                                                                                      I--i
                                                                                      "1    _--
                                                                             OCTO$@   *&Tii95  1  -  G~&?<-~API~s,   ~J$HIGAN
                                                                                              ---~~                                                                                           NUMBER   1
                                                                                 .FyT                         .7              ..T
               ME~DITATI~;r;.~                                                                                                            2&d  is.  -a'  war&g against  such  worldliminded-
                                                                                                                             nesS,- He continues: Take heed, and beware of covc-
                                                                                                                             `tbusness :..fo$  a man's life consisteth not in .the abund-
                                                                                                                    .  .:    ante of tlie- things which he possesseth !                  *
                                          The -Rich Fool                                                ,'                                And, secondly,  He tells them the parable of the
                                                                                                                             Rikh Fool.                                                                     .,
                                         "And He  sgake  a parable unto them  saying                                                                          i
                                      `The ground of a certain rich  m,an brought forth                                                                      _.    72  d  $3  &
                                   pleiltifullp:  and he thought  within  himself,  say-                                             _
                                      ing,  What shall I do, because I have no room
                                      where to bestow my fruits.? And he  `Baid;  this                                                    We-hear the word of a fool ; tlie answer of -God ,
                                      will I do: I  ~$1 pull down my barns, and build                                        and &the conclusion of Jesus..
                                                                                                   _
                                      greater; and there wiil  I bestow all my fruits and                                                         .. i..
                                                                                                                                          But--is he a fool?
                                      my goods. And I will say to my soul, Sou!,' thou
                                      hast much goods laid up for many years;  take                                                       He -sounds rather wise. What he says, and plans
                                      thine ease, eat, ,drink  and be merry. But God said                                    and does is done every day in our world of things and
          .                           unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be                                      men. He is a rather careful man. He is~laying up for
     i                                required of thee:\\ then whose  shail those things                                     old age. Is he really a fool?
                              .       be, which thou  hast. provided? So is he that
                                      layeth up treasure for himself,  ahd  is not rich  ..                                               -He was rich ,to start with. -iAnd his lands,brought
                                      toward God." Ltie 12  96-21.                                                           `forth abundantly. Well, that was `God's doing, not his.
               ir                                                                                                            God giveth the increase.'
                     . * .                                                                                                                                              It was a crop such as only
                              for the Holy .Ghost  shall teach yoh in the same,
     hour what you ought to say."                                                                                            happens once in a great whil'e. That is first of all plain
                                                                                                                             frcim the words:' the ground of a certain rich  man.. .
               That was the conclusion of a beautiful speech .of                                                             brought forth plentifully. But it is also plain that we
     the Son.of man to His followers. The Lord Jesus had                                                                     have to do with an unusually large crop from the fact
     spoken to them of very important things, indeed, the                                                                    that the barns were-too  small for this crop. The size of
     most important things for the children of men.: it had                                                                  the barns are reckoned for the average size cro.ps.`
     to do with tl!&...Christian  life. which we are to live on 6~                                                                        No% then what is wrong with providing  large?'
     this earth. And `&Yf?n if we _were to be -brought before                                                                storage ,for his bumper  crops ? Who among the farm-
     the judges and the magistrates, we need not worry,                                                                      ers wouid  act differently7
     for the Holy Ghost would h.elp tis in such terrifying
                                                          \_
     hours.                                                     `:                                                                        And yet :' he is -a fool.. First of all' because the Bible
                                                                      `3    -.._.,                                           says. so. That is really enough. But truth-is also rea-
               -But  .the Lord had made no impression. on one of sonable. <God is, never arbitrary.
     #His hearers. That is plain frolti his sudden questiou.                                                                              Note that his wealth breeds anxiety. That is the
     From the lofty sphere of: witnessing for Christ ,ancl                                                                   first indication'that he is a-fool. A sudden or a grkdual
     for God in the midst of the wicked, we are suddenly                                                                     increase of worldly goods need not .bring anxiety. But
     brought to the mundane sphere of money and earthly                                                                      it shows at once what kitid 6f a man this is. When and
     possessions.  `ThBt one carnal man said : "Master, speak                                                                as soon as he s&w that his: barn&: could not .hold the
     to  iiny brother,  that he divide the inheritance with. wonderful gifts of God, he should have looked around
     me"! What a question, a'nd at such an hour!                                                                             him, and I `assure you that he would have found plenty
               We can tell by Jesus' answer that He'.is very much                                                            of bar.ns  to store his go.odS. Listen to what father Au-
     displeased at this question: "Man, who made me a gustine ~says of this point in "God does not desire `that'
     judge or a divider over you?"                                                                                           thou shouldest lose thy riches-but that thou shouldest
                                                                                                                                                       .-

L

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

           change their place-bags which wax not old, ?&reas-                    neighbor. I,t is thk foul fruit of the sin of man : he acts
           ure in the heavens which faileth not."                                 as though he were `God Almighty. He lives for himself
                   According to father Augustine  he- should  h&e                 alone; and all things must serve him to have a good
           changed the place of these, additional riches. W$at                    time: And there is just One who may do that, and that
          places did -Augustine have in mind? The widows %nd                      is the adorable God, For us to attempt to live like that
           the orphans. There are  plenty of  ~$~s---Tl~~~e  J&S                  is the fundamental sin : the $r& of life !
           .ample place there. A;tten&t_o  the,$&oms of the 11`E;c&-..
           the  hous&  of widows, and  tfi&  mauths of  orphans,`ric$   a-,.                                       12 *:*  e . .
                                                                                                                       I
           man !                                                    _          `hLw~~ But!!!!                .._  ~/ii
                 But no, he is going to build lagger barns. For he-ii
                                                      ,                            "QVhat a terribl:/tibrd !
           a1:fool.                                                      `.           I$ tk&o-ne ,word  the whole plan.of future life of
                   But th`ere  `is much more.    .                                this  fo.ol--is   @+t in jeopardy. God is speaking.  1st  be-
                   He has an arrogant sense of possession. In this                hooves"\ls  to. e very still now, and tremble. For this
           very short soliloquy he uses the personal pronoun, first                                 I"
                                                                                  fool iF..l&)t  :z~r off from anyone of us. We have much of
           person, 18 times, that is either in the form I, me, thou               this fool`?&  us.          .-
           or thine. And also the word so&, which has the same                      But, God said unto him!  '
           import here. For with all these words, either in the                       Well, when everything is equal, the word of  `L;he
           first or the second person, or with the word "soul," he                Lord is very sweet, sweeter than honey and the honey
           has himself in mind. And that is the namecard of the                   comb. There is nothing wrong with God's speech, even _
           fool. He is concerned with himself exclusively. And. in the night. But when His word is spoken in wrath,
           that makes him one of the worst of liars. Listen to                    this. speech'is terrible. But even in its terror, it is still
           him : these are my fruits ! Also this : Soul, thou hast                beautiful. But for this fool it was hell.
           much goods! That makes him a liar, for `God is owner                       It was the speech of death. No, `God did not come
           and a!1 he Is is steward.                                              by his bedside in this terrible night to actually talk to
     .              There is still more ground for calling him a fool.            him. No, but God's word was equally effective.- I think
                   Without the least foundation does he reckon- on                it meant his death struggle. God spoke in the night and
           ilany years of .life. Again, let us listen to him; Soul the man became very "benauwd." God spoke to him of
           thou hast laid-up much goods for many years! How                       death. And there was quite a to do in that house .that
           did he know that? He did not. He knew nothing of the                   night. He was a rich man. He must have had many
           days of the ,years of his life. Anyone of us knows ex-                 servants. Asd they ran hither and thither. And the
           actly nothing about his life span that is still to come.               medicine man was summoned. But then, what can we
            It may be man) years ; but it also may be one second :                poor earthworms do when God says to us: Come on,
           we are overcome -by a sudden heart-&tack, and we are                   die !
            gone. What a fool!                                                        Let us listen to God.
                    And do you think, my dear friends, that there &r)                 He  said in that night of  ill  his mighty plans' of
            no s&h people? That he is the only fool? Or do ~011                   barns ani fruits in great abundance: Eool. That was
            think that this failing is' only found-among the repro-               the proper denomination for himself, his life, his work,
            bates? Do not be deceived. You find it also in the                    his soul and his body. The fool.
            church. Why do you think Christ did say this? an4                         `What does that word mean?
            have it drawn up in the Word of God? So that ~:JJ.                             It means that you walk on a' wv&g way, and thal
            may scornfully laugh at the fools that be outside the                 you stretch out toward a wrong? goal. A fool is the op-
            Kingdom of God? Be',ye not deceived: you find thi; in                 posite of a wise man. And wisdom is the choosing of
            the church also.                                                      the right and the best way unto the attainment of- the
                    Fourth, he is .a fool for he `tries to feed his soul          most glorious purpose. And that purp~ose  is&he praise
            with corn. That also is the earmark of a fool. He does                and the honor of #God. Therefore Christ is called both
            not know his own soul. You cannot  ,feed your soul                    the Wisdom of <God  and the Way to God. There was no
            with  ithe  things of the earth. `The soul is the most                room in the life of this fool for God or His Christ.             u
            precious thing he has, and he should feed his soul with                   He `showed it conclusively in the few words which
            ,God and .godly `things, not the earth and the wealth of              he spoke in the parable.
            it. He sk;ould have learned .from Asaph in the 70th                            He walked upon a way, but it was self-indulgence.
                Psalni that there is nothing, on earth or in the heavens           He had a purpose, but it was the hoacir and praise of
            that can-feed the son1 ; that he needed the communion                  self.
                of God more than br.ead.  And -yet he says: Soul, tak:                     Let us listen some more to the glorious but terrible
                thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry! With corn? The               speech of aGod: Fool, this night thy soul shall be re-
                f.001.                                                             quired of thee !
                     He is  a stranger to God, to himself and to  his                      How terrible !


                                        `T H E -   STAND'ARD  B E A R E R                                                     3

    This night. What came of all his plans? Where are            father and mother? They were the tavern keeper and
 the "many years" he reckoned on? Listen to Solomon:             the harlot.
 "Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou-&&west  riot               Beloved,  iemember `the mouth of orphans, the
 what .a day may bring forth." 2'7 : 1 (Proverbs)                bosoms of the needy, the houses of widows. They are
    This night !                                                 God's barns. Fill them.
    Well, that is not bad at all, if your soul is right wi!i]        And  they had. a splendid funeral. Perhaps  some
 God. Then you have reason to rejoice, for then the              eulogies too. It is a wonderful custom. But his' soul
 pilgrimage throuih this terrible vale of tears is end&, was already in the hand of an avenging God. Whil?
 and you will obtain all the hunger of $our regenerated          they sat and mourned at the funeral of the departed
 heart.                                                          f.001.                        -
    But this night is terrible f,or `it is tge night of death        And his body went. to the grave, while his soul was
 of the fool. And the fool is without God.and  so with-          given over to the destroyers. Listen to Job: "Yea, his
 out hope in the world. And the death-night of such an           soul d&weth near unto the grave, and his life to the
 one mu& needs be terrible. The Lord lays hold of him            destroyers."
 and from out of the midst of his counsels he is brouP;ht             "So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and
 before the face of God. Did not Paul say: it shall. be          is not rich to-w&d  God."
 terrible to fall intq tlie hands of God? And alsd this in            Here is the life of misers : "He that layeth up treas-
 Hebrews : For our God is a consuming fire?                      ure for himself." Let us mirror ourselves at these
                                                                 words of Jesus. We began to say and to ask: was this
                       A a  *  *
            _                                                    man such' a fool? Do not many of us live and plan like
    Thy soul shall be required of thee ! Or, more literal :      he  did?
 This night do they require thy soul of thee. What is                I am tempted to ask again : Was he such a fool? Do-
the import of the plural? Who  aie  the"they"?  `We              not many of us fit this last description in the words of
know  that angels came to usher Lazarus -into  .the  Jesus?
heaven of glory. Are these. perhaps  -,the  angels of                If it is `Self, ii we lay up treasurer for it, I;h#?n both
, doom? Or are they the devils? I do not know.                   it and the treasure.are  destroyed.
    There is something terrible in the plural however.               If it is ,God, we will have treasures in heaven, and
Many come  to take him to the throne of ,God. Some of            the  gkeatest  treasure of them all is eternal life, for
YS have trembled when the auto stopped before OUF                that is to know (Gad.
door, and the officers of -the Gestapo- entered the house.           .Our calling, beloved,, is to lay up treasures in
And you went along.                                              heaven, and then we become rich toward God Then
    But this is far more terrible. Messengers of doom !          we  shali know Him, walk with Him, and grow like
    And that shall happen this night.                            unto Him.
    ,Our days and years, yes, but also our minutes and            `, But Low shall we live so wisely and so well?
seconds are equated. We ought to live that. Listen to                And the answer is: through the fight of faith. Our
Moses: So teach us to number our days, that wekay                nature is exactly as the nature of this fool in t.
apply  ,our hearts unto wisdom! Psalm 90 :12.                    able. `We are not any better. We all have the poison of.
    Here is the truth : ,God has set the span &! our years       the devil in us : we want to. live as though we were God
ere the world iiras created. And when' the last second           Himself. That shall be the end of sin in the last days.
is given to us, there will be no mole. `Time has run out.            But we must fight the fight of faith.
The sands of time may run ever so slowly, but t@ey
finally run out, and we do not know hoti far the sands               With regard to self: Feed your soul.with righteous-
have dropped in the nether vesse'i.  But God know: "- ness and holiness, and that is Jesus, our Lord.
Live that,+beloved,  and you will apply your hearts unto             With regard to our neighbour: use them 3s your
wisdom.                                                          barns. Christ calls the least of us His brethren. Ac-
                       a  72  *  a                               tion or inaction toward the poor and destitute is ac-
    Listen to the further speech of God in that terrible         tion oi inaction overagainst Christ.
night : "then whose shall those things be, which thou                With regard to #God.:  go toward Him ever closer in
hast provided?"                                                  sweet communion. Becope rich in God:;
    0, what untold grief in these words! I have                   . And when the night (or the day) come that He
seen a little of this. I have seen fathers and mothers           calls you from life's dream away, His coming and your
providing and providing again. Fondly counting and               going will not be'terrible.  lAnd we will weep, not so
counting again ! Skall we count it once more with glow-          much that you are gone, as that we are left behind and
ing cheeks and shining eyes, `mother? Oh yes, they               cannot go too.
provided. And  ,Gocl came in' the night. And whose                   For Jesus' sake, Amen.
were those things. that +vere provided by that fond                                                  -.          is. vos.


