  VOLUME XXVII                                  July ' 1;, 1951 - Grand Rapids, Michigan                          NUMBER 19  '

                                                                         over he pays the price of redemption. He is both able
         M, E D I -T -A- T I 0 N                                         .and willing to do this. And finally, he thereby pindi-
                                                                         cates his cause and delivers him,from all his trouble.
                                                                         The very word suggests a rightful bondage, an obliga-
                                                                         tion that cannot be met, 2 price that cannot be paid.
                 My R~de&ner Liveth-                                        It implies that Job cannot meet the obligation. He
                  "I know that my Redeemer liveth. . .  ."          i    cannot redeem himself. Except there be a talisman,
                                                     -Job 19 25.         an advocate, his cause is hopeless. But he has found
      I know that my Redeemer liveth !               :                   such a man, one who is willing and, able to take up his
      As a challenge over against every -foe, as a shout                 causd for him; to pay the ransom', to deliver him and to
  of triumph when sufferings threatened to swallow her vindjcate  him. He refers, beyond a doubt, to the bond-
  up, as a confident declaration of vi&&y even when                      age of sin and death under- the righteous .judgment of.
  all flesh would despair, the church of Jesus Christ *God. He knows that he deserves Goci's curse and con-
  throughout the ages has always taken.-this word upon                   demnation, so that ,God has just reason to condemn him
  her lips.  '                                                           `to eternal woe of hell. But he knows of one who has
     When the adversary pressed relent,lessly  day and                   paid the @ice of his redemption, has atoned for his
  night, when a thousand fears beset his soul, when the                  sins, has delivered him  frbm the bondage of sin and
  night seemed utterly dark, without a ray of hope, the                  death, and assures him of ete$nal blessedness in glory
  individual believer still`sang in his heart and confessed with (God.
. with. his lips : "I khow that tiy Redeemer liveth."                       -He speaks of &e promised Christ, the only possible
     We have the "cloud. of witnesses" referred to in the_ Savior, the perfect and eternal Redeemer ! "It is Christ
  `Scriptures, men and women who lived and died in this                  that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even
  assurance. Think of Abel and Enoch and Noah. Call at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession
  to mind Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,  Moses,  Rahab,                      for us." (Romans 8 :34).
  ,Gideon,  Samsonand Samuel. Pause a moment to con-                        Job spoke of Him as he saw Him in prophecy, as
  sider Daniel and his three friends who spurned the                     the .one that was still to come. He did not know the
  wrath of the king and. faced death rather than deny                    Christ in that full revelation in which'He is revealed to
  their `God.                                                            us today. The promise.w&  not yet realized. The Word
     We have the words of Job, a man who suffered un-                    had not yet become flesh. The Son of God had not yet
  speakable trials and afflictions. He lost all his posses- borne the burGen of sin and guilt by His death on the
  sions and was made childless in a nioment. He was                      cross, and ?ad not yet risen from the dead. Therefore
  afflicted with a dread disease that br'bught him utmost                Job .&ould not see these things as clearly as we see them
  misery. And in all that he was plagued by those who                    now. He still longed to see His day. In hope he wit-
  called themselves his friends. Yet out of the midst of nessed with the saints of old: "I haire waited for Thy
 his miseries arises the corifident testimony bf faith:                  salvation, 0 Lord !"
  "I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall                        But that does-not mean that Job  was less convinced
 stand at thb latter day upon the earth.                                 of his salvation than we are. It was just as .real,  just
                                                                         as sure and vital to him ai to the saints of the new dis-
                                                                         p&sat&m. In that same full conviction of heart and
     My Redeemer !                                                       .mind he could confess: My Redeemer lives.
     A redeemer is, first of all, one who mediates for                      His Redeemer, even `as qurs, is Jehovah, the al-
 another, takes up his cause for hiti to help him: More-                 mighty, unchangeablq sovereign `God. `,God established


 4     3    4         .  -            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

His eternal cdvenant with His servant Job. ,God had             It is in this consciousness that the servant of God
said concerning him, "This is my servant, h perfect          can say : It~is God who justifies. Who is the condemner?
and an upright man, one that fear&h Gqd a6d eschew-             No, the confession is much more personal than that.
 eth evil." How could the Lord ever say that-of hiq          God is my justifier. Who is my condemn&?
 unless -He had taken Job into His covenant.         Was     _  iiy  Redeemer  liz)es!
there ever-a  tierson  borriwho by nature possesses these
sterling qualities? Has ever yet even one individual
been found of whom it could be said that he is-perfect
according to the standards of God's law? Is there any
who' ne;er sins, never trahsgreeses, not even in the            These words were spoken in one of &he most bitter
secret recessesnof his heart, ;but' is always righteous,     hours of all his anguish. Destitute and childless, af-
spotless before the God Who judges all men righteous-        flict&d with painful sores, a gruesome spectacle to
ly? * Is there any at all who is wholeheartedly a friend     those who formerly highly. esteemed him,  he com-
of ,God and an enemy of Satan, hating all evil perfect-      plains, "Know now that [God hath overthrown- me,
ly? Anyone who knows the Scriptures and his own              and hath compassed'me with a net. Behold, I cry out
heart knows that this is impossible.                         of wrong, bu'c I am not -heard: I cry aloud, but there
      We are all conceived and born in sin. There is non6    is no judgment. He hath fenced LIP my way thai I -
that doeth good, not  i single one. We have all departed     cannot `pass, and He hath set darkness in my paths.
from the way. We are become altogether corrupt.              He hath destroyed me on every side, and I -am gone:
Before God's holy  law no man is justified. This is          and.my hope hath He removed like a t&e. He hath I
equally true of Job. Yet God  d&s not regard His             also kindled His wrath against tie, and He counteth
servant Job as he is by-nature; `but rather as He kneti      me unto Him as one of His enemies. His troops come
him and loved him and chose him in Christ, even from         together, and raise up their way against me, and en-
eternity. -God has eternally engraven His saints in the      camp round about my tabernacle. He hath put my
palm of His hands. He has made them His `peculiar            brethren far from  -tie, and mine  acquaintgnces are
possession. Therefore, before Him they are holy and          verily estranged from me. . . . All my inward friends
righteous, redeemed and sanctified in  .Christ. God sees     abhorred me: and they whom I loved are turned
no iniquity in Jacob @d no transgression in Israel,          against me.." How true ,&is complaint was, for the
for they are His royal priesthood: fitted to tell His `very friends` who Caine to comfort him turn against
praises forever. God sover,eignly  knows His servant         him; accusing him of grievous sin which has brought
Job as a perfect and upright man, one who fears ,God         this wrath and visitation of the Lord upon him.
and turns away from evil.                                      What can Job answer? What can he offer in his
  -- Thus Jehovah alsd' came to establish His covenant       own def ence ? Can he plead sinlessness? Can he
with Job. He dwe!t by His Spirit in Job'6 heart, re-         justify himself on the basis .of his own righteousness?
newing him and turning him from death into life, from        He knows he cannot! He would be forced to silent .
sin into the services  of the living God. Job was made ,despair,  if i,t were not for the fact that there is One
deeply conscidus of his sin and guilt. He knew the d.e-      Who mediates for him, One Who takes up his cause
pravity of his own heart. He was aware that he could         even now, One -Who justifies, vindicates, and ultimately
only increase his sin .and guilt continually. But he con- gives him. the victory.
fessed his sin and pbtained pardon. He experienced              "I know that my Redeemer 1iveth.l
                                                                                           .,
the blessedness of those whose transgression is for-            He lives!
.given, whose sin is covered. His whole delight was in          He is the Almighty, unchangeable Jehovah, Who
the law of God, according to the inward man. He loved        keeps covenant  with.His  people forever. He` sovereign-
God and  hated evil. This was evident even at that           ly rules over all things, so that not a hair.can fall from
moment when he was suddenly made destitute and               ouF heads except by His wili. Be has the storms in
childless. He rises, he rends his mantle, shaves his .His hands, the lightning that took Job's sheep, the
head, falls down upon the ground and worships. Hum- wind that destroyed hi's children.. Even the wrath of
bly he confesses, "Naked came I -out of my mother's          men shall praise Him, for devils, and Sabeans, and
womb, and  naked I return thither. Jehovah gave, ,Chaldeans, and all wicked men are but instruments
Jehovah hath taken away ; .bl&ssed be the Name' of           in His hand to carry out His counsel. His grace abid-
Jehovah." Upon which the Scriptures add this re- eth ever. He will not always chide, neither will He
markable testimony, "In all this Job sinned not, nor keep His anger forever. His anger lasts a moment,
charged God foolishly." S~&!ly here was. a `servant His favor all the day. Fdr He has not dealt with us
 of God, perfect and upright, fearing God and eschew-        after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our in-
ing evil, -since God had taken hini into His covenant        iquities. As far as the east. is from the west, so far
by a wonder of grace,                                        hath He removed our transgressions from us. Like


                                                                                u'


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R   .                                    435

       as a father pitieth his children; so the Lord pitieth          for in our -flesh' dwells no good. If. ,God should mark
       them that fear Him:                                            transgression, none of us could stand in His judgment.
           He lives!' Jehovah, the ;God of our sa-lvation lives.         And finally, .there are th& sufferings that we must
           How much richer these words are for us now, since. bear. IOften it s&ems as if wicked men prosper, while
       the cross and the resurrection have become a historical        suffering is the constant  lot. of God's people.  Dis-
.-     reality. The Son of God came into our flesh;suffered,          appointments, adversities, pa;ns and distresses crowd.
       died and was buried. For a moment even the disciDles           in upon our lives. We are inclined to wonder why, yet
       despaired, so that they hid themselves in bitter sorrow.       we find  ho answer.  #Seemingly all these things are'
           Their mast& had been taken from them. The One against us. If IGod loves us, has mercy upon us, and
      -Whom they professed to be the Christ, the Son. of the          blesses us, why should these things be. His hand seems
       living ,God, had perished in the hands of wicked men,          heavy on us, our soul finds no relief. With the psalmist
       and His body was laid away in the grave. They failed           we are inclined to complain: "Will God  cast off for-
       to understand the- cross, and therefore all looked so          ever? and will He be favorable no more? Is His mercy
       utterly dark and hopeless. Yet that one flame of faith         clean gone for ever? Doth His'promise fail forever-
       and hope within their souls never entirely fdded out.          more? Hath `God for.gotten to be gracious? Hath He
       On. the contrary, it suddenly flared up to shine forth         in anger shut -up His tender mercies?
       in glorious brilliancy.-                                          Yet through it all the triumph of faith is: I know!
           Jesus arose as victor over death. He had-paid the          I know that my Redeemer liveth.
       ransom for sin. He had  sgtisfied   ,God's  jnstice.  And
       ,God raised Him. up to exalt' Hiti to power and glorjr                                -        -
       in the highest heavens.. We now see Jesus with an                 You ask, how is this possible? The answer fs, that
       eye of faith, crowned with glory and honor, living and         God has, spoken to us in the Scriptures. He has re-
       reigning with God forever! "He arose, a Victor from            vealed His eternal love for His, people. He has made
       the dark domain, and He lives forever with His saints          known His pardoning grace and saving mercies for.
       t o   r e i g n . "                                            those who are in Christ `Jesus; He .has prorriised, the
           He lives ! Yes, we know He lives, for He has come          ultimate viiztory in the glorious inheritance which He
       to dwell with us  jn the Spirit. He lives even now             has prepared for His saints. But how do we know that
       within our hearts.--                                           these gifts are also for us? What would  it.avail us
                                   -w                                 if we'knew-that  they were. for others, but that we have
                                                                      no part in them-? The Spirit assures us of all these
           I know! That is the testimony of faith.                    benefits by a persqnal testimony within our own
           The assurance of faith is always personal. Faith           hearts, By means `of `the Word, the Holy Scripture%,
       says: I know.' Faith speaks of my `Redeemer. Faith             and the preaching of that Word, He convicts of sin,
       testifies: I know that my Redeemer liveth.                     but He also speaks bf pardon, through the blood of the
           No one can actually know God without knowing               cross. He makes weary, but He also assur.es  of rest.
       that this God is his <God,  the God of his eternal salva-      He casts down in bitter anguish of soul, but He also
       tion. -No one can know .Jesus Christ as the Savior of          lifts up and delivers. He makes hungry and He feeds
        sinners without knowing that this Jesus is also his           the hungry. He makes thirsty and He causes the
        personal Savior. No one can believe in God and in             thirsty to drink of the streams of living water.' He
       Jesus Christ without puttiqg all his tryst iri them. He        promises blessedness to those who trust in Him, but
        who confesses God tiith a sincere heart also says: My         He also gives gr.aCe to trust in Him. He approves of
       #God. -And he who. confesses Jesus to be.the Christ also       those. who fear Him and turn away from evil, but they
        adds the personal as:urance: My Lord and my God.              experience that this is only the fruit of His loye in
           Not as if this assurance is-not frequently and sorely them.
        tried. `The believer is  be&t. with many fiery trials            It is the church's well-known victory. song that has
        from day to day, for the Lo,rd  is purging him, even as       re-echoed down the ages, "who shall separate us from
        silver is purified by fire. There are, first of all, the      the love of ,Christ ? Shall tribulation; or distress, or
        many temptations that beset us.  -[Our salvation is           persecution,  ,(or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or
       heavenly, but we are earthly. The world and its lusts          sword? Nay, in all these things we are  m&e than
        still appeal to our sinful flesh. The scorn and sneer         conquerors through Him that loved. us. For I am
        of the world still fill us with dread and terror. The persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor
        devil still goes about as .a roaring lion, -seeking to de-    principalities, nor  powers,  nor things present, nor
       -vour us, even coming at times in sheep's clothing and -things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other
      as an angel of light. Secondly, there is our old nature         creature shall be able to separate us from the love of
        with all its sinful,ness. Constantly we must still" com-      God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
        plain that even while we will the good we do the evil,                ,                                6.     Ranko.


