 VOLUME  XXVIII                             NOVEM$ER   -15, 1951  - GRAND  RAPIDS, MICHIGAN.                            NUMBER 4 .

                                                                            Dat wordt ons in den t&kst geleerd, als hij zegt, dat"                     -
       IM E  D I  `T A  T  I.-8  N                                    Gods volk alle dingen doen moet zonder murmur&eren
                                                                      en ,tegengpreken.  I&t bchoeft ons niet @ verwondeken,
                                                                      dat de Apostel dit van de  gemeente  .vraagt,  want--d!
             ,L;chten In I+ Duisternis                                eandel eens Christens g&t dwarg tegen vleesch. en
                                                                      bleed in. -De natuurlijke weg van vleescb  en bleed is                      .
             "Doet alle  dingen  zonder niurmureeren en               nu eeti weg der zonde gewosden..  En van: dien, weg &S
           tegenspreken, opdat gij moogt onberispelijk en             vleesches  zegt de  Schrift dat  hij  z&h der  wille  &&              -,
 ;-        oprecht zijn,  kinderen  Gods  zijnde, onstraffelijk in    niet  onderwerpt.  Erger  nbg, de. Heilige  Schrift zegt            -.  5,
           `t midden  van een krom eti verd?aaid geslacht, onder
           welke gij schijnt als lichten in de wereld:  voor-         in Ram. 8, dat het vleesch vijandschap teg& God is.
           houdende het woord des  levens,."-Filipp.-  2:14-16a       En dat kan nimtier anders, want hetielfde gedeelte
                                                                                                 .
                                                                      z&gt, dat het ook niet zlch aan G&d &an onderwerpen.
   In het verband  van onze tekstworden  merken we op,                De natuurlijke mensch is ten .eeqemale  onmach@ oin
dat in het vijfde vers de Filippenzen vermaand worden                 zich  t e   schikken   n a a r   ,God.  Hij  murmureert   e n
aangaande -bet gevoeleti,  dat in Christus Jezus was.                 spreekt altijd'God  tegen. `En zoo is $en ieder menSch,
Wat was, dat  gevoelen,  vraagi ge?  H& was dit:                      naar zijn eerste, natuurlijke  gGb!booY%e.  En  &is.  gB  nu
onuitsprekelijk groote nederigheid. Stelt bet U voor :                een andere  weg ontvangt, een we@ ties Gee&es  Gods,
Hij was  Gode  evengelijk;  en  nochtans  -kwam Hij in                dan komt de strijd. Hebt ge dat geestelijke  leGen niet
.dienstk@ht  gestaltenis .1 I& de gemeente te Filippi                 dntvangen,  dail leeft  ge rustig door,  ~vervreemd van
wordt  vqmaand  ,om datzelfde  gevoblen van groote                    God  en  vati het  burgerschap Gods.  aan  ktint  .ge
nederigheid  .te openbaren. Voorts leert  Paulus de                   allerlei  goddelooze   dingen  bedenken en  doen  e n
gemeente, dat  .Jezus  Christus  daarom ioo hoog  ver-                bespreken, en ge hebt in `t geheel geen`strijd  daakmee.
hoogd .is geworden, zoqdat Hij een naam on,tving die                  M?ar zoodra Gods `G&&t  een `ander beginsel zaait in
boven alle andere namen uitblonk; niet alleen in, deze                Uw diepste hart, en zoodra dat beginsel tot bewust-
wereld,  maa$  ook in de navolgende, de vernieuwde                    zijn komt in dat hart, zoo spoedig komt ook de strijd.
we@ld. En  dat groote gebeuren in den  Heere Jezus                    -Dan begee&  de Geest tegen het vleesch en het vleesch
 Christus zal de  gem6ente  een  spoorslag   .zijn om het             begeert tegen -den ,Gee&.  En zoo komt ge er toe om te
woord van  d& Apostel  te  gehoorzameq.  En zij  kun-                 gaan  nitirmureeren en  sprekefi  tegen God. Dan
nen  gehodrzamen, want God werkt in hen beide het murmureeft het  natuurlijke leven,  d&t nog in ons
willen  en  ,het werken naar  .Zijn welbehagen. En de                 overgebleven  iS; Ge kunt dat  natuurlijke  leve~i odk
 inhoud .van dat gehoorzamen iindt ge in de woordeu -den- ouden .merisch' noem& naar d& Heilige Skhrift.                                               -
 van mijn tekst : ze zullen sehijnende lichten zijn iYn een Vergeet het nimmer : ons natuurlijke leiren wal& vau
 donkere wereld. Daar willen we wat van schrijven. -Gbd en -Goddelijke zaken. En hit bruisiht kr tegen in.
 We schrijven. dan wat tot U onder het  Thema:. En dat doet het altijd. Als Uw  vleksch   godsdienstig
Lichten.in ,de Dwisterr$s; .eerst willen we zien, dat ze              wordt, -past dan op,  want dan zijt  g& vlak  bij  d&l
 v&maand word& om Blijnioleclige Lichten te iijn; d&n,                Farize& en schijnheilig. Het is eenvoudig een wet in
 dat ze  held,er*  brandende:  Lichten  "moeten zijn  ;  :n           onze natuurlijke leden, dat het hart, het natuurlijke
 eindelijk dat ze Schijnenide Lichten moeten zijn.                    hart  murmureert  tegen God, en het  n+mx$jke
    Eerst dan, dat ze Blijmoedige'Lichten moeten zijx                 verstand  pruttelt   tegen  -als  ,God  spreekt. En daarom
                                                                                                                         _          _.
                                                                                                                               .
                                                                      .         `
                                                                                 -      -_-


van den rechten weg af. Ver'draaid te zijn geeft het        en, zooals de sehepping van `t heelal. Leest, of liever,
karakter aan van die afbuiging. Het ziet- op. het lee-      zingt ervan in psalm 19:2 en 3. En, ten derde, heeft
lijke, het kwade  .der  zondaren. Zij grijpen het  recht    God Zijn licht geopenbaard in den Zoon Zijner
aan, de waarheid en wat` er ineer -geopenbaard  word?       eeuwige liefde. Daarom naemt Jezus Zichzelf: het
van den grooten Schepper van `t heelal, en ze houden        Licht der wereld! En Hij heeft geschenen en het  _
het in  ongerecb.tigheid  ten onder. Onze  vaderen          lieflijke  Licht van God geopenbaard gelijk nooit  te-
spreken ook van deze gruwelijken trek'in des mensch:        voren. En het centrum van dat licht is het kruis van
en hart, als ze spreken van het geheel  en 21 bezoedelen    Golgotha. En `al dat licht van ,God in Christus Jezus
van `t natuurlijk licht. Het is de mensch die in            is ons geschonkeh in Zijn dierbaar Woord. En zoo
verwaten hoogmoed zich te keer stelt tegen ,God.' Da5       komen we, tot de vierde plaats. En dat zijn de licht-
zijn de afgebogenen die ook verdraaid  zijn. Daar &ant      kinderen  van  %od. Die  moetev  `schijnen, en die
ge  midden in. En de roeping komt tot U en mij om           schijnen daadwerkeh$. ' t. Daarom zeide Jezus, op Zijn
helder brandende lichten te zijn. Onvermengd schijne        discipelen ziende : Gij zijt het licht der wereld !
Uw 1icht;`zoodat  Uw positie unstraffelijk  wordt. Ner-       I En hoe  kunnen wij lichten zijn die  daadwerkelijk
gens op de lijn moogt ge afbuigen. Geen terrein is er       schijnen in deze duistere wereld? En dan vindt ge in
waarop ge met dit kromme ,en verdrtiaide geslacht mce       niijn tekst het antwoord:  voorhoudende het woord des
kunt doen. Alle dingen doet ge anders in Uw wandel.         levens. Dat zit zoo: we  worden door Gods Geest
   Dat zal nog duidlijker worden  als we op de laat-        opgezocht en in ons diepste hart wederdmgeboren.  En
ste gedachte wijzen: ge moet een schijnend licht zijn.      die Heilige- `Geest  leidt ,ons tot het Woord van God
Er moet invloed~ van U uitgaan. En dat kan alleen als       waar we het lieflijke ILicht van den DrieEenigen God
ge die eerste twee grootheden ontving, nalnelijk, dat ge    ons geopenbaard vinden. En dan klinkt de vermaning
blijmoedige lichten zijt, en helder brandende lichten.      tot de levenden door alle eeuwen heen: Tot het Woord
Dan zult ge ook schijnen in een duisttire wereld. En        en tot de Profeten ! En dan eischt God van ons, dat we
nu komen we tot het hart, van de vermaning. Alleen          ons sieren met dat Woord. Dat Woord zal in ons hart
licht kan sehijnen.                                         zijn; zal ons verstand beheerschen en alle onze
   wat nu is  Licht ?                                       gedachten. Dat Woord moet onze daden motiveeren.
   En dan moet ons eerste antwoord zijn: God is een Dat Woord moet als een zoutend zput al onze sprake
Licht. En ge hebt alreede opgemerkt, dat we hier te         smakelijk  maken,   .smakelijk  voor God in den  hemel.
doen hebben met figuurlijke  ta_al. In  de. Heilige En zoo ziet ge, mijne vrienden, w&t het beteekent om
Sehrift  wordt het beeld van licht vaak gebruikt.           bet Woord des levens voor  te houden. `De wereld
Denkt vooral aan dien tekst in I Johannes 1:5, waar         rondom slaat de Christenen gade, en nu  moeten de
we lezen: "En dit is de verkondiging die we van Hem         Christenen er voor zorgen, dat waar ze ook het volk
gehoord hebben en wij' U verkondigen, dat God een           Gods, zien, zij niets dan de lieflijkheid van' dat Woord
licht is -en ganseh geene duisternis, in Hem is." Daar      zien in onzen wandel. En daardoor wordt God verheer-
zit eigenlijk het voile Evangelie in. Het is immers de      l i j k t .
verkondiging van Jezus zelf? Daart,oe  kw&m Hij in de            Wandelt naar het Woord van God en ge  zult
wereld, namelijk,  om Zijn Vader te verklaren. En die       schijnende lichten zijn, en dan zal er van U gezegd
Vader is Licht.                                             worden,  dat ge wahdelende Evangeli& Gods zijt. En
                       I2  -3  *  $7                        zoo kunnen anderen tot Christus gebracht worden door
                                                            onzen godzaligen wandel. Geve de Heere het door
   Dat-beteekent, dat God het inbegrip van alle deugd       Zijne genade !
en lieflijkheid *is. Er is geen deugd die niet in God en                                                        G. Vos.
van God is. Als daar zijn: goedheid, liefde,  wijsheid,                           El  El  El  El  El
gerechtigheid, `heiligheid, macht en kracht, leven en
lieven van eeuwigheid tot eeuwigheid. En nu noemden
we nog slechts de mededeelbare eigenschappen  Gods.                   .            A N N I V E R S A R Y
Er zijn ook Zijne onmededeelbare eigenschappen die              On November 18th our beloved parents,
ons doen duizelen, als daar zijn: eenheid, alomtegen-                       Mr.  .and  Mss. Cornelius  Lame,
woordigheid, eeuwigheid, oneindigheid, onbegrijpelijk-      hope to commemorate their 25th anniversary. We extend to
heid, onafhankelijkheid, enz. Al die eigenschappen.,        them our most hearty congratulations.
wonderen,.  majesteit en deugden worden  in de Heilige          We. thank God that He has spared them for each other and
Schrift licht  geheetep. En daarom schijnt God. Hij         for us and pray that we may have many more years together.
schijnt altijd en vooy eeuwig. Hij schijnt allereerst in                                             J:oyce
Zijn Eigen lieflijk Wezen van eeuwghid en tot .in d.er                                               James
?euwigheid En, ten tweede, schijnt God in Zijn werk-                                   _-            Mary


                                          Y

                                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                          71
                          ___--
    Van de Kerkenirde, i.e. van recht en .gerechtigheid,            kN OPEN LETTER `TO PROF. HOEKSEMA,
-moeten ze niets hebben.                                               EDITOR OF THE STANDARD BEARER
    We1 beseffende, dat ze-in een. Frommen weg wande-
 len, zijn ze voor den weg, dien de Kerkenorde &an,              Esteemed Professor :
 wijst, bang.                                       3.
    Onze kerkmenschen hier krijgen door dit goddeloos                Your postscript to our consistory's decision which
                                                                 was tak@. up in the Standard Bearer compels us to
 gedoe zoo langzamerhand den indruk, dat "vrijmak-               an&vert' and we hope that you will give it a place in
 ing" zoo ongeveer hetzelfde beteekent als revolutionair.        the imm&di&tely  followi%g  Standard. Bearer. For this
    Zie,  amice `Schilder, daarom zou ik het veel ver-            our thanks.  -            ;
 standiger   ,achten, ook voor het  goed gerucht van de              First, relative tee headi@g or rather the lack .of. it
 vrijmaking in Nederland,. dat ge, in plaats van alleriei         above. the letters  virhich we  -sent.   Thisis  suriely an
 uien op te  disschen van zekeren. "Amerikaanschca" impoliteness whitih we p@haps could expl$in but can-
 domine", de  dingen eens  goed  onderzoclit, i.e.  oqder-        not excuse,  and for this we offer our apology to who-
 zocht in den kerkrechtelijken weg.                               ever it tiay concern.
    De Canadeesche "vrijgemaakten" maken de zajk                     We are glad that you placed our writing in its en-
 der vrijmaking in Nederland stinkende.                           tire@ whereby it can be plain to .anyone  who can read
    Ds. D. van Dijk schreef onlangs in de Groninger               well `that that which you con&de does not follow
 Kerkbode, dat wij hier in  Amerika  nog synodaler                logically from our writing but is merely a  restilt  of
                                                                  yoh? way of reading. It seems to us. that you can
 zijn- (in de leer) dan de  synodalen. `t Zpu me niets            hardly tolerate one who comes to stand over against
 verwonderen. ,                                                  y o u .
    Maar als het aankomt op de vraag, -hoe .men het                  What, for example, gives you the right to conclude
gemakkelijkst van een predikant af kan komen, is ey               from one's  a&s (which you  think to be sinful)  -that
 heelemaal geen vergelijking te treffen tusschen het-             such an one is unregenerated?
 -geen de Gereformeerde Synode in Nederland deed en                  This at `least appears to us to- be a theologiCal  slip
 hetgeen de "vrijgemaakten" (i.e.  libeptijnen,  revolu-          or evasion (theologisch slippertje) and not very
 tionairen)  in Canada bestonden te doen.                         Scriptural.
                                                   H;  H .           For the rest we will follow- your writing as far as g
                                                                  it is necessary and possible, but would first of all ex-
                                                                  amine closely the following statement, namely : "Under
                 -          q                                    the cloak of an apparently very humble confession,
                                                                  they launch one more slanderous attack upon their
                                                                 former pastor, the Rev H. Veldman, etc."                .
                      AN  0PEN LETTER                                This insinuation we must cast far from us." Tb be
                                                                  sure, if this were true, `then the heading, `"An, `Evil
    Below is an'open letter addressed to me.                      Piece of Work", would be altogether too mild.  Bul;,              .
    Because the men from Hamilton write as if .their              although it is very difficult to do so to one who doubts
 former contribution was directed to and against me,              good intentions, we do wish to declare that our apolo-
 which; of course, it was not at ali, and because the             gy was entirely upright. We are not at all conscio.us
 Rev. H. Veldman is far more intimately acquainted                of having begun, as you -mite, a.nev;.attaek  upon R&G!
 with what took place in Hamilton,. I asked him to                Veldman, but we -have done nothing else than to add
 reply to this open letter.                                       the grievance, although perhaps never `so plainly for-
                                                                  mulated and in language understood by each and ev-
    In the meantime, I want the authors -of the open              ery one, to make very plain that we in. that respect
 letter to know that I have not changed my mind about             have nothing to confess because we still think the
their "evil piece of work". I cannot accept an apolqgy            same- way, and therefore cannot express our regret
 as sincere from those, who, while refusing to walk ?n that we iherein have sinned against Rev. Veldman.
 the way of righteousness (the Church Orderj,  prefer
 the way of backbiting and slander.                                  Now our comments. The first mie can now "pass                  1
                                                                  over with&t comment. The second that you will not
    I admonish them to repent.  g&l to  return from               recogniie us as the legal Church of Hamilton we can
 their evil way.                                                  understand, but that we have not the right to bear the
    Here follows the letter and the comment by the riame Prot. Ref. Church because we no longer live in
 Rev; Veldman.                      **                            the church-connection  .is  .a: riddle to us. Do  .the
                                                     H. H.  :     churches derive their right from  ,the connection in