4                                                                                       THE,  BTA~WL~RD   BEA&~                                                                 <


                                   TWESTAI'JDARD BEARER                                                                                           E D I T O R I A L S
                 Semi-monthly, except monthly in July and August
            Pub&bed  by the Reformed Free Publishing Association
                     Box 124, Staticn C., Grand Rapids 6, Michigan                                                                                   An- Evil Piece of Work.
                               `EDITOR: ._ Rev. Herman Hoeksema
                                                             -
            Com~lunications  relative to contents should be addressed                                                                        FY'om three individuals of our former church in
            to Rev. H. Hoeksema, 1139 -Franklin St., S. E., Grand                                                                         Hamilton I received a communication that is worthy
            Rapids 7, Michigan.                                                                                                           of the severest condemnation by all our Protestant Re-
            All matter- relative  to subscription  should  be addressed
            to Mr. J.  Bouwman,  1350 Giddings Ave., S.  E.,~ Grand                                                                       formed people, and which- I do not hesitate to call .a
            Rapids 7, Michigan. Announcements and Obituaries must                                                                         very evil piece of work, that certainly cannot have been
            be mailed to the above address and will be published at a                                                                     conceived in the mind and heart of any r&&nerated
            fee of  $X.00 for each notice.                                                       _-                                       child of God.
            Renewals:- Unless `a definite request for discontinuance
            is received, it is assumed that. the subscriber wishes the                                                                       Under the cloak of an apparently pery humble con-
            subscription  to `continue  wit.hout the formality of a re-                                                                   fession they launch one more vely slanderous attatik
            newal order.                                                                                                                  upon their former pastor, the Rev. H. Veldman, who
                                 Subscription Price: $3.00 per year                                                                       because of their crooked and wicked contrivance and
            Entered as Second  Class mail at Grand Rapids, Michigan.                                                                      action now is deprived of a place in the active ministry
 ~                                -                                                                                                       of our churches.
                                                                                                                                             (Let me first of all here publish the document. It is
                                                                                                                                          <ritten in the Holland language ;- but I will translate
                                                                                                                                          it ipto English, in, order that all our readers may be
                                                                                                                                          able to judge.
                                                                                                                                             "`The Consistory of the Prot. Ref. Church of Hamil-
                                                                                                                                          ton, assembled-on Thursday, Sept. 6, 1951, reaches the
                                                                                                                                          following decisions :
                                                  C O N T E N T S                                                                            "A,  1. To express to the Rev. Veldman and Elder
                                                                                                                                          Reitsma their sincere regret because of the manner in
MEDITATION-                                                                                                                               which they were treated by the  C!onsistory  in their
             T h e   R i c h   F o o l . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .    . . . . 1
                     Rev. G. Vos                                                                                                          meeting of Feb.. 16, 1951. They now acknowledge that
                                                                                                                                          they have come to the conviction that their severance
EDITORIALS-
             An Evil  Peice  of Work. . . . . . . . . , . . .  ;. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                           4. . . .          from the church' connection factually led to the result
                     Rev. H. Hoeksema                                                                                                     that the Rev. Veldman and brother Reitsma were not
THE  TRIPLE   KNOW~EDGE-                                                                                                                  treat&d  as brethren, which is sin before God. And the
             An Exposition of the Heidelberg Catechism . . . . . . . . . . . .                                          .           7     Consistory therefore will confess before God and men
                     Rev. H. Hoeksema                                                                                                     of the sin against the command of Christ not to let a
        .-As T            o                BOOKS-                                                                                         sinner in the congregation go, except after much tid-
             Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures. . . . . . . . . . . . .                                              . . I1
             Expository Thoughts on the Gospels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                                        . . 11       monition `and  pr'ayer:  They acknowledge that they
             Christus  in Zijn  Lijden, II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                                   . . 12       have failed in this; and that, on the contrary, they
             Gereformeerden  Waarheen? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                               . . 12
             Het Christlijk  Leven  in Huwelijk en Gezin . . . . . . . . . . . . .                                           . . 12       permitted their act%1 to be too rquch influenced by
                    ,Rev. H. Hoeksema                                                                                                     the motive to find as soon as possible a solution for the
OUR. DOCTRINE-                                                                                                                            difficulties in which they found themselves at that
             The  Hexaemeron or Creation Week (5) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                                         . . . 13          moment.
                     Rev. H. Veldman                                                                                                         "2. Ali this"does not alter the fact that the Con-
                                                                                                                                          sistory still niaintains completely the objections tiles
  ,          The Theological Seminary . . . . . . . . . .  .-. , . . . . .  : . . .  : . . . . . . . . . 16
                     R e v .   p.  C .   Harbach                                                                                          had against the mode of action of the Rev. Veldman,
 IN  H                                                                                                                                    in which it clearly appeared that he wanted to be in-
               I S   FEAR-
             Back to School (4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                     17    structor  `(leeraar) but not a shepherd of  the flock.
                     Rev. H. C. Hoeksema                                                                                                  The Consistory is of the opinion that this public action
 FROM                HOLY              V&IT-                                                                                              (optreden) must be rejected, because it appeared that
             Exposition of Acts 13  :32, 33ff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                           19    he wanted to introduce.and  to maintain.his own intek-
                   Rev. G. C. Lubbers                                       .
                                                                                                                                          pretation of the Confession, which i$ not binding in the
 THROUGH   THE  AGES-                                                                                                                     churches, whereby he destroyed the congregation and
             The Arminian or Remonstrant Struggle  : . . . . . . . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . . . 21
                      Rev.  G.  M.  Ophoff                                                  ,                                             stood in the way of the God-willed unity, according to
                                                                                                                                          John 17. The Consistory, is of the ipinion that the a.&


                                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R :                                            5

tion which it took by denying the Rev. Veldman the                      Protestant Ref,ormed  Church. Are they not aware that
right to conduct the ministry of the Word was correct ;                 if we would do so, we could prosecute them by law?
and they should have continued in that way by main-                        But much more serious `is what they write under
taining their decision to suspend the Rev. Veldman,                     A, 2. -Under A, 1 they apparently make a very humble
with the cooperation of the neighboring church, and                     confession .before~ LGod and men. But be not deceived
to depose him from his office in ease he did not repent.                by that confession  ;  f,or it is certainly not sincere.
   `!B. For the execution of that which is `mentioned                   When a brother in Christ makes 2 true and heartfelt
under A, the Consistory decides to  send, the literal text              confession before God and men, he does not in the
of this decision to:                                                    same breath heap sin upon sin, as the men that call
                                                                        themselves the Consistory of the Prot. Ref. Church in
   1. `The Rev. Veldman.                                                .Hamilton actually do. For under A, 2 they lie about
   2. Brother Reitsma.                                                  and slander the Rev.. H. Veldman publicly, land thus
   O.
   5-J   IClassis East and West of  th'e Prot. Ref. commit what according to the Heidelberg #Catechism,
                  Churches.         '                                   is called the very work of the devil. Let me make this
   4. The Consistory of  Chatham.                                       plain.
   5. To the Redactions of The Stuti~d Beawr and                           Suppose that the three men that signed this com-
                  Conco&u for publication, with the request that `munication  had actually had the objections which they
                  all the consistories that also received the well-     now state under A, 2 against the Rev. H. Veldman at
                  known decision of Jan. 16, 1951 may take              the time when they were still in the Consistory of the
                  notice of this decision.`,'                           Prot. Ref. .Church in Hamilton. And suppose that now
    ._                                                                  they desire to confess their sin of having maltreated
                                           (was signed)                 the Rev. H. Veldman and Elder Reitsma, as well as                    .
                                         .L.  v .   H u i z e n         the sin of having severed themselves from the fellow-
                                              L. Klapwijk               ship of the Prot. Ref. Churches. What would have been
          .v;;                              -J. Ton                -    the proper procedure ? I confess that this is difficult. '
                                                                        For it is my experience that it is not  often. easy to -
C,O!MMENT .                                                             make a thing straight which men made crooked., Yet,
                                                                        it seems to me a possible procedure would have been
   In an accompanying letter these three men that call                                                                             -
                                                                        as follows :
themselves the Consistory of the Protestant Reformed
Church in Hamilton show either their ignorance and                         1. That they  ,publicly confess their sins committed.
complete lack of. culture, or their impudent effrontery,                against the Rev. H. Veldman and Brother Reitsma be-.
by sending it without any form of address or greet-                     fore Classis East of the Prot. Ref. Churches.
in.gs. All they write is : "To Prof. H. Hoeksema, Grand                    2. That. they request the  Classis to reorganize
Rapids." There is no address, like "Dear Brother" or                    them and those that followed them and agree with
"Dear Reverend" or even "Dear Sir." Nor do they                         them into a Prot. Ref. Church of Hamilton.            :
finish the letter by `any kind of greetings, like "With                    3. `That they reque'st the ,Classis to reinstate them,
love in the Lord" or "Fraternally yours" or even                        together with Brother Reitsma and the Rev. H:Veld-
"Truly yours" or "Respectfully yours." One cannot                       man;in their office as elders and deacons and minister
help but wonder whether if those same men ,write let-                   in the Protestant Reformed Church of Hamilton that
ters tot a professor in the Old *Country,  they commit                  is thus. reorganized.
the same error. I feel, of course, offend-ed by such a                     4. That, if then `they had any objections against
letter. But I feel much more aggrieved and ashamed the work of the Rev. H. Veldman, which according to
that men who have the effrontery to call themselves them. required suspension and deposition from office,
the Consistory of the Prot. Ref. Church in Hamilton                     they walk in the legal way, bring their objections to
show so much lack of propriety and Christian culture.                   their  own Consistory, call-a neighboring consistory if
!Alnd if it is not this, the case is much worse. .For then              necessary, and finally appeal to Classis.
the offense is intentional.                                                 5. In that case, of course, the Rev. H. Veldman
    Secondly, I want to call the attention of those three               and Brother R&ma would have an opportunity to
men to their lawlessness. They call themselves the defend themselves in their own Consistory, in the Con-
Consistory of the Protestant Reformed Church of                         s&tory of Chatham,  and before Classis East. And the
Hamilton, `to which they have no right whatsoever, as                   latter would have the final word as. to whether or not
they themselves well know. For they themselves admit                    the Rev. H. Veldman and Brother Reitsma were worthy
that  they severed -themselves from the fellowship. and                 of  ~being deposed from .their respective offices.
communion of the Prot. Ref. Churches. And only in                        . Now, however, the three men that call themselves
that fellowship have they the right to the name of                      the Consistory of the Prot. Ref. Church of Hamilton


6                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                                                                            .
have, the brazen effrontery publicly to slander .and           join the church, meaning, of course, especially the
besmear the good name of Brother Reitsma and the               Liberated immigrants.  -
Rev. H. Veldman, without giving them the opportunity              c. That the Rev. H. Velclman ancl Brother Reits-
to defend themselves, unless they wish to do so publicly       ma did-not .agree with this decision, and that the Con-
in  ComcorcFia  and  The  Stmachrd  Becwer.  This I call       sistory themselves brought the matter to the attention
the very work of the devil.' And it makes the ap-              of the  Classis, asking them for advice.  -
parently humble confession which they make `uncler
A, 1 a matter of sheer hypocrisy.                                 d. That  Classis East  advisecl the Consistory of
                                                               Hamilton to maintain and abide by-its former decision,
       In the third place, I want to call, the attention of    thus justfying the Rev.  H, Veldman  ancl Brother
our ,readers and of the three men that write the above         Reitsma.
communication to the fact that they simply lie and
slander when they state that the former consistory of            e. That in a very illegal Consistory meeting, in
Hamilton, of which the Rev. Veldman was pastor at              the absence of `the Rev. H. Veldman and Brother Reits-
the time, had the objections against the Rev. Veldman          ma, the remaining consistory members.deciclecl  to sus-
that he didnot want to be pastor, but only instructor          pencl the Rev. H. Veldman from office and to call the
of the flock, that he wanted to bind the flock by his own      neighboring Consistory of Chatham for advice.
private opinion, and that thus he destroyed the con-              f.- That in  & later consistory meeting, they re-
gregation and stood in the way of the (God-willed unity.       scinded this action of suspension and severed them-
I maintain that this is nothing but evil slander, and I        selves from the felowship of the Prot. Ref. Churches.
do so on the following grounds:                                   I relate all this history from memory, but 1 am
       1. It is not true that the Consistory of Hamilton,      confident that in the main the facts are quite correct.
when it was still intact, had any such objections against         Now what becomes of the accusation that the Rev.
the Rev. ft. Veldman as mentioned above.. If I am in           H. Veldman tried to bind the- flock to his own private
error, let them inform us from their own official min-         interpretation of- the Confessions? If this accusation
utes at the time, which certainly are the only proper          is true, .it also concerns the Classical ,Committee  of
source. I claim that what the three men that sign the          Classis East. And in fact it concerns Classis East it-
communication now  ,do is simply. to present some              self, which sustained the Rev. H. Veldman and Broth-
trumped up charges. These charges were never men-              er Reitsma and justified them eompletely. What be-
tioned to the Rev. H. Veldman or Brother Reitsma in            comes of the accusation that the Rev. H; Veldman was
any consistory meeting. They were never mentioned              guilty of  .destroying  the church in Hamilton? It is
to the classical committee that met with the Consistory        simply a lie: Of that act the erstwhile.Consistory  and
repeatedly. Nor were they ever mentioned in the meet-          it alone is entirely responsible, the Consistory, that is,
ing of Classis East. [On the contrary, at that time the        excluding the Rev. -H. Veldman and Brother Reitsma.
same men had nothing. but praise, and had no objec-               In conclusion, let me state that I consider this com-
tions ,at all against the labor of the Rev. H. Veldman,        munication ,of the three men from Hamilton a very
as all, the brethren of the IClassical  Committee of Clas-     evil piece of work. And I am afraid that the motive
sis East and, of Classis East itself will testify.             behind it all is the evil-design to cause a further split
       2. Not only, however, did the Consistory of Hamil-      in OLW churches. Let the churches beware, ancl take a
ton at the time have no such charges against the labor         firm stand.
of the Rev. H. Veldman as the three men that sign the                                                             H/H.
communication now allege that they had at the time.
But,it is also a plain lie, and a distortion of the facts.
Briefly stated, the official minutes of the Consistory of
Hamlton at the time, the report of the Classical Com-
mittee of `Classis East, and the minutes of Classis East                            El  0  El  El  El
will show the following facts : )
        a. That the Consistory of Hamilton had ,passed a
decision to place prospective members before the ques-
tion whether they would. submit themselves to the in-
struction of the Prot. Ref. Church and whether they
would promise not to agitate against the doctrine as           CL.ASSIS  EAST will meet. in regular session, D.V.,
taught in the Prot. Ref. Church- of Hamilton.                  `Wednesday, ,October ` 10. r 1951 at the Seconcl Church
        b. That at., a later meeting of the ,Consistory  of     of Grand Rapids.                         .-
     Hamilton, this body rescinded its. former decision and
     decided to throw open the doors to all that desired to                                               D.  Jonker, S.C.
                                                                                    .                            i  '


                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                               7

