
        And then it is being maintained, even by some of our when- I am gone forth, 1Oj the prince of ,Grecia shall
        own men, that we.rnus$ reject.th& ?eclaration because
                                                   _.              COnl~. . . , And at that time shall Michael stand up,
                                x                                                                                    .

L


                                                                                1

                                        T H E   ,-STANDARD  B E A R E R .                                             277
 >-
the great prince which  standeth for  the:,children  of         their angels dd always behold the'face of My Father
  thy people: and there shall be a time of .trouble,  such      which is in heaven;" we would remark the following.
  as never was since there was a nation even to that            On the one hand, `we must in all honesty permit this
  same time: and at that time thy people shall be de-           text to speak `to us, and this means that these angels
  livered,. every one that shall be. found written in the are angels in the true, real sense of the word. ,Christ
  book." The most that can be  gatheped  from these             i$ not. merely using figurative language here when He
passages is that the great angel of the Lord, Michael,          tells us that "iheir angels do always behold the face of
  will fight for the people of. God against the spiritual       My Father which is in heaven," in. order to emphasize
  powers that oppose and would fruitrate the cause of           the value of "these little ones" whom  `we might be in-
  the Lord in the midst of the world. This, however, is         clined to despise, so that the words `"as it were" must
  surely not the sai-ne as the idea of a guardian angel for     be read in and added to this text. Then it is not really
  each tihild of -God. It is indeed difficult to understand true that these `"little ones" have theirangels in heaven
  how Deut. 32:8 can be quoted in support of this con-          and that these angels constantly'behold the face of our
  ception. In Revel&ion 1:20 and 2 11 we'read of the            heavenly `Father; but Jesus tierely uses this form of
  angels of the  seven churches, and the reference -is          speech to emphasize that the people of God are more
  clearly to the ministers of these seven churches. The         important than generally ackpowledged.  Neither must
 text which gives the conception of a guardian angel .we. understand by- these angels the souls of departed
  for  everjr child of God most support is Matt. 18 :lO' saints who occupy a preeminent place in glory. - This
  where we read -that the angels of "these little ones', would `not constitute an honest attempt to explain this
 `alivays behold the fact of the  Father which is in            particular word of ,God. Moreover, the main thrust of
  heaven.                -                                      this particular passage is clear. Christ would empha-
       Secondly,  one cannot object as such against the         size  that we must beware lest we, despising  "thes.e
  idea of a guardian angel. Fir&t, what objection could I little ones" are despising those who are held in high
  there be, fundamentally, .against. the idea that each         esteem  iti heavenly glory. Hence, whatever may be
  child of the Lord has his own guardian angel? Is it' the interpretation of this passage in Matt. 18 :lO, two
  iml?Jossible  that the L&d should lead` and protect His       things are certain: first, real angels are meant here,
  people also through the instrutientality of a heavenly        and. they  constantl$  behold  the. face of the Father'
  spirit? Secondly, what objection, fundamentally, could' which is in heaven. Besides, these angels are called in -
  be lodged against the idea of intercessory prayers by         this text : their angels. And, in the second place, the
  the angels? Is it not true that they are vitally inter-       Lord wishes to emphasize the truth that we must not
  ested in and concerned about our salvation, and is it         despise "these little ones", inasmuch as these "`little
  so strange that the angels then should pray unto the          ones" tire held in high esteem in the heavenly glory.
 living God in our behalf? Do we not pray in behalf of          .The Lord willing, we will continue with this passage
  one another to  th8 living God? Do not  .th& souls of         in our following article, and also at that time conclude
`chose who have be`en  slain cry'day and night in behalf        our discussion on these heavenly spirits.
  of the people of the Lord who are yet in the midst of            We now continue with our  diticussion  of Matt.
the world and must still continue in the fight of faith?, 18 :lO : `"Take heed that ye despise not one of these
  Is it therefore so strange that these angels who are. little  ones ; for I say unto you, `lhat in heaven their
vitally interested in the cause of God and in the de-           angels do always behold the face of My Father Which
 velopment and coming of His kingdom should pray -is in heaven." This text surely does not confirm the
 unto the living God and remembe?  us in their daily            teaching that each child of God has his own particular
 petitions? In fact, what else would we expect of them?         guardian angel. Calvin, among others, in his interpre-
  Christ prays for us; we pray in behalf of one another;        tation-of this text, emphatically denies this copclusion.
 why, then, should not these heavenly spirits' al$o pray.       To be sure, the angels of God are ministering spirits
 for us?                                                        (`Hebrews l-:14), sent forth to minister for them who
        Thirdly, the doctrine of a guardian angel and inter-    shall be heirs,of  salvation. And when we read in this
 cessory prayers by these heavenly spirits had the result       text that' they do always behold thk face of the Father
 -that it speedily led to an  honouring and worship of          Which is in heaven, the implication surely is that they
 angels.      Col.  2:8`lsurely implies such a worship  of..: are ever -ready to be sent forth by the heavenly Father
 angels already in the time of the apostles. That text          for the  proteciion of His children. But, this does  got.
 reads : `"Let no man bkguile,  you of your reward in a necessarily mean that each .person therefore has his
 Voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intrud-          own particular guardian angel who has been commis-
 ing into those things which' he hath not seen, vainly          sioned by the Lord'to watch over a particular child of.
 puffed up' by his fleshly mind." In connection with            God. I It is known that the Roman .Catholic Church
 Matt. 18 :lO : "Take heed that ye ,despise not one of          advocates the calling, upon the angels, calls such prac-
 these little ones ; .for .I say unto- you, That in heaven      tices good. and beneficial. However, this honoring


  i78                                     T'HE            STANDARD BEARER .