-436                                                               T H E   STA,.N.DARD   B E A R E R

                                                                                              _-
                      THE STANDARD BEARER                                                             - . . .        EDIT'ORIALS
         Semi-&ithly,  except monthly in July' and August
    Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association
            Box 124, Station C., .Grand Rapids 6, Michigan                                                       Why Not Protestapt Reformed
                    EDITOk  L Rev. -Herman Hoeksema
    Communications relative to contents should be addressed                                                      The heading above. this series of articles: Why Not
    to Rev. H. Hoeksema,. 1139 Franklin St., S. E., Grand                                                Protestant Reformed, is the title of an article which
    Rapids  7, Michigan.  `,.                                                                            appeared in a weekly periodical of' the Netherlands,
    All matter relative to subscription should be addressed
    to Mr. J.  Bouwman,  1350 Giddings Ave., S. E., Grand                                                I beliebe,  in the month of February of this year. This
    Rapids 7, Michigan. Announcements and Obituaries must                                                weekly periodical is the well-known "Het  :Gerefor-
    be mailed to the above address and will be published at a                                            mee?d IGezinsblad":  We understand that this periodical
    fee of $1.00 for each notice.
    Renewals:- Unless a definite request for discontinuance                                              has a greater circulation among the readers in the
   is received, it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the                                             Netherlands than the Reformatie. It is also widely
    subs&iption  Co  continpe  without the formality of a re-                                            read by the Canadian immigrants. In this article,
   newal order.                                       I                                                  signed by three former members of the late Protestant
                     Subscription Price: $3.00 per year                                                  Reformed Church of Hamilton, the reason is set forth
   Entered as Second  Class mail at Grand Rapids, Michigan                                               why they and many others-separated themselves from
                                                                                                         the Protestaht Reformed Church of that city. We
                                                                                                         quote from the article as follows (the translation is of
                                  -:-                                                                    the undersigned) : "During the last months various
                                                                                                         events have occurred especially in Hamilton, `Ontario,
                                                                                                         which shall have become kndwn also in the Nether-
                                C O N T E N T S                                                          lands, and which, to avoid misunderstandings, demand
                                                                                                         to be placed in the proper light. We remark that the
 M E D I T A T I O N -   '                                                                               undersigned and many others have separated them-
        My Redeemer Liveth ..____.______......_...: .._____ _ _____.__________.___________  432
            Rev. C. Hanko                                                                                selves from the Protestant Reformed Church of that
                                                                                                         place and have affiliated with the Canadian Reformed
 EDITORIALS-                                                                                             Churches. The reason- for this action they ,would now
        Why Not Protestant Refornied . . . . . . . . . . . . . .._..__.......~...~..... - ____ 436
            Rev. H. Veldman                                                                              s&forth as clearly as possible with the means-at theiF
                                                                                                         disposal."-end of quote., `This quotation speaks for
 THE TRIPLE  KNOtiLEDGE-                                      ~                                          i t s e l f .
        An Exposition of the Heidelberg Catechism _____________._.  440
             Rev. H. Hoeksema                                                                                    In this article the beginning of the Protestant R,e-
                                                                                                         formed Church of Hamilton is briefly set forth. Then
OUR   DO~C'TRINE-                                                                                        the attention of the readers is directed to the struggle
        The Hexaemeron or Creation-Week _______________.___~  ____________ 443
          _ Revi;  H. Reldman                                                                            which ensued, especially  aftier  the coming of the under-
                                                                                                         signed  to. Hamilton. And, of  -great importance, it
 THROUGH `THE AGES-
        John Calvin and The Reformation In Geneva ________________ 446                                   seems to me, is the conception which the writers -of
             Rev. G. M. O.phoff                                                                          this article entertain of my preaching in Hamilton and
 CONTRXBUTION-                                                                                           of the truth of the Protestant Reformed Churches.
        De Aanbieding van Broeder K. C. Van'Spronsen  Aan-                                                       The purpose `of this article atid of subsequent art-
           genomen - vervolgd ____ _______...____ _ _____...________________________  _ ____ 449         icles, .which, the L,ord  willing, will follow, is two-fold.
            J. R. `KuivenhovendKalamazoo                                                                 First, we write these articles to* refute the malicious
 IN HIS FEAR-                                                                                            and wicked slander which is directed in this article of
         Church Membership In His fear . . . . . . . . . ..________.____________________  452            former members of our Hamilton Church, not against
             Rev. H. C. Hoeksema                                                                         the undersigned but against our Protestant Reformed
 FROM HOLY  WRIT-                                                                                        Churches. That their criticism is dir.ected against OUT
        Exposition of Philippians  1:9-11 ________.______________________  _ ____ 454 Protestant Reformed ,Churches and not merely against
            Reir. Geo. C. Lubbers                                                                        the undersigned is apparent throughout the  ehtire
 PERZSCOPE-                                                                                              article. This article, for example, declares that there
         Synod of 1951 continued ......._..._.r.__  _ ____...... I....... ._._...._____ . ..456          is. no difference between the Protestant Reformed
        Rev. J. Howerzyl                                                                                 theologians, that all the Protestant Reformed theo-
                                                                                                         logians reject the Liberated conception of the promise,
                                                                                                         and Ithroughout the entire article it speaks of the doc-
 Notice! - as is custom&y, the July 15 issue of the                                                      trine of the Protestant Reformed Churches. Hence,'
 &andard. Bearer will not be published.                                                                  .in the first place, we write these articles to .e&ose and


                                                                                           -  #
                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                         439         -

refute...this  ,malicious  and wicked attack upon Our, Pro-       We shall now proceed with the matter at ,hand.
testant Reformed Churches. We should bear in  tiind            First, we quote the following :-"First,  be iit stated how -
that this' carricature  of our Protestant Reformed truth       the Prptestant Reformed Church really began in the
has appeared in a paper of the Netherlands which has           beginning of 1949. After meeting and discussing with
a wider circulation than the Reformattie.        Secondly,     various American ministers, we were of the opinion
the -purpose of these articles and ~the desire of the          to have found the  True-. Church. The preachers, in
undersigned is that the eyes of our people may be              general, emi'cted.a  good Reformed sound, and the less
increasingly opened and that they may ,be alerted Ito          known sounds we received, with eyes half shut, in the
the Canadian menace which confronts our -Protestant            bargain  (m&t  half gesloten oogen op de koop.  toe) ."
Reformed Churches'- To this end, we expect.!0 quote -Incidentally, permit me to aoquaint our readers with
from sermons which we delivered iri Hamilton, and to           the three writers of the article which we are now
which also this article refers, and we prouose  to ask         answering: `Th. J. Hart, elder of the church at carnil-
the Liberated brethren of' the Netherlands whether             ton, W. Wildeboer, and J. J. Knecht Jr., w.hom  many
the truth as set forth by the undersigned in his ser-          of our young people will recognize as the president of
mons is Reformed. The undersigned has nothing to               the Hamilton `young people's society. This quotation
hide.  _He is only too glad and too eager to let the           is striking, is, it not? Compare this statement with
churches know what he preached in Hamilton. And,               the assertion which has been made, that these Liber-
this is, all the. more necessary and urgent in the light       ated immigrants are willing to become  Protestant Re-
of Rev. De .Jong's account in Concordia of his trip to         formed, to listen to our instruction, that the disagree-
.the Netherlands. It can hardly be said of these articles      ments yill disappear if we only discuss the differences
that they alerted our people to this menace. Nothing with them calmly and carefully. Please note. IGener-
is saig in these article of the differences between the        ally speaking, our preachers emitted a good Reformed
Liberated Churches and our churches, except that  duch         sound. This refe?s, of course, to generally ,accepted
differ.ences existed, whereas the brother describes in         Reformed truths which, of course, are also heard in
 detail the things which we have in common with them.          lthe Netherlands, and as these immigrants were ac-
I repeat: these articles did nothing to acquaint our           custonied to them also in the Netherlands. But, please
psople with the situation as it truly exists.                  notice the other half of the sentence. The less known
    We. will refrain from all personali6es  in our answer      sounds they received in the bargain with eyes half
to this article which. appeared in the "IGereformeerd          shut. To what do they refe?? These less known sounds
,Gezinsblad". This is somewhat difficult for the under-        refer to our Protestan+  Reformed heritage, or, if `you
 signed in the light of the writers of the article., How-      will, to our distinctly. Protestant Reformed doctrine.
ever, we will remain objective;. The- only purpose of          And did they intend to submit to these "less known
these -articles of the undersigned is the welfare of our       sounds ?" By no means. They received them in the
 Protestant Reformed Churches; However, we do wish bargain with eyes half shut. Or, if I may express it
to make on Remark for the sake of the record. In the           very blunily : when they' heard them in the preaching,
jight of the "horrible" doctrine which the undersigned         they received them in  .sueh a manner that they entered
 proclaimed from the pulpit  iti  `Hamilton and which the one ear and went out the other. ,Or, as another
 indeed should have demanded his deposition from th%           must have expressed himself: I take what I like and
 office of the ministry, it is surely amazing that I never     let t&e other lie. This, dear- reader, is the statement
received a visit from.any member of the consistory or          of these immigrants themselves.
 congregation of Hamilton to discuss his grievous devia-          In this same connection I wish to quote-the f&low-
tions from the Reformed truih.                                 ing : "We knew that our conceptions with yespect.  to-
    F'inally, in this introduction, we will not quote the      Covenant afid Baptism differed, but we sought a way
 entire: article. The article itself is six columns long.      to come to a synthesis. The synthesis was mostly
 We do not deem it necessary to quote the entire article,      sought by us in' referring to the dangers which we
although we do expect to quotekhe  entire passage in it        thought to see $1 the conceptions which we had ac-                   ,
which describes our Protestant Refortied  truth. That          knowledged in the Netherlands. For, was it not true
 is indeed worthy of our consideration. .For the rest, .that many  .expressions catered  ~to  Remonstrantism?
however, it will not be necessary to quote the article         People we& of .the opinibn that- both co@rasting, con-
 in its entirety. We are all acquainted, I am sure, with       ceptions with respect to Baptism and Covenant came
 the fact that the Protestant Reformed Chorch at Ham-          down to  th6 same thing." This means, does it not,
 iltqn is no longer in_ existence fqr the simple r,eason       that these immigrants sought a way to come to a syn-
 that they refused to-be or become Protestant Reformed.        thesis. This does not  mea.n that disagreements'would
 I-was suspended because I refused to submit t9 the            disappear, but that both con.trastin&onccptions would
basis as willed by the consistory. This is literally their     exist side by side. It is true that this atiicle declares
-decision.     :     -                c                        that "both contrasting conceptions came down to the


*-             438          .           T    H    E         STAND`A-RD  BZEARER

        same thing". But, how is it possible that contrasting        sistory, will support me when I say that the consistory_
       conceptions  and  that  contrasting   coticeptions came       of Hamilton contended exactly that they had been de-
        down to the same thing ? Conceptions are more than           ceived by the Protestant Reformed Churches and that
        terminology, are they not? Besides, if it be merely their organization had oc&rred wrthout any binding.
  a difference of terminology between us, why do these                  Before I continue with th`is article as such I wish,
        immigrants not accept our terminology? Why do they           to quote the following: "Thus also the Protestant Re-
        insist on their own terminology? Were they ndt mem- formed Church in Hamiltdn cannot have the right of
        bers of the Protestant Reformed Churches? Did they           kxistencennd  we who brought the church unto or'ganiz-
        not join our churches? Why, then, not accept our way         atiori have, because pf too little insight in the Scrip-
        of speaking, if .we say the same thing anyway? How-          tures and simplicity of faith .on the one hand and a
        ever, let none be deceived. It was not a matter of           desire to regulate too much and a running ahead upon
        terminology between our churches and these Liberated         God's way on the other hand, permitted ourselves .to
        im_migran&.  IAnd, this `was made perfectly. plain to        be convinced by reasoning to which we could not give
        them  before they were  orgakked.  However,  it is           the scientifically formulated answer. We have n.ot
        worthy of note that they knew of these enisting differ-      followed the advice given at the time of Prof. Holwerda
        ences, that they were aware of the contragting  con-         and known .to us, and the Lord let us run ahead and
  .  ceptions of  CovenanJ and  Btiptism,  but they simply           we came upon the wrong path."-end of this  quite.
       let the "less known sounds" enter in through the one          Dose this reference to Prof. Holwerda's advice not
        ear and go out through the other. In the meiantime           cause us to wonder,? Does this quotation refer to the
        they were determined to maintain their own concep-           advice which .Prof. Holwerda gave tb the immigrants 1
        tions. Please understand : I am speaking only of .the        around Chatham? If so, we' need not wonder' how the
        Liberated immigrants around Hamilton, not of the             Hamilton immfgrants  understood this- advice. How-
        Liberated Churches of the Netherlands.                       eve+, the possibility also exists that this quotation
            I must continue. I quote the following: "At the          refers to advice which Prof. Holwerda gave the Hamil-
        orgahization, however, the consistory sgbmitted  en-         ton immigrants at the time of Hamilton's organization.
        tirely to the instruction which was given in the Pro-        This quotatioti.speaks,  .does it not, of the time -when
        testant Reformed Churches. Everyone was convinced Hamilton. was organized. sowever,  it can  also refer
        of the propriety of this insight.  PeoIjle  were of the to the advice which was  given to the immigrants
        opinion that both contrasting conceptions with respect       around Chatham. May we receiv: a little light on this
       - to  B,aptism  and Covenant came down to the same            matter ?                   :
        thing." The last, of these statements clearly proves            -We. continue. I quote the following :- "The picture
        th&t the {irst.sfatement&  contrary to fact. How is it       changed somewhat whkn Rev. H.- Veldman was called
        possible to submit, to Protestant Reformed instruction       an4 came to Hamilton. At  the  time when we first.
        if thley w,ere determined to. maintain their own con- ibecame aaquainted  with him he let us know that we
        ception of Baptism? Later fn this article I read the         are dealing with a supralapsarier. That was his -point
        following : "The relationships within the congregation       of procedure, as such he would approach the congrega-
       became  .worse. Communion could  no longer be cele-           tion, land as such we had to accept him. [Supralapsar-
        brated, confession Of gait11 was not accepted `(of cburse    ianism was according to his conviction the only doc-
       not; they refused to confess the doctrine as taught in        trine of salvation, and that supralapsarianism alone
        this Christian Church-HX.),  and the cofimunion of           would be the ground and content of his preaching and
        saints was- no longer felt. All these events. within the     instruction."-end of quote.
        church caused us to inquire into the- cause of this.'            I am verjr happy to have the opportunity to com-
        The consist,ory  sought it in the action of Rev. Veldman     ment on this. The undersigned had preached in Hamil-`
         (which diction was that I simply enforced a decision        ton and discussed the truth with the immigrants ab,out
        of the October, 1950 classis,  .to which I have already      Hamilton several times before he received the call to
        referr,ed  `in previous articles-H.V.) and men desired Hamilton.          I believe, -however, that this particular
        a solution by  permit&g both  do&&es  with& the              statement  refe`rs   +o November 6, i949,  when I was
         chwch.  -It soon appeared that this must create an          considering the `call to Hamilton and discussed this call
         impossible  cdndition. Parents  +ho  wje,cted the Pro-      with the consistory and congregation prior to my ac-
         testant Refokmed.  doctrine, witl&ez.u `thems:elves and     ceptance of it, although I must confess that already
         their children from the administration of the Word          before November 6, I had -given them the assurance
         and  catechism?' (the underscoring is of the under-         that I was supralapsarian  in my thinking. The uader-
         signed). Besides, the statement that "the consistory signed endorses this entire statement or quotation. Is
         submitted entirely, to the instruction which w'as given     it my conviction that Supralapsarianism (as cur?ently
         in the Protestant Reformed Churches'! is untrue. . The       understood and not, of cdurse,  implying a time order
         classical committee, which met twice with ~the con-
                           .-                                        in the counsel of Gtid, is-the on1.y doctrine of-salvation?