                                       T H E   STANDARD'BEARER  -                                                    79

plain Christian .ethics and courtesy to send such ah          that I ain ready at any time to support,this statenient.
apology to me personally.                                     It simply amazes me that these brethren have the bold-
    Seconfily,  I wish to make a few remarks in connec- ness to object to this statement.
tion with that consistory meeting which Rev. Hoek-               Fourthly, I must comment briefly on the following
sema called illegal in his article and which, according       statement in the letter of these brethren, and I quote:
to the "consistory of the Hamilton Prot. Ref.-Church;" "Minutes of Dec. 5, 1950. Art. 3. It is moved and de-
is or was perfectly legal. They are correct arid tine         tided to request the  classis to make Rev. Veldman
statement `as it appears in the article of the editor is      loose of the congregation of Hamilton;-because, inas-
an error. `However, may I call  their attention and           much as it is itipossible for him to- help enforce the
also the attention of our readers to the following. It        decisions of the consistory in re accepta%e of mem-
is true that the undersigned was suspended at a legal         bers; confession of faith, .baptism, his official labour
consistory meeting. But it is equally true that the           has  beeti practically paralyzed. This decision was
t&o meetings held the followitig week were illegal.           adopted upon the request of: Rev. Veldman himself,
Mind you, the only sin they confess in the abbve quoted       but was rejected by the classis." Now I do not wish
letter is that they did not in the spirit of love treat us    to deny that I may have requested this, a decision of
as sinners even unto the..end.- Not one word is said          this nature. But the following must be borne in mind,
about the illegal meetings held Jan. 16 and, 19, the and these brethren are- fully -acquainted with this.
first being a consistory meeting and. the latter the          How often did it not happen at our consistory meet-
congregational meeting. When `the consistory .ineet-          ings that the brethren simply would sit there with`out
ing was held Jan. 16, Reit%ma,  vice-president of the         anyone saying anything (except Reitsma) ? Do the
consistory and member of the consistory in good               brethren recall the consistory held at the home of
standing, knew nothing of the meeting. N@ither did            Reitsma shortly after the [Oct.,  $950, classis,  when I
the undersigned. At this ineeting Reitsma and I were          suggested to them that they appeal against the de-
deposed, my suspension first being lifted. -At this           cision of the Oct., 1950, classis at the following synod,
consistory meeting it was also decided to hold a con-         that everything'would in the meantime remain status'
grtigational meeting Jan. 19. All decisions taken at an quo, and that I would continue to serve them as their
illegal consistory meeting are per se illegal.        The pastor during all that time? Do they recall that they
brethren knew this. I called their attention to this          refused this? Do they recall that they did nut know
between Jan. 16 and 19;  called their  ,attention  to a what to do? and this because I refused to submit to
decision of a synod of Middelburg which has bearing           their basis inasmuch as I was a Prot. Ref. minister
exactly on a situation of this nature; These men now          and they a Prot. Ref. consistory? Do they recall that
have the boldness to call Rev. `Hoeksema's attention to       I suggested to them that they lay the matter before the
his error, namely, that he called the consistory meet-        Jan., 1951, classis, and that I was ready to submit to         .
ing of Jan. 12 illegal, declare; in fact, that his state-     the advice of that classis? And do they also remember
ment is  .completelzj   inr.Z&$ect,  but  sajr not one word that, before the January, 1951, classis convened, I hai1
about- the two illegal niketings which were held the          determined to fight also this decision of the consistory
following week.' It reminds me of Matt.  `7:3: "And and had resolved to remain as their minister atid let'
why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's          all. action `proceed from them? _ Would not honesty.
eye, but .considerest not the beam that is in thine own       demand that these facts be mentioned  also-?          .) :'
eye?"                                                            Finally, I must comment on the slander to which
   Thirdly, I wish to make a few remarks about the            Rev. Hoeksema refers in his article and' against which
statement of the editor, namely, and I quote: "That at        these brethren so vehemently object. The editor of
a later meeting of the Consistory of Hamilton, this the Standard Bearer speaks of another slanderous at-
body rescinded its former  decisidn and decided to            tack upon the undersigned.             These brethren are
throw open the doors to all that desired to join the amazed because of this particular statement. Permit
church, meaning, of course, &specially the Liberated me, therefore, to call their attention to the following.
@migrants." The brethren, Van Huizen  and  Klap-              First, in their letter bf Jan. 17, 1951, which was sent
wijk and Ton also object to this statement.            Of     to all the consistories, they write -and I quo&: "The
course, the editor can very well take care of himself.        consistory of the First' Prot. Ref. Church of Hamilton,
The only remarks I wish to make are because of my             in its meeting of Jan. 16, 1951; is compelled to rescind
gersonal acquaintance with the case. The undersigned its decision of Friday, Jan. 12, last, and instead of the
fully endorses the statement that the doors were              suspension of Rev. Veldman to make itself loose from
thrown open to  all that desired to join  Jbe  churcht        the church-connection, upon the ground that it is con-
meaning, of course, the -Liberatecl immigrwzts. I wili scious of the fact that it cannot continue to fulfill its
not enter now. into details. However,. p&&it me to say office laid upon it by Christ; inasmuch as the attitude


                                                                                              `.,


                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R   -                                 81

letter of the three brethren of Hamilton which should
be answered; The reader must underst?nd  that this
was not a wilful omission. I refer to the. duty of the         WE TRIPLE KNOWLEDGE
consistory of Hamilton to reinstate Brother Reitsma
and the. undersigned in their respective office's and the    An Exposition Of The Heidelberg
answer of the three brethren to this their duty as ex-
pressed in the Standard Bearer by the Rev. Hoeksema                          C a t e c h i s m
atid also in  the answer which they received from
Classis. East. In itheir answer the three brethren of                          . . PART  TWO               .
Hamilton say that this reinstatement never occurred                     O f   M a n 's   R e d e m p t i o n
to them because it would be useless  to do so. I  @ish                        LORD'S DAY  XXX1
to answer $0 this, and say to these brethren that it is
simply their calling. and obligation to r&instate us.                                    2.
They have left the communion of our Protestant RP-
formed Churches and it is up to them to seek reaffilia-                 The Promise  of  the Gospel  (hmi;.)`~
                                                                  --                               ,;.$
tion with us. Whatever one may say of the possibility         From all the above,  that is,  both,,`from  Scripture
or advisability of our returning to Hamilton and again       and the Confessions, it must be very evident what is
working there as the minister of .the Protestant Re-         the contents of the promise of ,God. In one word it is,
for&ed Church of  H,amiltpn (this question can and           according to iScripture,  Christ and all His riches of
must be answered if and when we are confr0nte.d  by          salvation and blessing. It is the promise that God
it), this has nothing to do with the duty which rests        will raise. up a Savior out of the seed of David ; that
`tipon the consistory and congregation of Hamilton.          this seed of David shall bear the sins of His people;
They made the breach, deposed us, and left our               that God Shall raise Him from the dead and give ~Hirn
churches, and it is their calling to repair the damage glory, exalt Him on the throne of His father David,
whi.ch they have done.                  l%. Veldman          and give Him the enrds of the earth for His posse&ion.
                                                             Christ is the promised Seed. The promise, therefore,
                            lsl                              according to  SCripture, implies the assurance of
                                                             righteousness and peace, of forgiveness and.  sonship,        _
                    A  QUtiSTION                             of deliverance and sanctification, of eternal life and
Dear Editor: :                                               glory, of the incorruptible and undefilable inheritance
   -In October 1 issue of the Standard Bearer in your that fadeth not away. It `implies for Christ and.. all
comment on the letter of the "Consistory of the Prot.        that are in Him that .they shall be heirs of the worl&
Ref. Church of  Hamilton" you  .write,  concerfiing  tl      inherit the new and heavenly'kingdom, and dwell in
letter, that `it i.s a "piece of work that certainly can-    God's eternal tabernacle forever. And therefore, the
not have been conceived in the mind And heart of a::         promise also implies the gift of the Holy Spirit. That
r&generated child of -God." About  this. statement Spirit is given first of all to Christ, and then also to
much comment is made in our circle but there is also         them that are of Him. It is through this Spirit that
a difference of interpretation. Will you  theref!re          all the blessings of Christ are realized upon the
kindly tell us what you meant with these words?              -church, It is important that we emphasize this. It is
   -Thanking you in advance, I remain                        a mistake  td present the matter as `if God merely
                                   Yours fraternally,        promised the objective blessings of salvation to the
                                     J. Blankespoor          seed,of Abraham, or even to men in general, so that it
                                                             depends  upoli their consent whether or not the promise
                          ?&PLY                              shall be realized unto them. Very definitely the gift
    The different interpretation is, undoubtedly, the ' of the Holy Spirit is included in the promise. It is
correct one. -1 did not say, and do not say now, that        God's promise that He will pour out His Spirit upon all
the writers of the contribution from Hamilton are not        flesh.- And through this Spirit He effectually `works
regenerated men. This I do  .not and cannot judge.           the salvation of Christ in the heart of all His people
But I did say, and still maintain th& backbiting and in the,way of regeneration, calling, faith, justification,
slander, which are, in the ,Heidelberg Catechism, _ sanctification, perseverance, and glorification. Through
called the very' works of the devil, certainly are not       that Spirit they are translated from darkness into
conceived in the regeneiated  heart of the child of God.     light and are keljt in the power of God unto the salva-
Perhaps, I could have added: "but `in his carnal tion that is to be revealed in the last time. All this is
nature."                                                     included in the promise; that is, in the positive declara-
                                                -H.  H:      tion on the part ,-of God that He will surely bestow


                                 THE  STANDAR~D   B E A R E R                                                           83

riches of the inheritance that is promised. For the have said -before, it is not in the power of any man
promise holds before the heirs not such a deliverance         either to open or to .shut that kingdom. Only Christ
from sin and death as will restore them to' a former          has the keys.  - But it pleases Him to exercise that
state and condition of bliss; but .fills their hearts with    power of the keys through men, through the apostles,
a hope of- glory such as never was conceived in. the          and through the church which is built upon the'foun-
heart of man. It stands to reason that this glad news         dation of the apostles and prophets. And therefore,
concerning the promise could only be imparted by Him through the. preaching Christ speaks ,His own effica-
that conceived of the promise, that is, God. God pro-         cious and living Word. And it is only because it
claims the promise. He preaches the gos,pel  through          pleases Christ to speak His own Word, that the
Jesus  ,Christ our Lord. The gospel that speaks of            preaching becomes effective as ,a key-power.
things which eye hath not seen, and ear hath not                 From all this it will be evident that if the preach-
heard, and which have never been conceived in the             ing of the gospel is to be a power to open'and to shut
heart of man, can only come through revelation. But. the kingdom of heaven, it can never be a weil-mean-
this revelation of God, this divine -proclamation of the      ing offer of salvation. The promise must be preached.
gospel, always took place through`the agency of men.          It must never be offered. Thus it is also constantly
Hence, he is a preacher of the gospel who can with presented in Scripture. Jesus preaches the gospel of
authority declare in the name of God.glad  news about         i&e kingdom. Matt. 4 :23; 9:35; 24:14. Paul preached
the promise, about its certainty of fulfillment, about the gospel among the Gentiles. ,Gal. 2:2. He preached
its riches of blessings, about its progress and the           the gospel of God among the Thessalonians. I Thess.
realization of it  ,in history. All through the history       2 :8-9. Or, `he spake unto them the gospel .of God with
of the world there -are in the world  .heirs of the           much contention. I Thess. 2:2. Or again, he testified
promise.    And they know. the promise. They are              of the -gospel~of  the grace of `God. Acts. 20 :24. And
anxious about it,. long for its realization.  `They  in: frequently also the word ev@zgeZi.ze, or to declare glad
quire about its contents and the nearness of its ful- tidings, is used to denote the preaching of the gospel
fillment: And he that can answer this anxious in-             of God in Christ.. I ,Cor. 15 :l ; II Cor. 11:7 ; Gal. 1 :ll ;    .
quiry, and bring some glad news about the promise Rev. 14:6. But never do we find in all the Word of
was, and still is, a preacher of the gospel.                  God that the gospel is <offered,  or that it presents- the
   It is this preaching of the gospel, according to the       promise of God as a well-meaning offer of salvation to.
Heidelberg Catechism, which is one of the keys of the         all that hear  ,the preaching of the gospel.           If the
kingdom of heaven.                                            promise of God were for all men, there would be no
   What is preaching? For a complete answer to                distinctive preaching of the gospel possible. There
this question I may refer you to the Triple Knowledge,        would be an opening of the kingdom of heaven, but no
Vol. v, pp. 29, ff. Here it is sufficient if I only re-       shutting of that kingdom. Nor is preaching of the
capitulate briefly what I wrote in that connection.           gospel as a key of the kingdom of heaven possible
First of all, preaching, ,as has been explained above, is -when it is conceived as an offer, ,as a well-meaning
the proclamation of the gospel. And the gospel is the offer on the part of God to all that hear. For in that
sure promise of God concerning salvation to the heirs         case the preaching ,presents  the door of the kingdom
of the promise. The contents of .the preaching, there- of heaven as always standing wide open. In that case
fore, may be nothing- else than the gospel of Jesus           the preaching does not open the gate, but man simply
Christ, as revealed in the Holy Scriptures. :Secondly.        enters the kingdom of heaven by his own free will.
preaching is authoritative proclamation of that gospel.       And again, in that case the preaching does not shut
For the preacher is pan ambassador, one that is i sent        the gate of the kingdom of heaven, but it is closed by
to proclaim glad tidings of good things, the things           man, that rejects the offer and refuses to enter in.
that are promised in the gospel of Jesus ChrisIt.  Third-     For an offer is a conditional proposition : it depends
ly; for that very reason, it is the church that preaches      and is contingent on its consent by man. And, let me
the gospel. _ For she only can speak with authority as        emphasize that if the gospel were such a well-meaning
the one that is sent. And that church proclaims the           offer on the par,t of !God, dependent on the will of man,
gospel through its official ministry. And finally,            no man would ever enter-into the kingdom of heaven.
preaching is such official proclamation of the gospel of If the promise were the preaching of a conditional
Jesus Christ in the service of the living Word of God         offer, there is nothing in the condition which man can
through Christ. Especially the last element of our            possibly- fulfill. He cannot of himself believe the
definition of preaching is important here. For it is          promise. He cannot even will of himself to believe in -
only through the powerful and living Word of Christ           Christ. He cannot repent and turn, unless God first
Himself that preaching can possibly be or become a realizes the promise unto him.  -And therefore, the
key to open or shut the kingdom of heaven, As we              promise of God in the preaching of .the gospel is. either