 (special) ,and worship of the angels was rejected un-         And it certainly should encourage and strengthen us
animously by Lutherans and Reformed alike. Fact is,            that, in the spiritual battle of faith, we do not stand
upon the basis of Holy Writ such adoration of angels           alone.    God has revealed this doctrine unto us to
is strictly forbidden, as in Matth. 4 :lO : "Then saith        strengthen us in our weaknesses and encourages us
Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan:. for it is writ-        in our despair. We are united with a tremendous
ten, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy ,God, and Him             ,Cloud `of witnesses. There is another. world, better
`only shalt thou serve ;" (see also Deut. 6:13, 10:20) ;       than this world, where ,God is served perfectly. That
Col. 2 :X3-19  : "Let .no man beguile you of your reward       world must ever be before us and constitute for us'
in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels,             the object of spiritual longing and homesickness. We
intruding into those things which he that not seen,            shall become like unto them and also see the face of
vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, And not holding          our Father Who is in heaven.
the Head, `from which all the body by joints and bands                                                    H: Veldnian.
have nourishment ministered, and. knit together,  in-.
creaseth with the increase of God:)`; Rev. 19 :lO, 22-:9 :
"And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said
unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant,
and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus :         Rev. Petter Repeats `Still Another
worship #God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit
of prophecy. . . . Then saith he unto me, See thou do                       Of His Akcusations
it not :-for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren
the prophets, and of them which keep the saying of,             The readers will recall that in an earlier number
this book:           .worship God." .                          of the "Concordia" (Dec. 7, 1951) Rev. Petter appear-
                                                               ed in,print with a statement to the effect that synod
         Their Significance For The Church.                    in no .sense heeded the request of the Mission Com-
   It is, of course, true that the angels do not consti- L mittee for the kind of Formula that it had in mind.
tute an essential, indispensable element in the religious      Here are Rev. Petter's own words ("Concordia" Dec.
life of the Church of God. They are not the authors            7) : "It is not true in any sense that Synod heeded the
of our salvation, the ground of our confidence, the ob- request `(the Mission Committee's request for the kind
ject of our worship and adoration ; we do not exercise of "Formula" that it had in mind--Q.) One gets the
fellowship with them, but with the living .God. God,           impression that Synod completely forgot the request
of course, alone is worthy. of all our praise and adora-       of the (Mission) committee and began to work at
t i o n .                                                      something altogether different:"
   Thi.s, however, does not necessarily mean that what            As the readers will recall, I replied to this charge
the Scriptures reveal to us of' the angels is devoid of of Rev. P?tter. I exposed it for what it is-thoroughiy
all significance. First, .we camlot deny the. truth that false. But Rev. Petter makes  no,attempt to overturn
it has pleased the. Lord to use them as instruments in         my argument.. He ignores .it completely and simply
the development of His Church and covenant. Second- . repeats his charge  i-n his later article ("Concordia"
ly, for this reason an angel cannot be the object of our for Dec. 1).          He writes  : "The Synod violated the
worship and adoration'. To be sure, we would show Church Order when it abandoned this request of the
them respect of they were to appear unto us, and we            Mission Committee (for a Formula-O.) and brought
would surely. rec.eive  them as graciously as was the forth an altogether different document."
case-at various times in" the development of God's.  cove-        I shall now reply to Rev. Petter's Charge anew. I
nant . as, revealed in the Scriptures.      IIowever,  such    shall again confront him with the steps in the process
appearances no longer occur. And, thirdly; we can              of reasoning by which I arrived at the conclusion that
surely, derive much spiritual strength and comfort his charge is false. `And I shall ask him squarely to
from the revelation in Holy Writ in regard to the face my argument at each of its steps and to declare
angels. It ought to be borne in mind by' us that the           at each step whether or not it is true.
conversion of one sinner causes the angels to rejoice,            The first step is' Rev. Petter's own statements. I
.and they can also serve us as examples to spur -us on (quote the following from his pen, "Ancl when (synod's.)
in the doing of God's precepts and commandments. '  committ.ee   of  pre-a&Gee  w.hich  wias well acquainted
We should bear in mind also that we are and ought to           with the  wo& and problems of  the  Mission  Co+
be one with them in -life ,and striving, and in the ex-        mittee,  came with its pre-advice, they proposed to
pectation that one day we shall commune with them -adopt the following expression as one which should
 (Hebrews 12 :22), and that we, with them, do and              appear in each request for organization" etc. (See be-
shall constitute one mighty chorus in the .glorification       low for the rest of this advice).
of His Name, the Name of the alone adorable God. ~                Having quoted point a) of this advice, Rev. Petter

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

Concludes, and I quote, "Thus far point a) of (synod's)         -The  Formula  contains this statement, "Your com-
advisory committee. -Thus it is .&cite p&n a&d kind          mittee of pre-advice advises to adopt . . . the denial
of a stat;ement  or Formula the mission committee had        of common grace and the Three Points of 1924."
in  mind:" (italics-O.) Let now Rev. Petter take                Is it true or is it not true that both the "Declara-
notice of what these italicized statements from-his          tipn" and- the "Formula" repudiate common grace and
pen. assert. Is it not this: that Synod's committee of       the Three Points of 1924? Let Rev. Petter answer.
pre-advice was well acquainted with the  %ork and               c. Both the "Declaration" and the "Formula?`- `set 1
problems of the `Mission Committee ; &d also that it         fo,rth the Protestant Reformed Churches as a com-
is quite (mark you, quite, that is, perfectly, altogether    munion of congregations federally united in  Classis
LO.) plaip from Synod's committee of pre-advice what         and Synod on the basis of the Church Order of Dordt.
kind of statement or formula the Mission Committee              Is this true or not true? `Let us see. The "De-
had in mind? Is not this what these'statements from          claration" contains this statement as its close:.
Rev. Petter's pen assert ? LefRev. Petter give answer.         `-"Besides, the Protestant Reformed Churches :
    B. The second step in my process of reasoning. It           A. Cannot condone the action of the Reformed
is this : if, as Rev. Petter says, the "Formula" that was    Churches of <the Netherlands whereby :
p?oPosed to synod by its committee of pre-advice is             1. They imposed certain doctrinal decisions upon
precisely what the Mission Committee had in mind the churches synodically, making these decisions bind-
and had requested, then it must follow that the "De-         ing upon the churches before they had time to protest.
claration" is precisely what the Mission Committee              2. And `whereby they deposed many local office-
had in  mind and had requested.  ALnd, `why? Simply bearers.
because the "Declaration? is-mark you, is-the  &ry              3. And they believe and maintain the autonomy df
Formula pyoposed  to' Syncid by its committee of pre-        the local church.
ad&e clarijied, improved ancl founded up&a the Con-             Here the "Declaration" certainly  lets it be known
f es-ion.                                                    that the Protestant Reformed Churches are a `corn-..
    A comparison of the two will fully bear but whether      munion of congregations federally united in  Classis
or not this statement of mine is true. Let us then           and Synod on the b&is of the Church Order.
compare the two (the "Formula" and thk "Declara-                The "Formula'! contains  this statement,  ' "Your  '
tion").                                                      committee of pre-advice advises (synod) to adopt . . .
    a. Both the "Formula" and the "Declaration" de-          prof.ession  . . ,. of the Church Order of Dordrecht.
clare that the Protestant Reformed Churches stand               Is it true or is it not-true that both the "Declara-
on the basis of the Scriptures as the infallibie  Word of kion" and  the  "Formula". profess adhesion to the
Gdd and of the Three Forms of Unity.                         Church Order of Dordrecht? Let Rev. Petter answer.
    Is this true? Let us see.                                   d. Both the "Declaration" a+ the "Formula" de-
   1 The Declaration setgdout .as follows, "`The Prqtest-    clare that the promise .of the Gospel includes not all
ant Reformed Churches stand on the basis of the Scrip- the baptized but the elect baptized only, that it thus'
tures as the infallible Word of God and of the Three         belueaths salvation on and assures it only to. them;
Forms of Unity.                                              and that therefore it is of necessity unconditional and
    The Formula contains `this statement, "Your Corn-        unfailing.
mittee of pre-advice advises: in re point II of the re-         Is this true?  IL,et  us see.
port, dealing with the matter of an adopted Form for            `The "Declaration" declares and I quote, "that the
requests for organization : to adopt . . . profession `promise of the Gospel is not a gracious offer of salva-
of adherence to the Three Foims of Unity and pro-            tion on the part of God to all men, nor an unconditional
fessing the Scriptures to be the infallible Word of          offer to all that 8re bqrn in the historical dispensation
God." .                                                      of the covenant, that is, to all that are baptiied, but
    Is it true or is it not true that both the "Declara- an oath of `God that He will infallibly lead all the elect
tion" and the "Formula" place the Pr`otestant  Reform-       unto salvation and eternal glory through `faith," and
ed Churches on the basis of the Scriptures and of the        further, "that the promise is. unconditionally fdr the
Three Forms of Unity? Let Rev. `Petter say.                  elect only atid that it bestows the objective right .of
    b. Both the -"Declaration" and the "Formula" re-         salvation not `upon all the children that are born under
pudiate common grace and the Three Points of, 1924.          the historical dispensation.- of the covenanti  that is,
    Is this true? Let us see.                                not upon all that are baptized, but only upon the spirit-
    I find, in the Declaration this statement, "On the       ual seed." This is the essence of the teaching of the
basis of this Word of God and the'se Confessions they' Declaration, throughout.                  -
(the Protestant Reformed Churches) repudiate the                The "Formula" contains this statement, "The ,pro-
errors of the Three Points adopted by the Synod of           mise of the Gospel, both as to the will of God to save-
the. Christian Reformed Churches, 1924",                     His peo@le and the execution of His w~ill. to save them,