                                                               wrath kindled against the whole congregation ; there-
    THE, TRIPLE KNOWLEDGE                                      fore it is the duty of the Christian church, according to
                                                               the appointment of Christ and his apostles, to exclude
                                                               such persons, by the keys of the kingdom of heaven,
  Ai Exposition Of The `Heidelberg till they show. amendment of life."
                                                               -.    In the question the .Catechism  speaks of confession
                            Catechism                          and walk, that is, of those that by confession and walk
                                                               declare themselves to be ungodly and cannot be ad-
                            PART  TWO0                         mitted by the church to the Lord's table.           ._
        .         O    f      M.an's  R.edemption                    There is a most intimate relation `between.- these
                       LORD'S DAY XXX.  cI                     two, confession and walk. A true confession reveals
                                                               itself in a sanctified walk. And thelatter is based on
                             Chapter 3                         and motivated by the former. A false confession, if
                  CONFESSION AND WALK                          we may speak of- a false confession, is motivated by
                                                               the desire to cover, up and to justify a walk according
     In the eighty-second question the Heidelberger            to the flesh and according to the world. And the for-
 asks : "t&e they .also to be admitted to this supper,         mer gives rise to the latter. It is certainly utterly false
 who, by `confession and life, declare themselves unbe-        to maintain that it matters not what we believe, if only
 lieving and ungodly?" This question is. quite distinct        we do something in life. Principle and practice are
 from the `preceding -one. `There the question was :           most intimately related. Doctrine and life.-are in-
 "For whom is the Lord's supper instituted?" And the           separable. The Scriptures therefore everywhere em-
 implication of the answer was such that it was left to        phasize the necessity and the obligation of the church
 the individual believer to determine whether or not he.       and of the individual believer to maintain true doc-
is a proper partaker of the Lord's supper. To put it in        trine. And'everywhere the Word of God warns against
different-words, the question was: Who must be in- -heretics and false. teachers. Never does it evince any
 cluded in those that come to the table of the Lord as         sympathy. with them, but rather presents them as  wil-
 far as the church is concerned? And although in the           ful destroyers of- the church- and of the individual be-
 answer it was definitely stated that. the  L,ord's  Supper    lievers.
 is instituted only for believers, yet also hypocrites and      ' Thus we find already in the Old Testament that
 those that do not sincerely repent of their sins before       the Word of God condemns the false prophets as liars
 `God, and that therefore eat and drink judgment to. and deceivers. -The false prophet is one that  de:
 themselves, must be allowed to come to the Lord's table       liberately speaks lies in the name of the Lord, and.
 for the simple reason that de intimis non jzcclicat ec-       that, too, to ,entice  and deceive the people to wicked-
 clesia-the.  church does not judge about the things ness and idolatry. And according to the law that pro-
 that are hidden. But in the present question the mat-         phet had to die,,Deut.  l8:20 : "But the prophet, which
 ter is different. It is not concerned with the determi-       shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I
 nation of the. individual, whether or not he is to come       have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak
 to the table of the Lord, but with the church as in-          in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die."
 stitute. It also has a calling with regard to the sacra-      So serious is this matter, that the Lord demanded that
 ment of holy communion. Not everybody is to be ad-            if a- son prophesy lies in the name .of the Lord, his
 mitted to the table of the Lord. COn tlie contrary, the       father and mother that begat him shall be the first to
 Reformed churches believe in what is called "closed           stone him or to thrust him through with the sword.
 communion." Most churches in our day have "open               Thus we read in Deu. 13 :6-11: `!If thy brother, the son
 communion." Tliey do not exercise Christian discipline,       of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife
 and'the keys of the kingdom of heaven are long: covered       of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own
 with rust. Anyone may determine wholly for himself ,soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve
 whether or not he shall partake of the Lord's Supper.         other gods, which thou hast not ,known, thou, nor thy
 But Reformed churches believe that they have a call-          fathers ; Namely, of the gods of the people which are
 ing with regard to this holy sacrament. That calling is       round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee,
 expressed by the term "closed~communion." It implies          from the one end-of the earth even unto the other end
 that not all who should so desire are permitted to come       of the earth ; Thou shalt .not consent unto him, nor
 to the table of the Lord. Hence, the question: "Are           hearken unto him ; neither shall thine eye pity him,
 they also to be admitted to this supper, who, by con-         neither shall thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal
 fession~ and life, declare themselves unbelieving and         him: But thou shalt surely kill him; thin-e  hand shall
 ungodly?" And the answer is negative : "No ; for by           be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards
 this, the covenant of God would be profaned, and his          the htind of all the people. And thou shaltstone him.

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

 with stones, that he die ; because he h&h sought to              prophets of deceit, and they cause the people of God
thrust thee away from the Lord thy God, which                     to .forget the name of the Lord. And they pervert the
 brought thee out of the `land of Egypt, from tne house           words of the living God. Cf. also Jer. 27 :i4-18 ; 25 :
 of bondage. `And all Israel shall hear, and fear, and            15-1'7; 29  :8, 9; Lam;  .2:14. With their lying divina-.
 shall do no more any such wickedness as.this is among. tions they make the heart of the people of God sad,
 you." How sadly the old covenant people disobeyed                and strengthen the hands of the wicked, Ezek. 13 :28 :
 this injunction is well known. But  acoording  to  the           "Because with lies ye have made the heart of the
 prophesy of Zechariah this shall still be realized, for          righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and
 we read in Zech; 13 :3: "And it shall come to pass,              strengthened the hands of the'wicked, that he should
 that when any' shall yet prophesy, then his father and           not return from his wicked way, by promising him
 his mother that, begat him shall say unto him, Thou              life." When they speak lies in the name of the Lord,
 shalt not live ; for thou speakest lies in the name of           their purpose is `to devour  souls  : "There is a con-
 the, Lord: and his father and his mother that begat              spiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof, like a
 him shall thrust him through when he prophesieth:" roaring lion ravening the prey; they have devoured
 The false prophets are deceivers, that  wilfully speak           souls; they have taken the treasure and precious
 lies in the name of the Lord from the motive of cove-            things ; they .have made her many widows in the midst
 tousness, and to destroy the people of God. Thus we              thereof:,, Ezek.  22.:25.-           -..
 read of the false prophets in Jer. 6 :13-15 : `:For from             The New. Testament too warns very frequently
 the least of them even unto the greatest of them every           against false teachers and against false doctrine. The
 one is given to covetousness ; and from the prophet              Lord Jesus warns against false prophets in Matt. 7:
_ even unto'-the priestevery one  dealeth  falsely. They          15: "Beware of false prophets, which come to you in
 have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my peo- sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening
 ple slightly, saying, Peace, peace ; when there is no            wolves." He-tells us that by their fruits they. shall be
 peace. Were they shamed when they had committed                  known. For men do not gather grapes of thorns, or I
 abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neith-           figs of thistles. -And every good tree bringeth forth
 er could they blush: therefore they shall fall among             good fruit, but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
 them that fall : at the time that I visit them .they shall       And he continues: "Not everyone that saith unto me,
be cast down, saith the Lord." The people that follow Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven;
 in the way of their wicked lies shall perish with.them,          but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in
 for thus we read in Jer. 14:13-16: "Then said,&rAh,              heaven. Many will say to me -in that day, Lord, Lord,
. `Lord ,God! Behold, the prophets say unto them, `Ye             have we not prophesied in thy name? ancl in thy name
 shall not see the sword, neither shall ye have, famine ;         have cast out devils ? and in ,thy name have done many
 but I will give you assured peace in `this place. Then           wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them,
 the Lord said unto me, The, prophets prophesy lies in            I never knew you : depart from me, ye. that work
 my name : I sent them not, neither have I commanded              iniquity." Matt. 7:21-23. Always the elements of dc-
 them, neither spake unto them: they prophesy unto,               ceit in these false prophets is emphasized. Thus we .
 you a faise vision and divination, and a thing of                read in Matt. 24 :5 : "For many shall. come in my
 nought, and the `deceit of their heart. Therefore thus           name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many."
 saith the Lord concerning the prophets that prophesy             And again, in the 24th verse of the same chapter : "For
 in my name, and I sent them -not,"yet  they say, Sword           there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and
      and famine shall not be in this land ; Bjr sword and        shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if
 famine shall those prophets be consumed. And the peo-            it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect." Cf.
      ple to whom they `prophesy shall be cast out into the       Mark 13 :22. Paul mentions tlie name of Hymenaeus
      streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the          and Philetus, who erred concerning the truth, saying
      sword ; and they shall have none to bury them, them,        that the resurrection is past already ; and they attempt
 their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters : for           to overthrow the faith of many. II Tim. 2 :17, 18. And
      I will pour their wickedness upon them." A very vivid       in chapter 4 of the same epistle, verses 3 and 4, he
      description of those false prophets we have in Jer. 23 :    writes : "For the time will come when they will not en-
      9-40. Because of them the land is.full of adulterers.       dure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall
      Because aof swearing the land mourneth. Both prophet        they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
      and priest are profane. They cause the people to err.       And they shall turn away their ears from the truth,
      While- they themselves, commit ,adultery and walk,' in      and shall be turned unto fables." False teachers are
      lies, they strengthen the hand of evil doers, so that       those that oppose the truth, gainsayers, vain talkers
      none repent-and return from their wickedness, They          and deceivers, that are motivated by the desire fcr
      promise peace and prosperity-unto everyone that walks        filthy lucre. Thus the apostle writes in Titus 1:9-11:
      in the imagination of his own heart. They are the            "Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught,
                                                                     .-                                       `.


.-                                         THE  S T A N D A R D   BEAliER  .   ..~`-'                                       9

      that he may be able by sound doctrine bbth to &xhoTt        ery witid of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cun-
      and to convince the gainsayers. For. there are-many un- ning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive:"
      ruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of      Eph. 4  :14.
      .the circumcision : Whose mouths must be stopped, &o           From all these passagks it is perfectly plain, in the
      subvert whole houses, teaching things which they            first place, that it is very dangerous to harbor false
      ought not, for fiithy itme's sake," Th%y are ministel:s     teachers and false doctrines in the church. In the sec-
I of Satan,  trbnsformifig themselves into apostles of            ond place, it is also evident that the motive of these
      Christ, II ,Cor. 11:13-15: "For such are false apostles,    false teachers is -not the love. of God and the love of
      deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the         Christ and the love of the truth, but covetousness and
      apostles of Christ. And no marvel; fqr Satan himself        the -desire to make merchandise of the people `of God.
      is transformed into an aligel of light. Therefore it is     In the third'place, it is plain what method these' false
      no.great thing if his ministers also bk transformed as      prophets and teachers employ to inculcate false doc-
      the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be ac-      trine in the church  df  Christ. And  .finally, it is  very
      cording to their works." They are those that pkrvert        evident that- there is an intimate connectian between
      the gospel of Christ, and whom the apostle Paul does        false doctrine and a walk according to the flesh. And
      not hesitate to call accursed,  Gal.  1:6-g: "I marvel      therefore the church of Christ ought not to allow these
      that ye fire si soo~removed  fyc& him that called you       false teachers to remain in the church and to partake
      into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which         of the Lord's Supper.
      i? not another; but therebe some  that trouble you, And        It is a striking fact that there is not one part of
      would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, OY       the doctrine df the truth as it is in Jesus Christ our
      an. angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto         Lord that has not been denied and that has not been .
you than that which we have preached unto ybu, let                gainsaid in the course of the history of the church,
      him be accursed.  As: we said before, so say I now          and that is not denied and attacked today. Thus it is,
      again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you          for instance, with the. doctrine of Holy Scripture, .the       -
      than that ye have reseivod, let him be accursed." They      doctrine that in Holy Writ we haye the infallible ret-
      are those who are very deceitful in ti~$ ways and           ord of the Word of God is denied by many, and has
      privily bring is heresies, luring many iti their deceit-    been denied throughout the ages. And this, of course,
      ful ways, motivated by covetousness, and making mer-        strikes at the very root of the Christian faith. The
      chandise of the people of God.  Thus we read in  JI         doctrine of the Trinity, that fundamental doctrine, .
      Peter 2 : l-3 : "But there were false prophets also         upon which really rests the whole truth of Scripture,
      among the people, even as there shall be false teachers     has been `and is denied and attacked today.. The doc-
      among you, who. privily shall bring in damnable here-       trine of predestination, +he truth concerning election,
      sies, even denying the Lord that bought them; and           the very heart of the church, is gainsaid by many. Th.e
      bring upon themselves swift destruction. lAnd many          truth that Jesus Christ has come into the flesh,. and
      shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom       the denial of which according to the apostle John is
the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through             the  mar& of the antichrist, the truth  that- Christ is
      covetousness shall they with feigned words make mer-        really God as well.as  really man and has assumed our
      chandise- of you : whose judgtient `Ilow of a long time     human nature, ,has been and is distorted by many in
      lingereth not,- and their damnation slumbereth not." our own -day. The truth of the atonement, that is, the
      Also the apostle John very serisusly  warns the church      truth that  <God was in Christ reconciling the world
      against the influence of false teachers. Writes he in       unto' Himself,  the trhth that Christ died vicariously
      II John 7-11: "For many deceivers are enteied  into         for the sins of His people, has been atid is distorted
      the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is- come       `alld attacked and denied by many in our own day as
      in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. Look    well as in the past. The truth of the resurrection,
      to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we       and in connection therewith~the truth of the l^esurrec-
      have wrought, but that we receiv_e  a full reward. Who-.    tion of Jesus Christ, was already attacked in the day ,'
      soever transgresseth, and abideth not in  the doctrine      of the apostle Paul in- the church of Corinth, and is
      of Christ, hath not <God. He that abideth in the doc-       still gainsaid by many that- ,do. not love th.e truth of
      trine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.       the gospel. And thus it is practically the case with all
      If there come any &to you, and bring not this doc-          other  parts of the doctrine of Scripture. The  truth
      trine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him     of the exaltation of Christ at the right hand of God,
      God speed : Fo? he that biddeth him ,God speed is par-      the truth of His coming again, the truth concerning
      taker of his evil deeds."And to -:quote  no more, the       the church, the truth concerning the means of -grace,
      apostle Paul also characterizes these  false teachers in    the. truth concerning the sacraments, that of baptism
      no' uncert$in words : "That we henceforth be no more        as well as that of the supper bf the Lord-all these doe-
children, tossed to-and fro and carried about with ev- `. trines have been distorted and attacked and denied by