                                T      H       E            STANDAR!:D  B'.EAR'ER  `1  ;  /                               4 3 9
                                                                                                  .--...--
  It is. Infralapsarianism and  Supr&lapsarianism are            Hetice, one can indeed be supralapsarian and be con-
  not both correct. It-is for me one or'the other; Would fessionally sound and reformed. This also explains
  Supralapsarianismalone be the ground and content of            why the undersigned  never presented infralapsarian-
  my preaching and instruction? It would be. Would               ism as-a barrier to membership in our Protestant Re-
  it be my point of procedure, approach the congregation         formed Church at Hamilton. But, to this must be
  with it? It would be. Hence, I surely endorse. this            added that the infralapsarian-supralapsarian contro-
  quotati`on as such.                                            versy only pertains to ithe counsel of ,God, t6,the ques-
   However, I  niust add the following. Does this                tion whether the Lord, in His counsel, viewed the
  mean that "stipralapsarianism"  would almost consti-           human  race as fallen. or to fall. Infralapsarianism
  tute every ohher  word in all my preaching and instruc-        does not. teach th&:`!he .promise is for all the children
  tion? Of course no?,! Did not L. Van Huizen remark             of the covenant, that the promise gives all the children
  St  the January 11 consistory  meetjng  that if I had          the righi to eternal life, that the sacrament of baptism
  only continued in my preaching as during the first             is a sign'.lnd.%eal  of the general:Iove  of ,God for all the
  months of' my labor in Hamilton, everything would              children within the .chl~reh  of God. That infralapsar-
  have been alright? I say this to emphasize that -1 pro- ianism does not teach t&&se things is evident from the
  ceeded very slowly and cautiously. Does this mean -fact that these things are :not taught in our Confes-
  that' only a supralapsarier can be saved? `Of course           sions. Infraiapsarianism does not deny immediate re-
  not !, Yea, does this mean' that I took the stand that         generation', or,`let me put it this way : .our Confessions,
  we would only accept supralapsariers as members .of            although teaching a mediate regeneration (to which,
the congregation of Hamilton? Again, of course not!              also OUF Protestanlt Rkformed Churches subscribe). do
  Ancl, permit` me to' emphasize at this time that the           not teach mediate regeneration at the cost of immediate
  congregation of Hamilton knew this. I refer-to the .regeneration.  In other words, there-is a  r.egeuieration,
  three questions which  -1 have just asked and answered.        also in Scripture, which occurs mediately. This, how-'
  From this point of view, also this quotation is an ex-         ever, does not imply that the tfuth of immediate re- '
  pression of  malicioub and wicked  slander. The im-            generations is not taught-in our Confessions. We be-
  pression is left (and- this impression is also intended)       lieve that it certainly is. This simply means that one
  that the dispute between' our churches and the Liber-          can speak of .regeneration in moie than one sense of
  ated revolves about the infralapsarian-supralapsarian          the word. But, the teaching that the promise is for .all,
  .controversy.  Also Prof. Sdhilder wrote along these           that &God loves all the children and would save all the
  lines in his articles which `treated ithe Declaration.         children, is not infralapsarianism but Arminianism.
  THLS  ZS  EM,PHATICALLY NOT TRUE. And, if I                       Hence, we stand in the unalterable conviction that
  I may use the expression, I have practically stood on          the Protestant Rkformed Churches proclaim and teach
  my head to emphasize this.                                     the Reformed truth in all its purity. I. repeat: our  *
     However, this brings me to an interesting point to          churches certainly teach the perfect doctrine of salva-
  which I wish to call attention. It is a well-known fact        tion. We say this in our forms, do `we not? What do
                                                                           .~.
  `that our Protestant Reformed Churches are su.pralap-          we teach that. k-e should not teach, or, what do we fail
  sarian in .a11 our preaching. and instruction. We do to teach that we ought to teach? The struggle of the
  not hesitate to say this. I do not write this /because         undersigned in Hamilton did not concern the Liberated
  it is my intention at this time to enter into the infra-       Churches in the Neth.eriands,  but simply my solemn
  lapsarian-supralapsarian controversy. But,  3: do wish         callirig and obligation to uphold and maintain the truth
  to call attention to this in connection  wjth the quedtion     which I promised to maintain in the Formula of Sub-
  how we can be.supralapsarian  and still be confession-         scpiption. It %a: and is my conviction that. a denial
  ally sound. And, in connection with this, hoti does it         of the truth as t&tight in our churches is simply a `de-
  affect our attitude toward these Liberated immigrants?         nial of the Reformed trilth. We alone uphold the truth
     That our churches  can  *he  suljralapsarian  in our        of our Reformed Confession& And our present con-
  preaching and  teaching  and also be  confessional!y           ception, not merely based upon the definition of a word,
  sound is due to the -undeniable fact that Supralap-            is that marvelous presentation of .God's realization of
  sarianism has  never been `condemned. It is true that          His friendship which occtirs' only with the elect, in
  our Confessions are`infralapsarian. This, too, is .un-         the line of generations, and thtit all things, also as in
  deniable. Attention has been called to this repeatkdly         the mid& of the world, occur with a view to the salva-
in the past. Even a hasty reading of our Heidelberg             tion of God's eternally elected Church and the glory of
  Gatechism.and  the Canons of Dordrecht will convince           His Name.        That is our heritage, not- the personal
  anyone of this fact. Both proceed from the fact of             opinion of certain individuals, but the blessed truth of
  our sin and misery. But,  althoughc'our  Confeqsions          the everlasting God as revealed in the Scriptures and
  are infralapsarian, our. fathers never had the courage         expressed in our Three Forms of Unity. May we neve?
  to condemn the supralapsirian conception of things,           lose th& heritage! Does this shut the door to Libe&

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

ated immigrants? Of-course not. Are we not willing ness be based.  He. must approach the Lord's table
and eager to proclaim the truth as it is taught in our        heeding-the ,exhortation of Hebrews 10 : 19-22 : `(Hav-
churches? We indeed are. But we insist on one`thing :         ing therefore,  .b?ethren, boldness to enter into the
all our teaching must be-distinctively Protestant Re-         holiest by the blood of -Jesus, by a new and living way,
formed. If we lose this, our very right of existence          -which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil,
disappears.                               H. Veldman.         that is to say, his flesh ; And having an high priest
                                                              over the house of God ; Let 
                    -m-                                                                       us  draw near with a true
                                                              .heart  in full  assyrance  of faith, having our hearts
                                                              spiinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies
  THE TRIpLE KNOWLEDGE                                        washed with pure water."
                                                                 Finally, the proper partakers of the Lord's Supper
Ati .Exposition Of The Heidelberg are, according to the Catechism, those "who also earn-
                                                              estly desire to have their faith more and more strength-.
                      Catechism                               ened, and their lives more holy." According to the
                                                              Form- for the Administration of the Lord's Suppe?,
                    P A R T   T W O                           they are those who purpose henceforth to show true
             0-f  M a n 's   R e d e m p t i o n .            thankfulness to God iri their whole life and to walk
                                                              uprightly before Him, as also whether they have laid
                   LORD'S DAY XXX.                            aside unfeignedly all enmity, hatred, and envy, ,and do
                         Chapter 2.                           firmly resolve ,henceforivard  to walk in true love and
                                                              peace with their neighbor. This requirement may.be
                Proper Partakers. (cont.)                     regarded as the seal and test, and at .the same time as
       But  the& is more. According to the Heidelberg         the fruit, of the former. two. IOne who knows his sin
.Catechisq  it also .belong&  to the proper `partakers of     and  albhors  his corruption before  aGod and is filled
the Lord's table that they trust th$ their sins are for-      with a true sorrow after God not only longs for fey-
given them for the sake of Christ, and that their re-         giveness, but also for  s&tification. He cannot rest
maining infirmities are covered by %Iis passion- and          until he is perfectly- delivered from all his corruption.
death. According to the Form for the Administration           Besides, true sorrow over sin is rooted in the love of
of the" Lord's Supper, they are those that believe the        God. And the love of ,God manifests itself in the love
faithful promise of God that all their sins are forgiven      of  the brethren. The same is true of the trust and
them only for the sake of the passion and. death of           confidence of perfect righteousness in Christ: justifi-
Jesus Christ, and that the perfect righteousness of _ cation and sarictification are inseparably connected.
Christ is imputed and freely given them as their own,         In fact, he that embraces Christ by a true faith and
yea, so perfectly as if they had satisfied in their own       knows that he is righteous iti Him before God is al-
person for all their sins and fulfifled all righteousness.    ready sanctified,, alid therefore longs for perfect holi-
The mere knowledge of sin is not suffici&t 6 approach         ness. The. careless and profane, who do not desire to
the Lord's table. For the table of the Lord is the            increase ,in holiness, have no place at the Lord's table.
symbol' of covenant fellowship with God. The  tict of         For, according to the Catechism, "it is impossible that
coming to the Lord's Supper is symbolic of the act of         those, who are implanted into Christ by a true faith,.
faith whereby we ,enter  into the holiest, into the. sanc-    should not bring forth fruits of thankfulness."
tuary of God. And that fellowship with the ever liv-             But the Catechism .aiso speaks of those that ought
ing SGod,. that entrance into the sanctuary,. is possible     not to approach the. Lord's  ta,ble.  Regarding this it
only on the basis- of perfect righteousness. Hence,           instructs us as follows: "but hypocrites and such as
the proper partaker of the Lord's table must. be con-         turn not to God with sincere hearts, .eat and dritik
scious of the fact that all his sins are forgiven him         judgment to themdelves:`".  Mark you well, the Cate-
and that he is perfectly righteous before God, and that,      chism does not say that the church ought to bar these
too, in spite of the testimony of his own conscience          hypocrites and insincere pedple from the table of the
and of the tiany infirmities that still remain in him.        Lord, but that they are not proper partakers, and that
And this confidence can be based only upon the sacri-         therefore they ought not to come, `and ,at the same time
fice of Christ, the signs of which are exhibited in the       assu'res them that they can never receive a blessiilg at
bread and wine of the Lord's table. On nothing else           the table of the Lord, but. that they eat and drink
his confidence of righteousness  mu& be-based. Not on         judgment to t,bemselves.
the fact that he `is born of believing parents, or that he       What is a hypocrite ? A hypocrite is a  spiritual
is baptized, not on his own works, not on his' piety,         cheat. He is, &cording to the simile which the Lord
not on his religion ; but only on the sacl-ifice of Jesus     uses, like a whitened. sepulchre,  that appears beautiful
Christ his Lord must his trust for perfect righteous-         on the outside, but is within full of dead men's bones


                                     T H E   .STANDARD  B E A R E R                      -                         441

and uncleanness. He is a man that puts on a mask of            Jesus : "Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar,
the child of God, while he is a child of the devil. He         and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought
is an ungodly ma;n that plays. the part of the gbdly.          against thee ; leave there thy gift before the altar,
 From certain selfish motives he puts on the appear-           and go thy way; first be  reconciled  to thy brother,
,ance of a good Christian in his outward confession            and then come and offer ihy gift. Agree with thine
 and walk. But inwardly he is. `an unbeliever. His             adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with
 secret life is that of the ungodly. He has. not the love him ; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to
 of God. He is not filled @th sorrow after `cod, and           the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer,- =
 does not repent of sin before God. Nor does he put his        and thou .be cast into prison. Verily I say unto thee,
 trusLin `Christ. He is not a believer,.but  an unbeliever:    Thou shalt by no means come out thence,  fill thou hast
 He is a lover of self. Moreover, the hypocrite is known       paid the uttermost f&thing." Matt.  5:23-26.  Of
 as an ungodly  man only to God and to himself; As             course, this condition of insincerity may be permanent.
 long as he plays the role of a hypocrite, he. is not          In that case the insincere is not a child of God at all,
 kliown to others. You cannot therefore call a man a           a$ is similar to  the hypocrite. But whether it is
 hypocrite. IGod .knows him, .however, and the Word of         temporary or permanent, one that is characterized by
 God judges him and condemns him as an ungodly and             such a disposition of heart and mind `should not come
 wicked man. Hence,, he also knows himself. Before             to the table of the Lord. For according to the Cate-
 his own consciousness he stands condemned as an -chism, he eats and drinks judgment to. himself.
 unbeliever. From this it also follows that one need            `That'the hypocrites and insincere eat and drink
 not be afraid that he himself is a hypocrite. It is           judgment to themselves is based upon I Car. 11:29; 30 : -
 indeed not difficult to understand that believers some-       "For he that eateth and drinketh utiworthily, eateth
 times are struck with fear that they are hypocrites           and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the
 and not real ihildren of #God. We do not like to appear -`Lord's body: For this cause many are weak and `sickly
 before one another as iye appear before ,God. . Our           among you, and many sleep." The -meaning is that by
 outward appearance is by no means always a perfect            eating and drinking unworthily, that is, by approach-
representation of our inward state and condition. In           ing the Lord's Supper merely to eat bread and drink
 our old nature we are always insincere. Insincerity wine, without discerning the Lord!s body spiritually,
 cleaves to our very best wofks, to our confession and         or in other words, by approaching the-Lord's table
walk, and even to our prayer. We need not be  SW=              without faith and repentance one incurs a judgment
 prise$, therefore, that even believers sometimes have         of God upon himself rather than a blessing. This
 the feeling `that they areI.really  hypocrites. But the -judgment of `God which one receives by eating and
 differences between the r,eal hypocrite and that feeling      drinking unworthily does not necessn&ly mean that
 of hypocrisy is that the hypocrite has  no- life, and         by so doing one eats-and drinks eternal damnation to
 knows it; that he puts on an appearance of being a            himself. The context seems to point in a different
 living child of God, while he knows that he is inwardly       direction. For in verse 30 the apostle explains that
 wicked. He is not afraid that he is a hypocrite,. but         because of that disregard'and profaning of the Lord's
 he is assured of it. The principal difference between         table many are weak and sickly in the congregation,
 him and the child of, God is always that while the latter     and many sleep. These words refer undoubtedly to
`repents of his sin before God, even of his insincerity        bhysical sickness and physicals death. And the apostle
 and hypocrisy, the former never does.                         evidently regards the fact that so many in the congre-
    But the Catechism speaks also of those that turn           gation were stricken with disease and that so many
 not,to  God with qincere-hearts. `There is undoubtedly        died as achastisement of the Lord to manifest His dis-
 6 distinction between these- and the hypocrites. Those        pleasure  npon~  the church for their profaning the
 that do not turn to God with -sincere hearts may be           Lord's table:- But although these wbrds do not maces-
 children of  IGod that refuse to repent temporarily.          .snriZy refer to eternal damnation, this is certainly in-
 There is, for instance;  thy sin of hatred -and  envy         eluded in this judgment of `God for all those that per-
 against the brother. And for a time they nourish that         manently profane the table of the Lord and do not dis-
 sin in their hearts. Perhaps they attempt to repent           cern His body. The hypocrites and wicked certainly
 of all the rest of their sins and to confess them before      receive the bread an'd wine, but no more. And as is
 IGod'and to receive forgiveness and peace of heart and        the case with the preaching of the Word, namely, that
 conscience. But of course, they fail to receive th&e          it is a savor of death u&o death for the wicked repro-
 blessings of grace. Th; Lord does not answer such             bate, so it is also with the  sacramebt  of holy  *corn-.
 prayer, or rather,.says to that child : "You- g0 back, `munioni-the wicked eat and drink damnation to them-
 and confess the rest bf your sins also. I am~not going        selves. They do not receive the grace of God, but His
 to forgive 75 percent of y<ur sins if you want to keep        curse.  lind His wrath abideth on them. Ursinus in
 25 percent for yourself." ,Or in the words of th.e Lord       his exposition of the Heidelberg Catechism mentions