                                                                                                     m
                                       T H E   S - T A N D A R D   B E A R E R '                                    83
                                                                                         -
  to be a pattern of the beautiful relationship which          who among us would dare to deny that the greatness
  exists between Christ and His Church. This relation-         of salvation should not fill our hearts and minds with
  ship must never be reversed, be it in the natural or in      a tremendous emotion? It is hardly possible that the
  the spiritual sense of the word.. _ The line of salvation    tremendous reality of salvation through faith in Christ
  is always vertical and it always runs from the top to        Jesus and out of sovereign grace can leave a Christian
  the bottom.                                                  cold and "emotionless !" The salvation of God in
                                                               Christ .Jesus must surely "fill" us, must it not?.  But,
            i    - HIS HIGH'NOBILITY                           it is an extremely dangerous thing to ascribe to the
                                                               emotion a separate faculty, to separate it from the'
  Dichotomy or  Trichotonq?                                    mind and the will. This, we have said, is the funda-
     What is meant by this distinction as such? The mental error of the false mystic. He lays all emphasis
  dichotomist maintains that-man consists of  .two,  and upon the feeling. He divorces this feeling from the
  only two, distinct `parts, namely, body and  pod.            mind. He relies upon the "inner voice," and, divorc-
  Trichotomy, on the other- hand, contends that man ing this inner experience from the mind, he also
  consists of three distinct parts: body, soul, and spirit. minimizes and ignores the Scriptures as the sole
  The dichotmist, of course, is aware of the fact that source'of all our knowledge of salvation. Hedoes not
  Scripture uses the term, "spirit,!' in addition to "body" merely ascribe equal significance to the emotion `or
  and "soul," but declares that the "spirit" must not be feeling of man, but elevates it above the will and the
  regarded as a distinct part of man's human nature or         mind. He regards the Scriptures  ,as a dead letter,
. being.                                                       does not regard the speech of the Lord as it comes to
     It may be of' interest to observe that we can also        us through His Word. He does not understand that
speak of a dichotomy or trichotomy of the soul. -Dich- all living and experiential knowledge of salvation 1s
  otomy with respect to the soul contends that the sod         ours only through the Scriptures. And the inevitable
  must be viewed as consisting of merely two parts:            result in those circles is exactly that there is much
 mind and will. And the trichotomist maintains that            uncertainty and doubt with respect'to the blessed and
  the soul must be regarded as consisting of three parts :     conscious knowledge of salvation. This must be. False
  mind, will, and feeling or emotion. Hence, the tricho- .mysticism  denies the element of Divine revelation,
  tomist advocates that man's feeling or emotion must be God has revealed Himself as the God of our salvation
  viewed as a distinct faculty of the soul. the ascribes       only in the Holy Scriptures. To deny this must have
  equal  (.if not greater) significance to this aspect  01:    for its result that we deprive ourselves of the only
  man's life. It is surely not difficult to show that tkia medium through which we can attain unto &he blessed
conception can be and is extremely dangerous. To be conscious knowledge of the living God. Man's emo-
  sure, we do not .deny the existence of feeling or emotion tion must not be divorced from the mind and the will
  in man. But we do deny that man's emotion .is a third but must be controlled by them. We do not believe,
  and separate faculty of the soul. Emotion is a tre- therefore+in a trichotomy of the soul.
mendous thing. The dictionary informs us that this                However, we also speak of dichotomy or trichotomy
  word is derived from a word which means: to .move with respect to man's human nature or being. In  our
  out, stir up, agitate; We repeat: the emotion of man         appraisal of this question we may remark the follow-
is and can be a tremendous factor. This applies to the ing. First, the Reformed conception favors Dicho-
  life of an individual and also to the life of a nationIt tomy as the teaching of Holy Writ with respect to this
  is for this reason that the press plays such a vital role matter. Trichotomy; we are told, originated in Greek
  in times of war. The people must become war-con-             philosophy and generally found no favour among
  scious ! The emotions of the people .must .be set ou those of Reformed thinking. Secondly, that the Scrip-
  fire ! `The populace. must be aroused! We are told tures distinguish between soul and body `can hardly
  that this constitutes one of the basic elements in the be, denied. We certainly read that man's body can
  training of a soldier. An aroused soldier will- rise to- die, whereas his "soul" or "spirit" continues to lead
  greater heights. However, herein lies also the danger a conscious existence, either in life or in death. The
  of emotionalism. The ascription of a separate faculty Preacher emphasizes, does he not, that when the body
 to the emotion of man is the fundamental error of all returns to the dust the spirit returns unto God Who
 false mysticism. The important question, according gave it? And the Lord speaks of those who are able
 to this conception, is: how do we feel? They lay .a11 to kill the body but cannot destroy .the soul. Besides,
 the emphasis upon an experiential knowledge of Christ the Lord Jesus commends His spirit into the hands of
  and salvation. To be sure; we do not wish to deny His Father when He is about to die and His bod,y is
- this experiential knowledge. We must certainly know          about to be laid in <the grave. And do we not read in
 whether we are the children of the living God. And            the Book .of Revelation of the "souls of them that were



  can be lodged against `Traducianism is that which                              -mmL.   v--u
  revolves about the Christ.       If, as Traducianism           The Board of the RFPA decided at their last board
  teaches, the entire man comes from his parents, wha-l        meeting to send THE STANDARD BEARER. to all
 must `we say.about  Jesus? He assumed an impersonal           the young men of our demoniation who are in the
. human nature, was not pe?*sonaZZzj human. Hence, not
  being a human person, He therefore did not become a          Armed Forces. Will you please forward their .namcs
 full and complete man. Traducianism claims that the and addresses to .Mr. John Bduwman; 1350 Giddings
 whole man, person and nature, body and soul, is con-          Ave., S.E., Grand Rapids 6,  Mich. Also PLEASE
  ceived and born from the parents. Christ, however,           KEEP US INFORMED. OF CHANGES OF  AD-
 was not a human person. Hence, He must, have as- DBESSES.
  sumed an incomplete human nature,          `.     -                   ,,_-  .._.                THE  BO,ARD


                                           TH'@  ..,`$T.ANDARD   B E A R E R

     selves, by this  candit, voluntary disclosure                       tenets (heresies) by outlawing the.Confessions  in their
     and declaration of their sentiments, from all                       present form.
     strange suspicions by which they now for                               5. IA. petition to the effect that their gov.ern,ment
     some time abroad and here at home have been-'                       acknowledge itself to be under God the head also over
     troubled ; (and) to requ,est  correction (of the                    all things in the church and assert itself accordingly ;
     Confessions-O) or better instruction (in the                        thus a petition that their govepment pronounce the
     same-O) or at any rate forebearance on                              Reformed Church Order that the churches had offi-
     both sides and peace `and love ; .or in case                        ciall'y adopted null  ,and  voicl and replace  3 by the      a
   against all hope and expectation they could                           Erastian.        _
     obtain neither and as a result could no longer                         Every one of these petitions is contained in the "Re-
     withy good conscience and in peace' perform                         monstrantion" either as clearly enough expressed or as            _
     their public services, they in that event by                        suggested.
     order of their'government will leave them in                           Finally the manifest aim of the "Remonstration"
     order  hencef,orth  to serve God and their                          in its. introduction was to make it appear that the
     neighbor according.as they in good faith and                        *God of the Calvinists' is the fatum of the pagan reli-
     in full submission to their governmentZ.  will                      gion of the Romans, who spins the thread of men's
     find it proper to do."                                              lives arbitrarily without rhyme, reason and purpose,
                                                                         and that thus the Calvinists' doctrine of predestina-
   "Remonstranten protesteeren ten' slotte ~voor God en Zijne
heilige geineente misgaders  voor uwe Edelmogenden, ja  VOJI             tion-election and reprobation-is fatalism pure and
de gansche  wereld, dat dit ons d:en geenszins. strekt tot eenige        simple.
part?jschap, tweedracht,  ,afzondering  of scheuring, `t zij in             Yet despite- `these their petitions and this their
Kerk of  Staat,  veel minder tot eenige verandering in de                aim, Wtenbogaert and his party in the closing section
Religie; maar dat hun bedoeldn anders  Set is dan  zich. van             of their `LRemonstration" could communicate to their
vreemde  suspicien,  waarmede ze nu geruimen tijd zoo  -binnen
nls buiten  `s Lands, bezwaard geweesf zijn, met deze ronde,             government sentiments such as these: "The Remon-
vrijwillige  openng en verklaring van  bun  bedenken, te bevrij-         strants protest before God and His holy congregation
den; verbetering of  beterem onderrichting, of  ,althans   dulding       . . . that this our doing by no means -tends toward
ter weerszijden, en vrede  ,en liefde te verzoeken; of zoo zij, tegen    partisanship, strife, separation, schism . . ." and "but
alle ho.op en `$e%achting geen van beiden kmmen  verwerven  en           their purpose is peace and love . . ." Peace and love
diensvolgens hun publieke diensten  niet langer met een  goed
geweten  en met vrede zouden kunnen vervullen, zij . dan op              indeed but on their terms, of course. They say, too,
bevel der Overheid gewillig  afstand  daarvan zullen  doen,  om          in this closing section of their "Remonstration" that
d,an voorts God en den naaste te dienen, zooals  zij in  goeden          their purpose is forebearance. But we shall see of how
gemoede, altijd zonder kwetsing van de onderdanigheid, die ze            much forebearance. they themselves were capable.
de  Overheid  schuldig zijn, zullen bevinden te behooren"                There  .,is now this question. Did the government
    Having now before us the "Remonstration" in jts                      yield to Wtenbogaert and his party? As we shall see,
entirety, it may be well to state in their order the sev-                the government yielded to the Remonstrants on every
era1 petitions contained in it-let us take notice, peti-                 point. Relentlessly did it strive to put into execution
tions directed by its  ;author and  sign!tories   to  the&               all their petitions.
governm.ent.                                                                Wtenbogaert immediately placed the "Remonstra;
    1. A petition to the effect that their governmenl- tion" in the hands of the States Counsel, Oldenbarne-
authorize a revision of the Confessions, that is, order                  velt. But the document as to the thrust of  jts con-
the Confessions to be changed and this despite the fact                  tent must have frightened him. For it was not until a
that they had been officially adopted by the churches.                   half year thereafter that he was able to muster suf-
    2. A petition to the effect that their government ficient courage to submit it to his government  ancl
wait- with the calling of a national synod until a synocl                then as a piece not meant for publication. Not that he
could be convened willing to do their bidding (change                    was at variance with the aims of the Remonstrants.
t h e   C o n f e s s i o n s ) .                                        These aims had his full sympathy. But he feared the
    3. A petition to the effect that their government reaction of the Calvinists.
make an end of the Confessions as a limiting instru-                        Also Wtenbogaert evidently thought it wise to-pro-             ,
ment in the` interpretation of the Holy Scriptures and                   teed with caution. When the "Remonstration", was
thus allow the teaching ministry to explain the Scrip-                   still locked in the cabinet of Oldenbarnevelt he wrote
tures as it pleased and this on the ground that the                      and published a tract in which he strove t,ci provide the
Confessions -belong to a species of writings from the                    sixth article of his "Remonstration" with proof  from-
nature of matters always in error. '                                     the Scriptures and from history. Doubtless his pur-
    4. A petition to the effect that their governwent                    pose was to feel out his countrymen before allowing his
make room in`the churches for their peculiar doctrinal                   secret doing to beoome known. The States of Holland


                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D - .   B E A R E R                                     91          *

arresting bit of- composition. As freely translated .t
reads thus':
        "Noble, Noble born, potent, exceptionally                       I N   H I S   FEA
      wise, Mandating Lords ! The undersign&d,
      commissioned by the classes to confer with                               Back To School
      some co-workers in th`e `Gospel reply to the                                    (Conclusion)
      contention of the Remonstrants as follows :
      that the Remonstrants are sorely mistaken in                 In our previous article we laid emphasis upon the
      thinking that they have not occasioned the                fact that the path of Christian isolationism is indeed
      rumers that they strive after a change in the             a dangerous one. This implies of course that when this
      doctrine. The only exfilanation of the present            pririciple of isolation is applied to the department of
      unrest is that, some ministers oppose their               our life which we describe by the term education, the
      peculiar opinions to the general sentiment                result is inevitably a dangerous education.
      of the church, and that they'have never been                 dSalutary it is, that we realize this, for especially
      willing to give a candit and open itatement               two reasons. In the first place, it i's well to realize
      of their opinions, much less to submit them-              thoroughly what we are doing and what we are sup-
      selves to the judgment of the- churches. They             porting and what we are seeking. We do  n6t want a
 .    cause themselves to be suspected not 6tily by             movement for Reformed education that is based on
      their insistance on the revision of the Confes-           anything less than good sound principles, not only,
      sion and the Catechism but, especially by al-             btit we do not want a movement for Reformed educa-
      lowing-it to be said that they have somethiqg             tion that is launched and maintained by parents who
      new while refusing to reveal in any classical             do not know and thoroughly understand the principles
      meeting what it is. We, too, admit that the               up& which they stand, and realize full well the con-
      Confessions as to their authority and worth               sequences of their actions. We must not act blindly
      may  tiot be  conipased with.  the  .Holy Scrip           in this matter. We must not imagine that from any            .
      tures ; he who says differently wrongs tis. But           earthly point of view the outlook is rosy. On the con-
      cbnsidering  that all sects abuse `God's Word             trary, the.more stringently this principle is applied,
      by using ,it as a covering for their opinions,            the darker the outlook becomes. And we must realize -
      It is highly necessary for the better preserv'a-          this, lest we be disappointed at the results, lest we be-
      tion of peace and unity that the Church pos-              come discouraged, and lest we be tempted to give up
      sess some general Forms of Unity setting                  the .battle when our position becomes narrow. In the
      forth what she believe to be-the truth of God's           second place, we may certainly  to a degree judge the
      Word and by subscription binding on all the               true condition of any movement for Christian educa-
      ministers in the Church. It is a cau& of con-             tion by the' amount of opposition it faces in the world
      cern when such general Confessions of the                 and from the world, by ;the degree of its dangerous-
      Church'are brought under a cloud `and dis-                ness. If in the course-pf  its existence such a movement
      puted about; this is harmful to the church-               "finds the going easy", meets with little opposition, ex-
      and leads to suppression of the truth. This ;             periences little of the dangers which we enumerated,
      fruit is discernable also in these lands, where           we may be fairly certain that there is something wrong
      Revision has been sought though there be no               with the movement. We `may be certain, because the
      need. As a'result the common doctrine of the              difference of principle between `God's people and the
      Reformed Churches is being distrusted! If                 world is a dividing difference, an irreconcilable dif-
      there is something in Catechism or Confession             ference. And the manifestation of two such irrecon-
      that is in conflict with the word of God or is            cilable *principles leads inevitably to a constant war-
      not ,in sufficient agreement with it, no one              fare. Sometimes that warfare may be cold, sometimes
      among us is so unwise that he would not                   hot. Principally it is always hot. And therefore, we
      admit that the Word of God is the only                    may safely conclude that when one or both parties
      standard by which all  doctiine must be                   in this warfare put the sword into its sheath, some-
 -    proved,; but the error would firs6 have to be             thing radical has happened. And that "something" is
      pointed out, and this has not been dope to this           without fail this, that the movement for Christian edu-
      `day, despite the fact that the Remonstrants "            cation has deserted its principle of isolation, and ex-
      often  have been requested and urged. so to               changed it for that of .amalgamation.
      do.                                                          But all this leads us to the question:
             (continued in the following article)         :,    What Really is Safety?           '
                                       (G. M.  tOphoff   .;-       If by the safety of God's people in the world is


                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                            . .           93

 in isolaiion,  never in amalgamation. Aed remember:
this principle applies to.all of life, education included i
    That is the real lesson of church history, of all 0.r'     F R O M   HOL,U~WRIT
 sacred history. Israel did not go down to defeat be-
 cause of her isolation, but exactly then, when it for-                       Exposition of Luke 19:~10
,sook the living God and united with the, world. Never
 do you find any instance in the hQt?ry of God's old              Since this passage of the Word of God is quite
 dispensational people in which  khey were defeated            lengthy and whereas we all have our Bible to look up
 while they faithfully maintained their isolated posi- this passage tie shall not quote it in full, but will limit
 tion. To be, sure, the powers of the world raged              our quotation to the verses 9 ,and 10, .where we read
 aganst them because they were `God's people. .It was          "bzit Jesus said  a&o him: today is salvation come
 not the intention `of Assyria and Egypt and Babylon           (happened) to this house, in as much as he also is a
 to assail the people of Israel because they were  s3 son of A'b~aham. For the Son of mckn is come to seek
 apostate. They raged against the people of God. But           cund, to save that atihich was lost."
 lievertheless, it was at those periods tihen IsrAe for-          For the proper and correct understanding sf this
 sook the ILord their God, played the harlot with the          passage from Luke 19, it is of the greatest importance,
 nations of the world and their idols, and because             that we notice carefully what we read in %he ,former
 apostate, that they invariably went down to defeat.           Chapter, verse 35. There we read that Jesus is on
    The history of the new dispensation teaches the            His way to Jerusalem; that it is His last journey to
 same lesson. When the -church becomes rich, powerful,         this city; for now His hour has come that as the Son
 and  influelitial at the cost of its spiritual identity,      of Man He will be lifted up, even as Moses lifted-up
 then it has lost the battle and laid down its own life.       the Serpent in the wilderness. For Jesus took His
 And it is that church that refuses-to be swallowed up         disciples aside on the way to definitely instruct them
 by the world, either from within or from without, that        in the meaning and purpose of His ,going  up to Jeru-
remains safe and- secure.                                      salem. He tells them all this, so that when. it  do&
    What is the ground of  &at safety?  Bcripture              come to pass they may understand and belime !
 teaches us that they are safe  because God is their               Oh, it is true "they understood none  ~of these
 refuge and because underneath are the everlasting             things, and this word was hid from them, and they
 arms.       L                                                 did not know the things said." `Later, when Jesus had
    They are safe, then, not became  of their isolation.       risen from the dead, He opened their minds that they
 If that should ever be the relation, their safety. would      might know the meaning of. the Scriptures, as all is
 be a. very insecure and doubtful matter. For at the           fulfilled in His death and resurrection. Luke 24 :26,. 27.
 very best, the isolation of God's people is  but very             Hence, we ought to give the more earnest heed to
 imperfect and characterized by many failures. But this word of Jesus spoken to His disciples by the wiy,                    _
 they are safe, then-and safe  befol:e their own con-          and that, too, when we try to understand the meaning
sciousness too-because then it has been realized in            of what Jesus is doing by inviting Himself into the
 them through the Spirit of Christ, "I-will be your God,       hduse of Zaccheus !
 and ye shall be my sons and daughters.`! For it is Gocl           Let us, therefore, try to understand the meaning
 that chose them. He `it is Who called them. He it is          of what Luke relates. to us in the first ten verses of
 Who for and in and through them fights the battle,            C h a p t e r   1 9 .
 Who maintains His covenant, Who makes them more                   It is quite evident, that Luke wishes to impress
 than conquerors. And He it is Who shall finally reveal        upon us the note worthiness of a certain man, Zac-
 that the cause for which they stand by grace, is in-          cheus by name. He tells us the following about this
 deed the cause of the Son of God, which surely hath           man.
 the victory.                                                      In the first place, we are told about this man that
    Dwell alone then, you and your children. Do not            He was a Chief of the .Publicans, or ,Tax Collectqrs for
 hesitate to be a separate people also in the sphere of        the Roman goverfiment.  From the viewpoint of Jewish
 education. But know that this is no cause of the flesh,       patriotism this man was on the lowest possible level
 but a cause of faith.                                         of society. He is notorious in this city of palm-trees,
    Then you shall have to "go it alone", yes-but wit11        Jericho. He is known by all `the populace as a man,
 your God. And He is a sure refuge. With Him you               who is a sinner, a notorio,us  sinner, with a very bad
 are forever safe. His arms are everlasting ! And in           reputation. There was .no love lost upon him ; hated
 Christ Jesus they are underneath you!                         by al! was he and esteemed by none. Such a man was
     Our safety lies in isolation !                            Zaccheus  in Jericho. That is a matter' that Luke
                                       I$.'  C:  H .           vividly portrays to us.