                    ,-I,                                                          a


1           0                        THE`  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R   `.                          F

many  fal'se preachers and teachers. Many are the               rest, both the false teacher and thBy that follow him
winds of doctrin,e that always have been trying to prd-.        cannot be admitted to the table of the. Lord, and have
vent the church from steering a straight course along           no place -in the chur,ch of Jesus Christ.
the lines of the truth as it is in Jesus Christ our Lord.          The same holds true according to the Heiclelberg
Many have been and are deceived by these false doc-             Catechism for those who in their 1if.e and walk in the
trines. And being deceived, they are led in ways of             world declare themselves to be ungodly. We have al-
cortruption  and of the world. And therefore the church         ready pointed out that there is a clo;e connection be-
.ought not to allow these false teachers and false doc-         tween doctrine and life. On the one hand, false doc-
trines "to gain a foothold in the church. And those             trine leads to a sinful walk and conversation.      This
that propagate those false doctrines ought to be  baryecl       stands to reason,- False doctrine does not lead to, but
from the Lord's Supper, which is essentially the.same           denies Christ. Aiid in the way of false doctrine the
as to excommunicate them from the church of Chiist.             church loses `Christ. In Christ, however, is all  ou:
     I said that it is also very evident from these pas-        salvation. Without  Christ we have nothing. All that
sages what motivates these false teachers,- and what            we ever have and ever shall have in regard to the
is for that very reason the method they. employ to in-          riches of  the blessings of salvation is literally  i:?
culcate tl!eir tea&ings  into the church of Christ. Why         Christ. In Him is our righteousness, our knowledge &l-
are there aiways so many that attack the truth ai it            God, our wisdom, our holiness, our sanctification, our
is in Christ, revealed in the Holy  ;Scripttures?  ,,Are        eternal life. `Christ is the Head, from Whom ?lows all
these  false teachers simply characterized by intel-            the fulness of grace and salvation into His people. The
lectual errors? Do they,`as it is often alleged, perhaps        believer, therefore, must abide in Christ and grow into
honestly err? Must  w they be considered as erring              Him. Just as a tree strikes its roots into .the soil,, to'
`brethren, perhaps? Do they simply present what is              seek its nourishment, so the believer, by the grace of
their  hoeest  conviction concerning the truth of  th?          God, has roots that strike themselves into Christ, in
gospel? This certainly is not the judgment of Scrip-            order to seek all the nourishment, all the spiritual
ture. According to `the Bible, both in the ,Old and .New        blessings of salvation in Him alone. And as we grow
Testaments, a false "teacher or a false prophet is 3            into Christ, we will also grow in sanctification of life,
wicked per,son,  is one who pretends that he speaks the. crucify our old natur?, hate sin, fight the goocl fight,
Word of the Lord, while he knows that contradie@  it.           and walk as of the party of the living  Gocl in the
Moreover, he deliberately presents the lie as the truth         midst of the world. Growing into Christ we derive ev-.
in order to deceive %he pebljle of God and to corrupt           erything out of Him. And as we derive all our salva-
the church and to lead the believers astray from thz            tion qut of Him, we become conformable to His image,
way of  righte0usnes.s  and truth.  r&cording  to.Scrip-        and work out our otin salvation with fear and trembl-
ture, moreover, he is one that is motivated by selfish          ing. From this you -can easily gather how dangerous
reasons, by covetousness and filthy lucre. He is a min-         it is to tolerate false doctrine. For false doctrine is a
ister of Satan that appears as an angel. of `light. , Scrip-    denial of Christ, and therefore leads the chuTch away
ture, therefore, has no sympathy with the false teach-          from Him. -For Christ we have only in the truth olt
er. The apostle Paul characteyizes the false teacher as         Holy Writ. Another  Christ than that `which is  re-
one that has recourse to the sleight of men and to cun-         vealecl in S&iptiu.e  we. have not. And therefore, as
ning craftiness, whereby he lies in wait to deceive. He         soon as you depart from the truth of Holy W?it, as
gambles with the truth. And he nitians to fleece thk. soon as you leave the- truth, and a,s `soon as you follow
sheep, rather than to feed them. -With cunning crdti-           after false teachers, you lose Christ and strike  the
ness they seek to introduce their false doctrine intd th.e      roots of your soul into wrong soil. Hence, doctrine
church., They never come openly, but try to inculcate           and life are inseparably connected with each other.
their false teaching privily. There is no love of God           And false doctrine leads inevitqbly  to a life of corrup-
in their hearts. They love not the Lord .Jesus Christ,          tion and sin in the world,.
and they love not the church. But they love their own              But there is a mutual relation between doctrine ancl
filthy lucre. And therefore they are` enemies of the            life, and between false doctrine and a walk in sin.
,cause of God in ,Christ,  and they cannot be admittecl         mile it is true that on the one hand, false doctrine
to the Lord's table.  And  the same is true for those           leads to a life of corruption, on the @her hand, .it is
that are permanently deceived by these false teachers,          equally true that a life in sin is the motive of corrupt-
and that follow after their doctyine.  It is possible, of       ing the truth. The.false teacher and they that follow
course, that a Christian is temporarily deceived by             in his ways know very well that the truth judges and
these fals`e teachers. But if they are really believers         condemns them. And therefore they hatie and corrupt
and love the gospel of Jesus Christ, they will return           the truth and love and propagate the lie, in order tc
to the truth as soon as they see. it, and as soon as they       justify their sinful life and walk. -The Lord Jesus says
learn to knoti it in the light af Scripture.. But for the       in John 7 :16-17: "Jesus. answered them, and .said,


                                             THE..  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                         11

    My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. If any               part of the CornmentorzJ  may be judged by what Dr.
   man -will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine,                Bahr writes in the Historical mad Ethiml notes on the
   whether it be of <God, or whether I speak of myself.`! rev,olt  of the ten tribes and the division  of the kingdom.
    The opposite is also true. If any man will not do the               As to the evaluation of Jehu's character and work we
    will-of the Father, he will oppose and deny the doc-                agree rather with the notes by. the Rev. W. 6. Sumner,
    trine 1of Christ. Because .he loves the darkness and                who writes  ,that Jehu's zeal was motivated by his
    lives in the darkness, he .also loves the lie and hates             carnal ambition of securing for himself the throne. Cf.
    the truth. There is, therefore, a mutual relation be-               I, 14'7 ff. II 114 ff.
  * tween false doctrine and. a walk in sin.                                    The commentary  011  Chronicles  wlas prepared by
       That they who by their walk declare themselves to                Dr. Otto Zackler,  that on Ezra and on Esther by Dr.
   be unbelieving and ungodly have no part with the table               Fr. U. Schultz; and that on Nehemiah by ,Dr. Howard
    of the Lord is evi-dent  from all Scripture. The apostle            Crosby.
   Paul writes in I Cor. IO :21: "`Ye cannot drink the cup                    - I do not believe that Dr. Schultz-has succeeded to
    of the Lord and the cup of devils : ye cannot be par-               grasp and demonstrate the canonical significance of
   takers of the Lord's table, and of the table of devils." th.e book of Esther. This, to my mind, must be sought
   Again and again Scripture emphasizes that he `that                   in the fact that God frustrated, by the instrumentality
   walks in ungodliness and corruption has no inheritance               of carnal  .Jews, the attack of the dragon upon the
   in the kingdom of God. Thus we read in Gal. -6':19-21:               woman that was to bring' forth the manchild, the
                                                                                                 ,
    "Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which arc                  Christ. Rev. 12:
 ' these ; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lascivious- We highly, recommend these commentaries  to all
   ness, idolatry,. witeherift,  hatred, variance,, emulations,         students of Holy -Writ.
   wrath, strife? seditions, heresies envyings, murders,                                                                   H. H.          ;.,     "
                                                                                                                                r
   drunkenness, revellings;  and such likez~ of the which
   I tell you before, as I have `also told you in time  past,                             a           -w             ~
   that they which do such things shall not inherit the
   kingdom of ,God." And in Eph. 5 :3-7 t.he same apostle               LANGE'S  CIOMMENTORY  ON THE HOLY SCRIPTURES,
   writes : "But fornication,' and all uncleanness,  or                       Psalms. `Published- by Zondervan Publishing House, Grand
                                                                              Rapids,  Mich: Price $4.95.
   covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as
   becometh saints  ; Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking,                  This commentary on the Psalms on Lange's B%e-
   nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giv-               werk was prepared by Dr. Moll, professor of Theology<
 `ing of th.anks. For this ye know,. that no whoremonger,               in Halle.
   nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is' an                            I can do no better, to give the reader a taste of the
   idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ              contents of this commentary,  than by quoting the fol-
   and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words;                  lowing from the Introduction :
                                                                        .:
   for because of these things corn& the wrath of God                           "It  (i.,e. the Psalter) might w.ell be called a little
   upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefor<:              Bible, embracing like a manual in the shortest'and
   partakers with them."                                                finest way, all the rest of the Bible ; so that it seems as
                                But there isno need to quote
   more. And it is the calling;of the church to bar, from               if the-Holy Ghost had taken pains to set together a
   the Lord's table all that in confession and -walk,  pro- little Bible, a sample book of the whole of Christianity,
   fess themselves to be ungodly.                                       or of-all the saints, in order that he who cannot re,ad
                                                                        the whole Bible, might here have almost the whole sub-
                                                          H.H.
                        p  :                                            stance of it, in one little book."
                                                                                No wonder the people of IGod prize the psalms and
                         El  El  EI'EI El                               love to sing them!
                                                                                Heartily I recommend this volume to all our read-
                                                                        ers.
                       As-To  B-oaks  _  0
              -  -                                                                                                          H. H.
   LALNGES' COMMENTORY ON THE HOLY SCRIPTURES                                                         .--
     Kings-Esther, two volumes. Published by Zondervan  Pub:                       f
     lishing House, Grand Rapids,  Mich.  Price per volume $3.95.  -                                         .~
       Dr. Bahr of Carlsruhe, who prepared the  com-                    EXPOSITORY THOUGHTS ,ON THE GOSPELS, by Bishop J.
                                                                              :G.. Ryle. The Gospel according to John, two volumes.  Pub-
   mentory  on Kings, substituted the'title's Heilsgeschich-                  lished .by ~Zondervan  Publishing House, Price per vol. $4.95:
   li'che  nncl  Ethische  Grun&edcLnk&z   f o r   t h e   u s u a l           1Al1 that I have said' in my review of Ryle: .com-
   heading of the sec0n.d part of the exposition in Langefs             mentary on Matthew,' Mark and Luke, is appliiable: to
   Bible-work. The translator has rendered this:  His- his "Expository Thoughts" on the gospel accordingti,
,' tarioclk &cl Ethical. The fundamental soundness of this              John, These two volumes are a `commentary,. indeed ;
                                                 .~


12                                      T'HE.  S T A N D A R D ,   B E A R E R   ,-

yet they are more @in a mere exposition of this parti-            uit de verte, in hoevelre die kritiek  juist en gewettigd
cular book of Scripture. They evince a devout. spirit             is. -1ndien se metterdaad  waar is, clan staat het ,Gere-
and a profoundly @iritual insight into the truth of .formeerde  leven  &r  z'eer slecht, ik  hou bijna zeggen,
Holy Writ. The style is very lucid and makes the con-             schier wanhopig voor. Dari hebbefi de `Gereformeercle
tents easily accesible to every student of Scripture.        _    Ke&en haar eerste liefde verlaten  en kentierken  `ze
      Bishop Ryle believes in th2 Scriptural -doctrine of ,zich door doode  orthodoxie  en koud intellcctualisme.
election as is evident also from his  "Thotights"  o11. Dan is den Geest gebluscht en bet ware leven zoek. En
John. The more surprising it is, therefore  that, with- wie zalmde `Geest terug roepen?
out any sound exegetical reasons, he interprets the                  Maar ofschoon ik daarover niet kan  oordeelen,-
term "world" in John 3 :16 as referring to all mankind,           we1 wil ik zeggen, dat ik mij ook niet vindcn kan in de
to every sinner,~head  for head. With his exposition of mentaliteit van de auteurs. Ik verwncht geen heil van
this passage we  capnot possibly-agree.                           aarisluiting `bij den Wereldraad, noch van `.burenge-
                                               H. H. .
                        `-                                        meenschappeti", noch van levensve?ijking door kuhst,
                                                                  film, dans, muziek, enz.
                                                                     Maar wie een zeer ernstige en scheu'pe  kritiek wil
                                                                  lezen over het ,Gereformeerde  leven in Nederland, lexe
CHRISTUS  IN ZIJN LIJDEN; II,  Christus  in den  Doorgang         dit boek.
van Zijn Lijden. Dr. K.  Schilder.  Uitgever J. H. Kok N. V.
 Kampen, Nederland.                                                           . `                                                        ,H. H.
      Dit werk van Dr. K. Scl$lder is bij velen- van ens                             ,-            .G\3w-                               `
                                                                                                                                        .
we1 bekend;beide in d@ Hollandsche en Engelsche taal-.
Dit is de tweede druk van het  tweede deel. Het be- -HET CBRISTELIJK LEVEN IN  HUWELIJK  EN GEZIN,
handelt' het lijden van  onzen Heiland  vana! Zijn  te-            door Dr. G. Brillenburg  W&h. Uitgever  J.. H. Kok, N. V.
rechtstelling voor Annas en Kajafas tot en met qijn                Kampen,  Nederland.  Prijs  f. 7.90.
eindelijke  veroordeeiing door P-ilatus. 0                           Dit  boek~van Dr.  Brilletiburg  Wurth  bevelen we
      Het  bock was mij natuurlijk niet vreemd. Maar              gtiarne  aan bij  ieder,  die ondcr ons  Holland& kan
verscheidene  hoofstukken heb ik pog eens over  ge-               lezen. Het is waar zooals de auteur  schrijft in  e&
lezen. En bij het lezen trof me  opnieuy,  dat in clit --"woord  vooraf" dat  "het%deidende  hoofdstuk  nogal
werk de schrijver zich openbaart als een man van een              een technisch-theologisch karater draagt." Maar het
rijken  geest en  ze@ levendige verbeelding.  Als een `is ook  waar, dat dit den gewonen  lezer  weinig  zal
ontoombare  stroom schijnen de  .gedachten zonder hinderen dat hij zonder bezwaar de enkele bladzijden
moeite uit zijn pen te vloeien. Ik meen  ergens gelezen te van dit inl,eidend  hoofstuk kan overslaan.
hebben, dat "Christus in Zijn Lijden" een magist&al                 Op  SchriftuurlijkAGereformeerde   grondslag  beant-
werk is. Daarmee kan it het eens zijn. Tevens moet moordt de schrijver de_vragen,  die in verband  staan
me echter.  de openbaring  van het hart, dat het boek met het huwelijk en bet sexueele leven. Taal en stijl
de grenzen van strikte e`xegese niet zelden overschrijdt.         zijn helder, zood,at  het boek niet al te mocilijk te lezen
Maar dit is misschien in een werk als dit te verwach-             iS voor ons v&k hier ,in Amerika, voorzoover als het
ten.                                                              zijn Hollandsch nog machtig is.
      Dit tweede deel is  aanmerkelijk-  herzien  &  oak             Met wat de schrijver zegt op p. 1'79 over het
uitgebreid..  Er zijn bijna honderd- paginas  mee_r  dan          "moeten  trouwen" kan ik het niet `eens zijn ; evenmin
im de eerste druk en de bladzijden  zijn bovendien van            als met zijn opmerkingen op p. -245' over het weer
grooter formaat.                                                  trouwen van "de onschuldige part$j ."
      Hartelijk aanbevolen bij  011s  .Hollandsch   ieze&l           Hartklijk aanbevolen.
publiek. Prijs f.13.75.                                                                                                                 `H. H.
                                               H. H.-                                                 .
                                                                                              -            _  q   .