  442                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
     .       -
  four  diff&ent  reasoni why unbelievers  2nd ungodly soul, on the tree of the eross, when he cried out with a
  bring upon themselves cpndemnation  by eating and                  loud voice, `My `God, my God ! why hast thou forsaken
   drinking the signs of the holy supper. First, they me?" that we might be accepted of God and never be
  receive a curse because they profane the signs, and                forsaken of him: and finally confirmed with his death
  therefore, they profane the thiilg signified, the body             and shedding of. his blood, the new and eternal testa-
  and blood of Jesus Christ; as they take to themselv&               ment, that covenant of grace and reconciliation when
  those things which Gere not instituted for them but                he said : `It .is finished.'
  only for `the believers. ,Secondly, by taking to theni-                "Secondly. And that we might firmly believe that
  selves the signs of the  covepant  in the holy  suljper            we- belong  .to this covenan't  of grace, the Lord Jesus
  they profane the covenant of ,God itself. They desire Christ, in his last Supper, took bread, and when He
  to appear in covenant with God when  they are, in ha,d given thanks, he brake it, and gave it to his dis-
 s leagtie with the devil.. And thus they make God api               ciples, and said, `Take, eat, this is my body which is
 ; pear.as  if' He were the Father of the wicked. Thirdly, broken for you, this do in remembrance of me; in like
 " by partaking of the signs of the bread atid wine 2nd              manner also after supper he took'the cup, gave thanks
  outwardly receiving the benefits which' God d&&&ted                and said, Drink ye all of it ;. this cup is the new testa-
  only for the believers they do not discern the Lord's              ment in my blood, which is shed for you and for many,
  body, and they +r.a.Fple the blood of the ,Son of God              for the remission of sins ; this do ye as often as ye
  under their feet.`, "Atid fi&ly, they condemn them-                drink it in remembrance of me' : that is, as often as ye
  selves as hypocrites because $i `coming to the Lord's              eat of this bread.and  drink of &his cup, you shall there-
_ table they profess that they believe tl-& doctrine that            by as by a sure remembrance and pledge, be admon-
  there is no stilvation  outside of Christ, while in the            ished and, assul;ed of this my hearty love and faithful-
  meantime they themselves never repent and believe.                 ness-towards you ; that, whekeas  you should otherwise
  And -therefore  they condemn themselves.,                    ._    have suffered' eternal. death, I have given- my body to
           Such then is the answer of the Catechism to the           the death of the cross, and shed my blood for you ;
  question as to the proper partakers of the holy supper.            and as certainly feed and nourish your hungry and
  Only* they who evince this spiritual disposition can               thirsty souls witK tiy. cru&ed  body and shed blood,
  obey the injnnctton  of the Lord, spoken at the institu-           to everlasting ljfe,..as  ihis ,bread is broken before your
  tion of His .supper : "Do this in remembrance of Me." eyes, and this cup is given to you, and you eat and
  And what it means to remember the' Lord Jesus Christ               drink the same with your mouth; in remembrance
  at His table is beautifully explained in our Form -for             of -me.                                         `..
  the -Administration of the #Lord's Supper, the words                "From this institution of the Holy Supper of  otir.
  of which we desire to quote at the close of this chapter :         Lord Jesus Christ, we see that,it dire& our faith and
           "Now after this manner are we to remember him             trust to .his perfect sacrifice (once offered on the
  by it:                                                             cross) as to  the only ground and foundation of  our.
           "First. That we are confidently persuaded in our          salvation, wherein he is become to our hungry and
  hearts, that our Lord Jesus Christ (according to the               thirsty souls, the true meat and drink of life eternal.
  p?omises  made to our forefathers in the Old  Testa-               For by his death he hath taken away the cause of our
 `-ment) was sent of the Father into the world ; that he             eternal death and misery, namely, sin, and obtained
  assumed our -flesql and -blood ; that he bore for ds tli&          for us the II quickening Spirit, that  -we by the s&me
  wrath of .God (under which -we should have perished                (who dwelleth in Christ as in' the head, and in us as
  everlastingly) from the beginri'ing  of his incarnation,           his memibers),  might have true communion with him;
  to the end of his life upon earth; and that he hath                and be made partakers of all his blessings, of life eter-
  fulf.illed, for  us, all  irbtitiieace to  the divine law, and     nal, righteousness and glory.
  righteousness ; especialljj,  when%h,e weight of our sins             "Besides, th% we by this same Spirit may also be
  and the wrath of ,God pre$sed  out of him the bloody               ,united as membelys  of one body in true brotherly love,
  sweat in  ihe  .garden,  where he was bound that we                as the holy Apostle sait!, `For we, being many, are
  might be freed from our sins  ; that he afterwards                 one bread and on.e body ; for we. are all partakers of
  suffered innumeyable reproaches, that we .might n,ever             that one bread.' For as out- of many grains one meal
  be, confounded ; that he. was innocently condemned to              is ground,  and- one bread baked, and  out of many
  death, that~ we might be aaqui$ted at the judgment-                berries being pressed togethei, one-wine floweth, and
  seat of God ; yea, that he suffered his blessed body to            mixeth  itself together; so shall we all, who by a true
  be nailed on the cross-that he might fix thereon'the               faith are ingrafted into Christ, .be altogether one body,
  handwriting of our sins ; and hath also taken up&                  through brotherly love, for Christls sake, our beloved
  himself the curse due to us, that he might fill us v&h             Savior, who hath so exceedingly loved us, and not only
  his blessings : and  bath humbled himself unto the show this in word, but also in very deed towards one
  deepest reproach and pains of `hell, both in body and              another."                                      H. H.


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEA-RER:                           c,                443

                                                                    ever-recurring expression:  IGod saw that it was good.'
          O U R   D'OCTRINti.                                       This surely emphasizes the cdmpleteness,  the. perfec-
                                         i                          tion of the work of God's hands, especially because Gocl
                                                                    saw and it was good. W&i fGod looks at a thing He
   The Hexaemeron or Creation-Week views it _ thoroughly and completely.
                                                                       Finally, Scripture also reveals  uhto  -us  the-pro-
                                                                    gr,essiveness  of the creation progress. To this we will
                                 II.                                also call attention in connection with the six days of
   SCRIPTURE%  VIEWPtiOItiT  ,OF THE ACCOUNT                        creation.    We may .note, however, that the creation
                          OF  CREATIlON                             account is characterized by an ever ascending scale so
                                                                    that cu'eation finally reaches its climax in man.
   First,  let us repeat: the  b,eauty  of  the  Scri~~u?ul  ac-
  count of went& is.its xevel@ion unto us of the living             Moreowr, the viewpoint .of the Scripturn acco& of
   Go.cl.                                                           creatioln is earthly, or the earth.
          First,  IXe majesti&  words: In the beginning God            This appears from tee Scriittiral- narrative:.>tself.
   created the heavens and the earth, are the.keynote  of           We read  i_n  G&.-i il: "In the beginning #God cr.e&ted
   the entire passage. We have more .or less gro,m &-               the heaven and the earth." - And `then the narrative
   Customed  to this sublime and majestic truth, arid can           continues in verse 2 : "And  -the earth  tiith without
   scarcely estimate* and ahpreciate  its force and gran-           form, .and void ; and darkness was ,upon the face of the
   deur. At the time -when Moses recorded these words,              deep. And the Spirit of ,God moved up-on the face of
   thrdugh the infallible guidance of the Holy Spirit,. the         the waters." It is evident, therefore, that Holy Writ
   world was steeped in idoiatry and the vain idols of the          immediately focus& `our attention upon the earth and
   nations vied'with one another for supremacy. How                 its creation.
   majestic, therefore, and how grand is this amazing                  The earth, therefore, is, according $0 the word of
   utterance which is emphasized throughout Holy Writ:              God, the- center of the world's ,creation  and of history ;
   In the beginning God  cyeated  the  heavkns and the              all things revolve about the  .earth.   T,his, we  und'er-
   earth ! All of creation is ascribed to the only true Gag.        stand, must not be understood in the physical and geo-
   *      Secondly, `the ScTiptural recdrd  of the creation- of     graphical sense of the word. Modern Science informs
   the-universe  is so emphatic and wholly unique: How              us, and this we need not deny, that the earth is one of
 - simple, and yet, how emphatic and unique are the                 the smallest bodies which moves about in the mighty
  words : God said . . ;. and it was so. Of cocirse! When           universe. There are other bodies, planets which are
  #God speaks it is and when He `commands it stands.                greater than our' earth.. In fact, .things do not move
   For, this word of the living- God is but the symbol, the         about the earth but about the sun ; the sun, therefore,
  -_vehicle  of the irresistible and omnipotent will of #God.       and not the earth, is the center of our solar system.
   When the Lord speaks He spesks creatively. And in-                 .However,  Scripture measures importance and great-
   stead of ascribing the existence of the things to. an ness not as modern science does, This is clear, for ex-
   eternal matter, or instead of defining thejr coming into         ample, from the -content of the book of Genesis. In
   existence as the result of a long process of develop-            the early chapters  of this book of "beginnings" we
   ment, Holy Wfit simply tells us that ,God spake, and,            have an account of the creation of the world, and also
   of course, when He speaks: And it was so.                        of the history of the world, as before the flood, along
        Thirdly, we should also note  the completeness of           very broad lines. Very briefly we are given'-a "bird's-
. this  &eation  in this infallible Scriptural  narrgtive.          eye view" of the first one thousand six hundred.and
   On the one hand, we read the ever recurring expres-              fifty years of the world's history, although we should
   sion: An.d it was so. This implies perfect correspond- bear in mind that also this history is recorded from
   ence of the result with the Divine intention% and crea-          the viewpoint of the two-fold seed in the midst of the
   ting. . It was always exactly as the Lord spoke. Things          world. But, soon after the flood, Scripture limits its
   always  occur exactly 8s the Lord speaks and wills them          account of the history o$ the world to but one family,
to happen. This applies to  creatidn. However, we                   that of Abraham and Isaac and .Jacob,  and our atten-
   may also apply this to all. things. The- Lord calls the tion is directed tq the history of the development of
   things into existence which .He has sovereignly willed           IGod's covenant in the midst of the world. This, we
   from before the foundation of the world, and therefore           understtifid,  is completely in harmony with the. [Scrip-
   all the things that are and occur are and occur exactly          tural truth that all things revolve about the people
   as H,e willed them. Tl-iis must .also be applied to the ,of God and that <God's kingdom and its development is
   preaching of the gospel and its obvious effect upon its          indeed the center of the world's history. Also  froin
   hearers,.  be-it, unto, their salvation or unto- their con- this viewpoint we find ho support in Scrip$ure for the
   demnation. And, on the @$.er` hand, tie also read the            theory of "Common  Grace" which would  focus our


                                                                        .


444                    cl           .THE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R -   :.
 attention upon the glory and beauty of the world which place which he occupies and fills in the development of
 lies in darkness, w&h speaks of a life in and of this IGod's ki?gdom and covenant. We so often admire and
world, apart f?om grace and the regenerating Spirit of resp&d.an  individual because of his stature according
 God, which. is good before" God Andy worthy of our to the standard of worldly power and ri'ches, and there-
praise and admiration. `This theory of "Common Grace" by also fall into the evil of being disdainful of ,that
 which lauds the natural man and this world apart from        which is truly great in the sight of God. James 2 :l-7
the regenerating Spirit of the Lord finds little support      is a clear and striking example or passage which
 in Scripture's account of the world before the flood.        throws light exactly upon this matter. We need not
   -That the Word of God should describe things; as in        quote this passage. Let. us, therefore, strive to be
 Gen. 1, froni the viewpoint 6f the earth is, of course,      great, not in the sight of men and according to the
.perfectly understandable. It is simcly a fact, is it not,    standards  ,of the world, but in the sight  df  `God and
that the earth is the center of the history of the world.     according. to the standard of the,Lord. This also-en-
 It is upon this earth that the. struggle occurs between      ables us to understand why the earth issthe cenker of
 the Seed of the woman, and that of the serpent, and it the universe, and that the `viewpoint of the earth is
 is upon the earth that the Christ is born. This struggle     the viewpoint of Scripture's' ac?ount of the creation
 is limited, of, course, to this earth. The question might of the world.
                                                                       -.
-conceivably arise whether a similar spiritual  conflict             _  -
 is also occurring upon other planets, whether the Lord                         THE&_ l?IRiST -DAY:
 has elect  and reprobates also in other parts of  our        Genesis 1:1-S.
 mighty universe. Does the fait that the Scriptures            We read in this passage: "In the beginning  ..God
 give' us an account which is exclusively' eqrthly neces-     created the heav.@n and the ear&h. ,And the earth was
 sarily imply that God's covenan! is' therefore limited       without form, and void; and darkness was upon the
 to  `our earth? To this ,we reply that Christ suffered face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon
 and died upon the earth, that upon the,cross He suf- the face of the wateis. And God  -said, Let there be
 fered an eternal death, and that therefore it is quite       light: and there was light. And `God saw the `light,
 impossible that Christ should have suffered  aid died that it was good: and IGod diyided the light from the
 several such eternal deaths in other parts of our uni-       darkness. And God called the light Day, and the dark-
 verse. Hence, God chose this earth as the sphere of ness He called Night. -And the evening and the morn-s
 the  spiritual conflict. which is  conne&ed  with the        ing were the first day."
 development of His covenant. Here occurs the struggle           In connection with this passage we would remark
 between light and darkness, righkeousness  and unright- `in the first @ace that we, understand `Gen. 1: 1 as re-
 eousness, the truth and the,lie, the Seed of the woman       ferring to the  .very beginning, the first moment of
 and that of the serpent; here, upon oti? earth, Christ       time, when thk Lord created, in principle as it were,
 assumes our flesh and blood, suffers and dies, merits -the  heavizns and- the earth. Then the material, the
 everlasting life and righteousness. And He is the Head -basic substance was created. Then the Lord created-
 of the creation of (God in Whom all things shall be re- time. Hence, verse 2 must therefore be regarded as
 united, the things which are in heaven and the things referring to the time after ,God'created, "in the begin-
 which are upon the earth.                                    ning," the heavens and the earth and before I& created
       We need not be surprised, therefore, that Genesis the light.
 describes the creation of the world from the viewpoint          This implies that the earth in the second verse of
 of the earth. `The fact remains that the importance of -Gen. 1 is mean{ as it existed immediately after the act
 anything must be determined,`not  by its size or weight,     of ,God recorded in verse 1. That earth was without
 but by its place which it occupies in the -history of form and void. It was without form and order, with-
 IGod's covenant and kingdom. Greatness, true great- out.any ornamentation or inhabitants of any kind. It
 ness is only that which is great in the sight of the Lord. was empty, devoid-of life, utterly waste and desolate.
 We often lose sight of this truth-and we often-measure       And darkness, we read, was upon the face of the deep.
 a man's greatness according to our own carnal and            This darkness refers to the original darkness, the "un-
 human standards. A striking example of this truth created" darkness, ,the darkness of utter nothingness.
 is the importance of John  the- Baptist. We read of him      This darkness was upon the face of the deep, that is,
that he shall be called great. Now it is simply a fact the deep waters which `covered the face of the earth
 that th$ entire ministry of the Baptist was confined as a garment. We are reminded of what we read in
 to a period of some six months. Such an one would            Psalm 104 :6 and 2 Pet. 3 :5, and we quote : "Thou
 hardly be called great in our day and age. Neverthe- cover,edst  it with the deep as. with a garment-: the
 less we read of this forerunner of the ILord that he waters stood above the mountains . . . For this.they
 would be called great. His greatness must not be de- willingly are-ignorant of, that by the word of ,God the
 termined by 5 standard of human greqtness but by the heavens were of .old, and the earth standin;  out of the


                                    `T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                          445

 water and in the water." And the Spirit moved upon            the original work  -of His hands' tb recede into the
 the face of the waters. In this expression the Spirit         original. darkness, emptiness, vacuum, nothingness.
 of God is su?ely meant. The imagery used here is that         Then we would not have a- repeated exchange of light
 of a bird as it flutters over  ,her young. The Spirit         and darkness, of the day and the night, but a repeated
 moved upon the face of the waters, to support and pre-        destruction and recreation of the light. This. explana-
 serve, as it were, the created earth and waters as they tion, however, is obviously impossible. The Lord did
 had beep called .into existence according to verse 1.         not repeatedly destroy what He had once made. See-
 Even as the Spirit of God, also today, preserves and          ondly, closely related to the immediate preceding, light
 sustains all things, so He also &stained the original         is a creature of God which was certainly not repeatedly
 creation of Gen. 1 :l. =                                      annihilated. Light was created by God, received exist-
                                                               ence therefore in .dist&tion  from His own being by
 Upon the first day God create6 light;                         the almighty word of His power, not to be destroyed
    .First, light is life, inasmuch as light is movement.      repeatedly, but to 1Qe preserved apd continued in its
 We all have heard of waves of light. Fact is; darkness        existence by the same tiighty and all-sustaining W0r.d
 was upon the face of the deep. As already stated, this        of the living IGod. Thirdly, that ,God `created light on
 is not- the. darkness of) our nigllt, but the un,Freated      the first day does not conflict in afiy sense of the word
 darkness. The.darkness  of our night is` a created .dark-     with the fact that He created the sim, moon, and stars
 `Bess,  a creature, for the Lord-created the darkne&and       upon the fourth day. Upon the fourth day the Lord             .
 the light. IThe darkness of our night is but a shadow,        s&ply created those heavenly bodies which would be
 a shadow of or. caused by turning, the turning of the         the centers of the light which He created upon the first
 earth upon its axis. We wiil have more to say about day. The  L&d simply concentrated the light of the
this` when ~,&,~discuss  the creation of the sun, mbon,        first day in the.sun,- mooi; and stars. -Up& the fourth
 and stars. upon the fGur.th day. That the darkness of         day no other light was called into being. Hence, the
i ,Gen. 1:4 where we read : "And God saw the light, that --light of the first day remained, was not recalled or
 it was good.: and `God divided the light from the dark-       destroyed, proceeded unquestionably,  even  aa now,  -
 ness," is not the darkness of verse 2 is evident from         from a certain center. And, therefore, already upon
 the text. First, it is evident t.hat the darkness of verse    the first day, because of the waves of light and the
 2 preceded the creation df the light. And, secondly,          revolving earth, the change between, light and dark-
 the darkness of verse 4 is called Night in verse .5,          ness; day and night, was formed also upon the first'
 whereas the Lord called the light Day. Obviously,             day. The darkiless of the night is nothing el'se tlian
 therefore, the darkness of verse 4 is the darkness of         a shadow, a shadow of turning, and caused by the <urn-
 our night, and this night as well as the day are created      ting of the earth upon its axis as it revolves about
 by the Lord. Light is life. Physical light is the life        the sun.
of all substance and matter. It is inovement, waving,             Secondly, light is the-basis for all fellowship thru-
 undulation. We are all acquainted with the waves of           out the creation of God. This applies, first of all,
 light. Light is the life of substance and matter, .re-        to  th'e fellowship of the creatures with one another.       ~~
 vealing itself in electrical and, magnetic powers. Be-        For, on the one hand, light and warmth are inseparably
fore the ,creatioti.,of  this light the. chaotic earth and     connected. The chaos was darkness, but that darkness
 the mliverse was lifeless, without movement, a lifeless       was also characterized by the absolute cold.. Light im-
 mass. Interesting is the question: How must we con-           parts heat and war&h. And warmth is the indispens-
 ceive of this light  aad `also of its operation? Did it       able requisite for lif$ and that of &he life of man and
 have, as our present light, a center, and did also then       animal and plant. l&t, on the other hand; light is thb
 the earth move and revolve, so that the change of day         basis for all fellowship, .also of the 3reatures  toward
 and night was caused in approximately the same man-           and with one another, because of the peculiar- char-
' ner as now? IOr, must we conceive of m&,ers  in such         acteristic of light. Light is -movement, moves, we are
 a way that everything'stood still, and that in a manner told, at the .rate of X36,00 miles per,second. And the
 which we cannot. understand, the Lord called each             outstanding beculiarity and characteristic of light is
 morning the light -into existence and withdrew it each        that it reflects upon the things, and returns with th,e
 evening? The Scriptures give us no definite answer to         image of the things. Hence, light  entibles us  ts see
 this question. Nevertheless we prefer the first of these      things. &And therefore light is the indispensable requi-
 interpretations, that it had, as our present surdight,  a     site for all life and fellowship. How&very this also ap-
 center, and that for the following reasons. First, ac-        plies to the fellowship between creation'and God. ,God
 cording to the second interpretation, the light which         saw the light and judged that it was very good. This
 the [Lord  formed tipon the first day would then have light proceeded from God, shone upon the things, re-
 been destroyed each evening.  E&ch day, then, the             flected them to the. Lord, carried the image of the
 Lord would withdraw the .light, and cause, as it were,        things back to the eye of the Creator.