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                          95

to save.that which was perishing under.the  wrath and           later in. the church at Jerusalem with those who gave
curse of almighty God under the burden of the law!              their all ; sold their possessions to give to the poor.
.He became from a woman and was made under law                  Bartimeaus Will riot need to sit begging by the way-
that He might redeem us perfectly from this curse of            side. Zaccheus will be like the widow, whp gave her
the law. That must be manifested here on the way to             last mite' simply because Jesus so completely saves the
Jerusalem. Behold the blind receive their sight and the         lost!
lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear and the dead are                                                G. Lubbers
raised up and the. poor and contrite of heart have
the gospel preached to them! And blessed is he who is
not offended in this Jesus of Nazareth, King of the
Jews who will hang on the tree as the accursed one .a
week hence, on the place of a Skull!                                     . - P E R I S C O P E
    For in effect Jesus tells Zaccheus;  ai the great
Prophet, that he must not make his defense before the
people. Not excuses and self-defense help before God!           The Syriod~of 1951 - September-October !Sessio?zs
_ It is simply the .only comfort in life- and death that            Synod ,of 1951 has firiished her sessions some time
must be the boast of Zaccheus ; that he is not his own,         ago. !As we have given a factual report of the June
but that .he belongs to this. faithful Savior, Jesus of         sessions ,of this Synod, so again we will give such a
 Nazareth, who will fulfill all the Promise of ,God to          factual report.
,Abraham  and to his Seed in His death and resurrec-                Synod opens its second series of sessions Wednes-
tion. That must be the humble boast of Zaccheus.                day morning, SeIjtember  26, meeting this time in the
    Zaccheus must say: I have defrauded the people.             basement of the First Protestant Refqrmed Church of
 But by the stripes of this Jesus I am healed.         God      Grand Rapids, Michigan. Both Classis East and West
 gives me repentance and thus He heals me with the              were represented by a full delegation. There were a
 leaves of the Tree of life which are for the healing of        few changes made during the sessions of Synod. Sev-
--the7:5qtio&  God -comes to save His own people. This          eral times Elder delegates found it impossible to be
 people is hop&ssly  lost up to the very moment. Nay there and were represented by their alternates. And
 not simply some outstanding evil in the past as super-         on the second day of Synod Rev. Vermeer received
 ficial people and hypocrites judge, but hopelessly lost        word from. his consistory of an accident Tesulting  in
 in sin, being dead through. trespasses  and sins. That is      death to one of the members of Redlands and it was
 what Zaccheus' must say.                                       necessary for him to return to conduct the funeral.
    Why did salvation come to ,the house of Zaccheus ?              Called to Synod's attention after the opening -ex-
 Why did Zaccheus wish to see Jesus? Why `must Jesus            ercises were two  ,documents,  one from  Classis West
 call Zaccheus out of the fig-mulberry tree? Is it not `regarding their action on several documents before
 because this Zaccheus and-his entir house also are sons        Synod, and another from Rev. Veldman regarding the
 and daughters of Abraham, the father of believers, and         provision made for him. Both of these were received
 of Sarah, the Jerusalem above?                                 for information and no further action was taken.
    Ah, Zaccheus take now the shoes from off thy feet               Synod than began its treatment of the  Declara-
 for  the ground upon which thou standeth  1s holy .tion proper by reading the Declaration together with
 ground. Jehovah hath seen thy plight as He has seen. the Preamble `and the amendments suggested by Clas-
 the plight of all the children' of election, steeped in sin    sis East, as well as Classis East's ground for adoption.
 by nature, hopelessly lost.1 Does Jesus of Nazareth,               A motion came  to the  floor; "That the  iSynod de-
 the I-shall-be who I-shall-be h&e not step across the. clares that the- Declaration of Principles as amended
 threshold of thy dwelling to save thee and thy entire          by IClassis East is the expression of the Three Forms
 house' simply because He foreknew thee. in sovereign           of Unity, with regard to certain fundamental prin-
 love, and because by virtue of this love He has                ciples, as these Confessions have always been main,-
 promised to saved thee completely?.                            tained and interpreted by the `Protest&t Reformed
    Presently this Jesus will surely make His "Exodus" Churches." A substitute motion was allowed, "That
 at Jerusalem when He will deliver Zaccheus and all the         Synod treat the Declaration point by point," and the
 filthy sinners from their Egypt of sin to bring them           amendment was added, "To dete?mine whether the De-
 to the glory of grace and truth. `Then will the shackles       claration is in harmony with the cvnf&sions."
 of self-righteousness fall and all the, righteousness -or"         After ail pertinent material was placed in the
law will be so much loss and dung for the excellency hands of th,e Preadvisory Comniitteti  in this matter,
 of Christ Jesus in His. saving the lost.                       for collation and its  .report  rendered Synod  .b@ga:l
    And Zaccheus will stand no more than two mont&              its deliberations on the above motion.


                                                                                                                                          L
 VOLUME  XXVIII                               NOVEMBER.   15, 1951  -  G&AND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN.                          N U M B E R  4


                                                                           Dat wordt ons in den t6kst geleerd, als hij zegt, dat'
                       I'T A T I-d `?+i                                  Gods volk alle dingen doen moet zonder murmur&eren
                                                                         en t@en$preken.  l&t behoeft .ons niet te verwondeken,
                                                                         dat de Apostel dit van de gemeefite  vraagt,. want -de :
              ,Lichten In Qz Duisternis                                  wan&l  eens Christens g$at ' dwari tegen vleesch..  en
                                                                         bleed in. -De natuurlijke weg van vleesch en b@d.is
             "Doet alle  dingen  zonder murmureeren en                   ny een weg der zonde gewbrden.  En van dien. weg..@es
           tegenspreken, opdat gij moogt onberispelijk en                vleesches  zegt de  Schrift dat  hij  zich der  willk  mGo.ds                   *.
        .-  oprecht  zijn,  kinderen  Gods zijnde,  onstraffelijk  in    niet onderwerpt.  l+ger  nag, de. Heilige  Sehrift zegt  ?,z
           `t midden  van een krom eix verd?aaid geslacht, onder
           welke gij schijnt als  li`chten  in de wereld:  voor-         in Roti. 8, dat het vletisch vijandschap tegeh God is.                -
           houdende het woord  ges  Ievens."-Filipp:   2:14-16a          En dat kan nimtier anders, want he!zelfde  gedeelte
                                                                         zegt, dat het ook niet zich aati God-ilcntn onderwerpen.
    In het verband  van onze tekstworden merken we op,                   De natuurlijke mensch is ten .eeqetiale  onmaehtig  om
dat in het vijfde vers de Filippenzen vermaand worden                    zich te schikken naar God;  Hij  murmureert  en
 aangaande .het gevoeleti,  dat in Christus Jezus was.                   spreekt altijd-God tegen. En zoo is .een.iede%  mentich,                   I
Wat was dat gevoelen,  vraagi ge? Het was dit :                          naar zijn eerste, natuurlijke  geboorte.    En &is- g& nu
onuitsprekelijk groote nederigheid. Stelt bet, U voor :                  een andere weg ontvangt, een weg des Gee&es  ,Gods,
 Hij was  @ode  evengelijk;  en nochtans  .kwam  Hij in                  dan komt de strijd. Hebt ge dai geestelijke  l&en n&t
 dienstkn&ht  gestaltenis .1 En de gemeente te Filippi                   dntiangen, dan  leeft ge rustig door,  vervreeltid  van
wordt  vqrmaand  .,orn  datzelfde gevoelen van groote                    God  en  vati het burgerschap Gods.  Dan  kunt  :ge
nederigheid  te openbaren.  .Voorts   leert  Paulus de                   dlerlei  -  goddelooze   dingen bedenken en  doen en
 gemeente, dat .Jezus Christus .daarom ioo hoog ver- bespreken, en ge hebt in `t geheel g&l'strijd'daaYmee.
hoogd-iS geworden, zo,odat  Hij een naam or$ving die                     Maa? zoodra Gods gGti&t een `ander beginsel z&ait i.n
 boven alle andere namen uitblonk; niet alleen in deze                   Uw diepste hart, en zoodra dat beginsel tot bewust-
 wereld,  maar ook in de navolgende, de vernieuwde                       zi.jn komt in dat hart, zoo spoedig komt ook de strijd.
 wereld. En dat groote gebeuren in den Heere Jezus                       Dan begeert de Ge&t teg&n het vleesch en het vleesch
 Christus zal de gemeente een `spoorslag -zijxi om het                   begeert tegen den Gee&. En zoo komt &e & toe dm te
 woord van d& Apostel  te gehoorzamen~ En zij  kun-                      gaan  murmureeren  en  spreken  tegen God.           Dan
 nen gehoorzamen,  want God werkt in hen beide het                       murmureeft het  i?atuu$lijke leven,  dtit nog  ih ons
willen en het werken naar  .%ijn welbehagen. En de                       overgebleiren   is;  Gem kunt dat natuurlijke  lev&n ook
 inhoud .van dat gehoorzamen vindt ge in de woordeu -den- ouden .metiseh. `noem&,  -naar de He$ge Sihrift.                                                     -
 van mijn tekst : ze zullen schijnende lichten zijn fn een               Vergeet het ninimer : ons natuurlijke leven tialgt van
 donkere  .wereld.  Daar  willen we wat van  schrij.ven.                 :Gbd en %oddelijke  zaken. En h&t bruiseht  kr teg@n  in.'
 We schrijven dan wat tot U onder het  Thema:                            En dat doet het  altijd. Als Uw  vle&ch  godsdie+stig
LiGhten.&  de~Duisternis;   .eerst   willen we  zien, dat ze             wordt, past dan op,  want dan zijt ge vlak bij  d&n
 v&maaid worden  om Blijtio~edige Lichten te iijn; da-n,                 FarizeEr  en schijnheilig. Het is eenvoudig een wet in
 dat  ze  helder  bram&nck  Lichten  :moeten  zijn  ;  :n                onze natuurlijke leden, dat het hart, het natuurlijke
 eindelijk dat ze ScILijnend'e  Lichtien moeten zijn.                    hart murmureert tegen God, en het  n@mx$jke
    Eerst dan, dat ze Blijmoedige~Lichten  moeten zijn.                  verstand  pruttelt  tegen  -als  SGod  spreekt. En  d+o;n

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

 wordt de gemee&e  hier vermaand om noch het eerie,           zaak. Negatief beduidt dit, dat ge onberispelijk zijt eil
 noch het andere te doen:                                     wandelt. En hier komt Gods heiligheid U tegen. Zijt
                                                              heilig, want Ik ben heilig! Gods ,Geest en Gods Woord
                        .a  a  r?r  *                         vraagt altijd een volmaakt werk. God is nooit tevreden
                                                              met half werk. Er zijn zoogenaamde profeten die he?
       En dat niet te doen br.engt het kruis. Dan'kruisigt    den menschen diets maken,  dat God tevreden  is als we
 men den ouden mensch met zijne werketi,.  en dat doet        slecht's  ons best  doe?. Dat is niet waar. `Luistert
 zeer. Maar het is oak genade, en we beklagen U dan           slechts naar den tekst hier: we moeten onberispelijk
 niet, want dat is de weg naar het Vaderhuis daar             zijn. Of we het doen kunnen komt hier niet in reken-
 boven. De murmureering moet gedood en het tegenspre-         ing. God eischt een onberisplijk leven van ons.  UW
 kende v&stand moet h&t zwijgen opgelegd. De natuur-          Iicht zal helder schijnen in een donkere wereld. En dat
 lijke wil, en begeerten moeten gefnuikt en onder ,Gocls      is goed, want het brengt ons geduriglijk.onder`de tuGht
 wil gebracht. En dat neemt een steeds voortdurende           van het volmaakte. Voorts zegt de tekst dat we oprech:
  strijd.  Doch die strijd is  gen,adegave  van' ,God. En zullen zijn. Letterlijk beteekent dat onvermengd te
 "denkt er aan dat deze vermaning veibonden is aan het zijn. Er  zullen  geen vreemde bestanddeelen in  ens
 troostrijke woord van het verband, dat SGdd het willen       streveil zijn. Een oprecht mensch is een mensch die el
 en het werken in ons werkt. Als we dien strijd hebben        van binnen uitziet zooals hij van buiten zich aan Uw
is het een'teeken dat we op den gbeden weg zijn. En oog vertoont. Deze vermaning vloekt. tegen het valsche,
  elke overwinning over het vleesch sterkt ons geestelijk het veinzende, waar men van buiten glimlacht en van
  en brengt.&s  nader tot' God. En met dat doe1 geeft         binnen  vloelrt. En daarom grijpt deze vermaning
  God ons dien strijd.                                        terug naar het diepe beginsel in den Christen. Deze
       Daarom blijmoedig alles gedaan. Let daarop. doet;      vermaning eischt, dat ge een nieuw hart hebt. En
  alle  c&gen zonder inurmureering en zonder  tegen-          zoo komen we vanzelf tot het hoofdelement van deze
  gpreken.  Wel,  alle  dingen zijn alle ding& hier.  Er.     vermaning, d.w.z., he-t: hoofdelement in dit tweede
  wordt niets buitengesloten in deze vermaning. En dat        deel: helder brandende lichten. Ge moet U openbaren
  maakt Uw `gaqsche  leven tot een betrachten .van de         als  kinderen Gods. Dat doorloopt een  proces.  Het is
  theologie.  Alles zij godsdienst in ons leven. En alles     niet zoo, dat ge bij Uw wedergeboorte.  en bekeering
  wat we doen van den morgen tot den avond, en ja,.ook        eenvoudig tot kind -Gods gemaakt wordt en daarmec
  wat we doen'in den`nacht, wordt dqor God opgeeischt.        uit. 0 neen. Het is  we1  wagr, dat ge bij de  nieuwc
  En cl.at is recht, want Hij is God. In al die dingen, en    geboorte tot een ,kind Gods gemaakt zijt, do& het i;
  in verband  met al die dingen die UW leven uitmaken,        even waar, dat ge meer  ell.  me&r  kind Gods  moei
  moet ge Uws zelfs zaligheid met vyees en beven uitwer-      yorden ! Dagelijks moet ge meer en meer het Beeld va;:
  ken. En dat beteekent, dat ge  meer en  meer  op            den Goddelijken Zoon gelijk worden.  Door den weg vai:
  Christus  .Jezus moet gaan gelijken. Hij moet meer en       de kruisiging des vleesches en de betrachting van al
  meer een gestalte in U ontvangen. En dat moet alles         Gods geboden, in het oprecht wandelen  voor  Gods
  blijmoediglijk gedaan. En ook dat is  recht `en past a.angezicht moet ge meer Gods kind worden. En die weg
  voor den Christen. Hij  .gaat  toeh immers naar den is de weg der gedurige heiligmaking, zonder dewelke
  hemel,  dat is, naar God heen?  Wie gaat nu al schreien-    niemand den Heere zien zal. Ernstige vermaning. Let
  de naar een feest? Wandelen we dan vroolijk achter          op de beeldspraak. We  mo@ten  een helder  brandencl
  Jezus Christus aan, zonder te murmureeren en tegen          licht openbaren in deze wereld. En nu stem ik U toe,
  te spreken. Doch integendeel, al zingende en jubelende      dat zulk een weg lijden met zich brengt. Doch geen
  van  innig zielsgenot. Gedenkt  hiey  aan den zoeten nood. Aan het einde van dat lijden wacht de kroon der
  zanger Israels zooals hij ons voorgegaan is met zijn        overwinning.
  lieflijke zangen : Hoe zalig is het volk, dat naar Uw
  klanken hoort; zij wand'len Heer, in  `t  licht van  `t
  ~Godd'lijk aansohijn voort! Ze zullen in uw naam zich
al den  dag verblijden; Uw goedheid straalt hen  toe;             En het doel? Dat zal de tekst U leeren.  O,mdat dc
  UW macht schraagt hen in `t lijden ; Uw onbezweken          duisternis rondom U is: Satan, de wereld en  de
  trouw zal nooit hun val gedoogen, maar Uw gerechtig-. machten der zonde en des `doods. Elk oogenblik ware1
  heid hen aar Uw Woord verhoogen!                            ze random U ; ze haten U; ze bgrijpen U niet, omdal
                                                              ge licht zijt in den Heere. Ze zijn een krom en ver.
                          *  a  *  b                          -draaid geslacht. Krom ziet op het afgebogene van dc
                                                              lijn. -De natuurlijke mensch is afgebogen van  dc
       In de twe$de  plaats worden  we hier vermaand om       rechte *lijnen waarin en waarlangs hij geschapen is
  helder brandende lichteti  te zijn voor God en voor Zijn En zoodoende dwaalt het menschdom al meer en meet