                                                                                                    IN MEMORIAM                         -     -
GEREFORMEERDEN,  WAARHEEN ? door Mr. A. Bowman en
  Thys Booy. J. H. Kok, N.V. Kampen,  Neder1an.d.  Prijs f7.90      De  Hollan&che  Mannenvereeniging van de  eerste  gemeente
        De schrijvers van dit boek, zelf beho6rende` tot debetreurt het verlies van een harer  ledem':
Gereformeerde  Kerken in Nederland, en beide betui-                                                M r .   0 .   F a b e r
gende die kepken en de ,GereSormeerde  waarheid eli be-           en,  betuigt  hiermede- hare innige deelneming  aan  de bedroefdc
lijdenis lief te hebbeti  oefenen een scherpe kritiek  op weduwe  en kinderen.. Moge de Heere hun rijkelijk met  Zijne
bet leven der Nederlandsche Gereformeerden' over d'e troost  bedeelen..                                                          . .
geheele lini&                                                                                                          Mr. N. Dijkstra, Pres.
        Ik ben niet -bij machte als Amerikaan  te oorde$en                                                             Mr. G. Borduin, sec.
                 ._-                            . .                     _.           -:.;_                                . .


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                               13

                                                                         world (we now .u& the term as it is commonly u&d),
                                                                         and particularly applicable to the higher- animals.  .The
      ,OUR  D O C T R I N E                                              animal possesses much which impresses us with the
                                                                         thought that it is an image-bearer of man, created ii1 .
                                                                         the image of ma-n. An animal ha& consciousness, sen-
 The Hexaemeron OF Creation--Week ses or sense organs, can see ali'd hear and smell and
                                    (6).                   '             feel. Moreover, the animal can form or possess a cer-
                                                                         tain  concej?tion of the things round about it, has a
     THE CREATION ,OF `THE ANIMAL W.ORLD                                 memory, can retain the things it has learned. An ani-
    "And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the             mal knows its master and recognizes `the stranger ;'
 moving  cr@ures  that hath life;. and fowl  that may fly above          a sheep hears and recognizes the voice of ,lts shepherd,
 the earth  m the open firmament of' heaven. And God  create'd
 great whales, and every living creabure  that moveth, which the         and a dog will follow its master. In fact, the Word of
 waters brought forth abundantly,  afteratheir  kind, and every          God even uses this illustration in Isaiah 1 to emphasize
 winged fbwl after .his kind: and C&d saw that it was good. And
 God blessed them, saying,  IBe fruitful, and multiply, and fill         the awfulness 6f the hardness and wickedness of the
 &he  waters in the seas, arid let fowl nitiltiplv  in the earth. And    people of Israel in the Old Dispensation. We are all a-c-
 the evening and the morning were the  fifth day. And God said           quainted with the fact that a bird knows its nest and
 Let the earth  bri:ng  forth the  living creature after his. kind'
 cattle, and creeping. thing, and beast of  the' earth after  hii        the horse its rider. In fact, certain animals are char- -
 kind:. and it..was so. And God made the beast of the earth after        acterized by an amazing shrewdness.
 his kmd, and cattle ,after his kind, and every  tEng that creepeth                                                    Well-known
 upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was                  among us is the saying : as cunning as a fox. Jesus,
 good."-Gqn.   1:20-25,      - `                                -.       when speaking of Herod, speaks of him as "that fox.!`.
                                                                         The squirrel hides its winter supply duling the summer
 The  -animal, in distinction  from.-  the  t?ee  and plant,             and -knows the exact -place where it has hid it. Ancl
 is  callecl  a "living  sozd:`~     .                                   we are all acquai$ed with the Word of God- in Pro-
     The tree and the plant, to be sure, are living                      verbs 6 :6 "Go to the ant thou sluggard ; consider her
-creatures.     To this  `we called  .attention,  if we will             ways and' be wise." It is obtiious that these latter a-
 recall, in connectipn with the third day of creation.                   nimals, within certain limits, make definite plans, pro-
 The plant lives. It moves, grows, lives, breathes, draws                ceed with wisdoni,  mslke provision.  for, the future.
 substances out of the earth and the world `of its                       Moreover, the animal is also characterized by a defi-
 environment unto itself, out of the earth, out of t?le                  nite sensation of feeling, emotion. It has its'likes and
 air, out of the sunshine  and the rain, changes and dislikes, can "love" and "hate" (I put the& words in
 transforms these substances into a rich and beautiful                   quotation- niarks because they denote moral-rational
 fruit. Wonderful, to be sure, is the world of trees and                 activities), can,reveal  faithfulness as a dog to its m&-
 plants. However, the tree and plant are-bound to the                    ter, but also falseness. A dog is known for its faith-
 earth and to a very definite part of that earth. They                   fulness and the wolf is  knowli for its falseness or
 cannot move, have no soul, do not have any desires ,deceitfulnes+ The animal can leap for jby and glacl-
 or aspirations, have no  con&$ousness,  are therefore                   ness when meeting its master but we also know thal;
 living creatur,es but not living souls. This distir&ion                 animals have ljermitted themselves to die'of st%rvation
 between the plant and the animal is thoroughly `Scrip- because of the death of their masters. They,have been
 tural.                                       -                          known to place themselves  u@& the grave of  theil
  The  aqimal, however, is a living soul. It is a  facl;                 master and none has been able to lead them away. Even
 that maiz, too, is an animal. Scriptuke  uses the same                  this is not all. We can also observe that there is a
 word, "living soul," in connection with many as well                    certain reflection of man's.moral-ethical  life in the life
 as with the "anitials". The word "animal" is derived and consciousness of an animal. An animal can be
 from a word which means: air, breath, soul. Hence,                      taught what is good or evil, right or- wrong, so that;,
 an animal is simply a living being, or, as defined by                   having commited  either the good or the wrong;  it will
 the dictionary : an organized, sentient (td perceive by                 reveal a  definite   cotisciousiess thereof.  lAln animal
 the senses), living being. `The distinction  betwe&                     knows  ,whether  -it has done something which me&s
 man and the animals is not, therefore, that they are                    with its master's approval or disapproval. Rebuke a
 "animals" in ,distinction  .from man,' but that man, in dog, and that an?,m?l will reveal in its outward de-
 distinction from &he other -animals, is a moral-rational                portment a certain consciousness of guilt, This is un-
 ahimal, the animal that is adapted to the service of. the               doubtedly the reason why the Eorcl demands the blood
`living God. Hence;-the animals of the fifth day and also                of the anirrial which has shed the blood of a man, com-
 those created on the sixth day before the Lord created mands that that animal be executed. All this activity .
 man, are living souls, beings with an "anima," `a spirit.               of I the animal we commonli  denote ,by the term : in-
 The -Word of the Lord informs us that the soul of the                   stinct. The word : instinct, means literally : instigation,
gpimal  is  in  its blood,          This  is true of  .the animal        impulse, is properly derived from a -word  which'.


  14                   :         .,    TBE,  STANDA-RD  B E A R E R

  means: to impel, instigate. Hence, the "instinct" of
  the.animal  refers to a certain power or disposition by         Secondly, God called the animals out of the element in
- which, independent of instruction or experience, with-          whiih they live:
  out deliberation and without having any end in view,                This  1s evident from the Scriptural narrative in
  animals are unerringly directed to do spontaneously `Gen. 1: 20-25. The waters, upon the word of the Lord's
  whatever is necessary for the preservation of the in-           almighty power, bring forth' the fishes and also the
dividual or the continuation of its kind. However, it             fowl that fly above the'earth: This, we understand,
  is quite obvious that this word explains little. How            does not mean that the waters brought forth these
  much better it is to say that even as man was created           various animals or that the earth. brought forth the
 in the image of  ,God so as to be able to reflect in  2          animals.that were created upon the sixth day. The only
  creaturely way the perfections of the living and alone          power that brought them forth, of course, was the al-
  adorable. ,God, the animal was created in the image of          mighty word .of the living <God. The text, however, does
  man.  ,Of course, this does not apply to all animals            emphasize- that all%he animals were called into being
  equally, but to them in an ascending scale. The animal          by the almighty power of the Lord out of their own
  cannot know the Lord, have fellowship with the Most             r e s p e c t i v e   e l e m e n t s .                .
  High. It cannot praise the Lord, pray to God, read or               These fowl, of verse 20 include- not only the birds
-- understand the Scriptures, the revelation of Jehovah' that fly in the firmament of heaven but also all the fowl
  and it cannot understand the revelation of the Lord in' that walk upon the ground and can also fly (turkeys,
  all the works of His hands. Hence, the animal .is not           chickens, etc.). We should  also note that these birds
 responsible, answerable to the Lord, is not, righteous           and- fowl, as well as the fishes, were called by the Lord
  or unrighteous,`will not be required to give an account         out of the waters. Birds and fowl, .therefore,  are es-
  to the Lord, Who is the Judge, of all the earth and will        sentially water animals. This does not imply that a
  judge *the quick and the dead. The animal does not              bird can therefore live in the water. But the  firma--
  stand with its moral-ethical existence as turned to-            ment,`we noticed in a previous article when we called
  ward the-living God. But `it does stand with its own            attentionto the second day of. creation, was created by
  unfathomable. existence as -turned to man, has been             God  ,out of the water and belongs, therefore, essentially
  created in the image of man. It can exercise  a certain         to the water. Hence, the. birds and fowl, as well as-the
  fellowship with man, can speak to manand  listen t.o            fishes,. were called by the Lord out of the water.
  what mah would say to it, if -only we bear in mind                  The other animals which were.called by the Lord
' that this fellowship between man and the animal is              into being upon the -sixth day of creation week and
  exclusively earthy. Wonderful,. indeed, is the life of          whereof we read in the verses 24-25 were called by the
  the animal world.'                                              power of the living God out of the earth and the dust
         In connection with this is the fact that Scripture       of the ground.
 calls attention to the animal as mobile. We read in
  Gen. 1:20-21,  25; "And God said, Let the water bring           Thirdly,' also, here the Scriptur,es emphasize that th.e
  forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life,            an&a& wene created after their kincl.
  and f,owl that may fly above the. earth in th'e open                This expression : after their or his kind, also occurs
  firmament of heaven., And. God created great whales,            in verse 12 in connection with the creation of the plant-
  and every living creature that moveth, which the                world. This, we understand, is a direct denial of the
  waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and          theory of Evolution. We will have more to say about
  every winged fowl after his kind.: and God saw that it          this theory when we discuss the creation of a man, in
  was-good. And God made the beast of the earth after             our following article.
  his kind and cattle after their kind, and every thing               Already now, however, we. may note that Scripture
  that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God            knows of. no' evolutionistic conception of things as if
  saw that it was good." Hence, the animal, be it in the          the one class of animals developed out of another. Each
  water or in. the firmament or upon the earth, moves             particular animal was created by the Lord, and each.
  about. They are- living creatures; living souls, move           animal brings forth. its own kind.
  freely about, and are therefore not like unto the plants
  and trees which are not mobile but bound to the earth,          The various kinds of animals.
  also in a very literal sense ,of the word. This. is clearly,
  yea, literally,stated  in the passage which we have' just            We read in the verses 20-21: "And ,God said, Let
  quoted from IGen. 1. This passage speaks of' "every             the waters bring forth abundantly the meving creature-
 . living creatur,e that moveth," of the fowl that fly above that hath life, -and fowl that may fly above the earth
 the earth," and also of "everything that creepeth upon           in the open firmament of heaven. And God created
  . the earth."                                                   great whales, and every living `creature that `moveth,
                                                                  which..the waters brought forth abundantly, after their


                                       T H E   STAND.ARD   B E A R E R                                                  15

kind, and every winged fowl aftei, his kind : and God          in close communion and fellowship with man. And,
saw that it was good." First, therefore, the text speaks       finally, we-,read of. the cattle,' and reference is macle to
of the water animals or fishes. The English text speaks        those animals that live closest to man,. yea, which have
of the great whales. -This is also true of the Holland         been taken up by man into his own abode, such as sev-
translation of this passage. However, this translation         eral "pet" animals.
is surely too limited. `The text refers to the tremendous
sea monsters which move about in the great deep. Men- God blesses the animals.
tion is also made of every living creature that moveth,
which the waters bring forth abundantly. The text                 This we reacl in verse 22: "And God blessed them,
speaks literally of the living creatures which swarm           saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the `waters
in the waters, which the waters, we read, bring forth          in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth."
abmdantly. Then, in the second place,. this particular            The implication of these words is plain. This is
Scriptural passage speaks of the fowl that fly above , completely in harmony with the fact that these animals
the face of the earth in the open firmament of heaven:         are living souls, that they must multiply consciously.
Here the text refers to all birds and feathered animals        That the Lord blesses these animals implies that the
which were also called by the word of God's almighty           urge, the desire to multiply was laid by, Him in the
power out of the waters.                                       nature of these animals. He commands them to be
   In the verses 24-35 we read: "And God said, Let             f,ruitful.  and to multiply. ,Of course, these animals are
the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind,      fruitful and multiply "after their kind."
cattle, and creeping things, and beasts of the earth aft-         We would also, in passing, call attention to the
er his kind: and it was so. And God made the beast             meaning of the word ."blessing" as it occurs in this
of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind,      particular passage of the Word of God. The advocates
and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his         of "Common Grace" believe that the Lorcl is gracious
kind: and God'saw that it was-good." Here the Word             to all men and blesses all men, elect and reprobate             .
of ,God speaks of the land animals, the animals that alike, and that" these blessings of the Lord consist of
were called by God out. of. the dust of the earth.             various earthly-things, such as : health, sunshine, rain,
   Moreover, we should also notice the order in which          etc. We maintain that the grace and also the blessing
the animals were created. We read first of the lishes          of the Lord must not. be confined to the things of this
and the birds, then of the cattle and every creeping           present time, that .the blessing of OLK God is particular
thing, and finally of the beasts of. the earth (literally :    and only for the elect, that, rather than seek it in the        1
the wild animals). The "wild animals," whereof the             thing as such, we must understand the blessing of God
text speaks in the original, are not to be confused with       as referring to that act pf God whereby He actually
the wild, destructive animals of today. This .should be        "speaks the sinner well," actually makes him well (the
self-evident. There were no such animals in the state          Dutch word: weldad-en, means literally: to do well),
of perfection and righteousness. Wild and destructive          and also causes all things to work together unto his
animals are, we understand, the result of sin:. Surely         eternal good and salvation.- The blessing of the Lord
it w'as true of God's original creation that there was         is, therefore, not to be confused with earthly things,
nothing throughout all the works of God's hands                but must be understood as an almighty, efficacious, ir-
which killed or .destroyed.  Sin also had its effect m         resistible work of the living God. Notice how ~this is
the world of animals. -The curse of the wrath of the           true also in .Gen. 1.:22.  God, we read, blessed the liv-
Lord and the sweeping power of death, which was                ing creature. Blessing the living creature, He caused it
visited by the livmg `God upon man and the earth, was          to become fruitful; He, by His almighty power, laid in
also proclaimed upon every living creature throughout          the nature of' these animals `the urge, the desire to
the world of animals. The wild animal whereof the              multiply.
original text in Genesis 1 speaks refers to the animal
that is naturally ,wild, lives in the. wilds, is not de- -The IaFd &nimals were created upon the sixth day.
pendent upon man and" does not seek man"s help for              This, we know, is the same day which witnessed the
its daily sustenance. But, the. fishes and birds were          creation of Adam-and Eve. That these particular ani-
created first. They. are farthest removed from man.            mals were created upon the sixth day is undoubtedly
And also the land animals are divided into three great         to bo ascribed to the fact that they stood closest to man.
classes or kinds. We read of every creeping thing, that           It is surely a fact that the'entire creation narrative
particular animal which is bound and confined to the           is characerized  by this ever ascending scale. Gradual-
dust of the earth more than any other living creature.         ly, the creation of the world reaches its apex in man,
We also read of the beast of the earth, OS, the wilcl          the crowning point of God's handiwork. It is for this
animal `which, as we have already mentioned, confines          reason that the creation of the land animals and that
itself to the wilds and was not peculiarly adapted to live     of man occur upon the same day.