 4 4 6                                      - T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R   - -.
     Finally, this physical light of the first day is also
the basis ant figure,of another and higher light. Pre- -
sently the Lord will create man and He would create                   THROUGH THE  A-GES
in .that Fan, adapted to the light--of creation, a two-fold
light. There is, first of -all, the light which we would
designate. ai the rational light. Thereby man, endowed             John Calvin and The Reformation
with this rational "eye" as well as the physical eye,                               In Geneva                      _
`would be able t'o see the works of God's hands under-
standingly. Also the dog, cat, etc., see the things round             Lifie of Calvin. Calvin's dates are 1509-64. He'was
$bout them,  ..are. qldowed with: physical- light 0; the          born in Noyon, Picardy, France.= He came from a good
physical eye,  although".even':f'i-bm.,a:~hysical  point of family. ,His father was secretary to the bishop of.
view, it is-said, do' not see the things exacay as we see         Noyon. At the age of twelve he was made a bene'ficiary
them. 1 Man's tiyb is the most wonderful of all sight             chaplain in and near Noyon, which brought him an in-
organs of the living creature. But even if the animal             come. But 116 was never ordained priest and took no
could see exactly as we do,~ it do&s not see understand-          degree. Having been provided with an income,  he
ingly, does not recogriize in all things the works `of the        entered. the university of Paris. where he completed
living  ,God.   ban  sees-things   understandingly,   .recog-     his undergraduate studies. ILeavi+pg Paris, he w&t to
nizes the handiwork of the Creator, is endowed with               the university of Orleans to -study law. He also took-
a rational eye. And, in the second place, we  would               up the study of Greek with a Lutheran  teacher,. Mel-
speaks of spiritual light, the spiritual eye. With this           chior Wolmar. Having already mastered the Latin in
"eye" Adam saw his IGod spiritually, saw Him with                 the university of Paris, he continukd his study in Greek
ali the love of his heart and soul,. saw the beauty and           and in addition took up the study of Hebrew in the
greatness of his Maker and praised and loved Him with             College de France in Paris. Thus-far he had shown no
all his being. And this light ii symbolic of the light -particular interest in matters of religion. At this time
of love which God now pours into our hearts-and minds             he was still untouched by the Reformation, its doc-
by His Holy  Spikit.         Even  as physical light is that trines .and struggle. Yet he was not ignorant of the-
movement, which proceeds from God and takes up the                issues ; for Luther's books had already penetrated
image of the things and reflects them to our. eyes, so            France. But in 1533 Calvin was converted and hence-
spiritually light is that movement of the grace of God            forth religion `was to him a matter of prime import-
upon the creature, who is adapted to His service,                 ante. He now began the work. of an evangelist in
whereby man can once again "see", God, see #Him with . Bourges. Receiving tidings of the ,death  of his father
the eye of love, "see" Him in all His glory and perfec-           he went to Noyon, the- place of his birth.  Here he
tion, know Him as we are known.. Then God's fellow-               again preached the gospel to the people of Noyon and
ship with His people will be perfected, and His taber-            of the neighboring towns. A few- were converted to
nacle with man will be complete, in the heavenly, eter-           His gospel  b& the majority was  h&tile and  Calvin-
nal perfection whereof the first Paradise was an earth-. . . sought a new field of labor in Paris.
ly symbol.                                                            H&e in Paris Calvin wrote an inaugural address
                                            H.aVeldman.           for Cop, the newly elected rector of the university of
                                                                  Paris. `Though written by Calvin, it was delivered by
                                                                  Cop. The .key+ote of the discburse was the `?Grace of
                                                                  God the one sole fountain of man's renewal, pardon,
                                            `3                   -and eternal life." It was spoken on all saints day, .yet
                                                                 it contained not a word about the saints. The result
                                                  c.             -was that a storm broke loose and ~Cop and Calvin were
                        ICLASSLS   ~`EAABT                        pronounced heretics. The qfficials of the city went to *
will meet in regular session, Wednesday, July 11, at - arrest Ctilvin, but he eluded them and fled to a city,
9 o'clock A.M. in the Protestant Reformed Church at               Angouleme  by name, and found safety in the home of a
H o l l a n d ,   M i c h i g a n .                               friend, Louis du  Tillit. Finding here a large library
                                           D. Jonker  (S.C.)      he spent his time in keading and meditation. IAfter a
                                                                  half year Calvin left his hiding and went to Poitiers,
                                                                  where he drew disciples around him._ The fruit of h$s
                 d          B  Q  .*  *                           labors here was the organization of a small congrega-
                                                                  tion..
                                                                      From this city Calvin went to Noyon where he sev-
Notice!  - as is customary, the Standard Bearer will              ered the last link that bound him to the papacy by re-
not be published for the,-15$h  of July,
     _                                                            signing `his benefices.' From Noyon he went to Pafis,
                                                                                                              0


                                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D -   BEARER,                                     447

      and met Le Febre and other reformers. Feeling per- tious and loose-living. I$ centuries `Geneva had known
      haps that France was too perilous for him, he quitted aimost nothing of moral discipline. This was the case
      Paris and set out for Germany. Hardly had he crossed -not only in Geneva but throughout Europe, in every
      the borders of Germany, when persecutidns once more ' city of the patriarchate of the Pope of Rome. ,Wi$ten-
      broke out in France. Had Calvin been in Peris when             brlrg, the center of the Lutheran Reformation, was
      the storm broke, he would certainly have been n<mber-          that  .corrupt, that Luther more than orice threatened
      ed among the victims. This persecution had been occa- td quit the city.
      sioned by the publication of a tract or placard fiercely          As  to Geneva, before the `expulsion of  Rime, its
      denouncing the mass, `The paper was heided, "True              clergy was profligate, its govgrnment  tyrannical,, and
      articles on the horrble,  great, and intolerable abuses
                                            -_                       its pe~$e:d~moralized.r.,  The. (Genevans re&led,  danced,
      of the Popish Mass."             -                     . .     played-`& `c&U;ds and fought :in the streets ; they sang
          The year 1534 found Calvin safely in Protestant            indecent songs, uttered fearful blasphemies, indtilged
      Basel. He was now twenty five years old. Here he               in short, in all sorts of excesses. The people had adopt-
      wrote his "Institutes of the Christian Religion" dedi-         ed protestantism but not with their hearts. Many of
      cated.to  Francis I-of France. The work had been be-           them were still papists at heart; some were anabap-
      gun. in Anguoleme. It is tirefaced with a letter to.the        tists, and others were deeply tainted -with infidel apd
      king, and its purpose  was to defend his (Calvin's)            materialistic philosophy; And this whole population
      slandered' fellow-believers. `On the publication of his        ti%s in the church and were members of it in `good
      Institutes in -1536, Calvin once more visi.ted  Noyon; standing, however unworthy. There. was no church
      the place of his birth. From there he proceeded to             discipline. All these libertines were allowed to partake
      Base& and August of  this same year found him in               of the cord's Supper under the reign of the Roman
      `Geneva. He had -come to rest only for the' night to- bishops. Iin those days' everybody belonged to the
      depart on the morrow. But he was pressed into service          church, infidel and b&liever,  saint and sinner- alike.
      in Geneva by Far&. Calvin first refused. He believed           And the great weakn-ess  of the Lutheran Reformation
      his*sphere was his library and his proper instrument was that it allowed the world to continue in the church.
      of work his pen. He believed, he cquld best edify all             `The world wa8 in the church .when Calvin arrived
      the .ehurches from the privacy of a study-room. But            in #Geneva,  and this despite the fact that Geneva had
      Fare1  `commanded Calvin to remain, _ and imprecated           embraced Protestantism. The great achievement ,of
      upon.his studies the curse of God, should he make them         Calvin was that through the vigorous exercise of
      thi excuse for declining the call.             -               church discipline by the ruling ministry which he re-
         Refomt of Geneva p&r to Calvin's arrival. (Geneva           stoi*ed to the church, the world in Geneva was east out
      for two centuries had been gbvertied politically by its        of the church.
      bishops and the *Count of Savoy. But in 1526 it had
      gained its independence and made alliance with B@rne               The new political government in Geneva after the
      and the Swiss. The new government, formed of  citi-            exmlsion  of Rome. If we are to have understanding
      cenzs of liberated Geneva, allowed Wm. Fare&  Peter, of Calvin's struggles and achievement in `Geneva, we
      Viret, and Antoine Froment to preach the Gospel in             must know how its government was organized. There
      .IGeneva, and it officially adoyted  the advocated reforms.    was 1) the Council-General, the convention of $11 the
      -The mass was abolished, images and relics -were r&            citizens of Geneva ; 2) the Council of two hundred,
      moved; the bishops  weie banished, all Catholic worship        called the Great Council and chosell by the Council-
      was forbidden, a school and a hospital were founded,           General  ; 3) the Little  .Council  or  ISenate formed of
      daily sermons, simple communion, and a strict disci-           twenty five members and chosen ti? the Great Council.
      pline was introduced.                                          As was said, the Great Council was chosen by the
                                                                     Council-General, but in 1542 this was changed, con-
          The character of the Genevan. reform prior io the trary $0 the protests of Calvin. In this year the elec-
      mrivvnl of Calvin. The Genevans, being a liberty-loving
      people, had expelled< the pope's bishop, who had fast-         tion. of the IGreat Council` was taken away from the
      ened himself  upon theni as a political as well as ,an         people and given to the Little Council or Senate. The
      ecclesiastical ruler. The hatred of the  ,Genevans of          Councjl of twenty five was the ruling body in Geneva.
      Rome and all things Romish, also explains the action               Calvin's first  labors  in Geneva. Calvin was ap-
`_    of the Genevan  new government, accord&g to which it           pointed to give -lectures on the Scriptures and  `40
      introduced the ecclesiastical reforms advocated by             preach, which he did, not-in the school, for there -was
      Farell.' It was hatred of Rome that made them do this          none,- but in the Cathedral ; and not to students, for
      but not love of God and of the truth and of hoiy living.       th&e were none, but to the coinmon people.
      Fact is that, as their treatment of Calvin was to indi-            Withiri three months from the commencement of
      cate, the great majority of them were haters of God            th& lab&s he had compiled & brief but comprehensive
      and of His truth and of holy living. They were licen-          cre&d of the #Christian faith,' and a Caiechism for the
         -     _


 4 4 8                                T H E   .STANDARD   B E A R E R

 jnstruction of the youth.' Both were adopted and.ap-        capacity. The libertines were there too in great force.
 proved by the Council of two &ndred.                        In the one church Calvin preached; in the other Farel.
    Calvin also recommended that the government ap:          Calvin, as did Fare1 in his church, expounded in his
 point certain persons who, in connection with% the min-     sermon the nature of the Lord's Supper; he described
 isters, should take oversight over all the citizens of      the attitude required of those who would worthily par-
 aGeneva  and  .report  the unworthy to the church for take bf it ; and recalling the disorders which had reign-
 discipline and, if need be, for excommunication out-of      ed in the city in the past weeks, he declared that this
 the chu'rch. This` recommendation was adopted by the        day the Lord's Supper would not be  dis]?ensed to
 Council of .Two Hundred.                                    prove that the disorders were no> those of the majority
    Calvin next drafted a number of rules for the re-        assembled. Sooner should his blood dye the boards he
 formation of the morals of the city. The government stood upon than that he would be guilty of the profan-
 adopted these rules and placed them on the statute          ation demanded of him, namely,  that. he serve the
 books.    These rules forbade games of chance, oaths        Lord's Supper to libertines who were present in large
*and blasphemies, dances and lascivious songs, and the numbers. "We protest before you all", he said, "that
 farces and masquerades in which the people had pub-         we are not obstinate about the question of bread, leav-
 lie19 indulged. ,They enjoined all persons to attend the    ened or unleavened ; that. is a matter of indiffer.ence,
 sermons on the `Sabbath and on _the week-dais and           which is left to the discretion of the chtirch..  If w.e de-
 retire  to their homes at nine o'clock at night. The        cline to administer the Lord's Supper, it is because we
masters of hotels and &bare& were to see to it that          are in great difficulty; which prompts  US to this
 their guests observed t`hese.  regulations.                 course."
    Calvin banished from  Genevn. The fundamental               In the evening Calvin preached .again.  3Vhile he
 cause. `I'his cause was the hatred of  iCalvin by the was preaching, a storm broke.loose,-on  &count of what
 worldiy element in Geneva, the libertines. This ele- he was saying, Swords were drawn, and' infuriated
ment continued in their lascivious ways. Calvin thmi- men pressed forward to the pulpit. A single stroke
 dered reproof fro&the pulpit against- their vices. This and Calvin's car.eer  would have been ended. But fr?ends
was more than they could endure. Especially did they threw themselves between the pulpit and the mob, and
resent the "excommunication".  @or the ministers would       remonstrated with it. The Tesult was that the affair
 remove from the rolls of the church the names of            passed without bloodshed.
members who lived in'sin but would not repent.                  The next day the Council of Two Hundred met, and
    The immediate occasion df CalvMs kwishment. The          pronounced sentence of banishment upon Calvin and
opposition to Calvin's "excommunication"  w&s so             Farel. The sentence was ratified on the following day
strong that the Council of two hundred ruled that the        by the Coimcil general or assembly of the~people. The
:Lord's  Supped should be refused to no one. Caldin, of Council rested its sentence of banishment upon the
course,  r'efused  to comply.  The. libertines also  de-     question of unleavened bread. - Herein it acted deceit-
`manded that the Lord's Supper be dispensed with un-         fully. For Calvin had made it plain that the question
leavened bread. Again the civil authorities -so ruled        of unleavened bread was `with him an open one. The.
without consulting the ministers. This was laying the        real reason of the banishment was that Calvin and
church in bondage and Calvin therefore refused to            Fare1  had refused to serve the Lord's Supper to the
comply also respecting this matter, though he- had no        libertin'es  on account of their! blasphemies `and im-
objection to dispensing the Lord's Supper with sutih moralities. Before being condemned, Calvin asked to
bread: That to him was a matter of indifference.             be heard in his defense before the Council-general, but
    The sentiment of  Calvin became known. As the            his request was refused. It is important to mark at
Sabbath approached upon  which the Lord's Supper was         this stage that the principle on which Calvin rested his
to be served the fury of the libertines increased. They      whole scheme of church government was: holy things
ran through the streets at night yelling, "to the Rhone      are-not to be given to the unholy. In other words,
with them (the pastors). They would stop before the what he labored for in the first place is purity of the
pastors' houses and fire off their firearms. Frightful       church and in the second place morality in the state.
confusion prevailed ir IGeneva. "I have lived here,"            <Calvin now went td Stasburg, where he remained
says Calvin himself, describing these agitations, "en-       for two years and a half before returning to Geneva.
gaged in strange contests. I  have  -.been  salutbd in       In his new sphere at Strasburg,  {Calvin preached four
mockery of an evening befnre my own door, with fifty         times a week and discharged $1 the other duties of a
or sixty shots of arquebuses. You inay imagine how           faithful pastor. He aXso lectured every day on theology
that must astound a poor scholar, timid as- I' am, and       to the students of the Academy, takirig as his text'book
as I confess, I always was."                                 the Bible. The fame of his lectures drew students
  On the Sabbath that the Lord's Supper was to -be           from other countries, and Stasburg promised to rival.
administered, the two churches in Geneva were  filled to     Wittemburg as a school of theology.