                                             TH.%      gTAND*R~D.            BEARR.R-         -,

                                                                                                                               `
                                                                                                                               is

                   .     .


van den re'chten weg af. Verdraaid.  te zijn geeft het        en, 20021s de schepping van `t heelal. Leest, of liever,
karakter aan van die afbuiging. Het ziet- op het lee-         zingt ervan in psalm 19 :2 en 3. .En, ten derde, heeft
lijke, het kwade  .der  xonr@ren.  Zij grijpen het  reeht     God Zijn  lieht geopenbaard in den Zoon Zijner
aan, de waarheid en wat er meer `geopenbaard word?            eeuwige liefde. Daarom  naemt Jezus Zichzelf : het
van den grooten Sehepper van `t heelal, en .ze houden         Licht der wereld ! En Hij heeft geschenen en het  i
het in ongerechtigheid  t&i onder. Onze  vaderen              lieflijke.  Licht van God geopenbaard gelijk nooit  te-
spreken ook van deze gruwelijken trek'in des mensclly         voren. En het centrum van dat licht is het kruis van
en hart, als ze spreken van het geheel en  81 bezoedelen      Golgotha. En -al dat licht van ,God in Christus Jezus
van `t natuurlijk licht.           Het is de mensch die in    is ons  geschonketi in Zijn dierbaar Woord. En zoo
verwaten hoogmoed zich te keer stelt tegen ,God.' Dat         komen we tot de vierde plaats. En dat zijn de licht-
zijn de afgebogenen die ook verdraaid zijn. Daar staat        kinderen  van `God. Die  mdeten  Bchijnen, en die
ge  midden in. En de roeping komt tot U en mij om             schijnen daadwerkelijk. Daarom zeide Jezus, op Zijn
helder brandende lichten t,e zijn. Onvermengd schijne         discipeien ziende: Gij zijt het licht der wereld!
Uw li,cht;`zoodat  Uw positie onstraffelijk wordt. Ner-         En hoe  kunnen wij lichten zijn die  daadwerkelijk
gens op de lijn moogt ge afbuigen. ,Geen terrein is. er       sehijnen in deze duistere wereld? En dan vindt ge in
waarop ge met dit kromme en verdrtiaide geslacht mce          tiijn tekst het &nttioord:  voorhoudende het woord des
kunt doen. Alle dingen doet ge anders in Uw wandel.           letens.  Dat  zit zoo: we  worden door Gods Geest
   Dat zal nog duidlijker worden  als we op de laat-          opgezocht en in ons diepste hart wederomgeboren.  En
ste gedachte wijzen: ge moet een schijnend licht zijn.        die Heilige- `Geest  leidt .ons tot het Woord van God
Er moet invloed-van U uitgaap. En dat kan alleen als          waar we het lieflijke ILicht van den DrieEenigen God
ge die eerste twee grootheden ontving, namelijk,  dat ge      ons geopenbaard vinden. En dan klinkt de vermaning
blijmoedige lichten zijt, en helder brandende lichben.        tot de levenden door alle eeuwen heen: Tot het Woord
Dan zult ge ook schijnen in een duisfere  wereld. En          en tot de Profeten ! En dan eischt God van ons, dat we
nu komen we tot het hart. -$an de verm?ning. Alleen           ons sieren met dat Woord. Dat Woord zal in ons hart
licht kan schijnen.                                           zijn; zal ons verstand beheerschen en alle onze
   wat nu is  Licht ?                                         gedachten. Dat Woord moet onze daden motiveeren.
   En dan moet ons eerste antwoord zijn: God is een           Dat Woord moet als een zoutend zput al onze sprake
Licht. En ge hebt alreede opgemerkt, dat we hier te           smakelijk maken,  smakelijk voor God in den `hemel.
doen hebben met figuurlijke  tql. In de Heilige               En zoo ziet ge, mijne vrienden, wat het beteekent om
;Schrift wordt het beeld van licht vaak gebruikt.             bet Woord des levens voor te houden. `De wereld
Denkt vooral aan dien tekst in I Johannes 1:5, waar           rondom slaat de Christenen gade, en' nu moeten de
we lezen: "En dit is de verkondiging die-we van Hem           Christenen er voor ,zorgen, dat waar ze ook het volk
gehoord hebben en wij-' U verkondigen, dat God een            Gods zien, zij niets dan de lieflijkheid vari dat Woord
licht is -en gansch geene duisternis, in Hem is." Daar        zien in onzen wandel. En daardoor wordt God verheer-
zit eigenlijk het voile Evangelie -in. Het is immers de       l i j k t .                ~
verkondiging van Jezus zelf ? Daartoe kwam Hij in de               Wandelt,  naar het Woord van God en ge  zult
wereld, namelijk,  om Zijn Vader te verklaren. En die         schijnende lichten zijn, en dan zal er van U gezegd
Vader is Licht.                                               worden,  dat ge wahdelende Evangelign  Gods zijt. En
                              72  a  a  *                     zoo kunnen anderen tot Christus gebracht worden  door
                                                              onzen godzaligen wandel. Geve de Heere het door
   Dat-beteekent, dat God het inbegrip  van alle deugd        Zijne genade !
en lieflijkheid'is. Er is geen deugd die niet in God en                                                             G. Vos.
van God is. Als daar zijn: goedheid, liefde, wijsheid,                                 El  El  El  El  El
gerechtigheid, `heiligheid, macht en kracht, leven en
lieven van eeuwigheid tot eeuwigheid. En nu noemden
we nog slechts de mededeelbare eigenschappen Gods.                                     ANNLVERSAlRY
Er zijn ook Zijne onmededeelbare eigenschappen die                On November 18th our beloved p.arents,
on3 doen duizelen, 21s daar zijn: eenheid, alomtegen-                            Mr.  .and Mrs. Cornelius Lame,
woordigheid, eeuwigheid, oneindigheid, onbegrijpelijk-        hope to commemorate their 25th anniversary. We extend to
heid,  onafhankelijkhei,d, enz. Al die eigenschappen.,        them our most hearty  congratu1ation.s.
wonderen,. majesteit en deugden worden  in de Heilige             We thank God that He has spared them for each other and
:Schrift  lieht geheeten. En daarom schijnt God. Hij          for us and pray that we may have many more years together.
schijnt altijd en voor eeuwig. Hij schijnt allereerst in                                                  J.oyce
Zijn Eigen lieflijk Wezen van eeuwghid en tot in der                                                      James
eeuwigheid En, ten tweede, schijnt God in Zijn werk-                                                _-    Mary


,'

      ` 7 6                                                                                            T-HE  -STAT;TDARD  B E A R E R

                                                                                                                                                                           _

                           THti   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                                                       -  EDiT                                    I  A-L  s
               Semi-monthly, except monthly in July and August
                                                                             .
         Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association
                    Box 124, Station C., Grand Rapids 6, Michigan                                                                                                                               T,,e Am kdoten
                                  EDITOR - Rev. Herman -Hoeksema                                                                                                                                           _I
                                                                                                                                                                                                           1.
         Communications relative to contents should be addressed
         to Rev. `H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S. E., Grand                                                                                                             Dr. &h?lder geeft in De Refohmntie  het volgende'
         Rapids 7, Michigan.                                                                                                                                          staaltje door :
         All matter relative to subscription should be. addressed
         to Mr. J.  Bouwman,  1350 Giddings Ave., S. E., Grand                                                                                                             "In de Theologische Hoogeschool onderhoudende
         Rapids 7, Michigan. . Announcements and Obituaries must                                                                                                      Artikel 31 te Kamp&' hangt een schilderij, waar de
         be mailed to the above address and will be.published  at a
         fee of $1.00 for each noti,ce.                                                                                                                               ark van Noach op geschilderd is. In die ark' zitten de
         Renewals :-: Unless  a definite request for discontinuance                                                                                                   Gereformeerden van Artikel 31, aan de a& hanger:
         is  ,received,  it is assumed that the subscriber  wishes  the                                                                                               de Hervormden en de gewone Gereformeerden ver-
         subscription  to continue without  `tine formality of a re-                                                                                                  drinken                allemaal".
         newal order.                               . .
                                    Subscri&ion  Price: $3.00 per year                                                                                                     Dr. Schilder noemt dit een van "de staaltjes van
         Entered as Second Class mail at Grand Rapids, Michigan                                                                                                       venijnige fantasietjes" over de kerken onderhoudende
                                                                                                                                                                      Art. 31.
                                                                                                                                                                           En hij voegt er aan toe: "natuurlijk is het ganse
                                                                                                                                                                      verhaaltje nongens.
                                                            -:-

                                                                                                                                                                                                           2.
                                                                                                                                                                           Dr. Schilder geeft, nog  we1 in een schoolspeech
                                                           C O N T E N T S                                                                                            over "Zelus en Zeloten", op eigen gezag het volgende
      MBDITATION-                                                                                                                                                     s t a a l t j e   d o o r :
          Lichten   in  de  Duisternis.   . .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 73                           "We-denken  hier aan de uitroep van een predikant
                   Rev.   G.  Vos                                                                                                                                     in Amerkia, die eigen dogmatische  beschouwing bind-
      EDITORIALS-                                                                                                                                                     end wil gaan opleggen aan de Kerk des Heeren, en
          Twee  Anekdoten.............................................                                                                                        76
          Een  Wax   Verhaaltje..   .1  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  76                                              ,die zijn tegenstander hierin nu openlijk vraagt: `wlqr
                    Rev.   H.  Hoeksema                                                                                                                               dontt you go?`, waarom ga je niet liever weg, naar een
          An   Open  Letter'
                                                           .............................................   77                                                         andere kerk, waar je het beter naar je zin hebt?"
                    Revs.   H.  Hoeksema   and  H.  Veldman                                                       _
          A  Question .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .._.  81         Dit,.  amice Schilder, is een ander staaltje van
                    Rev.   H.  Hoeksema                                                                                                                               venijnige fantasie.
      THE  TRIPLE  KNOWLEDGE-                                                                                                                                              En ofschoon Dr.  - Schilder blijkbaar heel in de
          An  Exposition   of  the   Heidelberg   Catechism.   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  ,  .  .  .  .  .  :  81                                                           verte een  klokje heeft hooren luiden, niet  wetends
                    Rev.   H.  Hoeksema                                                                                                                               waar de klepel hangt, voeg ik er aan toe:
          Ingezonden-.........................................:......                                                                                        84            "Natuurlijk is het -ganse verhaaltje nonsens."
                    Mr.  Wm.  Pelskamp                                                                                                                                                                                  H. H.
               DOCTFUNB-
      OUR  

          The  Hexaemeron   or  Creation-Week   (9).   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  84
                   Rev.                     H.                   VeIdman                                                                                                                             --


      THROUGH THE  AGBS-                                                                                                                                                                      EQn Waar Verhaaltje
          The  Arminian   or  Remonstrant   Struggle..   .  .  .  .  .  .:  .  .:  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  88
                    Rev.   G.  M.  Ophoff                                                                                                                                  Eerst in Hamilton, en nu in  Chattam,  heeft wat
      IN HIS  FEAR-                                                                                                                                                   zich noemde de Protestantsche Gereformeerde  Kerk
          Back   to  School  (con&ion).  .  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
                    Rev. H. C. Hoeksema                                                                                                                               haar leeraar aan den dijk' gezet.
                                                                                                                                                                           Dit is, in beide gevallen, geschied zonder eenigen
      FROM HOLY  WRIT-                                                                                                                                                vorm van procedure, zonder dat die kerken, respectie-
          Exposition   of  Luke   19:1-IO.  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
                    Rev.   G.  C.  Lubbers                                                                                                                            velijk die van Hamilton en  Chattam,   zich stoorden
      PERISCOPE-                                                                                                                                                      22n eenig artikel der Kerkenorde,  hetzij artikel 3i of
          The Synod of 1951. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~ . . . . . . . 95                                                                           eenig ander artikel.
                              Rev. J. Howerzyl                                                                                                                             Eenig besef van verantwoordelijkheid  vo6r  bun
                                                                                                                                                                      leeraar hebben deze kerken zeker niet.