                                                                   c


16          .=                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

Th,e awikd wo~~lcl w%hdy symbolical.                                                       The Theolog;cal Seminary
                                                                                      \
  We will call attention only to a few' examples. I                                  The Theological Seminary of the Protestant Re-
am sure that our readers will be. able to add unto these                         foymed  Churches began its  26th academic year on
examples.                               ,       -                                Tuesday, September 11, 1951; with a special convoca-
       We all know the place of the lion in the animal                           tion he1.d  at 9 :15 a. m. in First Protestant Reformed
world.. He is considered the king of the wild beasts.                            Church, Fuller and Franklin S`treets, ,Grand  Rapids,
Christ is called in Scripture the "lion  ,of Judah's tribe." Mich. The Rev.  G. M.  ,Ophoff presided. Students,
The devil, too, is likened to a lion, but then as a roaring                      faculty and  theolbgical school committee members
lion. That Christ is called a. lion is because He is the                         were present.
King of -kings and Lord of lords, And we all know why                                At the opening service, the Rev. Ophoff read the
He is called the lion of Jzcd&`s tribe.                    _ .                   twenty-eighth chapter of Matthew and led in prayer.
       The sheep or lamb also occupies a prominent pla,ce                        Rev. Ophoff then took as hiti text Matthew 23 :19, 20
in Holy Writ. This animal is characterized by two                                and delivered a thot-provoking and instructive m@s-
things. On the one hand, we are all acquainted with                              sage on the theme: The Purpose of a Theological
the fact that the sheep is characterized by submissive-                          School. This high` and Reformed purpose was set in
ness ; it is dumb before its shearers and opens. not its                         antithesis to  $he conception of ecclesiastical modernism.
mouth. .Chr&t is called the "[Lamb of God," because                              which takes the position that it is not~important what
His suffering.was an act of perfect and _amazing obedi-                          to think, but to have ability to think. F&her, it is said,
ence. However, the sheep has also another character- -the school must remain "nkutral" with respect to the
istic. This, too, is held  befbre us in Holy Writ. We -thinking of its students, permitting them to select for
read in Is. 53 that we all like sheep have gone astray.                          themselves whatever of the multitudinous philosophies
It is characteristic of this animal that, once having                            they prefer. But the Reformed seminary must teach
gone astray, it can never find the way~home.  Need I                             n& only how to think, but what to think ; and all learn-
apply this to the people of God, to you and me?                                  ing and scholarship must be .placed  in the service oil
       The hog, too, has a- place in Holy Writ.                   We all         faith., Then the professor went on to develop his theme
know the passage which speaks of the hog that wal-                               in (1) The Purpose, as expressed i-n the above text ;
lows in the mire, symbol of the sinner who also wal-                             and (2) The. Requirement for the Achievement of this
lows, to his heart's content, in the mire of sin. And                            Purpose. Under the latter heading he emphasized that
of the dog we read in II Pet. 3 that it returlls to i?s                          the theological school must be. one ; it must have a
vomit.                                                                           spiritual. and doctrin`al.  unity. To effect this, the in-
                                                                                 structors  and pupils together must love Christ and the
 And so we could continue.               The animal world is -Truth. They must be one by a common faith in God's
rich in its symbolical  s&nificgnce.  For, as we  re.                            Son, Scripture and the Confessions.
marked in a previous  -article, the Lord created the
heavens and earth as a mighty symbol of the Kingdom                                  Follo.wing the rectdr's  sermon, the curriculum was
of Heaven. The -natural must se$ve the spiritual; the                            outline'd as follows : (Old Testament Hebrew, Old `Testa-
earthly the heavenly. If only we have eyes that see                              ment History,  IOld Testament Hebrew Exegesis,
and hearts that understand.                                                      Church History, Isagogics,  Typology and Poimenics to
                                                     H. Veldman                  be taught by Rev. Prof. ,Ophoff. New Testament Greek
                                                                                 Exegesis,. New Testament  ,Greek,   Eccle&ology,  and
                                                                                 Practice Preachitig to be taught by Rev. Prof. Hoekse-
                                                                                 ma. Rev._ G. Vos is instructor in Dutch, and. .Rev. J.
                                                                                 Keys is instructor in Latin. A word of greeting and
                                                                                 exhortation was delivered to .ihe student body oti be-
                        IN MEMORIAM                                              half of the th&ological  schobl committee by the Rev. G.
  The Co&story of the  First  Protestant Reformed Church of                      Lubbers. With his usual winsQme manner he counselled
Holland, Michigan, hereby expresses its sympathy to the, wife                    us to faith.for  the future, and patience and humi1it.y
and-relatives, in the sudden death of one of its Deacons,                        for the present. - '
                    Mr.  Hanold M. Tyler                                             The eleven enrolled students enthusiastically en-
   May the  ,God of all grace  a~ld  mercy comfort their hearts in               vision another profitable year of study for the min-
 the knowledge that  fi3.r him to live was  IChrist, and therefore               istry of the Word'in the seminary which, under OUI
to die was gain.-Phil  1123;.                         _                          sovereign :God, they are proud to be a part.
                                    Rev. B.  Kok,  Pres.                    -                                             R. C. Harbach
                                    J. Kortering, Clerk
 Done. in Consistory, Sept. 2+, 1951


                                        T H E   STAND.ARD  B E A R E R                                                  17

                                                               the need of any battle and struggle on the part of God's
           IN  g1s  F E A R                                    people is prevented.
                                                                   According to Scripture, however, not only is this
                                                               physical and local separation ultimately uns&ce&ful,
                 &bck TQ Bclhaol                               but i.t is also based upon an erroneous understanding ol
                                                               our Christian calling.     Nowhere does Scqipture ad-
                            (4) .                              monish God's people to such local separation. Even in
          DWELLING ALONE IN  EDUCATJON  I_ the old dispensation this &as not the nature of Israel's '
                                                               separation.- God did not choose, form, and separate to
    We concluded last time by, calling attention to sev-       Himself a people for this purpose.        He did not will
 eral passages, from both the ,Old and the New Testa-          that His people should withdraw from the world, that
 ment, in which the principle of our Christian isolation       they should so live as to prevent .the necessity of any
 is announced. And it' j, this principle; which lies at        battle.
 the foundation of all Christian action, inclusive of              It is true, of course, that Israel in the old dispensa-
 Christian action. in the field of education, to the signi&    tion was nationally separate. God's covenant was tied
 cance of which we call your attention in the present          in with the national existence of Israel. It ran in the
 article. And for-the sake of clarity, it is well, perhaps,    river-bed of the natural generations of Abraham. It
 that we do so especially from the antithetical aspect.        is also true that in connection with this national form
                                                               of the realization of IGod's covenant in the old dispensa-
 A Spiritual, Ethical Separation                               tion, Israel lived in a geographically separate lane! and--
    The first question which we face. in our present           in a special land. They lived in a land flowing with
 discussion is:. what is meant by our C;hristian isola-        milk and honey. And in that land, in harmony with
 ton? A very important question this is, because upon          the characters .of the age of shadows, they lived their
 it depends our understanding of our whole Christian           own national life.
 calling in the field of education. The wrong answer              But the essential nature of Israel's isolation did not
 to this question might imply logically that we ana-           lie in that outward separation at all. If-that had been
 baptistically withdraw from  any educational activity         God's purpose, we may safely say that.the separation
 in so-called secular branches. It might also mean that        between Israel and the ,Gentiles  could and would have
 we may be satisfied with education that is separate           been much more complete. Israel would ,have been led
 merely in the local and purely physical sense of the- then to some*remote  and unknown corner of the earth.
 word.     In the latter case, we. would have separate         Instead they were led into the land of Cana&. And
 schools all ,right; but that mere' physical separation        Canaan was not in some forgotten corner of the world.
 would be of no significance and no value, nor would it        Rather, it lay in the very center of the world. The eyes
 be obedience to our calling as Christian parents. Hence,      of the nations were always on Israel and on their land.
we must clearly understand the nature of this isolation,       That is .the history- of the entire old dispensation as        -
first of all.                                                  far as Israel is concerned. And .the whole of Israel's
    And then we may say that the calling of the people         history shows very plainly that this ,outward  separa-
 of God to be separate already in the old dispensation         tion was just so much form. Remove  from ,national
 did not imply that the essence of this isol,ation lay in      Israel the essence, the real, spiritual ,essence  of her
a physical and local separation. Apart from the fact separation, and Israel was in no respect different fronl
that ultimately such physical separation cannot be the rest of -the. nations, except, perhaps, in this, that
maintained because the world always arises and de-             she was more frequently the foot-ball ofq $he nations
velops right in the midst of the church, it would be           and was to be classed as .a fifth-rate power. And laler
relatively ,easy for God's peoble  to find a separate and      history shows that the national and  ge6graphically
lonely place to dwell, isolated from the world, having         separate form could fall away, and `God would still
no contact, with the modern world, living their own            have His people, chosen, separate, and peculiar, in the
life in a self-sustaining 133% colony. Such has ofteil         midst of the world.
be&n attempted in the history .of the church, and. it has         Already in the old  diipensation,  however, the
always suffered shipwreck on the shoals of the flesh           ground of the separation of ,God's people lay in their              -
which existed and arose and developed rrght in the             very special relation .to the only Lord God. It lay in
midst of the church. But it has often too been tem-            the covenant ,relation, a relation which ruled all their
porarily successful-successful, that is, from the point        life-civil, social, and religious. It must become mani-
of view of its go&l. In that way we are able to avoid          fest in all their: life that they are of the party of the
contact with other people, with the nations of the             l&ing Goal. For `that reason they liver apart nationally,
world, with the world and all its evil machinations. And. but with the eyes of the nations upon them; For that


18                                     T H E   `S T A N D A R D   .BEARER

reason they' tire surrounded by the natioizs, but must forth the praises of'Him Who called them out of darlc-
not intermingle with them, must nbt intermarry with ness into His marvellous light.
them, must have no fellowship with them, may form
no alliance tiith them in time of .war.        They are a      Separate E&ucn~iov~                                       ._.
spiritually separate people, and therefore they must              Confessing the above, you confess the necessity of
and do dwell alone. It must become manifest that God,          Christian education. This is true, iti the first p!ace,
the Lord, `the Holy One, had formed a people for Him-          because it. follows that also the sphere of education
self. .&d-because He had done this for His own name's          must be ruled by this spiritual separation, and must
sake, Israel must in all their life tell. forth His            therefore be in harmony with ,God's  Word. To be sure,
praises.                                                       this implies that Christian education is more, much
      in .the new dispensation this principle remains un-      more, than education plus a-little Bible instruction, an
changed, as is-clear from the passages from the New            opening and closing prayer, and the singing of a few
Testament which we cited last time, and which ap&$             hymns. It implies that  then  entire  i&&&ion of our
directly to the c@r@h in the new dispensation. God's           children is grounded in God's Word and is ruled .hy
covenant is no longer nationally limited. God's pea.- `the principle of the fear of the Lord alone.
ple no longer dwell in- a separate land. They are no              That means that even if the public school system
loriger outwardly a separate covenant nation. They             allows prayer and Scripture reading-something which
-have no separate civil laws and customs. They have  110       is neither possible nor desirable really (how shall you
separate earthly throne and king. But the call to sep-         read God's Word in the sphere of darkness, and ca,ll
aration.is still the same. In fact, &%ugh  the falling         upon Him Who can have no fellowship' with dark- .
~away of national boundaries, and due >o the fact that         ness ?) -that would not make the inst&ction Chris-
thereby  `God's people are thrbwn into just a little closer    tian. Nor should Christian parents sdoth their con-
contact with the world, the antitheisis is sharpened.          sciences with this salve ,of a little added pseudo-religion
      Also today, therefore, this call to separation is not    in the public- school. We must firmly take our stand
a calling to separate from the world in the local sense,       upon .the basis of the principle of the antithesis, no
The Christian is not called to withdraw from any de-           matter what may be the policy of a particular public
partment of Gfe. `Oii the contrary, he is called to he         school, and no matter whether that littie rural school
busy and active in every department of life. We do             has a teacher who is a Christian; and w,e must maiu-
not consider the various spheres of national life sinful       tain our isolati&. And the only way to do that is to
in themselves. There is no antithesis between nature           educatk our `children ourselves, in our own schools, ac-
and grace. If that were the case, .we would have to
leave the world.  Then the ideal would be to leave the         cording to Gd's Word. Nor must' we violate this prin-
world, to go into a cloister, to fast, and pray, and deny      ciple of the antithesis by consoling ourselves that the
                                                               education in the public schools is non-religious, neutral.
ourselves the necessities of. earthly existence.. But such     For, ip the first place, that is not .true ; it is impossible.
behavior is as contrary to our-caling  as it is unsuccess-     And in the second @lace,  if it were true, you might not
ful.         _                   .-                            even then send your children there. For your calling
      The church, however, still stands in that covenant       is not to be neutral, but to be spiritually separate, to
relation of friendship with the living God.        The be- -walk as of the party of- the living God in the midst of
lievers are qf Gdd's- party in' the midst of the world.        the world. Nor ,dare we, as Christian parents, ever
And therefore they stand antithetically in the midst of        choose the public school in preference tb the existing
the world that lies in darkness,. with the calling to be       Christian Schools. No one can ever, on any honest and
holy as the Lord their God is holy, and t6 proclaim the        sound grounds, maintain such a practice in the fear cf
virtues of Him Whd calls them out of darkness into. t h e   L o r d .   .'
His marvellous light. That calling is, therefore, the
spiritual principle from which they live. In the midst            In the ,second place, sonf,essing this spiritual sep-
of the world, they live.out-of the principle of regenera-      aration we confess the necessity of Christian educa-
t&n, and that in every department of life. That prin-          tion, because only covenant-instruction can prepare our
ciple rules th$r entire life-their family and so&l life,       children for a covenant life. Education must prepare
their industrial and economic life, their political and        for life, in the-case of our children'for  a life out of %l-,e
religious life; And called they are, to turn away from         principle of God's calling, the life of the  c'ovenant.
any `other principle `or ru!e than that of ,God's  Word.       Hence, it lies in the nature of the case that the instruc-
Hence, they can never miite with the world when that tion of our children, if it is to pr~epare  our children for
union would imply a denial of their spiritual isolation        &;life out of the principle df the fear of the Lord, must
and a &ubjecti6fi to the carnal. will of the world. For,       itself be rooted in the fear of the 5ord.
they are a chosen generation, a holy nation, a royal                                                 H    .         6.  Hoeksema
priesthood, a peculiar people,  that: they should show
                      `.-