                              :
2          8      0                             T H E    S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

     is not general, that is, it does not include all the bap-          a. Both the "Formuia" and the, "Declaration" repu;
     tized children of the church,`but is particular, that is,       diate the'Three  Points 6f 1924. But in.addition  the "De-
     it pertains only to the elect of `God."                         claration" cites these Points. This is an improvement.
         It stands to reason that if, as the .above statement           b. Bo@ the "Formula" .and the "Declaration" set
     d.eclares,  the promise includes only the elect baptized,       forth the Protestant  Ref,ormed  ,Churches as a com-
     it necessarily b.queaths  salvation upon and assures it munion of congregations federally. united in Classis
$0 the elect only and must the?ef,qre  be unconditional              and Synod on the basis of the Church,Order  of Dordt.
     and unfailing, -an .oath of God that He will infallibiy Eut in distinction from the "Formula" the "Declara-
     lead all the elect unto salvation and eternal glory tion" clearly brings out that the Protestant Reformed
through faith.                                                       Church& do not place the hierarchical construction
         I ask therefore, is it%rue  or is it nbt true thit both     on the Church Order, and thbt thus our churches also
the "Declaration" ,and the "Formula" declare that the                in  their system of church government  ark t?ulzj Re-
     promise of the ,Gospel  includes only the elect baptized        formed. This certainly iS a great improveme`nt.         :
     and t&is bequeaths salvation and assures it only to                c. Both the "Formula'.' and the `"Qeclaration" in-
     them and that, accordingly, it is an oath of `God infal-        clude in the promise only the elect. But the statement
     libly leading the elect unto salvation and glory through        contained in the "Fdrmula", though clear, is bungling..
     faith unconditionally? Let Rev. Petter answer.                  The "Declara.tio,n" on. the other, hand sets forth the
         In fine, is it true or is it not true that, as to the       matter of the charact6.r of the promise by means of
nature and character of their teaching, the "Declara-. sentences that possess all the virtues of a good style.
tion" is the Formula, and the Formula is the `iDeclara-              This is an  *imljrovement  certainly. And I  nope have
     tion" ? Let Rev. Petter answer. And let not oilly Rev.          reference not mekely  to the quotations from the Con-
     Petter give answer but likewise those  i& our midst who         fessions-these certainly are clear;being, a&they are,
     hold with Rev. Petter that such is not the case. Let            extracts f&m our Confessions-but to the statements
them squarely face' this comparisbn-all the statements               affixed to these quotations as well. The "Declaration"
     quoted-&d answer in "The Standard Bearer", or in                from beginning to end and in'all its parts is an excel-
     the "Concotidia".                                               lent composition. It sets forth in unambiguous lan-
L        3 maintain that,  from my comparison it is as plain         guage what  tie as Protestant Reformed Churches be-
     as;anything  can be plain that the "Declaration" '?S--- lieve to be the truth of our Con!fessions. Rev. Petter
     mark you, is-the "Formula," and that therefore, since. and  Prof:.  Schilder   nothwithstanding.              I shall make
     the "Formula" is precisely what the Mission  Corn-.             good-this tatkment of niine in subsequent articles.
     mittee had in ,mind, the "Declaration'`-is prkcisely what '        d. Finally, the,"Declaration" is largely a-concatetia-
     the Mission Committee had in mind ; and that there-             t,ion of quotations from the Confessions. That is its
     fore the Mission Col;nmittee  received `from Synod ex-          peculiar excellence.  -`The added propositions  sitiply
     actly what it had asked for; nay more, what it receiSed         recapitulate the points in the quotations.
     from  S,ynod is the "Formula" clarified, improved, and             This is the documerit  that Synod gave to the church-
     founded on the Confessions. For that is the "Declara-           es  for study and adoption on the coming Synod. Is the
     tion." Let .now .Rev; ,Petter and all those who have been       membership of our churches grateful? Not the whole.
     repeating his charges squarely face my whole argu-              of it, sad to say. Judging from' their, writings and
     ment in all its parts together with all my quotations,          oral commitments, the sole ambition of some of the
     to be sure, and overturn it, if they can: But they cannot.      clergy seems tb be to induce the churches to reject the
     Rev. Petter cannot. I anew challenge him to do so.              document on the coming Synod. But if these brethren
         The sentence, "Is it true or is it not' true `? Let Rev.    succeed, we are done  for. as a communion of Protestant
     Petter answer,"?this sentence appears several times Reformed Churches.
     in my two articles. Let Rev. Petter face this question             I have need of once mor.e  repeating to Rev. Petter
     each time anew, and give answer. Then we will get my question. Is Rev. Petter justified in telling his
     somewhere, but not if he ignores my argument  and               readers that Synod (1950) in no sense heeded the re-
     simply repeats his charges. In a word,  let us have             quest of the Mission ,Committee  for the kind of For-
     truth and not falsehood.                                        mula that it had in' mind? that Synod completely for-
         I maintain that with the truth of my argument               got the request of the Mission Committee and began to
     bearing down on Rey. Petter's charges, they fall by the work at something altbgether  different 7' Is Rev. Petter
     board, every one of them. Let Rev. Petter disprove              justified in repeating this charge iti his latest article?
     this statement of of mine..           '                         The facts being what they are, to my mind he is not
         I just ag$in made the statement that the "Declara-          justified. To my mind, these statenients from his pen
     tion': is the "Formula" clarified, improved,&and  found-        are amazing. Is this contention of mine true or is it
     .ed on  odr  Confetisions.  Allow me to show how true           not true?  `Let Rev.  Petter  face my  tihole' argument
     t h i s   i s ,                                       a         and give answer;                         G.  M.  Ophoff, .
                                                                                                         .
                                                                                                   .I


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                                     T H E   `i&iNDARD   B E A R E R