  0                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                       77

       Van de Kerkenorde, i.e. van recht en .gerechtigheid,
 -koeten Fe niets hebben.                                         AN OPEN LETTER `TO PROF. HOEKSEMA,
       We1 beseffende, dat ze.in een. krommen vireg wande-              EDIiOR OF THE STANDARD BEARER
  len, zijn ze voor den weg, dien- de Kerkenorde .aan- Esteemed Professor :
  wijst, bang.
       Onze kerkmenschen hier krijgen door dit `goddeloos          You? postscript to our consistory's decision which
  gedqe zoo langzamerhand den indruk, dat "vrijmak-             was teak@.  up in the Standard Bearer compels us to
  ing" zoo ongeveer  hetzelfde  beteekent als revolutionair.    an&Q&; and we hope that you will give it a place in
                                                                the immedi&t&ly  follow&g Standard. Bearer. For this
       Zie, amice Schilder, daarom zou ik het veel ver-         our thanks.  -            ,.  ;
  standigef  .achten, ook voor het  goed gerucht van de            First, relative t&e headifig ,or rather the lack .of. it
  vrijmaking in Nederland,. dat ge, in plaats Jan alleriei      above'. the letters which we &nt. This .-is suriely ,an
  uien op te  disschen van zekeren.  "Amerikaanschen" impoliteri+ss  which we perhaps could explain but can-
  domine", de dingen eens goed onderzocht, i.e. onder-          not excude, and for this we offer our apology  to who-
  zocht in den kerkrechtelijken weg.                            ever it niay concern.
       De Canadeesche "vrijgemaakten" &aken de zaek                We are'glad that you placed our wiiting in its en-
  der vrijmaking in Nederland stinkende.                        tirety whereby it can be plain to -anyone who can read
       Ds. 9. van Dijk schreef  onlangs in de Groninger         well `that that which you  con&lude  does not follow
  Kerkbode, dat wij hier in  Amerika. nog synodaler             logically from our writing but is merely a  result of
  zijn (in de leer) dan de  synodalen. `t Zou me niets          your way of reading. It seems to us that you can.
  verwonderen.                                                  hardly tolerate one .who comes to stand over against
                                                                you.
       Maar als he; aankomt op de vraag; .hoe .men het             What, for example, gives you thk right to conclude
* gemakkelijkst van een predikant af kan komen, is ey           from one's qcts (which you. think to be sinful) -that
  heelemaal geen vergelijking I% treffen tusschen het-          such `an one is unregenerated?
 -geen de Gereformeerde Synode in Nederland deed en                This at `least appears to us to. be a theological slip
  hetgeen de "vrijgemaakten" (i.e.  libeptijnen,  revolu-       or evasion (theologisch slippertje) and not very
  tion$ren) in  ,Canada  bestonden  $e  doen.                   Scriptural.
                                                 H. H.             For the rest we will follow-your writing as far as _
                                                                it is necessary arid possible, but would first of all ex-
                                                                amine closely the following statement, namely : "Under
                  -            ISI                              the cloak of an  appareritly very humble confession,
                                                                they launch one more  slandel-ous attack upon their
                                                                former pastor, the Rev H. Veldman, etc."               .'
                       -AN  IOPEN  LETTER                          This insinuation we must cast far from us." Tb be
                                                                sure, if this were' true, `then the headiligj .."An, -Evil
       Below is an-open  letter addressed to me.                Piece of Work", would be altogether too mild. But,                  _
       Because the men from Hamilton write as if their          althdugh it is very difficult to do'so to one who doubts
  former contribution was directed to and ~against me,          good intentions, we do wish to declare that our apolo-
  which,` of course, it was not at ali, and .because  the       gy was entirely upright. We are not at all conscio.us
  Rev. H. Veldman is far more intimately acquainted             of having begun, as you-write, .a.nev.attack upon R&G:
  .with what took place in Hamilton, I asked him to             Veldman, but we -have done nothing else than to add
  reply to this open letter.                                    the grievance, although perhaps never `so plainly for-
                                                                mulated and in language understood by each and ev-
       In the meantime, I waqt the authors of the open          ery one, to make -very plain that we in that respect
  letter to know that I have not changed my mind about          have nothing to confess because we still think the
  their "evil piece of work". I cannot accept an apolqgy        same- way, and therefore cannot express our regret
  as sincere from those, who, while refusing to walk `in        that we `therein have sinned against Rev. Veldman.
  the way of righteousness (the Church  Orderj j-prefer
  the way of backbiting and slander.                               Now our comments. The first  mie can  how  `.pass
                                                                over with6tit comment. The second that you will not
       I  .admonish  them to repent:  $&l to  return from       recogniie us as the legal church of `Hamilton we can           -
  their evil way.                                               understand, but that we have not the right to bear the
       Here follows the letter and the comment by the           name Prot. Ref. Church because vire no longer live in
  Rev; Veldman.                       ,*                        the church-connection  :is .a.- riddle to us. Do  .the
                                                 H. H.  .-      churches derive their- right from the connection- in


                                                                                 I




  which they live, or are the local churches autonomous,       but would `rather believe that these are due to
  and do they not all hake the right to break with the         ignorance.
  church-connection if they are of the opinion that that          We will do so in order. (L is correct. b is in so far
  church-connection hinders them in their service of correct that the consistory rescinded its former  de-
  Christ?        _                                             cision, but not in that sense, however, that now the
  You write further: "The only possible procedure              door is open to all that desire to become member, but
  would have been as follows." Did you really think to all who promise to maintain the three forms as
  that  l&is procedure were possible?  ..Even if we  re-       basis of ecclesiastical fellowship and who find  ex-
  quested that, it seems to us that it would be impossible     pressed in them the perfect doctrine of salvation, given
  for Rev; Veldman and Elder  Reitsina to give  them-          unto us. in the Holy Gospel. c is correct, also cl,. but e
  selves to a communion which declares itself to be able       is completely incorrect upon a very essential point,
  to do nothing else than finally to depose them from          namely, that this was no illegal meeti-ng but a com-
  office. Did you. think into this situation, professqr ? ' pletely legal meeting under the presidency of Rev.
  -We do not .believe it and it therefore never occurred       Veldman held Jan. 12, 1951, and from the minutes of
  to us to ask. this of Rev. Veldman and brother, Reitsma. which meeting we quoted above. f is correct and the
      You speak  of the minutes of our consistory and we       reasons for this action are expressed. in the. writing
  would lay before `you some excerpts out of these             addressed to all consistories  Jan. 16, 1951.
  minutes.                                                        We hope that all this is sufficient to move you to
     -Minutes of Dec. 5, 1950. Art. 3: "Moved and de- ret+act your accusation. of lie and slander and  ac-
tided to request the  .classis to make .Rev. Veldman           knowledge that it is possible to disagree with you
  loose of the congregation of Hamilton, because, inas- without evil intentions which you repeat in your last
  much as it `is irnpossible for him to help enforce the       sentence. We desire just as you do the unity of the
  decision! df the consistory in re acceptance of mem-         Church but are convinced that you, as also Rev. Veld-
  bers, confession of faith, baptism, his, official labour     man, stands in .the way of that unity, as long as you-
  has been practically paralyzed." (this decision was and he immediately l&y the odium of unreformed and
  adopt.ed  upon the request of Rev. Veldman himself,          remonstrant .upon all who subscribe to the 3 forms
  but was rejected by the classis).                            from the heart even as you do but teach something
      Minutes- of Jan. 12, 1951. Art. 2 and 3. It is           else with respect to certain points.
~ moved and decided as follows : "The consistory, consid-         Hoping that this writing may be instrumental to-
  ering the  .declaration  of  classis relative the making ward enabling us' to address you again, fully and
  loose df Rev. Veldman and having taken cognizance            really, as brother in Christ, we remain,
  of the rejection of that request on the ground that the          Respectfully yours,
  guilt lies entirely with the consistory, and also that'it        The consistory of the Prot. Ref. Church
  (the classis). maintains the report of the classical com-       ' of Hamilton.
  mittee, comes~ to the following conclusion that, as long                                         L. Van Huizen
  as Rev. Veldman refuses to p&form.his  official labours                                          L.  Klapwijk
  upon the basis as willed by the consistory, it is jm-                                            J. `Ton
  possible that Rev. Veldman continues to lead in the          CoMMENT
  Service of.the Word; As long as there is no change in           The Red. Hoeksema has asked the undersigned to
  this situation it must deny him the pulpit."        It is    answer parts of this letter because of  my personal
  moved and decided as follows : "`The consistory decided      acquaintance with the case. I ask the readers of the
 to discuss the consequences of this, namely suspension,       Standard Bearer to bear with me. I have little desire
  at a meeting with the neighbqring church of Chatham to enter into this discussion for obvious reasons. How-
  to be held as quickly' as possible."                         ever, this is laid upon us. This letter was sent to the
     Thus far the minutes. From this it appears plainly        Standard -Bearer with the request that it be. published.
  that we touched upon nothing new in our writing, but         at the earliest possible opportunity. This explains its
  merely that the grievances which at that time (Jan.          appearance in our paper and our subsequent answer.
  12,"1951) compelled us to begin with the suspension             First, I must declare that I cannot accept the apol-
  of Rev. Veldman still exist, and th& there is no reason      ogy of these men. I, too, received a copy of the letter
  to presuppose that Rev. -Qldman has changed in this which appeared in the Standard Bearer last ,Oct. 1.
 respect; The lie and slsnder.:which are all.eged to exist     My letter, too, was without salutation or greeting.
  here are completeIy ;da# to us.                              And, in the case of the undersigned this  is" worse.
     Finally we would call your attentioh -to a pair, of       Imagitie receiving a letter of apology without a saluta-
  seri6us errors in the statement df facts at the end. of      tion or greeting ! Neither am I satisfied with this
 `your-writing. We could*&so  write of lie .and slander        apolog-y in the Standard Bearer. I think  that, it is


                                       T H E STANDARD'BEARER  -                                                          79

plain Christian .ethics and courtesy to send such ati ,that I ah ready at any time to supportthis statenient.
apology to me personally.      .                              It simply `amazes me that these brethren have the boid-
    Secondly, I wish to make a few remarks in corinec-        `neis to object to-this statement.
tion with that consistory meeting which Rev. Hoek-               Fourthly, I must comment briefly on the following
sema called illegal in his article and which, according       statement in the letter of these brethren, and I quote:
to the "consistory of the Hamilton Prot. Ref.-Church;" "Minutes of Dec. 5, 1950. Art. 3. It is moved and de-
is or was perfectly legal. They are correct arid tine         tided to request the  classis to make Rev. Veldman
statement `as it appears in the article of the editor is      loose of the congregation of Hamilton,- because, inas-
an error. `However, may I call their attention and            much as it is itipossible for him to help enforce the
also the attention of our readers to tlie following. It decisions of the consistory in re acceptance of mem-
is true that the undersigned was suspended at a legal         bers,  confessibn  of faith,  .baptism, his official  labour
consistory meeting. But  it is equally true that the          has beeh practically paralyzed. This decision was
tiv"o meetings held the following week were illegal.          adopted upon the request of: Rev. Veldman himself,
Mind you, the only sin they confess in the above quoted       but was rejected by the classis." Now I do not wish
letter is that they did not in the spirit of love treat us    to deny that I may have requested this, a decision of
as sinners even unto the. end. Not one word is said           this nature. But the following must be borne in mind,
about the illegal meetings held Jan. 16 and, 19, the and these brethren are. fully  .acquainted with this.
first -being a consistory meeting and the latter the          How often did it not happen at our consistory meet-
congregational meeting. When the consistory `meet-            ings that the brethren simply would sit there without
ing was held Jan. 16, Reitsma, vice-president of the          anyone saying anything (except Reitsma) ? Do the
consistory and member of the consistory in good               brethren recall the consistory held at the home of
standing, knew nothing of the meeting. Neither did            Reitsma shortly after the  [Oct.,  1950,  classis,  when I
the undersigned. At this meeting Reitsma and I were           suggested to them that they appeal against the de-,
deposed, my suspension first being lifted.. At this           cision.of  the Oct., 1950, classis at the following synod,
consistory meeting it was also decided to hold a con-         that everything would in the meantime remain status`
gregational meeting Jan. 19. All decisions taken at an quo, and that I would continue to serve them as their
illegal consistory meeting are per se illegal.        The     pastor during all that time? Do they recall that they
brethren knew this. I called their attention to this          refused this? Do they recall that they ,did not know
between Jan. 16 and 19;  call&d their  ,attention  to a       what to dq, and this because I refused to submit to
decision of a synod of Middelburg  which has bearing          their basis inasmuch as I was a Prot. Ref. minister
exactly on a situation of this nature: These men now and they a Prot. Ref. consistory ? Do they recall that
have the boldness to call Rev. .Hoeksema's attention to       I suggested to them that they lay the matter before the
his error, namely, that he called the consistory me&          Jan., 1951, classis, and that I was ready to submit to
ing of Jan. 12 illegal, declare;  in fact, that his state-    the advice of that classis? And do they also remember            .
ment is  .compZeteZy   &correct, but  sajr not one word that, before the January, 1951, classis convened, I hail
-about- the two illegal nieetings which were held the         determined to fight also this decision of the consistory
following week. It reminds' me of Matt.  7:3: "And            and had resolved to remain as their plinister  and let
why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's          all: action `proceed from them? - Would not honesty-`
eye, but considerest not the beam that is. in thine own       demand that these facts be mentioned  alsa?             ..: :
eye ?"                                                           Finally, I must comment on the slapder to which
   Thirdly, I wish to make a few remarks about the            Rev. Hoeksema refers in his article and.against  which
statement of the editor,. namely, and I quote: "That at       these brethren so vehemently object. `The editor of
a later meeting of the Consisfory of Hamilton, this the Standard Bearer speaks of another slanderous at-
body rescinded its former decision and decided to             tack upon the undersigned.            These brethren are
throw open the doo?s to_ all that desired to join th& amazed because of this particular statement. Permit
church, meaning, of course, especially the Liberated me, therefore, to call their attention to the following.
imlnigrants." The brethren, Van  Huizep  and  Klap-           First, in their letter bf Jan. 17, 1951, which was se&
wijk and  Ton also object to this statement.           Of     to all- the consistories, they write -and I quote :. "The
course, the editor can very well take care of himself.        consistory.of  the Fir'& Prot. Ref. Church of Hamilton,
The only remarks I wish to make are because of my in its'meeting of .$a,. 16, 1951,' is compelled to rescind
personal acquaintance with the case. The undersigned its decision of Friday, Jan. 12, last, and instead of the
fully endorses the statement that the doors were              suspension of Rev. Veldman to make itself loose from
thrown open to  all that desired to join  J$e  chyrch?        the church-connection, upon the ground that it is con-
meaning, of course, the -Liberated immiyrccnts. I will scious of the fact that it cannot continue to fulfill its
not enter now into details. However; ~&~&it me to say         office laid upon it by Christ; inasmuch as the attitude


                                        Ti3.E  STANDARD-.BEARER

 of Rev.  Velclman  awl of  El,der  Reitsmu last Sunday,        one df the. consistory or, the congregation and this in
 etc." I have already commented on this, in the early           spite of the.fact that I refused to be a shepherd. Be-
 part of this year. I merely wish to ask: Is this a p&r- .sides, I call it wicked and malicious slander  wher.
 sona! attack upon the undersigned, and sent to all the         these brethren write .in this letter, and I quote : "All
 chprches?  .Secondly,  I, would refer to the article. which    this does not alter the fact that the Xonsistory still
appeared `in the "Gereformeerd Gezinsblad" by three maintains- completely  the objections they had against
former members of the Himilton Prot. Ref. Church the mode .of action of the Rev. Veldman, in which it
and which I answered in a series of four articles in            clearly appeared that  he wanted to be instructor
the [Standard Bearer. Van Huizen comments a!so on , (leeraar) but not a shepherd of the flock. * The Con-
these articles in his article in Concordia of Aug. 30.. sistory is of the opinion that this public ,action (op-
Will these brethren please declare themselves on this           treden) must be rejected, because it appeared that he
m$icious attack upon and caricature of the t&h of               wanted to introduce and to maintain his own inter-
our Prot. Ref. Churches? y$rdly,  I would refer to              pretation of the Confession, .Ghich is not binding in
this  article by Van Huizen in..Concordia  of Aug. 30,          the Churches, whereby he destroyed the congregation
1951, and I quote,: "Not Protestant Reformed ? (the             and stood in the way of the God-willed unity, accord-
brother refers to the undersigned-H.  V.) Indeed, but ing to John 17."-end of quote. I now say to these meu :
be. was, super Protestant  Ref:ormed.   Rev. Veldman            Brethren, shame on you .$or such a malicious distortion
 claimed that he was the only one .who still preached           of what you know to be a fact. What is this fact?
the pure Protestant Reforme&  !Tuth . . . Because they          This, that I over and .over  and oyer again maintained
djd- not want tp understand us:`(this  surely also refers       that I could not do differently because I -was a Prot.
to. the undersigned-H. V.) . . I For the scientific fait!1      Ref. minister who' had vowed before God and our
is usualiy loveless. And uncharit@leness is very bold.          churches that he must preach and teach and defend
This love was lost in OHamilton,  and-blocked from both         the "doctrine as taught in this Christian Church."
sides . . . But if you manifest a;&@ency  as revealed           Brethren, how often did I not say to you: "Even if
by Rev. Veldman here in samilton, `and see a ghost              you were to convince me of the error of our churches
which makes it  `ixnpossible  to gather and build the           and that you are correct, I would even then not be
church of God . .  ." I have also .commented  on these          permitted to preach and teach that way, for the simple
statements in ,a Standard Bearer not long ago. But,             reason that I would be compelled to bring a grava-
is this a slanderous attack? 0, I know that this.article        men." They write that I did "not want to a shepherd
was not sign-ed by the consistory. But, it tias written         of the  floe&." Again I say to  them:  "Shame on you.
by Van Byizen, and I believe that he is the chairman            How wicked of you !" I did not wish to be shepherd?
of the_ consistory there today. Finally, I must call at-        With this they evidently mean that I destroyed the
tention to Hamilton's treatment of and its so-called            church,  scattered.,the  sheep, did not wish to gather
grievance ou: qbjectidn  against me while I was their           them.. Have these. brethren forgotten my trips and
tiinister. Those brethren must understand that they wearying discussions (are these almost endless thee-
 did not merely sever themselves from our churches,             logical discussions not wearying?) day after day after
but that they deposed me, and that they are the cause           day? ,And I would maintain my own personal inter-
why the undersigned is t@ay withqut a flock. They               pret++ of  t+, Confessions? Should  .this consistory
must understand that they ,depose$  me Githbut quoting not have talked with me on this point and hgve gone
a single article from the Church Order and this in              to our  church'es with the purpose' of ascertaining
spite of the fact that I asked them 9~. what church: whether I  was  Prot.  Ref.? This they never did.
political ground they were suspending and deposing              Never was a grievance ever lodged against me. In
me. They must understand that they deposed a min-
                                 1..                            fact, the consistqry  of ,a Prot. Ref. Church, instead 0-E
ister who, acording to their owli testimony, never said         simply severing connection with our churches, actual-
`one word which in their opinioti"was  not in harmony. ly had the impudent boldness to dejose a minister of
with Scripture `or (and) the Confessioris.           And, in    whom they had constantly said that they admired him
their letter they speak: of &i sin and also that, if I          for his honesty and forthrightness, for the faot that
did not'turn from my sin, they would be compelled to            he was tinmistakably and outspokenly Protestant Re-
go to the very end wit& me; In connection w&h this              formed.
I would remark, on the one hand, that I  never received,                 I believe that I have written enough. More I
a visit from anyone who would bring or lodge an ob-             need not write, although that would not be too dif-
jection against' me..._  They  writ;e  iq,_their  "letter of    ficult. But this should be sufficient.          H. V.
apology" that they regret `the-`fact that they did, `ti$t
walk with me in the spiiit of 16.y-e. However, it is simply P O S T S C R I P T   :
a fact that the undersigped  *as never visited. by. any-
                                                .                . . . . . The  undersigned  has  &erlooked one thing  i? the
                                                                .._._