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                           19

                                                                   passagessuch as we have in Psalm 16:lO and in Is%iah
     F R O M   H O L Y   WRIJI' 5513. For it is from these passages that Paul here in
                                                                  this sermon refers. He- does this not to prove to us
                                                                   from these passages that-the buth of &drn 2:7 staid,
        Exposition* of Acts 13:32,33ff                             but rather to show from these clearer passages the
                                                                   meaning of the less clear passage of the Word of God.
                                III                               #The Scriptures do not contradict themselves. We must
                                                                   apply the "rule of faith" (regula fidei) to hear the one
        In our exposition of this passage from the sermon          mind of Christ and bf the Holy Spirit in all of these
of Paul, spoken in Antioch of Pisidia, we raise and                passages of the Scriptures. What is stated in them was'
answer three questions or propositions. -These are as              written' many years apart, but the Primary Author,
follows :                                                          the Spirit of Christ islOne and the Same in all, as He
                                                                   searches the deep things of the Mystery of God as it
        1.. What we are to understand by the "Promise              spans the,ages. This is principle oft interpretation not,
made unto the, Fathers." To this proposition we gave               as is often very maliciously suggested and whereby the
our answer in the Standard Bearer of September 1.                  simply are led off .the track, a rationalistic principle
        2. What we are to understand by the `~fulfilment of interpretation. It is simply the universal meaning
of this promise" and how .God has done this "`in raising           of Scripture. And this interpreting Scripture in the
Jesus." We began giving OLW answer to this question                lightof Scripture lies at the very surface here in Paul's
in our former article, <September 15 issue of the St,ancl-
                           -                                       sermon, as, in fact, in all the Scriptures.
ard Bearer.                                                           So let us proceed with theScriptures passages as
        3. `The reader can still look forward to what we           found here in the context.
     understand to be the scope and meaning' of the text,             The first passage is Isaiah 55 13, where we read in
where it says "and we preach unto you the glad-tid-                full  "Incline  zjowr  cay,  cwd come unto me; hear,  and
     ings."                                                        your  Soul  shall  live:  and I will  mcolce an everlasting
        Before we turn our attention to the meaning of this        covenant with you, ever the  suw  mercies of  @a~icl."
third, proposition, we must yet pay attention to some              In close connection with these "holy things of David
     of the particulars in the context of the .passage-parti-      and the faithful things," for thus the text literally
     culars which shed a grelat deal of light on the proper ' reads in the <Greek,  we must consider what we read in
method of interpreting the Scriptures, so that we may              the greater part of II ,Sam. 7. Bible studems  general-
be certain beyond a shadow of doubt that we grasp and . ly, point to verse 13 of this passage as being the key
preach the sense of the Holy Spirit.                               passage, where we read `lLHe shall bz~ild a ho&e for
        We refer to the fact, that Paul, in speaking of the        my name, awl I ~21 establish the throne of His king-
     raising ,of Jesus, says that God has raised Him from          dom foi*ever." In this latter passage Jehovah Himself
     the dead exactly according to what is written in the          speaks to David by the mouth of the prophet Nathan.
     Decree : "Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten           Jehovah forbids David to build a'house for His Name
     Thee." Since we have entered into the meaning of this         in .Jerusalem. David had so fervent,ly longed to build
marvelous and meaningful statement of Psalm 2:7 in ' a house for  t.he Lorcl. He  hacl now subdued the
     our former article we shall here not delineate upon `it,      enemies, and the ark was resting on the hill of Zion, in
     lest we fall into needless repitition. .But what we do Jerusalem, the city of the King. And now it hurts
     desire to point out at this. place is, that there is here     David that the Lord's Ark rests in a tent. He makes.
     a principle of interpretation employed by Paul which          the Lord's house his care. But he is told-that this will
     liesat the bottom of the Canon of Scripture. Without          be performed by his son.' Of course, typically this son
     seeing this principle and applying it everywhere one          is Solomon, who builds a typical temple, as beautiful
     cannot rightly divide the Word ; then the key to the          an earthly replica of the heavenly as is humanly pos-
     understanding of the Scriptures is lacking; and we are        sible. But the `full -realization, of this Word of God to
     not led along the sure path pointed out by the Scrip-         David is in'christ  .Jesus, through- Whom redemption
tures for all faith and life. The principle of interpre- ,a is to all the people. He  builcls the temple of God's
     tatioq to which we here allude is `that of interpreting       Church in three days, by rising the third day from the
     Scripture in the light of Scripture &nd that, too, in         dead. These things are promised to David, and by
     such a way that the less clear passage be interpreted         virtue of this `promise of God to David -(Compare Acts
     in the light`of the more clear passages!                      13 :23) these ~""holy things" are "truthful things." To
        In the case of our text we are in a happy position         this promise the prophet refers in Isaiah 55 :3, and
     in this respect.` Very clearly this seemingly obscure         Paul tells us. that this' Prophecy- is the same as that
     passage of what, according to ,Psalm 2 :7, is written in      spoken of in Psalm 2 according to which word Christ
     the Decree is interpreted in the light of' more clear         is raised from the dead, and in which  .the Promise

I
                                                                                                   -.-

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

made to the Fathers is fulfilled once and for .all.              Wherefore, I repeat let us beware that we do not
      In the same iight, says Paul (and in this he concurs     separate, what God in His own mind has put together.
with Peter's sermon on the day of Pentacost, see Acts          For who have known the mind of the Lord, meting
2:2'7) we are to understand also Psalm 16:10, where            out His Spirit, or being His counselor hath taught Him,
we rtiad "`Thou wilt not suffer Thine Holy `One to see         when he wrote in the Decree "Thou art my Son, this
corruption" Although this word too is spoken by David day have I begqtten Thee?" With whom tobk He coun-
as having application to himself, yet it is evident that       sel, and who in&ructed  Him in the path'of justice, and
the ISpirit of Christ washere  speaking of the fulfiZme%I      taught Him knowledge,a and showed Him the way of
of the Promise made to the fathers in the raising of           understanding? Behold the nations are as a drop of
Jesus from the dead. For it is evident that David died         a bucket, and are accounted as the small dust of the,
and that his flesh d,id see corruption. Hence, this text       balance': behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little
was not realized in David literally. Literally David's         thing . . . All the nations ,are as nothing before Him ;
flesh saw corruption. Thus is the argument of  the             they are accounted by Him as le`ss than nothing and
Holy Spirit from the facts. Says Paul, "For David, aft-        vanity ! As much as we.love our soul's salvation, let us
er he .had in his own generation served the counsel of         glady confess that He worketh all things according to
God, fell asleep, and was layed unto his fathers, nr~l the Counsel of His sovereign will ; that $his will of His
saw cowuption, but He whom God raised up saw ,no               sovereign and determined Decree is executed in the,
corruption." This latter clause "He whom .God raised -raising of. Jes!ls from the dead, and in all of- history,
up" refers to none else but ti, Christ, the Son p?qriiisecl    in which the  ,Son shall be  L&d over all!
to David, .a Savior of His peoplb;                                 Oh, it is true, we must not identify the Counsel
 In this man, Jesus our  aord, is salvation pro-               of ,God either with the "Promise made to the fathers."
claimed !;                                                     We have said that we may not separate what -.God has
      God raised Him from the dead. .Through  one man          most wonderfully joined together. But just as we may
sin and death came into the world, and through one             not tamper with this unity, so also we may not change
man is also the resurrection of the dead, and the ful-         the nature of the relation of Counsel and Promise and
filmetit of the Promise.                                       identify the two. In our text quoted from Psalm 2:7
      Thus it is written  in Psalm 2 :7 !                      the Decree lies back of the Promise. It is, if I may so
                                                               speak, a prior consideration in God. I say: if I may
      Thus it is-also written in all of the Scriptures!        so speak. I realize that God is simple, and He is
      Let, therefore, ilo ,man sever what `God has put to-     eternal. Still I must speak in the categories of time
gether. I refer to the eternal Counsel of Gdd and tlie         (there is no time-less logic) when I speak of the eternal
certain realization of the Promise in Christ Jesds OUI         God. And, what is more, God Himself teaches me thus
Lord. Were it not for the Decree there would not be            to speak. He speaks His endless thoughts in- the time-
a Promise, nor would there be a certain realization of         limited words and thoughts of man. He speaks of bc-
the Promise. But now the Promise stands certain: it            for and af d&r. And so I too say : The counsel is a prior
is as certain as its realization in; Christ's death and        consideration.. It is determinative of all God's works.
resurrection. And nothing can starid  in the way of the        Eph. 1:ll. He works all thing acco&ng  to `the coun-
realization. All the raging df the peoples is vain. That       sel of His will. He elected us in Chri,st  to be holy, hav-
it is vain is clearly shown.at the Cross And Resurrec-         ing  fowomhined  us unto the adoption of children
tion, where principalities and powers are stripped and         through Jesus Christ. Hence,  ,God's works in time,
made.an open shame. Cal: 2 :15. For the Lord on high           also  the  giving  of His Promise,  is according to the
laughs with a. Divine and holy laughter when through           Counsel. Hence the promise and the Counsel are not
sinful hands the Son of ,God is crucified at the Cross,        identical.
and He has all of these enemies in derision when He             Does this mean that the Promise is less certain
bfings forth- His  son trumphantly from the Cross,             than th& Counsel? Not at all. The Promise is just as
causing the watch to become as dead men !                      certain, because it is God who declares of the Decree
      To this Paul not only by implication alludes in this     "Thou ,art my Son, This .day have I begotten Thee,"
sermon when he sketches the history, of Israel from `when He promulgates His Promise to Adam and Eve
the fathers to Christ (verses 17-24) but he also calls         in the  Protevafgel,  or when He came to Abraham
attention to this very fact in the verses 2'7-31, where        promising him a son; and assuring him that He will
we read in paI% "For they th,at dwell. in Jerusalem,           be the ,God of him and of his Seed gfter Him, that is
and their rulers, because they knew Him not, nor the           of Christ and all that are given Him of the Father.
voices of the prophet which are, read every sabbath,           Always the Promise rests sure in the faithfulness oE
fulfilled them by condemning Him . . . But God raised          Him who has promised. That is the underlying thought
Him from the dead .`. . and we bring you good tidings          in Paul's S.ermo.n. ~God~ has chosen our fathers ; God has
of the Promise . .  ."                                         led Israel al! the way from the time of the patriarchs


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                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                          21

till the time of David the king ; ,God has promised to       tire body of citizens of B Christian land, the whole of
David a great sob, and this promise can not be broken.       its people without exception, is the church, the king-
That is the one and ever recurring theme in-all the l&v      dom of (Christ on earth. The church is thus  "vo&
and the prophets, and that is the jubilant note in this kerk," people's church. In this church or kingdom OP
sermon in Antioch of Pisidia.        .-                      tipiritual  commdnwealth  there is under Christ but one
   Must this Promise ihen not be preached? Must the          ruling `]?ower, and this power is the government. It
New -Testament  -in Christ's blood not be administered       punishes the ,offenders  ok' both tables of the law. Hence
to the heirs of the Promise? Paul says : And we preach       there is no call for Ghiistian. discipline' as exercised
to you glad-tidings.                                         by the church. The mconsistory  therefore is unneces-               c
                                                             sa?y. Such was the contention of Liebler.
   To this thought we would call attention in our next
article, D. V.                                                  Liebler had many followers for his ideas also iti
                                           G. Lubbers        The Netherlands. Included were several high-placed
                                                             ,government  officials such as the prime-minister 01~1.~
                                                             enbarnevelt.
                         pp----
                  -~~                      '                    According to these erastian conceptions the reform- .'
                                                             ation of churches was worked in the parish of Sailit
                                                             Jacob in ,Utrecht.    Here the erastian parish priest,
                                                             Hubert Duifhuis, having become convinced of Rome's  I
   T~HROUGH-  THE -AGES errors, desired the reforti of his parish. With the per-
                                                             mission of the iovernment  the Roman hierarchy was
                                                             officially and publicly repudiated and the entire com-
     Tke Arminian or Remonstrant                             munity or parish, as in&ding the entire "body of  _
                                                             residents,  _ Catholics and Protestants alike, formerly
                        struggle:                            brought -under the yoke of the Gospel. As the govern- \
                                                             ment stood watch over the morals of the community,
   As was stated, to understand this struggle especial-      no consistory  was chosen. So Duifhuis  wanted  it;  '
ly in its continuation we must have before us all the           As could  b& expected, the  re,formed  Confessions
issues on which it concentrated.                             were of little &count to Duifhuis.  He preached the
   First, there was the doctrinal issue. Here the ques-      Gospel of the Reformation in terms and spirit as gen-
tion was whether grace is resistable.                        eral as possible. `To the communion table he invited all
                                                             persons who believed themseives to be children of God.
   Second,' there was the issue of the authdrity, tha,t      What they believed, whether they had broken with. the
is, the binding power -of the Confessions, to wit, the       errors of, Rome and embrsl,ced the principles of truth
Belgic Confessions and the Heidelberg Catechism.             of  the reformation, as formulated in the Belgic Con-
   Third, fhere was the issue that touched on the rela-      fession and the Heidelbe?g  Catechism was of no con-
t$n of church and state.                                     cern to him. He himself had no. love for these creeds.
   Regard must now be.had  to this third issue. Here         They were $60 pointed!y  Calvinistic in the matter 4
the question was one of who rules the church, that is,       election and reprobation. This was plain  from his
rules the church as to its internal affairs. There was       public statements. He, said that in doctrine he agreed
the view that the civil government rules the church, as      fairly well with the Reformed but that he did not share
the vicegerent of Christ. Accordingly the government         their conception of predestination.                           9,
initiates `and assumes control of all church-reform.            However, outside of Utrecht . in all the other
The government  detekmines  the membership of the            parishes the reformation of the churches to4k place in
church. It controls her discipline so that no one cati be    much closer agreement with right principles of cl@rch
excommunicated out of the chu?ch without its consent.        polity, especially in this one respect that the churches
The government controls the election of officebearers        were allowed to choose them consistories even without
in the church .by designating the persons from whose         governmental interference. Neveriheless  all were com-
names the nomination is voted. The government calls          munity, that  `is, people's churches, "Volkskerken."
together the synods of the church and. presides upon         Churches they were whose membership included with-
their meetings. And the government dictates the creeds       out except&n  all the residents of the parish, district or
of the church.                                               town. If the town had formerly been shepherded by
   -This is the caesaro-papalism of Constantine the Roman Catholic priests and bishops,  it_ was now the
great. At the time of the Reformation these ideas had        flock, of reforged  protestant pastors. Under the pro-
an' ardent expon&t  in Thdtias Lieblec,  better known        tection of and-with the support of the protestant local
by the n+me. of Er&stus. Awxdtig ta .Liebler  the en.        government the old shepherds--Roman priests and