                                                             walk in the newness of the Spirit and not in the old-
                   NH HQLY  b&UT.                            ness of the letter.
                                                                Now this second Gospel truth is, somewhat, the
                                                             forgotten treasure as far as this  #Gospel account of
                                                             Luke is concerned. Often we- hear sermons on the
!      Exposition Of Luke 2:40-52                            first part of this chapter. Luke 2 is the classic chap-
                                                             ter to tell us about the birth of Christ. That is true
     This Scripture passage in Luke 2:40-52 reads, in        even in the most modernistic church. But the latter
part, as follows : `"And the child grew, and waxed           part of this chapter, is  eit.her not understood, or is
`strong, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was        intentionally forgotten. It is, notwithstanding, very
upon Hi-m. . . ." and again : ""And when-they saw him,       important; it contains the glorious gospel of the Cross
they were astonished ; and his mother said unto him,         of Calvary as Jesus came under law, to become the
Child, whj hast thou `thus dealt with us? behold, thy        righteousness of God to all who believe. Let  usnot  `-
father and I sought thee sorrowing. And he said unto         forget `this. Better still : let us try to see. this with
them, How is  -it that ye sought me?  .Enew ye not believing hearts.
that I must be in the things of my Father? And they             Here~we have the pearls of:' great price lying at the
understood not the saying. that He spake  unto them very surface of the text.
. . . . ." And -then finally : "And Jesus advanced in           The pearls? Y.es, the' pearls of the wondrous work
wisdom and stature, and* in-grace (favor) with God           of Christ under law as Mediator. For,`let it be clearly
and man."                                   .>               understood, Jesus does not `begin to be our Mediator
     We ask the attentive reader to read the. entire text    at the age' of thirty years, but He is our Mediator also
from. his Bible. To quote the entire passage would           at the `age of ,eight days and .at the age of forty days.
require  too much space. Hence, this request.                Hear the aged Simeon cry in joyful strains that his
                                                             eyes have now seen the Lord's ,Christ 1 Now this aged
     We would first `of all` call attention to the fact,     `saint can depart in. peace!
that Luke, the Evangelist,  brmgs two great gospel              These are some of the presuppositions that we must
truths to the foreground, in a very striking -way, in        keep clearly before our mind when we study the inci-
this chapter under consideration.                 \
                                                             dent recorded in the passage that we have written at
     The first great gospel-truth is, that the, Son of       the head of this little essay.
God came from a woman. We read in.. Luke 2: :7 :                For also in this passage in which we deal with the
`"And she brought f,orth her firstborn son ; and she         "self-disclosure" of the Son of:God  in the flesh in His
wrapped him in swaddling clothes and ,laid him in a          mediatorial work, we see the Son of God, who was
manger, because there was no room for them in the
                                                  .          born from a woman, under law. It is under ikw.that
inn." It is the truth that Paul utters in Galatians 4 :4,    Ee must be busy in the things oy His F'ather!
where we read: "But when the fulness of time came,              What we read concerning Jesus, the child, in these
God.semt  forth His Son, `born of a woman." That is          passages is no insignificant detail, no trite and com-
the first glorious fact described, nay, rBcorded to us in    monplace account- that we may read rather hurriedly
this. gospel account of Luke.                                and carelessly. This is no, detail in the life of Jesus.
     `The second great gospel truth pointed out in this      It is the account of the  inspired Evangelist  `(the
chapter of -Luke is, that the Son of God &s made of a        preacher of glad-tidings in accurate account) wherein
woman, became under law. On the eighth day `He was           he lifts the veil upon the Son of God as He'grows  into
circumcj$d  :according  to the law (even though circum-      the man Jesus, the perfect Son of Mary*under law,
cision is not of Moses but of the fathers. John 7:22)           This-account tells us the perfect obedience of Jesus
after His mother had been purified from the unclean-         under law-as child of Mary and Joseph and as the
ness of her blood. And on the .fortieth.  day He was         Son of -God. We #must read this passage in the light
presented unto the Lord according to the Levitical `of the glorious truth of Isaiah 53. We must see in
ordinances. He was, indeed, redeemed'from the temple         this passage the glory, the wisdom, the strength of
worship of. the ,earthly sanctuary, that He might be         God, as revealed in the Cross, in the Crucified (the to
the. Highpriest that becomes us, holy, harmless, un- be crucified Savior of His people, saving us completely '
defiled and separate from sinners, and made higher           from all our sins) -Savior!
than the heavens in the heavenly sanctuary. That is             .The preacher who preaches on this passage may
the second glorious truth of the Gospel.. The Sonof          not pull this passage out of the divine design of "born-
God is born from a woman, but He is made ur&er i&u).         from a'woman and made under law." He must leave
And the reason for this? It is : that we might, by His `it just where it is placed. -And when he says "Amen"
perfect .obedience,  be redeemed from under law "and         to his own sermon, and when the congregation hears
that we might receive the adoption unto children and         this sermon and also says "Amen" in their hearts, then


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282             '                    T H E   STANDARD   B E A R E R ;

this must be due to the fact that nothing else was            says: "Thy father and I sought. ,. .' ." Then, too, the
preached than Jesus Christ and Him crucified.                 form *of' the question 9s asked by Jesus is such that
   Let u$ attempt to see this.                                this questibn of Jesus expects an answer in the affirm- '
   We shall now, of course, bear in mind, th&, in this        ative. It is as we wotild'say : "You knew, did yod not,
entire passage, the Holy Spirit shows us the Obedient that I would be busy in the things of my Father? Of
Christ, the Savior of His people.                             course, Mary knew this. Had she not often instructed
   To show that this is very really the truth we'would        this child Jesus, ,according  to the special revelation
like to point out, first of all, that in the text Jesus is    arid announcements brought to her by angelic and
very clearly  portray'ed to  us  ill His  obedience.. We human messengers, to "the utmost of her ability"?
have but to notice the significant fact of His obedience      Had she hot tpld Jesus of the visit of Gabriel telling
to His parents Joseph and Mary in verse 51, where             of His birth, of her visit in the hill couzlt?y 9n Judea
we read: "And He went .down with them and came td             at the home of Zachariah and Elizabeth whFr,e  she had
Nazareth ; and He was subject unto them," to gee tliat -prophesied, of the visit of the angel to Joseph, of the
this pass?ge presents to .us the obedient Jesus. Then message of the shepherds in that wondrous night of
too,* it is a fact that Jesus evidently  tias not dis-        His birth, pf, the strange language of. Simeon in the
obedient in abiding  :iri Jerusalem, but was. clearly         temple, not to forget the aged Anna. And then later
obedient to His heavenly Father in abiding in- the            the equally wondrous visit of the Magi in, Jerusalem
temple.     Hence, this passage clearly shows no dis-         and the appearance of the Star. . . . . Ah, to be sure,
obedient Jesus.'                                              Mary should 1iuv.e known. t&at "this child that should
   Concerning this obedi&nce-  the text shors us that         be set for a fall  and rising again of many in Israel
this was-a full-orbed obedience. To demonstrate what and a sign that should be contradicted" was even .now
we understand by "full-orbed" we would< call attention        simply wall&g' in the way  of her  insttiction.  Yes,
to the fact that this obedience of Jesus wa,s the obedi-      Jesus is fully cdnscious of being obedient `in the full-
ence`of man. It was not the obedience as this comes           orbed sense of the term.
to manifestation in the angelic hosts. It is the obedi-'         Here in this ,Child we-have the perfectly wise child,
enoe as required of man. In Jesus' case the .obedience        the obedient child yho binds the Words of God about
as required of a child of the Covenant in the Cdvenant        His neck! ,
home. Jesus stood in all of our huEan relationships              Here is the fulfillment of the beautiful admonition
under law. He came a1s.o under the law of the children        of Proverbs 3.  Jesui perfectly walked' according to
in their relationship to their Covenant parents.              the injunction : '  "My: son forget not my law; but let
   This means that'Jesus stood under the first coni-          thy. heart keep  my. commandments. For length' of
mandment with the promise, "Honor thy father and              days, and years' of life, and peace will they add to thee.
thy mother, that it may be well with thee and that            Get fiat kindness and truth forsake thee: Bind them
thou mayest live long .on the earth". Under this law about thy neck; Writ@ them upon the tablet of thine
Jesus wad %d ' be obedient exactly as this obedience is       heart. So shall +hou find'favor and good understand-
required of all of. us. And He is to obey His parents         ing in the sight ,6f God arid men. . . . Be not wise in
unless such subjection would make it impossible to be         thine own eye& Freak  Jehovah ,and depart from evil."
obedient to God.                                              Proverbs 3 : l-7.
   Shall Jesus be diedient with a full-orbed obedience,          Nay, here in the temple we have the perfectly
then He must be obedient to H'is parents and therein          obedient Son.
be. obedient to God. He tiust thus `stand in the first           And He  returned  with His parents to Nazareth
commandments.   with- a promise. `That is just. The           and was constantly and progressively subject unto
Son of God in our flesh is obedient to His.parents  and       t h e m .
thus to God. Consider this $0 be the full-orbed obedi;
                           *                                     It is the obedience rooted in `the fear of the' Lord,
ence.  1                                                      whi'ch is the beginning of wisdom !
   This obedience. was perfect. It was an obedience             He went along with His parents and the greatness
not, as a -formal adherence' to the law. It was perfect       of .this Son is His obedience to His parents. He was
love for *God from Jesus' human heart, mind, soul atiq .like unto us in all things sin exceptsd!
strength!  The Son of God is in human subjection to              ,Progressively he is obedient. He grows in wisdom.
the will of  <God  from perfect love ! He is this- not *Nay, not that He `ever had to unlearn disobedienc,e.
merely -on Calvary, but :already  gt the age of twelve.       That He did not need to. But He surely had to learn
And He is here already conscious that He is the Savior        obedience each. day. Each-day was a school for Him.
of the world. Such seems to be the `import of the say-        He  walke& through every corner df our life and ex-
ing: Knew ye not that I must be busy in- the things of perience.
my Father? Here is, first of all, we should riotice; that        And He did this to save ill His brethren. .He came
Jesus contrasts His Father with His par,ents,  as Marjr       to save us from our sins.