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R   -                       .                             81
                                                                                                           .- ._.---
letter of the three brethren of Hamilton which should.
be answered: The reader must understand that this
was not a wilful omission. I refer to the-duty of the          THE TRIPLE. KNOWLEDGE
consistory of Hamilton to reinstate Brother Reitsma
and the. undersigned in their respective offices and the An Exposition Of The Heidelberg
answer of t.he three brethren to this their duty as ex-
pressed in the Standard Bearer by the Rev. Hoeksema               r  -         Xatechism                                     . .
and also in the answer which they received from
Classis. East. In their answer the three brethren of                             _    _         PARTTWO  `
                                                                                                                        .
Hamilton say that this reinstatement never' occurred                      O f   M a n 's   R e d e m p t i o n
to them because it would be useless to do so. I wish                            LORD'S DAY  XXX1
to answer to this, and say to these brethren that it is
simply their calling- and obligation to reinstate us.                                           2.
They have left the communion of our Protestant RP-
formed Churches and it is up to them to seek reaffilia-                   The Promise of the Gospel ~~on~.j'~~
tion with us. Whatever one may say of the possibility                                                          ,..r:
                                                                From all the above, that is, both..,from Scripture
or advisability of our returning to Hamilton and again       and the Confessions, it must be very evident what is
working there as the minister of .the Protestant Re-         the contents of the promise of ,God. In one word it i,s,
formed. Church of Hamilton (this question can and according to ,Scripture,  Christ and all His riches of
must be answered if and when we are confr0nte.d  by          salvation and blessing. It is the promise that God
it), this has nothing to do with the duty which rests will raise up a Savior out of the seed of David ; that
`upon the consistory and congregation of Hamilton.           this seed of David shall bear the sins of His people;
They made the breach, deposed us, and left our               that God shall raise Him from the dead and give i-Inn
churches, and it is their calling to repair the damage       glory, exalt Him on the throne of His father David,
which they have done.                 H. Veldman             and give Him the ends of the earth for His possession.
                                                             Christ is the promised Seed. The promise, therefore,
                                                             according to  SCripture, implies the assurance of
                                                             righteousness and peace, of forgiveness and sonship,
                    A QUESTION                               of deliverance and sanctification, of eternal life and
Dear Editor :                                                glory, of the incorruptible and undefilable inheritance
  fin October 1 issue of the Standard Bearer in your that fadeth not away. It implies for Christ and.. all
comment on the letter of the "Consistory of the Prot.        that are in Him that they shall be heirs of the world,
Ref. Church of Hamilton" you Nvrite,  concerning tl          inherit the new and heavenly `kingdom, and dwell in
letter, that `it i.s a "piece of work that certainly can-    God's eternal tabernacle forever. And therefore, the
not have been conceived in the mind and heart of a:          promise also implies the gift of the Holy Spirit. That
regenerated child of God." About this. statement Spirit is given first of all to Christ, and then also to
much comment is made in our circle but there is also         them that are of Him. It is through this Spirit that
a difference of interpretation. Will you therefore           all the blessings of Christ are realized upon the
kindly tell us what `you meant with these words?-            -church; It is important that we emphasize this. It is
   -Thanking you in advance, I remain                        a mistake to present the matter as `if God merely
                               Yours fraternally,            promised the objective blessings of salvation to the                         _
                                 J. Blankespoor              seed of Abraham, or even to men in general, so that it
                                                             depends upon their consent whether or not the promise
                         R E P L Y            .'             shall be realized unto them. Very definitely the gift
   The different interpretation is, undoubtedly, the ' of the Holy Spirit is included in the promise. It is .
correct one. I did not say, and do not say now, that         God's promise that He will pour out His Spirit upon all
the writers of the contribution from Hamilton are not flesh. - And through this Spirit He effectually `works
regenerated men. This I do not and cannot judge. the salvation of Christ in the heart' of all His people
But I did say, and still maintain that backbiting and        in the way of regeneration, calling, faith, justification,
slander, which are, in the  ,Heidelberg  Catechism,- sanctification, perseverance, and glorification. Through
called the very' works of the devil, certainly are not       that Spirit they are translated from darkness into
conceived in the regenerated heart of the child of God.      light and are kept in the power of God unto the salva-
Perhaps,' I could have added: "but in his carnal             tion that is to be revealed' in the last time. All this is
nature."                                                     included in the promise; that is, in the positive declara-
                                              H.     H.:     tion on the part ,.of God that He will surely bestow


82  -~                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

these blessings and benefits of salvation upon all His      heirs' of the promise. And that ithis certainly is the
people.                                                     idea ,of the promise is clearly expressed in Scripture.
    From all this,  and especially  .also from the faet     For we  read in Heb.  6:13,~ 14, 17: "For when God
that the  gist of the Holy Spirit is implied in  tpe        made promise to Abraham, because he could swear
promise, it must ,be very evident that the promise of       by no greater, he swore by himself, saying, Surely
God iS unconditional. It is not, and cannot be condi-       blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will
tioned by anything on the part of man. This we must multiply thee . . . .Wherein  God, willing more abund-
clearly understand. A promise is by no means the            antly to shew unto the heirs of the promi.se the im-
saFe as an- offer. Al&, $ the latter the person that mutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath." To
makes the offer declares -his willingness to do some-       the heirs of the promise it is certain, because it is
thing for or bestow something upon  ithe person to          rooted. in the immutable counsel of the Most High.
whom the dffer is made. But for its realization the
offer is dependent updn the willingness of the second                          '
party, upon his consent tto the offer. In' this sense we                               3
may say that man can really never promise anything,                    The  Preaching  of  `the  Pyoynise
for he is never certain that he can  rea!ize what he           When, however, we speak of the Word of God as a
promises : He is dependent upon many -circumstances ;       kejr-power,  to open and shut the kingdom of heaven,
and he is even dependent upon the willingness of him        we do not refer to the promise of God as such, but to
Ito whom the promise is made to receive what is, the preaching of the promise, or the preaching of the
promised. I can offer a man a thousand dollars. But         gospel. This is evident from Qu. 83 of the Heidelberg
if he refuses, the offer is vain. But a promise is dif-     Catechism, where tie read: "What are the keys of the
ferent from a mere off&.      A pro&se is a declara-        kifigdom  of heaven? The preaching of the holy gospe`!,
tion, written or verbal, which binds the p'erson that       and Christian discipline, or excommunication out of the
makes it to do or to forbear to do the  very thing          christian church-; by lthese two, the kingdom of -heaven
promised. It is an engagement, regardless of.  aqy          is opened to believers, and shut against unbelievers."
corresponding duty br `obligation on the part of the        And this is also evident from the answer of  the:
person to whom the thing is promised. A promise,            Catechism which we are at present considering. The
therefore, implies ;the declaration of a certain good,      question is  ask@d, "How is the kingdom of heaven
together with the positive assurance that this good         opened and shut by the preaching of the holy gospel?
shall be bestowed upon or perf,ormed  in- behalf of the     Thus: when according to the command *of Christ, it
person to whom the promise is made. `This certainty         is declared and publicly testified to. all and every be-
of the promise is, as regards the promise of Scripture,     lieverj that, whenever they receive the promise of the
emphasized by the fact that it is God Who makes the gospel by a true  faikh, all their sins are really for-
promise. <God conceived of the.promise  in His eternal given them of God, for the sake of Christ's merits;
decree. He it is that realizes the thing promised in        and on the con&ary,  when it is declared and testified
Christ Jesus our Lord. And He declares the promise.         to all unbelievers, and such as do not sincerely repent,
This implies that the promise cannot possibly be de-        Ithat they stand exposed to the wrath of _ God, and
pendent'on anything outside of #God. For God is God.        eternal  condemnat'ion,  so long as they are  uncon-
He is sovereign. And His work certainly cannot be verted: according to which testimony of the gospel,
contingent upon the wi!l of the creature. And second- #God will judge them, both in this, and in the life to
ly,' this signifies that the promise is as faithful and     come."
true as God is unchangeable. He Will surely realize            Now the idea of the gospel is that it is glad news
the promise.    When He binds Himself to do or to           about the promise of ~.God. Glad newd of glad tidings
bestow anything, He is bound by Himself and by all          is the meaning of the word evangel. It is glad'riews.
His divine attributes to realize the promise unto them      for two reasons: in the first place, because the heirs
to whom it is made. For He cannot  d&y Himself.             of the promise, that is, the elect of #God, are in the
And this idea of the promise necessarily implies that       midst of the world, and therefore in the midst' of
it is made to 2 definite party. An offer, that is con-      misery  and death. In the world they are subject to
tingent upon the acceptance and consent of the second       sin and corruption, to all ~kinds of suffering and tri-
party, may be general. A promise, that binds the bulation. The present, experience of the heirs of the
promising party and that is certain of realization, re-     promise is one of sorrow and grief, of affliction and
quires a definite second party. And thus it is in Scrip-    torment, of misery and groaning. And the promise
iture. For the promise is centrally made  to Christ, and holds before them the deliverance from their present
through Him to the seed of Abraham, to the children         staite of misery and destitution. And secondly, the
of the promise, to those that `are called heirs and co-     gospel iS glad news because of the unspeakably great


                                                                                             .     -

                                  0





                                       T H E - S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                       83

riches of the inheritance that is promised. For the have said before, it is not in the power of  any man
promise holds before the heirsnot  such a deliverance        either to open or to shut that kingdom. Only Christ
from- sin and death as will restore them to a former         has the keys. - But it pleases Him to. exercise that
state and condition of bliss, but $ills their hearts with    power of the keys through men, through the apostles;
a hope of glory &ch as never .tias conceived in. the         and through the church which is built upon the'foun-
heart of man. It stands to reason that this glad news        dation of the apostles and prophets. And therefore,
concerning the promise could orily be imparted by H.im fhrough the. preaching Christ speaks ,His own effica-
that conceived of the promise, thaf is, God. God pro-        cious and living Word. And it  is. only because it
claims the promise. He preaches the gos.pel through          pleases Christ to speak His own Word, that the
Jesus  %hrist our Lord.     The gospel that speaks of preaching becomes effective as a key-power.
things which' eye hath not seen,  al!d ear hath not             From all this it will be evident that if the preach-
heard, and which have never been conceived in the            ing of the gospel is td be a power to open'and to shut
heart of man, can only come through revelation. But          the kingdom of heaven, it can never be a weil-mean-
this revelation of God; this divine proclamation of the      ing offer of-balvation. The `promise must be preached.
gospel, always took place through'the agency of men.         It must never be offered. Thus it is also constantly
Hence, he is a preacher of the .gospel  who can with presented in Scripttire. Jesus preaches the gospel of
authority declare in the name of God.glad  news about the kingdom. Matt. 4:23; 9:35; 24:14. Paul preached
the promise, about its certainty of fulfillment, about       the gospel among the Gentiles. ,Gal. 2 :2. He preached
its riches of blessings,. about its progress and the         the gospel of God among the Thessalonians. I Thess.
realization of it in history. All through the history        2 :,8-g. ,Or, `he spake unto them the gospel gf God with
of the world there  .are in the world heirs of.  tlie        much contention. I Thess. 2:2. Or again, he testified
promise.    cAnd they know the promise.         They are of the gospel of the grace of `God. Acts. 20 :24. And
anxious about it,. long for its realization. -They in-. frequently also the word evasgelize,  or to declare glad
quire about its ,contents and the nearness of its ful-       tidings, is used to denote the preaching o$ the gospel
fillment: And he that can answer this anxious in-            of God in Christ.' I *Car. 15:l; II Cor. 11:7; Gal. 1:ll;    .
quiry, and bring some  glad news about the promise Rev. 14:6. But never do we find in all the Word of
was, and still is, a preacher of the gospel.                 God that the gospel is *offered, or that it presents- the
   It is this preaching of the gospel, according to the      promise of God as a well-meaning offer of salvation to
Heidelberg Catechism, which is one of the `keys of the       all that hear  #the  preachings of the gospel.    If the
kingdom of heaven.                                           promise of God were for all men, there would be no
   What is pireaching ? For a complete answer to             distinctive preaching of the gospel possible. There
this question I may refer you t% the Triple Knowledge,       would be an opening of the kingdom of heaven, but no
Vol. V, pp. 29, ff. Here it is sufficient if I only re-      shutting of that kingdom.  Nor is preaching of the
capitulate briefly what  1. wrote in that  connection.       gospel as a key of the kingdom of heaven possible
First of all, preaching, ,as has been explained above, is when it is conceived as an offer, as a well-meaning
the proclamation of the gospel. And the gospel is the offer on the part of God to all that hear. For in that'
sure promise of God concerning salvation to the heirs        case the preaching ,presents  the door of the kingdom
of the promise. The contents of .the preaching, there- of heaveti as always standing wide open. In that case
fore, `tiay be nothings  else than the gospel of Jesus       the preaching does not open the gate, but man simply
Christ, as revealed in the -Holy Scriptures. Secondly,       enters ~the kingdom of heaven by his own free will.
preaching is authoritative proclamation of that gospel.      And again, in that case the preaching does not shul;
For the preacher is ran ambassador, one that is ' sent       the gate of tile kingdom of heaven, but it is closed by
to proclaim glad tidings of good things, the things          man, that rejects the offer and refuses to enter in.
that are promised in the gospel of Jesus Chrisit. Third-     For an offer is a conditional proposition : it depends
ly; for that very reason, it is the church that preaches     and is contingent on its consent by man. And, let me
the gospel. . For she -only can speak wit& authority as      emphasize that if the'gospel were such a well-meaning
the one that is sent. And that church proclaims the offer on the part of SGod,  dependent on the will of man,
gospel  &through  its official ministry.     And finally,    no man would ever enter into the kingdom of heaven.
preaching is such official proclamation of the gospel 9% If the promise were the preaching of a conditional
Jesus Christ in the service of the living Word. of God       offer, there is nothing in the condition which man can
through Christ. Especially the last element of our possibly- fulfill. He cannot of himself believe the
definition of preaching is important here. For it is         promise. He cannof even will of himself to believe in -
only through the powerful and living Word of Christ Christ. He cannot repent and turn, unless God first
Himself that preaching can possibly be or become a realizes the promise unto him.  ?And therefore, the
key to open or shut the kingdom of  heaben. As we            promise of God in the preaching of .the gospel is either