                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEARERi  i                                                 449

    Yielding to the petition of the ,Genevans that he there are many more conditions that must occur. For
return, Calvin was back in Geneva. The public feel-              example, his niembers must also  -go to church to listen.
 ing in Geneva regarding Calvin had undergone a great            These are all conditions iyhich mu3 be' accomplished
 change. The faction of the libertines, reinforced by            if God's counsel in this instance shall be realized. God
Anababtists  %nd Papists, had grown ungovernable.                could als? do it unconditionally. For example, if He
 Licentiousness and tumult ran riot now that Calvin              treated man.as a stock and block. (In the Netherlands
was gone. The Council, helpless in the face of these Athere are thousands of these false mystics who hold to
 disorders, repen$ed  of what it had done . IAnd the citi-       such a "faith"). God could treat Rev. Hoeksema as an
zens all cried out; "Calvin, Calvin !"g We wish Calvin,          automaton and move him from his bed to the pulpit
.the good and learllkd man, and true minister of Jesus           and there let him automatictilly speak. That is all pos-
 Christ."-the citizens, exclusive of course of the liber-        sible. But (God does not ivill it so. ,God has established
tines and the papists. Calvin did not want to return.            conditions. which Rev. Hobksema must execute, `unto
 Going back was like `lying. down on a bed of torture.           the realization of His holy will for that Sunday morn-
The thought, he tells us, filled him with horror. But ing. And also the execution of these conditions is
his brethren in Stasburg told him that Geneva was his            grace and grade alone!"
post of service and  Bucer bade, him beware of the                   Bij het lezen der sterke uitdrukkingen in- beide
punishment of Jonas for refusing.to go and preach re- brieven, werd niijn gedachte  onwillekeurig bepaald bij
 pentance `to Nineveh.      This was enough for Calvin.          Goliath, doch' hij werdt geduchtig .ver&lagen.
 He went back.                                                       Doch last mij vervolgen met opmerking en kri*tiek.  .~
                                         G. M. Ophoff.           Allereerst dan het woord "mogelijk" betreffende Gods
                                                                 Raad in deze illustratie is buiten orde,  iant het woord
                                                                 mogelijk veronderstelt ook "niet  mogelijk", of twijfel.
                                                                 In en bij AGod is geen twijfel. Er is niets onmogelijk
                   Contributions                                 bij God. Gods Raad, Gods Wil, Gods  &iefde,  Gods
                                                                 Verbond, Gods ,Woofd, Gods Belofte, ,cods  Genade is
                                                                 niet veranderlijk, ~maar onveranderliik.  Is eeuwig vast..
     DE AANBIEDING VAN  B&OEDER K. C.                            Is van eeuwigheid tolt in eeuwigheid. God is, &e Hij
          VAN  SPRONsEN   AANGENOMEN                             is; en zal zijn, Die Hij zijn zal. Ik ben, Die Ik ben,
    En met  dit. gezegde is de  "Verklaring",  volgens           spreekt de He&e. Dit moet worden  vastgehouden. Zoo
broeder Van Spronsen voldoende gevild. Nu. het lijkt             heeft God Zich geopehbaard  en bekend gemaakt. In-
nergens op. Als onderscheiding.moet  opgemerkt  wor-             dien de zaak zoo staat, en zoo is het; Hoe is God in
den, dat de aanhaling, zeer duidelijk,  de zaak waar-            Zijn Raad, (hetwelk absoluut onvoorwaardelijk is,
over  bet gaat, ontduikt. Want er wordt niets in  ge-            afgedacht wat de mensch ook doet) tech nog afhanke-
zegd betreffende het verschil  tusschen voor- of onvoor-         liijk van  voorwaaden,  gesteld door Zijn Wil, die de
 waardelijke belofte.     Integendeel, de aanhaling, of mensch vervullen moet ? De stelling der  illustratie
tegen argument hee'ft betrekking  op onderwijs alszoo-           alszoodanig is niet alleen tegenstrijdig, doch het tr&cht
danig, en de inhoud van dat onderwijs bevat alleen               God te berooven van Zijn Eer. Want volg&s de illus-
maar twee vage voorwaarden. .Voorwaarden  van wat?               tratie is Gods Raad in strijd met Gods Wil. Het sttiat
Twee ontiepaalde,  bloote voorwaarden, zonder  meer.             er tech duidelijk. (Gods Raad is absoluut onvoorwaar-
Dr. Schilder kan b.v. de eene aannemen en de andere              delijk en word;t bevestigd, onverschillig wat de mensch
verwerpen. Dit is tech zeker zeer onduidelijk, en be-            doet, doch God wil het zoo tiet, en stelt den mensch
yvijst het oritduiken  der iaak waarover het gaat. En tioqrwatirden  die hij vervilllen moet en dat geschiedt
echte debateur onwaardig. Deze gestelde voor,waarden             dan door (Genade  .alleen.  Gods qnvoor.waardelijke  Raad
zijn vleeschelijk; ze zijn, of behooren bij Dr. Schilder,        is dus  afhankelijk van  IGods voorwaardelijken Wil.
en broeder Van. Spronsen, doch niet bij, of van God.             De broeder raadt aan om voort te gaan met duidelijke
Nu wil ik nog een laatste aanhaling geven uit den brief          onderscheidingt Nu in deze illustratie wordt scheiditig
van 15 Feb. - Niet de scherpere, doch de scherpe pen             .i.fi' God  ger$a_akt,  inplaats van  duiclelijke   onclemchei-
schrijft het volgende als een illustratie:                       $ng.       -.
 "To use an illustration: It is possible `that accord-               De illustratie tracht zich voort te bewegen  op een
ing td ,God's counskl, which is-,absoltitely unconditional .dubbel'spoor  wat noodzakelijk en zeker uitloopt op een .
,.that is, it is realized irr.espective  of what man does.)-,    ontsporing. In de Concordia van 15 Maart zegt-broe-
it is decreed that Rev. Hoeksema shall preach the. Word          der Van Spronsen, dat hij soms glimlachen moet over
next Sunday in his fine, big church on Fuller Avenue.            ons schrijven van artikelen, men noernt zulks, zegt hij :
However, that can only be realized if Rev. `Hoeksem'a            "Klaar is  Kees"., M&g ik de. broeder verzoeken deze
arise on Sunday morning, eats, reviews his sermdn                laatste  woorden ook op hem zelven toe te passen. Het
and leaves his parsonage and goes to church. And then            geheele` betoog in de twee genoemde brieven,  b&at


                                                                                                   ,


                                                       _.
450                                   T H E   ST'AN-D-AR.D  B E A R E R                                               ,

 geen enkele aanhaling uit de Schrift of Belijdenis, ten        belofte, doch profetie is heel iets anders dan Belofte.
,bewijze  van zijn ge,schrijf.  Persoonlijke veronderstelde     Wellicht is de : versverdeeling in mijn Bijbel anders,
gedachten, die zijn er, als sterke uitdrukkingen neer-          dan die van den broeder, want-ik lees in Gen. 3 vers 14
geschreven, en zoo is het dan zie zoo : Klaar is -Kees  !       de eigenlijke vloek over den slang, en in vers 15 de
       Er is ook bezwaar tegen het gestelde in de "Ver-         verdere  werking dier vloek. De beide.verzen  zijn niet
.klaring" : "Dat de Belofte des Verbonds is niet voor           te scheiden,  doch  te. onderscheiden. In vers 14 is,'
allen, (hoofd- voor hoofd) die gedoopt zijn." `Voor             (nadruk op "is") de slang vervloekt, boven al het vee
degenen die dit zuel beweren, zijn natuurlijker wijze           en gedierte des velds, op haren ,buik zal zij gaan, en
geroepen, dit uit de Schrift en Belijdenis duidelijk te         stof zal zij eten alle dagen haar levens. Dit gesproken
bewijzen, want de Prot.-  Geref. Kerken hebben hunne            Woord ,Gods is zekerlijk, en op het moment, zonder
' beschouwing dienaangaande overvloediglijk bekend  ge-         eenige. voorwaarden, In de kracht van Gods spreken
maakt en bewezen. Is er soms bevreesdheid onder de              treedt dit onmiddelijk in werking. Dit geldt ook van
vrijgemaakten die beschouwing duidelijk te bewijzen?           het spreken IGods, in vers 15. #God zegt : (,en niemand
Vergun mij twee vragen betreffende die beschouwing              meer, en ook zonder eenig voorbehoud of voorwaarde)
te mogen stellen. "Hoe moet verstadn worden,  dat niet          "Ik zci2 xetten". God spreekt en doet h.et. ,Gocls .kracht
&en, `hoofd voor .hoofd, gedoopte en belijdende leden,         is in Zijn spreken. De zekerheid is in' `Gods  spreken.
der uitwendige Kerkengroepen, `verkorenen, of kinde-           Want door Zijn Woord is het heelal geschapen of ge-
ren Gods zijn? ' Indien er beweerd wordt dat dit we1           maakt. Dit moet allereerst dus voor ons vast staan.
het geval is, dat zij allen kind,eren Gods zijn, hoe-moe-      Wat wij Gods Belofte noemen, is voor Hem Zijne
t,en dan de woorden van Jezus die Hij sprak, verstaan          zekerheid. Zoo bezie ik het, omdat ,God Zich zoo heeft
worden  in  Jo&  8:31-59?  Hier  leert Jezus duidelijk         geopenbaard, -en bekend gemaakt. Zoo dan, God zet
dat de joden die Hem-geloofmden  als zaad Abrahams, die- vijandschap tusschen den slang en de vrouw. Dat
tech niet'in Zijn Woord geloofden, zij zijn daarom geen        doet -God, zonder eenige voorwaarde. Beide de slang
kinderen Abraham's, omdat  hunnen  Vader niet  .God            en de vrouw zijn onwederstandelijk. Verder, die vij-
maar den  dui%el is.     Zij zijn  kinderen des duivels,       andschap werkt -door, in beider zaad. SGod doet  clat,
en.`toch  zaad Abrahams. Waren deze Joden dan geen             zonder meer. -Het kenmerk van deze vijandschap is,
verbondskinderen onder de besnijdenis? En tech waren           dat het e&e zaad zal het zaad der vrouw de verzenen ;
zij uit den  `duivel en zochten  J.ezus te  dooden..  Hoe      doch het zaad der _vrouw zal den kop der slang ver-
(zoo vraag ik) zijn deze Joden  `to,& door Jezus erkend,       morzelen. Die vijandschap treedt onmiddelijk in wer-
en aangesproken als Verbondskinderen, die de Belofte           king.
van Gods Verbond deelaehtig zijn? Zij kennen noch                  Het natuurlijke zaad der slang wordt hier niet
Christus, noch den Vader, ofschoon zij God hunnen              bedoeld, en het natuurlijke zaad der vrouw ook niet,
Vader noemen. Christus toont hier zeer duidelijk aan,          doch het zaad der leugen, hetwelk de slang de vrouw
het verschil van tweeerlei  zaad uit geloovige ouders,         voorstelde, en wat de vrouw in verleiding heeft aan-
in dit geval uit Abraham. Geldt ditzelfde dan niet in vaard, en ongehoorzaam werd aan het zaad der waar-
verband, met den doop? Christus' Woord van den heid, het welk God in Zijn liefde tot den mensch stelde.
Vader is tech zeker beslissend, ook in onze dagen?             Het is dus de vijandsehap tusschen leugen en waar-
In, betrekking met dit : Hoe is het gezegde in de "Ver-        heid, die ,God deed zetten. God &ed clit. Dit tweeerlei
klaring", hetgeen de Prot.-SGeref.  Kerken belijden, zoo       zaad ontwikkelt vender,  in en uit de vrouwe en man,
voldoende gevild? Wat, en waar is de scherpte van              in zijn organ&hen zin, omdat zij reeds te voren door
de scherpere pen ? Het wordt zoo beslissend in de              God vruchtbaar waren gemaakt..  Gods liefde is `Gods
twee brieven gezegd, dat Gods beloften ,(niet enkel-           Waarheid,   hetwelk, de  .leugen  haat, overwint en  ver-
voud,  doch meervoudig-J.  .K.)  alle voorwaardelijk           delgt. Dat is het wat God spreekt in Gen. 3 :15. En
z i j n .                                                      Zijn Woord is waarachtig. Gods spreken is zeker en
   Doch hoe nu moet datgene,  wat God tot  Noach               gewis. Gods Belofte is Zijn xekeyheid,. Zoo moet Gods
sprak, in betrekking tot deze aarde? Noemt de broeder .Belofte  verstaan  worden.  En dan ook  maar  &ne
dit  niet, volgens Ursinus,  onvoorwaardelijk? Maakt           Belofte, n.1. de xekerheid van Gods liefde. En dan ook
duidelijke onderscheiding, roept men ons toe ! Hierop          maar e'&e liefde. [God is liefde. Alzoo is Gods liefde,
te wijzen, toont reeds aan, dat er te haastig is geschre-      de  waarheid.  In  `Gods  liefde sprak God de  waarheid
ven. Het betoog in de twee brieven, schijnen en klinken        in IGen. 3 :15 en haatte de leugen. .Het uitgaande ge-
aan de oppervlakte we1 heel  mooi, doch ze bevatten            sproken woord Gods mag hier dan profetie genoemd
geen diepte. Een Hollandsch spreekwoord zegt:  "Het            worden,  doch de. krachtdadige werking van dit uitge-
is niet alles goud, dat blinkt of klinkt." Nu veel goud        sproken woord Gods is Gods zekerheid. De zekerheid
is er niet, in het betoog der brieven. IOnderzoeken we is bevestigd, is ingesloten in Zijne liefde. Wanneer
dit nader in IGen. 3 :15 : Volgens den broeder bevat ,dit      God dus spreekt spreekt Hij in ,en van Zijne liefde. -
de vloek over Satan, en is in geen geval de moc&r-             Profetie beteekent eigenlijk: "zegt het voort". Cp God