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

   He hacked a new and living way thiough ail the               bath day. No. one may be allowed on our pulpits, he
`foolish6ess  and disobedience of  men. And- in His .says, who deviate from the Biblical truth concerning
obedience, in which He brought the Sacrifice, iye too           the Sabbath.                                    /
may and can be obedient. He is the Author. of our                  Then the Author cotitinues  and we translate anA
eternal salvation. Walki'ng this way of `obedience He           quote : "Then I think also in this connection of the
brings us .a11 the way'to.the perfect Fatherhouse `above,       Three Points\ of 1924 concerning the doctrine of com-
as the Fir&born among many brethren.                            mon grace. They who are invited to administer the
                                           Geo. C.  Lubber?.    word  ainong us must also b-e able to profess their
                                                                agreement with these propositions."
                   --0                                             There is therefore, if the atithor's advice is' follow-
                                                                ed, no possibility of a Protestant Reformed minister
                                                                administering the word. in a Christian Ref. Church.
             P E R I S C O P E
      r'                                                        `In this I think the author also takes the proper and
                                                                necessary stand. But  would it not be consistent to
1924 Still Binding ba theChi. I&ef. Churches.                   point out that what is binding upon a minister m&t
                                                                also be upon office-bearers in general and upon mem-
   Oftentimes among well-meaning ( ?) and sympa-                bers  %lso? And  tihat  abdut those ministers in the
thetic Christian- Ref brmed individuals the, statement          Christian Reformed Churches who openly (more or
is made repeatedly that/there` is actually not too much         less) express that they do not agree with 1924?
-difference between the Christian Reformed and the
Protestant Reformed Churches and that the differences                                 * *       *      *
are not. sufficient to separate them. This-is often, ac- Radio Brocidcasting in fioutheast Iowa.
companied by the fltit statement that the Christian
Refgrmed. Churches do not demahd agreement with                    As some of our readers undoubtedly know, the com-
the Three Points either of their members or ministers.          bined consistories of `Oskaloosa  and Pella Protestanf;
   That this is not the view of the churches off&ally           Reformed Churches have for some time, in fact for
and that this should also be-practiced is pointed out by        slightly more than a year, been sponsoring a radio
the Rev. Martin Monsma in "De Wachter" of Jan. 30,. broadcast in central and southeast Iowa. We thought
1951. In his rubric "Church,Order and Church Polity" you might like to hear a little about our experiences.
he was treating the subject, "Who may administeqdthe               In the first place it should be pointed out that our
Word in our  Chtirches" (Chr. Ref.  Churches-JH)..              brdadcast  is somewhat unique in that we do not have
In answer to this question, which  acsording to the time on a public, commercial station; but rather on a
article is raised by the fact that in recent years minis-       private, all-religious station. Perhaps for our readers
ters outside. the Chr. Ref. Ch,yches have been invited          ingeneral we can give the best idea by saying that this
to occupy such pulpits with increasing frequency, the           station, KFGQ in Boone, Iowa attempts to -pattern it:
author gleans t& various decisions of the .Synods of            self after, the well-known Moody radio station, WMBI
the Chr. Ref. Churches in order to determine who may            in Chicago. `This we were informed was their policy
and who may not be invited to preach  in those churches.        when we'first attempted to buy time on the air.
   In the first .place it is pointed out that ministers            In this same connection of course, not being a com-
who belong to sister churches of the Chr. Ref. Churches         mercial station, *hey may not sell time, so `we do not
(in this ease the Reformed Churches of the ~Nether-             buy time but they give us time  and we contribute
lands  "Synodical", and the  Reformed Churches of freely, a sum that we have `agreed upon to the Boone
South Africa), can of course be invited to administer           Biblical ,College and other related institutions of which
the Word. He then continues to point out that outside           also the radio station is a part.
of these Sister Churches Synod has pointed tl-ie way              In common with most religious broadcasts  we have
as follows : That .one may not be allowed to administer         had a very poor mail response. This all-the  niore so in
the Word in the Christian Reformed` Churches unless             our case because we have not been ,able to offer copies
the consistory is convinced that he is sound in the Re-         of the spkeches  on the air as the two ministers who
formed truth-this according to the Synod of 1904.               carry. bn the work of this program could not as yet see
And in 1882 it was decided that only those who were             their way clear to typing out the copies needed and
sound in doctrine,, in church polity and who agreed             there is no `mdney available for printing or mimeo-
with the stand `overagainst the secret organizations            graphing by a commercial concern. Added to this is
might preach `the Word.  =            '                         the fact that this is a religious station. which has the
   Then the author goes on to say that there are other          effect ypon the mail `that when a person writes in they
synodical decisions which limit the right o$ administer-        do not often single 0ut.a single program but rather
ing the word such as the matter  of. hallowing the Sab- infoym the statioti  that they enjoy its religious flavor,