                                                                                            -_

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

  bishops-had been expelled and their places taken by           duce the church to a branch of the state and in that
  ref,ormed  consistories. What. it meant is that especial-     way break its power and gain control over- its or-
  ly in the town and villages the entire population was         ganism.
  now reformed, but, of course only nominally so. Fact             In  1575 it  too@ action. The states of  Zeeltind   iri-
  is that only about l/s of the entire citizenry had reaiiy     strutted  t&e stadholder, the Prince of ,Orange, to ap-
  forsaken the old errors and embraced the principles of        point 4 commissioners for the department of .reljgion
  truth of the reformation. Th,e vast majority had not          with authority to supervise the ministeps of:the  Gospel
  reformed. Of this number the greater part was a com-          and their work and provide in their support. In .ad-
  bination of Romanists and anabaptists. By their re-           dition they requested -the Prince td draft. a Church
  fusal to attend the meetings for public worship of the        `Order and set it in working in the churches. It was a
  reformed churches they lived~ in open Rebellion cf ii12       bold step, seeing that the churches already had adopted
  Reformation, and had soon th&efore  to be discounted          a  `Chu&h. brder, one thoroughly calvinistic. Notwith-
  as members of the Reformed Churches. It was the               standing the- Prince appointed the commissioners aTIc
  same in Germany and in all the other countries- where. the Church iOrder  that they prepared actually proposed
- the Reformation had taken root.                               that the magistrate appoint the ministers, elders, and
   . But there were also other churches, not people's           deacons who should function as a kind uf committee
  churches but churches "closed and secret." So they            of the government, seeing that there could not well be
  were called at. the time. On their own inii;`iative and       iri one place two magistrates,+ one'ecclesia&ical  and one
 thus not as mandated by the government a number of             worldly. It was now up to the Prince to impose the
  believers known to one another as inclined to the Re-         New Church Order on the churches. But fearing tile
  !fortiation  came together and organized through their        Calvinists in the land, he took no action, and heie thy
  electing them  officebear,ers. The election was free.         matter rested.
- Church discipline was exercised independent of gov-              But in .1591 the government in the persons of the
  ernment control. To belong .to the church one had to          prime minister, Oldenbarnevelt, and his supporters
 ' join. And on1.y such persons of th.e community were ad-      again took action. In this year a Staatscommission,
  mitted into the .f ellowship of the church who indic$ed       meeting in the Hague, prepared a Church  Border.
  by their good confession and san&ifieYl walk of life that
  they were true children of God. It was thus a congre-            In the cities the election of ministers of the Gospel
  gation constituted only of believers and their seed.          shall be by a college qf 8 members to be chosen by th?
                                                                Magistrate and the Consistory, each appointing 4. The
        Here was a church reform in strict accordance with      elected minister shall be presented to the: magistrate
  the principles of Reformed Chixch Polity. For accord-         and the- congregation for approbation and thereupon
  ing to this polity Christ rules His church through the        installed in office if .no objections are raised.
   agency not of the civil magistrate but of the ruling
   and'teaching ministry in tlie church that He instituted         By eliminating the phrase, "and in the articles af
  for th& purpose. And as to church reform, it proceeds         the  ,Christian  faith," the second baptismal questicn
   from the church. That is, it is a task to which the be-      was made to read, "Whether you acknowledge the doc-
   lievers must-be addressed by virtue of the office of be      trine' which is contained in the ,Old and New Testa..
  Jievers.  And neither is the church peoples' church but       merit, and which is taught here in this Christian
   the assembly of believers, God's spiritual house open to     Church, to be the true and' `eerfect doctrine of salva-
  the contrite but closed to the impenitent.                    tion."
        There were many such churches in the land, most            N&? .a word was said about the binding power 01
 c of which were found in the cities.1                          the'sonfessions.  The ministers were to preach  the
                                                                Gospel and present no new doctrines.
        In 1568 the Reformed churches assemble-d in a na-
   tional synod in Wezel and adopted a reformed Church             These are some of the most character&tic rulings
   Order. It was set in operation in the churches. But          of this Staats-Church order. But it was not approved
   The Netherlands government was` strongly inclined            by the'government in the Hague. It yielded too much
   toward erastianism. Like the lay rulers in general of        to the-Calvinists  to suit these gentlemen. That was a
   that day, it was addicted to the view that a self-govern-    relief for the churches.
   ing church is a state within the state ,and theref,ore  a       Such was the  &ate of affairs at the time of  tlxe
   menace. But how erroneous this view. The church is a         passing of Arminius .1609.      But the striving gf the
   heavenly creation, while the state is an institution that    erastian government to have  tl-ie calvinistic church
   is of this earth. Tine power of the church is spiritual,     order replaced by one of its own fiabrication did not
   while the power of the ,&ate  is of the sword. But of        end here. It continued and became more  .and more
   this The Netherlands government was willingly                radical at every new stage;     `,
   ignorant. Its persistent stri+g therefore was to re-            The Calvinistic Church Order was a: -hated

                                                                                     .


                                        T H E   S,ANDARD  B E A R E R                                               23 .

thing. `Why was it hated? What was the basic rkason?         Modarate paity in the church. They were men of clef-'
It was this: it vested the chz~&es with the key-pow-         inite and strong convictions. Their Confessions criecl
er. What was wanted is a Church Order vesting not            out the truth. Their church right was the right  *x!Y
the.churches  but the govgrnment with this power. `$e        Christ. These Confessiohs were being corru$tecl,  and
church might handle tl-;is key (power), but handle iI        this right trampled. Their call therefore was to arms.
liierely as a committee of the g0Vemiilent.                  And the love of God and of the truth and of the neigh--
   It is plain that this effort to reduce the church to      bar const?ained  them. Let ihe assailants of the trui;h
a branch of the state was a strategy the purpose of          be excummunicated  out of the Christian ch&h. And
which was the securing of the freedom to cast off the        if they keep not silence but insist on making propa-
yoke of the hated confession. With the church undel*         ganda for their heresies, let them t&en be banished
its control and as vested with- the right to reform the      from the &ad. Better a lancl sparsely settiecl than a
church, the governlllent  hacl but to speak the word a-id    lan-d peopled with heretics. Their ideal was: every
the desired freedom would be there for anyone to use         city a miiliature ,Geneva.  For this ideal their brethren
who had need of ,it. This is stating the matter plainly-.    in the faith had fought and bled and died for,forty
But the Arminians  chose to veil their real purposes in      long years. It was the ideal by which they now~ were
noble sounding phrases. After the death of Arminius being inspired. They were men therefore qot to be
they began to speak openly of their effort, but they         trifled with.    Wtenbbgaert well realized what fatk
called it a striving for the "liberty of the church" &waited him and his party, should the struggle end in
What they meant is liberty for themsel.ves to repudiate      a Calvinist t?iumph. Wtenbogaert therefore also called
the Confessions -and to procl&im  their own heretical        his party to arms. But like Arminius had done,  he
doctrines without the Reformed being-at liberty to do        worked in secret and under cover.
anything about it. As ehampidns of their cause t&y               His first move was to arrange a meeting of the
formed  tinder the leadership of `Wtenbogaert,  t!?e         leading spirits of his party. The meeting-was held on
court-preacher of the Prince, a formidable band.             the 14th of January, 1910 in Goud$a,  a small city in the
Judging from their fire, they spoke and wrote onder          province Holland. `The group assemble was likewise
the impulse. of a mighty conviction. And their dis-          small. It  .numbered less than 25. Wtenbogaert  pre-
courses bristled with learning both in the field  nf         sided. From the deliberations it appeared that all were
dogmatics and church polity. But their opinions were         agreed on the following.
not thought through and superficial.        ,                   A  national synod, if held at the present time, doubt-
   `Gomarus  and his supporters never failed-to expose       less would pro6ounce the new cloctyine-their Armi-
these opinions for what they were and :to oppose i;o         nianism-unreformed by a large majority of vote.
them the tiuth of the Scriptures d&g so with skill           Measures must be taken to overcome this danger.
and determination. The result was perpetual debate           Notice was taken of the fact that dn the classes the"
niost disgusting to many in .the church including a nnt      Calvinists were insisting that the Fomula of Sub&rip-
insignificant  number of  sentim&tal  ..and ostensibly       tion be signed by _a11 without exception, a thing that
earnest ministers of the <Gospel. For seeing that the        none of those present could do.
:ontinuation  of the controversy must needs &d in ~1            It was agreed that a writing be composecl  ancl signed
split in the church, they strongly conselled peace. Not      by all wherein assurance is -given that their peculiar
that they wanted the churches to discard their confes-       conceptions do not differ essentially from the general
3ions and unite on the basis of the Scriptures. Peace        ref,ormed  faith. They agreed also not to set forth open-
:ould be had, according to their reasoned opinidn, by        ly and `clearly their position. That- would not. be tact-
placing Upon the Confessions a  constructioli  broad         Il'ul. It might even prove their undoing. The thing to
enough to enable a man like Wtenbogaert, who certaiu-        do now is to express in writing their abhorance of the
!y preachecl the Christ, to feel at home in ,the church.     extemes of some regasding presdestination.
The violent in both camps should be deposed, the  hair-         `Wtenbogaert has prepared a concept-Act, which is
splitters silenced, and the pulpits closed to the eitreme    read, discussed and adopted. It was decided to give
Jalvinism of Gomarus.                                        the document the form of a remonstration and to
   Had this advice'been followecl,`&minianism  would         place it in the hands of the counsel of the States of
lave triumphed in the churches legally, there would          Holland. The historical name that. was soon to be
lever -have been a great synod `of Dort, and the `6De-       given to the members of this  assembly is "The  Rc--
:laration of Principles" known as The Five Articles          monstrants."
ig_ainst the Remonstants (the Canons of Dort) would             The  introcluction of this famous document-"Re-
leves have seen the light.                                   monstantie"--sets  out as f ollc%Vs :
   The real Calvinists in the church did not allow              "It is becoming more  .and more  eviclent  that the
;hems+ves to be influenced by the peace-talk of this         ministers of the Gospel, who have agreed to the resolu-


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                       24         -    -    -    -    -               THE~STANDARD  B E A R E R

                      tion of the lords of the states (by which is to be un-              pondence, while at the` same time avowing in publil
                      derstood The Netherlands government that sat in the, that he w& in full agreement with the+reformed  con
                      Hague) regarding the revisioiz  of the Confession and, fessions.  We have seen how guardedly he  expresset
                      the Heidelberg Catechism, and thereby-let it be  :known             himself in public; how careful-he was about his`.publil
                      to their colleges that they have some remarks bearing               utterance-. Indeecl that caieful that no charge could b!
                      on these documents, which they will'present to Synod-               based on anything he said. Yet &he court-preacher o:
                      a?e being slandered! Tliey are being calumniated to                 the Prince could present himself, and his colleages a;
                      greatest extremes; They  are -accused of seeking  LI' men pure in doctrines yet slander&d. But such are th
                      change in religion and of being thereby the cause of                ways of the heretic.
                      all the strife and disturbances in these  -lands and                                                                  G. M. Opioff
               - c h u r c h e s .
          -                                                                                                       El  El  El.El  El
                              "They notice that the minds are beillg -inflamed
                      and disturbed td such an extend, as to cause an under-
                %     standing that will easily give rise to the greatest dif-                                    IN  MEM,ORIAM
                .I- ficulties.  .A11 their p?otestations  have been without ef-,            The Hudsonville Mr. and Mrs. Society herewith wish to ex
               `. feet. Many  $1 not  believe that these ministers are                    press,  their sympathy to their fellow-member, M.r. and Mrs. JG
                      innocent. The slander is that violent that it receives              Schut  in the loss of their father:      .
                -. much more  credence  than it should. If the desired                                          William  VandenM&en
                      synod could only be held, the contrary would indeed ap-
                      pear. But it. may be greatly feared that before. synod                May  the ,God  of all, grace comfoit  them*,and  all the bereave!
                      convenes this slander will triumph to the disservice of             with His preciois  word of prpmise  that the dead in~Ch.rist  shal
                      land arid churches,. wherein ,God has `called -us to be             rise again in the resurrecton  of utmost salvation and gliozy.
                      pastors and teachers, and to. the injury of name and                                       The .Hudkonville  Mr. and Mrs. society:
                      fame.  ,Considering that miliisters-  of `the Gospel are                                                   Rev.  Gerrit Vos,  Pres.
                      obliged to prefer these (land and churches, etc.) `above                                                   Mrs. Kay  Miedema,   Seer.
P                     all that is dear to them in this wbrld, the undersignecl
                     have decided to do all that is possible to remove the
                      heavy blame and  (quiet the minds.  OfXen they have
                      prayed with fervent hearts. Now they are unanimous-
                      ly decided to deliver a remonstration and argument to
                     the lords of the States of Holl.and  and West Friesland
                     ,as to their exalted government zind mandating lords."
                              Iti this intrbduction  the Arminians present them-
                       selves as a people pure -in doctrine, yet greatly sland-
                       ered. But they were not men pure in doctrine but
                      verily heretics. They taught that grace is resistable,
                       and that the salvation of gan is determined lzot by ,the
                       counsel and will of ,God but by the will of the creattire,
                       This is incipient Atheism. To say of such people that.
                      they sought a char& in religion, that is, the trtie reli-
                       gion of the Reformed  C,onfessions,  thus sought to
                       change the gldry of the incorruptible  `God into. an
                       image made like unto the corruptible creature4s  not
                      : slander ; it is the  truth.  `Of that exactly they  were
                       guilty.
                              But had their accusers ever .faced  them with &is
                       charge and called them to repentance? If not, they
                       were being backbited  but not slandered. But the ac-
                       cusers had faced them with this charge. Gomarus had
                       over and over. But we have seen with what results.
                       we have taken notice, of the duplicity of Arminius;  oP
                       his evasions and equivocations by which he woul,d, dis-
                       arm -Gomarus. We have seen. for what blasphemies he
                       was trying to win over his friends in crivate corres-