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                        . 451

toegepast, beteekent dit : God'zegt Zijn woord voort .in       liefde blijft, die blijft in  `God  en  Goh in hem." Het  *
zekerheid. Hieruit blijkt duidelijk dat profetie en be-        blijven in Gods liefde ,moet ons geen parten spelen, en
lofte niet te scheiden zijn, .doch  zijn onlosmakelijk aan,    zeggen of beweren dat God ons zekere voorwaarden zou
en in elkaar verbonden. #Gods belofte is de zekerheid          stellen, to% v'olharding. 0 neen ! Wat God begonnen is,
van ,Gods profetie, en Gods profeiie bezit in zichzeif,        zal Hij ook voleindigen. Dai is Gods zekerheid. (Be-
`Gods  belofte van. zekerheid. Zoo, iS profetie d&n niet lofte) . Want wij hebben AGod lief, omdat Hij ons eerst
iets  an&m  als  belofte.    Deze lijn van  beschouwing liefgehad heeft, `en dat we1 iri Zijn Zoon Jezus Christus,
loopt langs zuivere banen. Want wanneer God spreekt want het is alleen de Zoon' die in de liefde Gods, Zijnen
spreekt Hij in, ilit, en van Zichzelven, en iijn gespro-       Vader is, en blijft. Zoo is dan God de Vader in den
ken woord keert weder .tot Hem, en dit vanwege  Zijne          Zoon Zijner liefde blijvende.  [Gods  liefde is Gods
liefde. Zoo is ,Gods verbond.                                  leGen. Het is Gods innerlijk liefde leven. De  inner-
   Zoo heeft `Gods  Zoon (h& gesprokene  Woord Gods,           lijke kracht van Gods innerlijk 2iefde l&en, bevestigt,
dat vleesch geworden is) ZiTn God en Vader geopen-             openbaart, en maakt bekend, (door het  gesprokene
baard en bekend gemaakt, en is wedergekeerd tot den            Woord dat van God uitgaat)  dit liefde  ieven.  De
Vader, uit detielke Hij tias uitgegaan. In Gen.3 :15 is        kracht in en met Gods liefde, gaan altijd met Gods
het Gods Zelfopenbaring. Allereerst openbaart God              Woord samen. -Ze zijn in elkander, itibegrepen en inge-
Zich in Zijne Alniachtigheid,  door het zetten van vij-        sloten.  Zoo dan,  ,Go<s  li,efde  leven is eenig en  vol-
andschap. God openbaart hier Zijn  raad, Zijn plan,            maakt, in harmonie,  en werkt in volkomen perfectie.
Zijn wil, en dat alles in Zijne liefde. In de diepere zin      Voorwaarden zooals wij menschen dit verstaan en
des tioords, Gdd open.baar hier Zijne liefde. Hij doet trachten dit zeer dikwijls er aan toe te voegen, zijn
dit in, uit, en van Ziehzelven, door den mensch. Wan-          absoluut buiten  gesloten.  Dit liefde leven  `Gods,  zou
neer SGod nu spreekt dat-het zaad der vrouw, den kop           ik Gods verbond willen noemen, omdat liefde, kracht,
der slang.,zal vermorzelen, geschiedt dit metterdaad  in       en woord, alle flrie in God, in &n verbonden en inge,:
zekerheid. Dat, en dat alleen, is de Belofte Gods van          sloten zijn. Want God is-liefde en de kracht in de
Zijn spreken in Zijn verbond der liefde. Het zaad der          liefde zendt uit .het woord der liefde.       Het is Zijn
vrouw, waarvan cod hier .spreekt, is de zekerheid vari         verbond in Hem. #Het is ,Gods eenig verbond, alleen in
moederschap. Zoo versta ik dit,  a&s de  moederbekofte.        zichzelven. ,Geen twee-oflmeer  verbonden. `Geen werk
En het zaad-der vrouw is het zaad der Waarheid, da&            en  daarachter  het genade verbond. Neen! Maar een
-bet zaad der leugen  openbaari? en  verdelgt.  Zoo kan enkel verbond Gods. Het. verbond in liefde. De kracht
Adam dan zijne vrouw "Eva" noetien, omdat zij moe-             of-geest  der liefde. Gods bevestigt  en getuigt de bekend-
der aller levenden is. Zij is. moeder Gods; omdat God          making of openbaring, het woord dat van Gods liefde
door haar Zijn zaad der Waarheid en' liefde doet open- -gesprokq  van Hem. uitgaat. En de getuigenis is waar-
baren. God-we&t  Zijn liefde in de vrouw niei om de            achtig, want zij getuigen vdn elktinder  en zoo zijn er
vrouw, maar Gbd heeft de qrouw lief, omdat zij door            dan drie die getuigen. En wat wij menschen nu trach-
God, uit  Zijtie  .gelijkenis  is genomen. En  #God is in      ten te noemen onder ,Gods belofte is de zekerheid, het
Zijn liefde-werk volkomen onafhankelijk. ,God werkt,           waarachtige van Gods verbond.
zooals het Hem belieft, zonder eenige voorschriften of            We1 verstaan in Gods verbond, -Zija liefcie leven,
voorwaarden. IGods liefde is in Zichzelven. #Gods liefde       zijn alle dingen opgesloten, die wij als menschen in ons
openbaart zich a'ls "de Waarheid", tegenover  den leu-         aardsch spraakgebruik zouden kunnen opnoemen.  IGods
gen, hetwelk door God ib gehaat. Zoo kan` Christus             verbond is volkomen en volmaakt in perfecti.e. Er ont-
zeggen : "Ik ben de waarheid". &et is dus ,Gods liefde,        breekt absoluut niets aan.. Het is een absolute schoon-
die Gods .haat openbaart tegenover de leugen en onge-          heid. Gods  genade beteekent Gods schoonheid. God
hoorzaamheid. Het is door den weg van Gods liefde              is  alomtegenwo_ordig.  Hij is zorider begin of`einde.
dat God .in Hemzelven door de vrouw Zijn doe1 be-              God is almachtig en alwetend, en dit alles is bevait in
reikt. Daarom kan  ,Christus ook zeggen: Ik ben de Zijne liefde. Daarom is God de schoonheid zelve. In
Weg en het Leven. Want Gods  liefde  is ook  Gods- betrekking tot diit alles is het zeker we1 duidelijk dat
leven. Schriftuurlijk bewijs voor mijn  bovenstaand            (God geheel en al onafhankelijk is. Zoo bezien, hoe kan
betoog is veelvuldig, doch vergun mij slechts enkele           God dan tech nog aghankelijk zijn van iets buiten of
aanhalingen. We lezen in 1 Joh. 4 :7: "Dat de liefde is        in Hem, dat dienst zou  moeten of kunnen  doen, tot
uit ,God,.en  een iegelijk dje liefheeft, is uit God geboren bevestiging' of uitvoering van .-Zijn raad, plan, Wil,
en kent IGod." Dit is duidelijke taal.  Doch nadruk verbond of belofte?  edit zoo  tech te stellen, is een
moet gelegd worden: dat dit liefhebben  is alleen in be-       trachten tot berooving van  Go& eer. Daardoor zou
trekking tot degene die uit God geboreii is, waarin            God verkleind' worden.     Gods Woord leert zulks niet.
God Zijne liefde openbaart. In vers 8 wordt gezegd:                  -.           (wordt  iervolgd)
Die niet liefheeft, die heeft:lGod  nikt g&kind, want God                                        J; R. Kuivenhoven.
is liefde. Ip. vers 16 lezen we verder : "en die in de                                           Xalamazoo,   Mich.  F


     4         5      2                           TH,E  S T A N D A R D   B E - A R E R
                                                              `
                                                               .
n                                                                         to. resort under its ecclesiastical roof, it is incorrect d  D
                      I N  ,H  1.  S  F E  A  R  `-                       to single out one single organized and instituted church
                                                                          as the only true church. From the point of view of
                                                                          objective fact, we must certainly distinguish degrees
            IChurch Membership in His Fear, - of purity and degrees of falsehood, according as a
                                                                          church denies or confesses the truth on the various
                                -     1 3 .                               truths eontained in the `one truth of Scripture. On
                                                                          any other basis one would certainly  have to maintain
                                     W H E R E ?                          that he who lives and dies outside of the Protestant
                                                                          Reformed Churches,-or to make it very broad, the
      The P?oper Viewpoint.                                               Reformed Churches-goes to everlasting destruction.
      ,       Thus far we have discussed- rather negatively var-             But in order to understand our duty in this respect,
      ious attitudes -which may be and often are assumed                  we must first rid ourselves of every notion that the
     toward the question; "Where must I join myself as a                  church `is a sort of  institute  ,for saving souls. Your
      church member  ?"                                                   and my salvation is not the purpose of the church's
              We found that'the attitude of the undenominational-         existence in the  world: The matter  stands just the
      ist is to be rejected, that the attuttide  of those- who            other way : the church-also as it is instituted `in the
      place implicit trust in a certain institute is essentially          world-is the purpose of our salvation. `God  warits
      idolatry, that those who simply go along -with a cer-               Xis holy, catholic church, with Christ Jesus as its
      tain movement of churches for various carnal reasons                Heacl and King, to ,be manifest in this.present world.
      are carelessly indifferent traditionalists, and that those          He purposes that it shall be manif,est  in the preaching
     who view the whole matter from the. standpoint of the                of the gospel, of the truth as it is in Jesus, the truth of
      possibility of avoiding hell-fire are utilitarian in their          13oly iscripture. He purposes that it shall be manifest
      approach. We furthermore emphasized the idea that                   in the administration (and- thus, of course, also ithe
     . we are not always free of these tendencies ourselves,              partaking) of the sacraments  as, Jesus Christ. has
      even though it be true that we woulcl' not easily jump              ordained them. He purposes -that it shall be mani-
      denominational boundaries. What this means for us                   fest in the exercise of church discipline according to
      as Protestant Reformed members is ea&iy seen. We                    the principles of the Wopd of God. This is His pur-
           do not hesitate to say that the Protestant Reformed            pose. because the church"must be to the gldry of. ,His
           Churches `are the purest manifestation of the body .of         Name as it is revealed in His Son Jesus Christ.
     <Christ in the world. If you and I, then, are members                   It is because of this that our fathers also .found          -
      of those churches, the objective fact is `that we are               the distinguishing marks of the church to consist in
      members of the purest  tianifestation of the body of                the puke preaching of the Word, the pure administra-
           Ch&t. in the world. But the subjective question re-            tion of the sacraments, and the right exercise of church
      mains: why are we members? And if our member-                       discipline. `They maintained that the true chprch  could
           ship is motivated by any of the attitudes described            not be distinguished by its size or numbers, as though
           above, we &ill' are walking in a wrong way, yes, walk-         the majority decided where the church was. They
           ing in sin, contrary to the fear of the Lord.                  understood full well that the true church is often small,
              Hence, we must be moved bf a different attitude             that according as the church in the world grew large
           in this matter. And our attitude must be that of the -and prosperous it usually became apostate and corrupt.
           question, "Where must I; before the face of Gc$, be-           They saw very well that the true church was not to
           lolli?"    It is certainly not trlie that one. can relegate    be discerned from the false by. the criterion of the .,
           every church but his own to the class. of totallg false.       decrees and acts of its councils or by the edicts of
           It his historically incorrect to say that once a church        princes and magistrates. Nor were they deceived by
      has erred in doctrine or in discipline, it at once deserts          the claim of ,the antiquity of a certain institute, which,
      all the truth and all Christiaa discipline. Such things' ,thopgh  it could boast of, centuries of existence, could
           take place only graddally, in the way of increasilfg  and      become corrupt and depart from the, orthodox Chris-
           progressive depapture  from the truth, and, as all his- -iian            ,faith.
           tory teaches us, over a period of years. The beginnings           Rather they recognized, according to Article 29 of
           of error,  for example,  wer.e present in `the Romish          the.  Belgie Confession, three infallible signs by which
           Church centuries be@re the Reformation t`ooi;`.plac&;          the true church becomes  rticognizable,  namely: the
           but during those same centuries the Romish Church              pure preaching of the Word, the proper administpation
      was the only instituted church there was. And there- .of the sacraments, and the faithful exercise of Chris-
           fore, while there comes a' time when a church must             tian ,discipline: Where these marks are present, there
           finally be classified as false, so that it would be im- ,is the tru'e church. Where they are wanting, there the
           possible for a living, consciously believing child of IGod     church is not. And where these signs,-though not


                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D '  BEARkR                                                   453

utterly wanting,-are corrupted, there the church mu&              iervice of ,God's holy catholic church' to the utmost of
repent or die.                                                  I m y   p o w e r ? '
    In a sense all three of these -marks are compre-               . In the-second place, the answer to that question
hended in th: first, the pure preaching of the Word               must always be:  -in  thi, church where, according to
of God. For, in the first place, the administration of            my earnest conviction before God, in' the light of Holy
the sacraments and the exercise of Christian discipline            Scripture, the Word of God is purely  preached,:.the
have no meaning apart from the preaching of the                   sacraments are properly administered, and Christian
Word; They stand in the service of it. In the sacra-              discipline is faithfully ex&cised.  .There may, indeed,
ments the Word of God is  .presented   in visible and             be other'churches,  where the Word has not be& utterly
tangible form. And the essence  6f Christian discipline           forsaken, where the sacraments are not entirely -pro-
is the very Word of Christ. Besides, the sacramknts- faned, and where th& `exercise of Christian..discipline
ar_e not likely to be-profaned where the Word of ,God             is not completely forgotten. It may also be that God
is purely preached-; nor, essentially, is Christian disci-. has His people there yet, and that the Almighty has a
pline neglected there, since syeh preaching is already            reason for having His people there. That is not the
the exercise. of Christian discipline. W,e may, there-            question, not the question for you and me in the matter
fore, safely say that the central, all-important mark of          of our membership. It is in view of the fact that.the
the true church is the pure preaching of the Word of              marks of the true church may not yet be absent but
IGod.                                                             may be corrupted, that the standard, bf &&mbership
                                                                  is usually resolved by us into a .matter  of belonging,
    The `reason for this is  reasily  und&stood.   `The           according to our `convi&ion, in the light of Scripture,
church is built upon the foundation bf the apostles and to the purest manifestation of the body -of Christ in
prophets, Jesus Christ`*Himself  being the chief corner- the world.
stone. But that foundation is exactly the Word of
God:  And. that Word of  .God is contained in the                     In the third place, it follows, that the moment that
Scriptures.       Whoever, therefore, proclaims another           I recognize that  the church to which I belong is  in
word, the word of man,- does not build upon the one               error on a given point in ri?spect to Word, sacraments,
foundation. And not building upon that one founda-                or discipline, I stand in duty bound before God to point
tion, he dqes not Ibuild the church.  Furthermoqe,  we            the church to that error;  and if it fails to repent  to
must remember that it pleases Christ to call, preserve,           separate myself and.join myself to a church more-pure.
and defend His church through the Word preached. -And if the latter is impossible, then I must continue
Only' where the Word is preached, therefore, accord-              under protest and continue protesting until- the Lord
ing to the ScriBtures, there is heard the voice of the            opens the why to separation.
Son of God. Where the Word is not preached, .there                    In the fourth place, it follows also that if ,I join my=
Christ does not speak  His* Word of salvation, and                self to a church which I know to be walking impeni-
there the church is not gathered.                                 tently in the way. of e?ror,  I am in principle aiding and
                                                                  abetting the cause of the false church. I myself. am
    There  iS; therefore, a  -very  ,definite-   ,&mdard  by      walking in a wrong way, `and unless I repent, I shall
which the church may be known. Nor need we object                 die. (God'and His Word ajre not to she mocked! In that
at. this junct&&  that what is pure and imptire  preach-          r.espect  the `matter of our church membership is cer-
ing of the w&d is a debatable subject in last instance.           tainly a matter of otir salvation also. There is no sal-
For then we &%aii' Holy Writ itself. We surely &mst               vation for him that wilfully and impenitently walks in
mailitain that dn no cardinal point of doctrine does              the way of opposition to the truth of Scripture.
Holy Writ leave the slightest room for difference of
opinion, but 04 the contr&y is very clear as to what               And so the matter is very serious. We, as Pro-
is the truth and what is the lie. Scripture is the                testant Reformed people, must- be always aware of it.
objective and clear standard whereby the preaching,               We may ndt listen to the siren song of church union.
the administration of the sacraments, and the exercise            We may not be deceived into recognizing any mother
6f discipline  a& to be judged.                _-                 standard of membership than ,that which we have,
                                                                  according to our Reformed Confessions. - It may very
   In the.,light  of the above, to what conclusions may           tie11 *be, in fact, it is true that there are many other
we come?                                                          people-of ,God outside of our churches. It is also true
   In the first place, we must emphasize that the                 that our calling is to seek unity with all the people of
whole question must be viewed iii the fear of the Lord            God. But that unity may only be upon the basis of the
from the viewpoint of t&question, "Where does IGod                ppre  truth of God's Word. To any who do not stand
require me to ,be?" The question is not at all, "Where upon that basis you must,say, "Repent !" To any church
may I be?,' but, "Where must I be?,' The question is that does not stand upon that foundation you must
not, "Which church will ,best serve me, and how will              point the way.  You  may never be a party to any
it serve me?" but, "In which church do 1 stand in the ,attempt  to lower -de.nominational walls at the expense