284                                    `T H E   STANDARD,BEAREi

its religious songs and -music and the .messages  that          church when a guest male minister cannot be obtained.
.are brought. So we labor under the handicap of not             There is no regular church membership at this %hurch,
knowing ,exactly what the results may be, at least in           everyone'is welcome and-hence  Slso no definite organiz-
as far as the radio audience is concerned.                      ation behind it:, Rather interesting is the fact that
       You understand, of course, .that this type of station    none of the workers in' any of the institutions is paid
made our work somewhat mor.e diilicult 6r shall I say but all live as a family, receive their food and board
somewhat different perhaps than it would  have been             and clothing (if such iS donated to the in&it&on) but
on a regular commerci.al  station. Then you buy time            for the rest r.eceive no money for their tTiork. As Miss
and the time is .practically  your own, and with a few          Crawford informed us-they  l&e %1s one big family.
necessary restrictions you may say what yqu please on             Now we m&iced that the first few months we were
the air. Here, however, we were dealing with people             listened to rather critically but,gradually there was a
that were very' much interested-in then-messages  that          feeling of trust and confidence awakened so that now
were brought, we were  confsonted  with a listening' there is no super&ion  of any kind over `our pro&m.
audience that was almost entirely religious (in the             But this is not t&e most interesting.,
broad sense of the ward.) ,and which in addition was al-           For some  time we were given to understand that
most entirely of the welllkfiown  Arminian, dispensa-           our Protestant Reformed radio messages were appreci-
tional, and "fundamentalist" type. `Now certainly we            ated greatly b$ the station management. Then some
might never compromise the truth, neither' might we             three months ago jn a conversation .the .director  of the
hide the blessed light of the Word of God as it is ex-          station;`. Miss Crawford, stated openly .-that she had
pressed most clearly in the Reformed faith. But Rev.            begun f to I see, especially through her contact with us,
 Gritters and the undersigned both felt that here was           and shearing .the.Word as it was preached by us, that
room for Christian psychology or shall we say for               her  .Bather had made his fundamental mistake when he
 Christian "common sense". Therefore also our mes-              had.Xorsaken  the United Presbyterian Church in order
sages, at least in the beginning, were of the type that         to begin an independent work. This together with the
 emphasied the fact that only in the way of God's elec-         fact: that they are deeply interested in such things as
tion, of God's irresistable grace, of God's preservation,       church .discipline,  the office of -elder, Christian schools
 etc. was there anjr hope of salvation at all. Thus we and the emphasis upon th6 family makes for an inter-
 attempted, by showing them the beauty of the Reform-           esting work.
 ed truth $s we may see' it, to point but the truth of             Recently it has begun .to be, felt by many in our
 Scripture, the tremendous comfort which is ours when. con@ituency that the meager. mail r&turns really do
we emb.race that truth, by the work of the Spirit in. OYY' not warrant the  continua$ion of  otir efforts on -this
hearts, and thus also tried to win any that .miglit*hear        station.This also with$a view to the fact that recep-
us, first of all into listening further and secondly, and       tion for otir own people is marginal.' In preparation
if God gives His blessing also with the-hope that per- for this we spoke to the station management along the
haps something more positive might come out of it.              lines of the fact that. because of the slight listener
 As we said above,, our audience reaction was disap-            response' we. would probably not be, on the air there
 pointing. And yet we were not discouraged, for to              after the month of March.
 our surprise our greatest reaction came from those                Imagine  otir surprise to hear repeatedly over this
who are connected with %he station itself.                      station in the past few weeks the significant phrase,
       In order  to present this picture clearly I will have    "We desire to keep this worthwhile program on our
to acquaint you ,a bit with the history of the "Boone           station. It is however imperative that there be a mail
 Biblical College and Related Institutions". Before the         response if this is ,tb be the case. Please write in if
turn of ,the century pastor Crawford; a United Presby-          you are hearing and enjoying the Protestant Reformed
terian minister, came under the influence and for a             Hour.? This unsolicited -request for mail response is
time worked' with D. L. Moody. From this  con&t                 still being made by  &he station-not only upon the
 Pastor Crawf@d broke his ties with the-U.. P. church           conClusion  of our regular broadcast but also through-
 and began an independent work in  Boo_ne, Iowa. It             out the week. Already there have been a number of
 began ,as an orphanage, an 014 people's home, a church         cards and letters in response.
 and a school for the  train!ng of the orphans, and                What the future will bring we do not know. Wheth-
 finally also a Bible&h6ol for older students. iLater ti        er we shall continue on this station we do not know.
 radio statioh was added some 25 years. ago. But it was         But this is certain once again tha4among  God's child-
 an independent work and never became large and fin-            ren the pure Word of God, which is the Reformed truth
 ancially solvent. When Pastor Crawford died some               as we hold it atid pre&ch,  it, is always recognized and
 years ago the only one left to take up the work,was his        appreciated. May  `God give us grace to continue to
 daughter Miss Lois Crawford. She serves as director            proclaim H& truth through the preaching of His Word.
 of al? the work as well as bringing the .messages  at the                            2                   J,  Haw'erzyl,


                     L                 T H E   STb$ARD  B E A R E R   '                                               285
                                                               plainants werk at first rebuked foi failing -to come in
        About -.The. Declkction                                the proper -way.
                                                                  `Therefore, even though it may be granted that the
                            II.  .I                            Declaration is Church-politically prop& it can hardly
                                                               be s&d thbt the way .it came was regular, but, on the
   Among the grounds -which are given f6r the adop-            contrary, quite i?pegtilar:  And again, even though we
tion of the Declaration there is,. first of all, the asser-    may be able to maintain that technically the Church
tion that it is based solidly on: our Confessions and          Order was not viola&d  this is not yet ground for the
hence that it offers nothing new. Now although I may           adopti& of the Declaration. Just because it is Church-
believe and endorse these statements they do not yet           poli&ally correct does not yet answer the  quest&
present a ground or give a reason why the Declaration          why we should have it and cannot be a, ground. On .
should be adopted." As statem$ts  of fact-they  do justi- `the other hand,.the irregularity of the way in which it
fy and defend the Declaration as such, but do not offer        Came into being should caution us.
grounds for its adoption. In fact, they rather suggest            In close connectiqn  with the above it is argued that
a .reason not t< adopt the Declaration. For since the` the Declaration will serye as a +ar and sound basis
Declaration offers nothing new aI@ is merely the clear         for the organization of Churches. One'might ask in
and simple expression of the Confessions, ,we have..no         this cpnnection whether the implication here is that
need of the Declaratioli-our  present Confessions&e Ecripture  and our present Confessions are not such a
sufficient.                                                    clear and sound basis. But  ,that they are has been
   There is, in `the second .place, the Church political       abundantly proven by the many fine Protestant Re-'
argument. It is  clailmed that the Declaration came            foi?med  Churches that have been organized upon the
irito being in the regular ecclesiastical way as the re-       $lear and sodnd basis of Scripture and the Confessions.
sult of Synodical action upon the request of the Mis-          Our strength of appeal has always lain in the fact
sion Committee; which is a  Synodicil committee per- thdt we are able `to prove upon the basis of Scripture                       .
forming duties which concel"n the Churches in, general         and the Confessions .that `others have. departed from
and, hence, directly responsible to Synod.> To bolster -this clear and ,sound basis. Neither does the appeal
this ;Fpgument  an appeal is made to the cases of the          to the history  of the congregation in Hamilton sub-
Rev. Bultema, and Prof. Janssen which also resulted            Stan&ate this- argument but rather proves again that
in Synodical a&ion and declaration upon points of doc-         the Declaration is not necessary. It has been publicly
trine. I believe, however, that it has been shown that         stated on more than one occasion that the history in
in- presenting the Declaration; Synod did not fulfill          Hamilton has-nothing to do with the Declaration. And,
the requgst of the l\ilission Committee butlrather .went       in the second place, the case is Hamilton is being dis-
beyond its mandate and presented an entirely new and posed of without, and apart from, the Declaration ; r&
different document than that which was requested.              vealing again that `our present Confessions are entirely
It should be evident that the Declaration of Principles        adequate to cover specific cases. Hence, it would seem,
is not a form for the organization of Churches for             that, the Hamilton history.  exactly proves that we do
which ,the Mission Committee asked. Hence, the re-             not need the Declaration  td maintain distinctiveness.
quest of the Mission Committee, whicli is not answered-           Furthermore, I believe it has already become evi-
by the Declaration, cannot be a ground for the present         de& that a  great.objection  to  the Declaration is its       .
Declaration. (See also article in Standar,d  Betirer -of       lack of clarity. Because of this .it has aroused `much
`Jan. 15 entitled: "AEong The Immigrants".)             '      discussion and many questions within our own circles.
    But apart from this it may even be granted that            And even though it might be `,quite clear to us as Pro-
the Declaration is Church-politically proper bef,ore our       testant Reformed people it is certainly questionable
Churches.      Technically, perhaps, it is true  $hat no       whether it is clear and una'&bigudus for those who are
rule of our Church Order has been violated. But cer-           without and `for those for -*horn it is intended. That
tainly the procedure`is highly irregular. In fact, the it is not so clear and sibmnpie is attested by the discus-
`appeal to the Bultema and Janssen' cases, rather than         sion that it has aroused `also' in the Netherlands.
proving the regularity, emphasizes exactly: the irregu-           Two grounds that are->losely  connected with one
larity in the case of the DeclBration. In the %Z$es' of        another are that the Declaration will serve as a testi-
both the Rev. Bultema and Dr. Janssen specific charges         mony of our adherence to the'Reformed faith and that
were brought against specific individuals regarding it'%611 also safeguard encroachments thereupon. But .
specific fals'e teachings ; upon which Synod acted and -agai:n this cannot be a ground or reason for its adop-
declared itself. And they came  throtigh the proper            tion. Our Confessions ,ek$ress  that the marks of the
channels; in the Bultema ca'se of Consistory, Classis          True Church (i.e. that  Which is her testimony and'
and Synod and in the case of Prof. Janssen, of Cura-           witness to those that are without) are the ptire preach-
torium.and Synod. "In fact in the latter case the com-         ing of the Word, the proper. administration of the