of the truth of IGbd's Weird,  at the experise of the truth      speaks in the immediate  context of his prayers to God
as-we confess it as Protestant Reformed Churches.                for the congregation upon every remembrance of them.
And yoti must always, as an active member, a 1ivin.g             The writer "makes prayers for them;" He wrestles
member, maintain, defend, cherish, preserve, support,            before the throne of God in their behalf. And having
seek and develop, proclaim within and without, that              added the great confidence he has in God concerning
truth, even as you  value your life!          t                  then-i, namely,- that He who has begun-the good work
    And the more serious is that calling because of the          in them will finish ijt even untd the day of Jesus Christ,
times that are upon Us, of which the Scriptures speak,           he now continees  to  tell what his prayer is in their
when men will not endure sound doctrine, but after               behalf.  Afid therefore we hold that this is a prayer
their own lusts heap to themselves teachers, having              to *God for the church.
itching ears. II `Tim. 4:3.     Tim& they are when men              `Then, too, it should be evident froin the very con-
turn away their ears from. the truth, and are turned             tent of this prayer itself. For the increase of love in
unto fhbles. II Tim. 4:4.                                        knowledge and all judgbent  is not something that the
    Turn away, therefore, from every form of false               believers can simply give themselves. For this they
doctrine. Find, and join yourself always to the true             too  are dependent upon the ever new supply of the
church of Jesus Christ, nevq working-in the direction            Spirit of grace. It is  depend.ent upon Him who has
of the false church, as you do if you follow after any           begun this good work in the `saints, and who having
false doctrine. ' Find and join yourself always to the           begun this work does now not leave it in its further
true church in its pu?*est form, where the W&d of <God           development and continu&ion in the power and free-
is proclaimed in all its purity. And let no earthly,             will of  man, but  ,who also gives the continuation of
carnal inducement eve? move you to separate your-                faith and love even to the very end. Perseverance bf
self from iits fellowship.                                       the saints rests in the preservation of God!           `
    That is the fear of the Lord!                                   ,Our Reformed fathers felt this truth very keenly
                                      H. C. Hoeksema.            when they, in the Staten-vertaling, translate "And this
                                                                 I pray  dad . .  ." They added the nam.6 God as being
                                                                 understood from the context. In our interpretation
                                                                 of this prayer as not simply referping to an exhbrta-
                                                                 tion to the congregation,`but  very really as a prayer
                                                                 to God, we are in good company.
                                                                    Paul has .reason to pray this prayer in behalf of
FROM.HOLY-  W R I T the believers in Philippi. And what were these reasons?
                                                                 Briefly we can state it as follows : Altholigh. there was
                                                                 love in the congregation at Philippi  so that the be-
  Exposition Of Philippitis 1:9-11                               lievers esteemed one another in the Lord, yet, it must
                                                                 be added, that this love was not yet pe?feoted  as it
    The passage from Holy Writ to which we would call            c+ight to be.
attention in this article reads, in full, as follofvs.:  "And       Surelykhere was spiritual life in this church. They
this I pray, that YOUYT love may abound y& mo'Y;e und            had had fellowship in the gospel from the first day
more in knowledge and `in all judgment; that ye may              that it had.been preached to them by the. riverside until
approve' things that (are excellent; that y,e may be sin- the very moment in which Paul is writing this letter
cere and without offense `till the.day of Christ; Being          from the prison in Rome. Had not this church sent
filled with the fru,its elf righteousness, which are by          once and again to fulfill the needs of Paul when he
-Jesus Christ, unto the -glory un,d praise of God."              was. laboring in  Thessalonica?      And had not they
   This passage is -a statement by Paul to-the congre-           recently sent, by the hands of  Epa;phroditus,  a gift
gation of Philippi  concerning /his prayer to God for            for  the temporal needs of Paul. Surely the bowels  -
her. It is more than-.an exhortation to the congrega-            and mercies in Christ were in evid,ence  in this church.
tion.  Certaihly there is also an indirect exhortation           And Paul also receives these gifts not simply as a gift,
to the congregation in this prayer unto a more earnest           as a thing in itself, but rather does he look at it as a J
wa'lk in love, but it is nonetheless the prayer of the           frtiit of grace, a fruit of righteousness in their lives.
apostle to God. No doubt, this is a brief sumgary of             It is such a fruit that it is a sacrifice of a sweet savour
the content of his daily prayers for her. Buti it touches        unto God and unto the `glory of (God's  name.     _
the very heart sf the prayers that Paul has sent up                 It was not b&au,se there was not spiritual life at
to the throne of mercy, and which prayers, therefore,            all in this tihurch that Paul writes as he does. Hence,
`are present before God.                                         he tirites'not simply "that your love abound", but he
   That this .is a prayer of the apostle directed to God         writes, -"that your love- abound yet more and -more" !
is evident, first of all, from the fact that the apostle         He writes in the same strain as Jqhn does-when he


                                     THE         STANDA.RD BEARER                             ._ .                 465

says: I write you not because ye do not know these            voel", in all feeling. The term in the Greek really
things, but because ye do know them !                         .allows for more than one rendering.        The thought
    What was `there then; .to speak very concretely,          expressed in this term is that of accurate moral judg-
wrong in this church in the life of her love?                 ment. XGreijdanus  translates it as "in alle fijngevoelig-
   There seems to have been a lack of love, a lack of         heid". I believe the Rev. H. Hoeksema in his school-
all seeking the  o?ze thing in  ,Christ. There was the        lectures spoke of it as "spiritual sensitiveness." It is
case of Euodias and Syntyche, women who were living           really such a walking in love +hat one instinctively
at odds with one another. `rhat was a lack of heaven's fe`els whether it is in the way and mind of Christ or
wisdom and understanding due to  the lack of love             not. It is like a Helen Keller, who, although both blind
being p&f  ected  in. their mind and understanding.           and deaf, can nonetheless feel the presence of people
`They are told by Paul that they should walk in love.         near her. She has a very keenly developed sense of
No, they must not. "patch up" their .difficulties, it must    feeling. A Maestro musician has this in music, in the
not be a mere give and take proposition, but it must          detecting of the flaws in the rendition. of music.  So
be a matter of being "of the same mind in the Lord"!          the Christian has this in the art of living the life of
That is differ.ent. It is that which is excellent.            godliness.
   But shall this lack be supplied then it must come             The apostle adds :-in. all judgmerit. It is a spiritual
from heaven, from God who had begun this good work            sensitivene&  all along the line. Life  i-s full of-judg-
in them and who shall therefore also c'ertainly  finish       ments that must be made alohg the whole line of God's
it even-unto the day of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Only          commandments. And always  .it must be: Love for                       ,
when the love of God  co&es   mighbtily and richly in IGod above all and for our neighbor as for ours&ves.
our hearts shall we even understand and be able to            When, the love of God floods our souls in this -know-
practice this more excellent way.                             ledge of his will then the moral judgment becomes
   And that is what the apostle prays for to God! .           keen. Then we are not like the floundering man who
   The supply from the Holy Spirit mu& come. Paul             drowns, nor are we like the drunken man in his stupor,
is, indeed; in prison far  r.emoved from this church,         nor like the blind man feeling his way at the wall,              .
but God is very near to his help. In Him he$aces  all         but we are like the wise who are perfect in their
his confidence and trust.                                     w a y s .
   Yes, this love must beconie yet more- and more                Such the ,Christians  at Philippi must become.           _
abundant "in knowledge and all judgment". For with-              Then their lipes shall be constantly filled wi&h the
out this knowledge and judgment there can be  no              fruits of righteousness. which are in Christ Jesus,, our
`<being filled &th the frhits of righteousness, which Lord.                '     -     _
are in ,Christ Jesus our Lord."                                  This being filled here is not* a momentary some-
   How come? What is this "knowledge and all judg-            thing. .The apostld employs a tkrm in the Greek that
ment" ?                                                       refers to our lives as not filled with gaps of foolish-
   The "knowledge" here. spoken of is not simply a            ness, blindness, envy and stupor of sin. Then our
knowledge of faots as they appear to the n?tural man,         works will be `full before `God. They shall be as full as
but it is the knowledge that is exact and precise ; it is     the law of God itself, when we have love abounding in
the knowledge by which one sees the very truth and            knowled.ge.  and all spiritual sensitive judgement. Then
reality of things in the light of the soul-searching          each will surely esteem the other greater than them-
Word of `God. It sees through the difficulties of the         selves: Euodias and Syntyche will seek arid find each
problems of life as originating in sin, underthe  wrath       other in the Lord. :The find and the intent'that was
of (God, Ijut also sees that the joy and happiness-is in      in Christ will then be in them. And great joy in the
walking together in the-Lord. And since it is a know-         Holy Spirit will be their portion:
ledge of love, of the lave of cod multiplied in our life,        Such is the*fruit of righteousness. It is peace and
it is a knowledge, that acknowledges <the truth. `It is       rest of sbul. It .is the quiet contentment of godliness
for this peason that the Staten Vertaling translates          that is the great gain. And it is all in Christ Jesus
th% by "erkentenis". The `Greek "epigno&is" means our Lord. In and through Him  `God sheds  this love
accurate knowledge, penetrating insight. And he who           abroad in our hearts upon `the prayers of the saints.
under the love of God had"th<.s. knowledge--surely uc- And it is all fruit in our lives as bra6ches  in the vine,
knowledges  the truth.. -mere this is done in'sincerity,      Christ Jesus. For without Him we can do nothing.
there the truth-  iS  bbejred.  That must be  more  and       But we can do all things through Ch?ist,  who strength-
mdre  the reality in the hearts and lives of the church       ens us. Then the weak are made strpng, and the
in Philippi.                                                  barren are made a fruitful vine.'
   Closely connected with the foregoing, in fact in-             And herein is the Father the heavenly Husbandman --
eluded in it, is also the matter of "all~judgment". This      glorified, that we be+r much fruit.
is translated in the Staten Vertaling by "in alle ge-           -Such is the ever repeated teaching of the Scrip-


                          I                                                              __~~_-~_~-----~-~--    `
      ---.----a                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   `B E A R E R   `.
                               -.--.---                                                         -
   tures. \ &it is also here. Paul adds: wnto -the glory            ports of the auditors and the treasurer were ap$roved.
   ancl praise of God.                                              The assessments were reduced from $33.50 per family
       The thought is, no doubt, that in this fruitfulness' to $26.50 per family, due to the lessened need of the
   of love in all knowledge and spiritual sensitive judge-          IZission. and the balances on hand in  all the funds.
   ment, the glory of Gcid's work of salvation is mani-             Zynod also went on- record  as favoring the policy of
   fested. -God is objectiively  glorified in it. `. His virtues    two missionaries tind in case we obtain a second then
   of holiness, justice, power and grace, mercy and love            the Fuller Avenue congregation will be requested to
   are manifested in the same. He iS our Maker and we               assume his support.
   are His workmanship in our being fruitful in the Lord.              It is next decided to raise the salary of ou? mission-
   And that is ever mdre zhnto His glorry.                          ary by $5.00 per year. In the case of Rev. H. Vtzdman
      This is also unto His praise. Praise.  is the recogni- it is. deciclecl to pay his salary for .one year. together
   tion of the glory as this iS expressed from the lips of          with his house rent and to request the Fuller Ave.
  men and angels and -all -of God's creatures :
                                                 .a                 congregation to make him emeritus minister of Fuller
      And this latter is the highest end of all.                    Avenue.
      Thus Paul surely has a prayer to God, which rests                It is decided to send a letter, of appreciation to Mr.
   in Gdd's own purpose to save to the utmost, a prayer             Fred  LaGrange  who has  bekn our treasurer "for 25
   that.is to the glory of ,God and to the joy and salvatioll       y e & s .
   of the saints.                             G. Lubbers..             Synqd votes for members of its standing commit-
                                                                    tees. The following are' chosen : Mission Committee,
                                                                    Rev. Hanko, Elders J. Faber, D. Langeland and N.
                                                                    Kuliz.     Theological  Schoo!  icommittee : Revs. Heys
                                                                    apd Vos, and elders Bylsma and Newhof. Needy Btu-
              PtiRISC0P.E                                           dent Fund Committee: S. De Young. The  Synodical
                                                                    deputies for examination of Classis West are appointed
                                                                    as suggested in the nomination of Classis West.
   T$e  S(ynod of 1951 continued.                                      [Synod  now takes up the matter of relations with
   - Tuesday morning and part of the afternoon weie                 other churches: First of all it is decided that the Com-
   spent in reading the material regarding the Declara-             mittee for Correspondence with qther churches draw
   tion of Principles. In our last number of the Standard up a constitution including terms of members and pre-
   Bearer it was pointed out that the Committee of Pre-             sent it to the next Synod for approval.
   Advise which was given this material for consideration              With respect to the Reformed Ecumenical Synod it
   was divided in their advice. &mod first took up the              is decided to refer this matter back to the con-m-&tee
   advice of that part of the committee which  recom-               for Correspondence in order that they may present
   mended that Synod declare'ithat  the action of the l&t           Synod with a  well-m&$vated advice in 1952.~' This
   Synod was church-politically incorrect. In the discus-           Ecumenical Synod dqes not meet  until 1953.
  sion of this question the time of the Tuesday afternoon             Regarding the proposed Reformed Missionary Coun-
   session and all the Wednesday sessions'was taken up.             cil Synod decides to instruct our Committee for Cor-
   During this time it became necessary for the Rev.                respondence to take part in the preliminary work to-
   Vermeer to leave Synod and Rev. .J. D. De Jofig took             ward the establishment of Bueh a council without defi-
   his place. During the Wednesday af.ternoon  sessions nite dommitment  regarding membership.
   the Rev. n/r: Gritters who had been ill for some time               I-t  is decided to table the matter of-contact with the
   visited the doctor and was forbidden to  atten'd  any            Reformed Churches of Netherlands (Art.  31) until
  more of the sessions. Rev. De Boer, his next alternate, after  ou? decision on the declaration of principles.
   was summoned from Edgerton, Minn., and in the                    Likewise the matter of th& answer to the Canadian
   lneantime Synod tabled the matter of the Detilaration            Reformed Churches is tabled.
   to take up routine matters. Rev. De Jong was eledted                Friday  morning Synod again takes up the discus-
   assistant clerk in the place of Rev. ;Gritters.                  sion of the Church Political question with respect to
      Synod now took up the matter of finances. The                 the  deciaration. Friday  gfternoon it is put to a vote
   requested subsidies were granted together with a re- and the motion to declare the action of ~-the 1950 Synod.
   quest for an additional $600.00 from Randolph Wis-               church politically incorrect fails.' Three ministers and
   consin, and $800.00 to Orange City, Iowa whose sup-              three elders ask to have their stand on this matter're-
   port, through  ai oversight, had been cut  sff when              corded.
- their pastor left.  -The congregation of  Chatham was              Synod theli decides to adjourn until t&e last Wed-
   given permission to ask for collections in classis West          nesday in September in order to take up the unfitished
   with a view to their obtaining a parsonage. The re-' work of the declaration.at  that time: J. Howerzyl.