286                                    T H E   STAN,DARD  B E A R E R   .:

sacraments and the faithful exercise of Christian disi
cipline. And where  thes& three are  exe?cisGd there                         Chtrib&ions
Christ gathers, defends and preserves His Church.                            W&HERE DO WE STAND?
On the other hand, .if these are neglected, no amount
of declaring will avail one  wit.     Hence, I consider         What is really the isiue of the present controversy
these arguments a reflection upon the preaching in             in our mid&?
our  ,Churches and upon the faithfulness of our con-              When we read all &hat is published in our church
sistories, as well as an implication that our Reformed         papers about  "cotiditions", the Declaration of Prin-
Confessiotis are adequate. And this is in contradiction        ciples, our Mission-  w&k  in (Canada, the developments
to all of our history as well as that of. the historically     in the mission field, especially in Hamilton, and also
Refornied Church since its `incepl2on.                         in Chatham,  then we again ask burselves the question :
   Finally, it is stated that the Declaration will serve       What do  our people want? What are they arguing
as a basis and starting-point for correspondence, es-          about?
pecially with the Reformed Churches (Art. 31). How-               $Ve are told in lengthy articles, in word and in
ever, once again this ca&Gt be ti ground, nor was it `pictures, how wonderful these Liberated people really -
the purpose of this Declaration. For in this connec- are, hbw pious; how sincere, how' fundamentally Re-
tion we should notice the following. In the first place,       formed, how eager to hear our ministers preach, how
the original plan of the Committee of Correspondence           they love our churches, how willing they are to be
was to visit the Netherlands last summer~hence,  before instructe'd  in our doctrine, how able they are, how they
the Declaration could have been adopted or used fdr            like to debate, and argue about our doctrine, especially
the purpose of establishing such correspondence. For           of course, about the .Covenant  and Baptism.
this reason .alone it is evident that this cannot be a            As soon as our doctrine is really preached and  ~
valid ground for adopting the Declaration.                     taught, it is expected that they will listen, and be
                                                               willing to have  their children and young people  in-.
   In the second place, it is also. evident from the last      strutted  "in the aforesaid doctrine".
Synodical  Acts that Synod never interided  the Declara-          But the, tables turn.
tion for this purpose.  Furtheri  that Synod exactly              This is proven by the developments in Hamilton.
did not so desire to proceed in the <matter  of correspond-       (But also. in  Chatham voices are raised already
ence. For along with the stiggestioti   that the Com- ,which openly show disagreement, of which they were.
mittee be sent to the Netherlands was the request for          well aware when they were organized as a Protestant,
a definite mandate. However, Synod decided in a sub-           Reformed Church.                  '
stitute motion `(substitute for giving definite instruc-          What to think of things like these?'
tions and charge) : "to express that this committee               It seems strange that men like Dr. Sciilder and
. . . discuss the question of correspondence with  the         Mr, Van Sprons`en  who knew of our conception of thk
deputies in the Netherlands". (Acts, 1950, Art. 97,            covenant and of baptism, how we believe `in it and that
page 78). This would certainly seem to indicate that           our ministers preach and teach the same, did not in-
Synod did not desire: to send its . Committee to the           form their people c'orrectly about it before they joined
Netherlands with a pre-declared basis but rather that -our churches, ai some. of their leaders did who knew
the ColYimittee  would discuss the ppssibility and basis       that this conception is one of the poiits of distinction ..
for correspondence through mutual contact tvith the            distinguishing us from any  -other Reformed group.
Netherlands deputies. This also was evidently in the           They seemed to have had no objection, as long as their
mind of the Committee itself when they state in their          people could do and believe as they pleased, or even
report, in connection with the suggestion that they be take an -open stand against it :. of course, nothing was
sent to the Netherlands, that the purpose would be to          binding! But as soon as it is expected of them that
"talk to the brethren over there in order that we might,       they shall be, at least, willing to submit to instruction
if possible, come to a better, fpller arid cl,earer  under-    until they see .our point of view, they refuse.
standing and appreciation of each other as churches".             How to explain this? Could+ it be, that they really
Once again, therefore, this cannot be `a ground for the        thF.ught  that we would not mention these things ; that
adoption of the Declaration.                                   we would be willing-to speak abqirt the many things
       We must conclude that the question why we should        we have in common, and ignore one  of the  funda-
adopt the Declaration still remains, for such action -mentals of Reformed doctrine for the sake of peace
would be a departure from the official status quo and          and fellowship?  ,Or is the doctrine of the covenant
a departure from the soupd.  alld worthy, tradition of         probably of minor importance? Does it "perhaps  not
the true, historical Reformed Church of over 300 years         matter very much what `conception we have, that the
standing.                                                      one conception is as good as the  tither? We almost
                         -                W1"Hofman.  .,       receive this impression when we read of these things,


                                                                                                                   (i
                                                                                                     :. ,l  _
                                                         rn,/            `
                                                                              -     "
                                                                                         .
                                                   *              ,,                ~     `,
                                        THE  STA&DiARD  BEARER                                                                                     : 2.87
                                                                         .
  as being debatable, as personal opinions, as conclusions                               "A' church which is called Reformed should appreciate,
  and deduction% And then we often become puzzled.                                       rather than disparage exactions of the truth."
  If this is `so, have then our ministers preached and                                                Nevertheless, lie seems to be opposed to declare
  taught doctrine of the covenant which  really is de-                                   officially as churches what we belietie,  arid what he
  batable? If it is true that we still are not so certain                                also `has been preaching i,n regard to the important
  of what we have been taught these 26 years, wherein                                    doctrine of the Covenant.
  our children and. young people have been instructed                                                 We certainly cannot expect a clear conception fr:om
  all these years, which things we have treasured and                                    across the ocean, as we have read of late, and also as
  which no one has. ever protested against or eontra-                                    churches have (alas !) experibnced.
  dieted before, if this is then the way we feel- about                                         And therefore, I  wbuld suggest  that'this Declara-
  the covenant and baptism, who will guarantee us that tion of Protestant Reformed Princicles be adopted, al-
  not some other, nay, perhaps many more points of ,though there must be given plenty of time to study it.
  doctrine also will be called debatable? And if today .And let the people say what they have against the
  we still need some light from across the ocean relative                                conten+, but then in such a form that common people
  the true meaning of the covenant concept,  and the                                     can understand what is. meant.
  covenant promise, etc., then I call the situation quite                                             `The last developments in Canada should be a lesson;
  hopeless.                                                                                                                               H.-De Jong.
                                                                                          . .
     If it is--so that there still is not a Reformed cove-.                                     ,a                       *  *  Q  *
  mnt view, then I would suggest that we say with
  our Short Declaration of Principles what we as l&o-                                                   ANTWOORD AAN DS. J. VAN RA-ALTE
  testant Reformed Churches `declare to be Covenant '
and Baptism, and if we  canndt or d&e not do it now                                                   1. Het was de 2de  Jtili in de avonddienst in de
  then we can make up our hinds that wed never will.                                     Gereformeerde Kerk (onderhoudende  art. 31) te Leeu-
  Then we must freely' ad.mit, that as far as the cove-                                  ward&, da! acht jonge menschen openbare belijdenis
  nant is conc&ned,  zire                                                                deden, de naam yin de leeraar was Ds. Jansen ( ?) .
                              Amow nothing about it.              -
    Oh yes, we `know that there is. such a thing as a                                           2. Dit was in Rijswijk  (Z) Julie 23, waar  een
  covenant, for the Bible is full of it from cover to                                    vrouw gedoopt -werd, en onder meer werd gevraagd
  cover, but what it really is, and for whom it is or for                                "of zij gelooft  iri  &n doop, en niet  in twee  n.1. een
  whom it is not .; what really the ,Covenant Promise `is,                               ware  ,doop  en een schijndoop." Ook deze leeraar's
  and fdr whom, you see, all these-things are debatable!                                 naam was Jansen of Janssen ( ?) .
     yt one church with a                                                                             Ds. Van Raalte wil we1 zoo vriendelijk zijn ons de
                                  clejiwite, distinctive con-
  ception of the Covenant? And we all speak of the                                       uitslag van zijn onderzoek mede te delen? Please.
                                                                                                .
  Covenant God, the Covenant  &me, the  qovenant                                                                                  Hoogachtend,
  people, Covenant instruction, Covenant seed, Covenant                                                                                   H. De Jong.
  promise, etc., and we`really do not know what we are
  talking about? Would a person, not give- up all. hope
- that we will ever come to clarity?                                                                                           : Grand Rapids,  Mich.
     Furthermore the- Rev. Howerzyl suggested in the                                     Dear Rev. H?eksema,
  Standard Bearer of February-1 that we personally do                                                 Will you kindly answer a few questions in the
  "some periscoping in old  Sta.ndard Bearer's to find                                   Standard Bearer? in re Rev. Petter.
  some worthwhile m&erial." F$lowing  up his sug-                                                     1.  Cotild  you point  me to an article of  tlie Rev.
  gestion I came across an article of our former Peri-                                   Petter' where he says with round words "that you can
  scope editor, the Rev. W. Hofman, in the Standard                                      not be saved, only on condition you do this or th&t".
  Bear& of May 1, 1949. The Rev. Hofmah quotes the                                       I never came across `that saying. If. he did he would
  Rev. Paul De Koekkoek as having written  %either not be Reformed anymore.
  our Christian Reformed leaders in Canada nor our                                                    2. Don't you believe that a Christian, saved by the
  church membership in  g,Fneral are wrapped up in                                       grace of God, nothing of man-is by God Himself put
  disputations about fine shadings of Reformed  `dot-                                    in a condition to serve Him, and will lead a Christian
  trine." This was, according to this writer, to account                                 life? He certainly must Show himself to be a Chris-
  for their success. The Rev. Hofman says, "as we read                                   tian and shdw the condition God Himself  ha$ put
  this, we wondered whether this is really as virtuous                                   him in.
  as it appears." `%ompromise may bring organization-                                                 As to your article of Dr. Schilder, he writes "that
  al unity, but it will never satisfy the truth." Further-                               a condition is something which God has firmly linked
  more the Rev. Hofman writes about i924, that "fine to something else." Cause and effect God has firmly
  shadings" were used to depose office. bearers, .and                                    linked together. God is the catise -of our salvation.
caused  a,  "&nQminational   @it.!'  He  writes  finally,                                The effect is that %e as Christjatis are put in a-con-


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                                            _               >
288                                                                         j  ;  .THE.   S.TANDARD   BEAR'ER                                                             .'     -..:"-       *
                                                                 ^
dition to serve Him, and work out'our own salvation                                                                                           WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
with fear and trembling. Nothing of man, but all                                                                    -On March 22, 1951, our beloved parents and grandparents
of God.                 ..
       As to `the definition of condition other than you                                                                                       Mr.  am?  Mrs.  Henry  Mulder
give us: Webster's mode or state of being; essential                                                               hope to celebrate their Fortieth Wedding.An.niversary.
quality ; essential qualification-worked by ,God in our                                                              We render thanksgiving again unto  aur God for the many
hearts, so we are in a condition to serve Him ; with                                                               blessings which we have been privileged, to share with our
all our heart and mind and strength by God's grace                                                                 parents for these  pa,&, forty years. in Christian fellowship. Our
alone.                                                                                                             prayer is that He may spare them for each other and us m&y
       Thanking you sincerely,                                                                                     more years.
                                                                                         ,O. Monsma.                                           The grateful children:
       Answer in the next issue, D.V.                                                                  H. H.                                                Mr. and Mrs. Lambert  Mulder
                                                                                                                              ,                             Mr. and Mrs. Herman Sjoerdsma                   ..
                                                                                                                                   -  :                     Mr. .anh l&s: Gerald tiuidei
                                                                                                                                                            .   .
                                                                                                                         _I                            .`%r. and Mrs.  .Claytus  Shoemaker
                              I                  N                                     .MEBfORIAM        .*:xw:                                                and 13 grandchildren. _
   The English Men's Society of Fuller Ave. hereby expresses                                                       Grand Rapids, Michigan.
its sincere sympathy for one of its members James Vrieswyk,
in the death ,of his father                                                                                                                            -:-
                                            E          .                               Mdlema                                                  WEtiDING  A N N I V E R S A R Y
   ,Our prayer is that our heavenly Father may comfort the
 bereaved family.                                                                                                    On Sunday,`MarCh  11, 1951 our beloved parents
                                                                            A.-Van  T&en,  Pres.                                                      .*
                                                                                                                                                 %Ir.  .and Mrs. John Faber
                                                                            H. Korhorn, Sec'y.
            /                                                                                                      celebrated' their 25th wedding anniversary.
                              I N   M E M O R I A M                                                                  Ma.y our dear Lord spare them for one another and for us
                                                                                                                   for.many  years, is our prayer; in subservience to His holy will.
   Very unexpectedly on February 3, 1951, the Lord in His
 infinite wisdom took unto Himself our beloved husband, .father                                                                                                 Their grateful children:
 and grandfather                                                                                                                                                                     JOhIl
                        Peter Djrksterhuis,  age 6.8                                                                                                                                 William
                                                                                                                                                                            /        M a r v i n
   Though the suddenness of his departure was a great shock                                                        Grand Rapids,, Michigan.                          _
 we have the confidence that he is now  rejoicing  before the
 throne of God.
                                                  . Mrs. Peter Dyksterhuis
                                                  :              Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Post                                                  SUBSCRIBERS - PLEASE ,NOTE !
 Kalamazoo, Michigan.                                                       and children.
                                                                                                                    : Due to the increased cost of printing The S-bandard
                              I N   MXMORJAM                                                                       .Bearer it has been necessary to raise the subscription
                                                                                                                   price to $3.00 per year. This will take effect with the
   The following organizations of the Second Protestant Re-                                                        subscriptions coming due on April 1st and thereafter.
 formed Church of Grand Rapids, Michigan hereby express their                                                      Will, you please refer to your subscription date printed
 sympathy to Mrs. H. Letterman  and family in the loss of their                                                    opposite your name on this issue, and if past due, for-
 husband, and father                                                                                               ward a remittance at once. Your co-operation is kind-
                                                                                                                   lyrequested. .At the present time there is no change
                                   Mr. H.  Letterman                                                               in membership price which includes the subscription.
whom the Lord suddenly took away from `them at the age. of                                                                                                                          THE. BOARD.
 51 years, on February  18,.  195i:                                                                                     -.
   May the Lord  continually  give them the comfort regarding
 their loved one that, blessed is that servant whom when His
 Lord cometh shall find faithful.                                                                                                                   CLASSIS  E A S T
                 The Sunday School of which he was superintendent.
                 The men% Society of. whisch  he was vice-pres$ent.                                                will meet in regular session at .the Hudsonville Pro-
                 <The Mr. and Mrs: `S;o&ety  of which he was vice-gres.                                            testant Reformed Church on  .Wednesday,  April 4,
                 The Eunice Society:                                                                               at 9 o'clock A. M.
                 The Young People's Society.                                                                                                                                      B,  Jonker, (S.  .C.).
                              :..,     I                              .1