  8         4                            T H E   `S T A N D A R D   BEARE-R

  unconditional, or  it.is impossible  of realization. But the
  preaching is never an.' offer of salvation to all men.                                           T R I N E
  T.he promise is not given to  all, according to Scrip-
  ture, but to the seed of Abraham, to those that are of'
  Christ, to them that are in sovereign grace, elected            The Hexaemeron 6r Creation-Wee
  mlto salvation from before the foundation of the                                         (9)
  world.                                     - H. H.         '              THE  CREfATION  6F MAN (2)
                          -aocBo
                           INGEiONDEN.-                              We were busy at the conclusion of our preceding
                                                                  article with the question: Why did Jehovah form Eve
                                     Sioux Center, Iowa           as He did? Why did the Lord not form her out of
  Geachte Ds.' Hoeksema:                                          the dust of the ground and breathe into her nostrils
       Daar U vraag I niet goed ve&taat of er liever geen         the breath of life? And we made the observation
  antwoord op wilt geven,. zal ik hem toeljchten en er            that Scripture's answer to this' question is two-fold.
  het antwoord op geven.                                          First, Holy Writ would emphasize the truth that the
       Inderdaad ! Hoe onderscheiden  zich  genafle  en woman is of the man and therefoie subservient to him.
  zonde? De zonde verscheurt en verdeelt, genade  ver- And we promised to gjve the second part of this an-
.. bindt  ,en vereenigt. De  zoncle brengt Babel  voort;  de swer in this article.
  genade brengt Pinkster.  ~  ,.                                     In the second place, that the woman has been taken
       De zonde doet Kaili zeggen: ben ik mijns brdeders          out of the man is also to emphasize another Scriptural
  hoeder ? maar genade brengt, als in Ezech@ls  gezicht,          &th which is expressed, as one might expect, in the
  de verstrooide beenderen bijeen. De geloovigen  treeden,        New Testament. We now refer to that beautiful
  ook in het zichtbare, als kerk op, omdat de Kerk passage of- Ephesians 5:22-33 which we have already
  vrucht is `van genade, en als zoodanig saambindt- en quoted. It is not .our intention to dwell at length upon
  een levend .protest  is tegen de zonde, die verscheurt,         this beautiful portion of Holy Writ.. All we ,wish to
  verbijt en verzet. Daarom is scheuring maken  in het do at this time is call attention to the fact that even as
  iichaam van Christus ook zoo'n groot kwaad!                     the woman is out of the man so also the Church is ont
       Aangaande yraag 2: De Kerkenordening zegt in               of Christ ,Jesus, and that is undoubtedly the reason
  .Artikel41: De Classicale vergaderingen zullen bestaan why the Lord .created Eve as He did: Eve's creation
  uit genabuurde Kerken, dewelke elk een Dienaar en proclaims to us a-beautifully striking symbolism. The
  een IO,uderling ter pltiatse en tijd bij hen in `t scheiden     apostle himself directs us td this thought in Eph. 5,
  van elke ve`rgadering  goedgevonden daarhenen met be- especially- in the verses- 30-33 which we a&in quote:
 hoorlijke Credentie afvaardigen zullen. Dus .dat is een          "For we are members of His body, of His flesh, and oP
  Dienaar die in een gemeente is, en niet een emeyitus            His bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father
  leekaar of een Professor heeft daartoe het recht. Dat           and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and
  is hier zoo in de Chr. Ger. Kerken, en ook zoo in de they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery:
  `Geref. Kerken in Nederland, en ik- denk ook zoo in de          but I speak concerning Christ #and the church. Never-
  Geref. Kerken in Nederland,  onderhoudende Artikel theless l&t every one of you in iarticular so love his
  3    1         .                                                wife even as himself; and the ..wife see that she re-
                            CORRECTIE                             verence her husband." Even as Eve owes her  exr
       Dan hebt U een onjuistheid in The Standard Bear-           istence .to Adam, through the almighty power of the
  er: The Legality of the Declaration. Dat de Synode              living God, so also the Church `owes her existence,
  van Utrecht  in 1905 five conclusions had aangenomen.           through the same Divine omnipotence, to the Lord
  Ik heb hier voor mij het rapport van de praeadvisee-            Jesus Christ, Who -loved us and died for us and rose
  rende commissie op de -Utrechtsehe  Synode ingediend. for us, and out of Whom we are what we are, even
  Dat eene Generale Synode over deze geschillen geen              now and forever., All. things were created as a mighty
  beslissende uitspraak .doen kan of mug. Het verschil            symbol of the spiritual and heavenly reality of all
  van inzicht  tech, dat  aan deze  le&geschillen  ten things. To this we have called attention repeajedly  in
  grondslag ligt, vindt zijn oorzaak in de beperktheid            the past, also in this series of articles. This Blso..ap-
  van ons menschelijk kenvermogen.                                plies to ihe creation of Eve. And this is also the rea-
                      Met hoogachting verblijf ik                 son why people of the living God should never indulge
                            Uw- d.w. dienaar en broeder           in such silly' practices. as Leap Year practices, when
                                        Wm. Pelskamp --           the girl "goes after" the min. The Church never
       P. S. Mag ik  -U verzoeken  dm dit ook in The              seeks the ,Christ; `it is always the Christ Who seeks
  Standard Bearer te plaatsen.?                              `. His Church. A lian and his wife should always try

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

  to be a pattern of the beautiful relationship which  ' who among us would dare to deny that the greatness
  exists between Christ and His Church. This relation-       of salvation should not fill our hearts and minds with
  ship must never be reversed, be it in the natural or in    a tremendous emotion? It is hardly possible that the
  the spiritual sense of the word. The line of salvation tremendous reality of salvation through faith in Christ
  is always vertical and it always runs from the top to      Jesus and out of sovereign grace can leave a Christian
  the bottom.                                                cold and "emotionless !" The salvation of God in
                           . .                               Christ -Jesus must surely "fill" us, must it not?' But,
            i    HIS HIGH NOBILITY                           it is an extremely dangerous thing to ascribe to the
                                                             emotion a separate faculty, to separate it from the'
  Dichotomy or' Tdchotomy?                                   mind and the will. This, we have said, is the funda-
     What is meant by this  .distinction  as such? The mental .error  of the false mystic. He lays all emphasis.
  dichotomist maintains that man consists of two,' and upon the feeling. He divorces this feeling from the
  only two, distinct /parts, namely, body and soul. mind. He relies upon the "inner voice," and, divorc-
  Trichotomy, on the other hand, contends that man           ing this inner experience from the mind, he also
  consists of three distinct parts: body, soul, and spirit. minimizes and ignores the Scriptures as the sole
  `Ihe dichotmist, of course, is aware of the fact that source of ,a11 our knowledge of salvation. He.does not
  Scripture uses the term, "spirit,`?- i-n addition to "body" merely ascribe equal significance to the emotion `or
 and "soul," but declares that the "spirit" must not be      feeling of man, but elevates it above the will and the
 regarded as a distinct part of man's human nature or        mind. He regards the Scriptures  *as a dead letter,
. being.                                                     does not regard the speech of the Lord as it comes to
     It may be of interest to observe that we can also       us through His Word. He does not understand that
 speak of a ,dichotomy  or trichotomy of the soul. .Dich- all living and experiential knowledge of salvation 1s
 otomy with respect to the soul contends that the soui       ours only through the Scriptures. And the inevitable
 must be viewed as consisting of merely two parts:           result in those circles is exactly that there is much
 mind and will. And the trichotomist maintains that          uncertainty and doubt with respectto the blessed and
 the soul must be regarded as consisting of three parts :    conscious knowledge of salvation. This must be. False
 mind, will, and feeling or emotion. Hence, the tricho- mysticism. denies the element of Divine revelation.             '
 tomist advocates that man's feeling or emotion must be God has revealed Himself as the God of our salvation
 viewed as a distinct faculty of the soul. He ascribes only in the Holy Scriptures. To deny this must have
 equal (if not greater) significance to this aspect  01:     for its result that we deprive ourselves of the only
man's life. It is surely not difficult to show that tlcis    medium through which we can attain unto the blessed
 conception can be and is extremely dangerous. To be conscious knowledge of the- living God. Man's emo-
 sure, we do not .deny the existence of feeling or emotion tion must not be divorced from the mind and the will
 in man. But we do deny that man's emotion is a third but must be controlled by them. We do not believe,
 and separate faculty of the soul. Emotion is a tre- therefore,,., in a trichotomy- of the soul.
 mendous thing. The dictionary informs us that this             However, we also speak of dichotomy or trichotomy
 w0r.d is derived from a word which means: to move with respect to man's human nature or being. In our
 out, stir up, agitate; We repeat: the emotion of man appraisal of this question we may remark the follow-
is and can be a tremendous factor. This applies to the ing. First, the Reformed conception favors Dicho-
 life of an individual and also to the life of a nationIt tomy as the teaching of Holy Writ with respect to this
 is for this reason that the press plays such a vital roie matter. Trichotomy; we are told, originated in Greek
 in times of war. The people must become war-con- philosophy and generally found no favour among
 scious! The emotions of the people  .must be set on those of Reformed thinking. Secondly, that the Scrip-
 fire! The populace must be aroused!  I We are told tures, distinguish between soul and body `can hardly
 that- this constitutes one of the basic elements in the be, denied. We certainly read that man's body can
 training of a soldier. An aroused soldier will rise to- die, whereas his "soul" or "spirit" continues to lead
 greater heights. However, herein lies also the danger a conscious existence, either in life or in death. The
 of emotionalism. The ascription of a separate faculty Preacher emphasizes, does he not, that when the body
 to the emotion of man is the fundamental error of all       returns to the dust the spirit returns unto God Who
 false mysticism. The important question, according gave it? And the Lord speaks .of those who are able
 to this conception, is: how do we feel? They lay .a11 to kill the body but cannot destroy .the soul. Besides,
 the emphasis upon an experiential knowledge of Christ the Lord Jesus commends His spirit into the hands of
 and salvation. To be sure; we do not wish to deny His Father when. He is about to die and His body is
- this experiential knowledge. We must certainly know        about to be, laid in the grave. And do we not read in
 whether we are the children of the living God. And          the Book .of Revelation of the "souls of them that were


                                     TH,E.-.STA-NDARD   B - E A R E R

beheaded for the witness of. Jesus and for the Word            it is man that dies. And neither is it merely the body
of'God... and that they lived and reigned with Christ ihat is redeemed by and in Christ, but it is man that.
a thousand years?" Rev.  20:4.  On& can therefore is thus redeemed,. body and soul. And therefore we
hardly deny that the Scriptures make distinctibn  be-          may conclude that Holy Writ constantly emphasizes
tween the body and the soul.                                   the truth that man is a unity, is one, body and soul.
    However, in  conneotion with this question of              It is also for this reason that mere outward acts of
Dichotomy or Trichotomy we also wish to remark the men are impossible (as the "Common Grace" theorists
foilowing. First, the word "SOLID" does not always have        would describe the gdod that sinners do) ; man sins
the same connotation in Holy Writ. It  is used in              and serves the living God with all that `is in him.
Scripture, e.g., to denote the entire man, as in ,Gen.             Finally, Fan's soul and. body are wonderfully
46 :26 : `U.ll the souls that  came with Jacob intq            adapted to each other. Of this we `will have more to
Egypt, which came out of his loins, besides Jacob's say when we speak of the image of God in man. But
sons,' wives, all the souls were threescore and six.".         even now we' may say the following.        Hearing ancl
Secondly, the word "soul" is used in Holji Writ as in-         seeing and tasting and smelling, e.g., are not physical
eluding the life of the body. This is evident from             but psychical (of the  Saul) activities. The ear  does
passages. $uch as John 10 :ll, 17, 18 ; Matt. 16 :25-26 ;      not hear, the eye does not see, the tongue does not
-John 12 :25, and we quote : "I am the good shepherd-          taste, and the nose does not s,mell. Nevertheless, al.
the good shepherd- giveth his life for the sheep. There-       though the eye, ear, nose, and tongue do not see, hear,
fore `doth My Father love Me, because I iay down My skell, and taste, yet as long as I am in this earthly
life, that I might take it. again. No man'taketh it from house of my tabernacle I cannot see, hear, smell and
Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have po?eY to lay taste without them. The. body and soul are marvel-
it down, and I have power to t$ke it again.:This-com-          lously adapted to each other; %/Ian was truly wonder-
mandment.  have I received of My Father . . . For who-         fully made.
soever will save his life shall lose it : and whosoever
will lose his life for My sake shall find it. For what is _ The- orig<n of the soul. ~
a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, `and            We may as well say a few words about this prob-
lose his ,own soul? or what shall a man give in ex-            lem now. It is true that this question is often treated
change for his soul? . . . He that laveth' his life shall in connection with the problem of sin and the organic
lose it; and -he that hateth his life in this world shall      developmen of the human race. However, we can also
keep it un$o life eternal." In all these passages the          discuss this question. now.
original word, also when't.ranslated "life", is the word         We are probably ,a11 more or less acquainted with
!`soul", and it is evident that the life of the body is in-    the f,act that there are three well-known views in re-
cluded here. It must be obvious that when a man tries          gard to the origin of the  so@: Pre-Existentianism,
to save his life he is a&o trying to save the life of his      Traducianism, and Creationism. The first theory 1s
body. Thirdly, even when we distinguish- between soul- known as Pre-Existentianism. This theory contends
and body, we must bear in mind that the Scriptures. that-the souls of men existed in a previous state. We
constantly speak of man as a unity. Man is not a need not say very ,much about this theory. The Scrip-
soul within a body, so that we must conceive of these          tures surely do not support this conception of a pre-
parts of man's being as existing independently of or           existence of the souls of men, so that all the souls were
parallel to each other. Man; acco?ding to the Word of- actually in Adam and that they therefore all sinned in
*God does not merely have a soul ; he is a living soul.        Adam in that literal sense of the word. The text which
This is evident, first of all, from Gen. 2 3': "And the.       h&b&n quoted in support of this conception is Rom.
Lord God fprmed  man of the dust of-the ground, and            5 : 12.: "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life ; arid man world, and death by sin ; and so death passed upon all
became a living soul." - This text does not mean that men, for that all have sinned." The quotation of this
God first created the body out of the dust of .the earth particular passage of Holy Writ was based upon an
tind then created his soul by breathing into his nostrils erroneous interpretation of the last part of the text:
the breath of life. We do not read : And then man be- "for that all have sinned." This -expression was re-
came a living' soul, but: And man became a living garded as the ground of that which immediately pre-
soul. He became a living soul by this two-fold act -of         cedes in the text, that sin and death passed on to all
the Lord which also includes his being formed out of men. This happened because all had sinned in Adam,
the dust of the earth.- And, secondly, according to the        and this was understood then in the literal sense of
Scriptures every act qf .man is seen as ah act of th'e         the word. However, it is beyond all dispute that this
whole man. It is not merely the soul of man that sins,         ex.pression  must no! read : for that- all have sinned,
but it is man, th&sins  ; it ,is not the body that dies but but : because of which `all -sinned. Hence,  this expres-


                                          -T-H-E  -mSTAN.DA-RD-  BEAR-ER                                                  87

  sion does not constitute the  grou%d for that which                 The -third .theory of the origin of the soul is known
 precedes in the text, but it is the fruit of it. Because          as Creationism. This conception maintgins that each
  sin and death have passed on to. all men, therefore.it           individual soul is to be Tegarded  as an immediate crea-
  is true that all sib.                                            ton of the living God, that it owes its origin to a dire&
     The second theory of the origin of the soul  .is creative act, although it cannot be determined when
  known as Traducianism. According to this theory the this &t occurs, whether at birth or at conception or
  souls of men are propagated along .with the bodies by            beween birth and conception. The soul is supposed to
  generation, and are therefore transmitted to the chil-           be-created pure but united-with a depraved body. Men
  dren by the parents.       Hence, the entire man comes           of Reformed thinking and persuasion preferred Crea-
  therefore from the parents. From the days of Luther tionism almost without exception. However, serious
  Traducianism has  beend the prevailing view  .of  the            objections can also be lodged against this conception
  Lutheran Church. In support of this theory of Trad-              of the origin of the soul.  Fi&t, Creationism does not
  uci&nism can be quoted the argument which revolves               explain the organic development of sin. If it be true
  about mental peculiarities and family traits. Children           that the' soul is separately created and then united
  are' so often like tinto their pare&s, resemble them i with a depraved h,uman  body, how does it become cor-
  also as far as  psychial (of the soul) characteristics           rutit? Does it become corrupt through contact with a
  are concerned. In addition to this argument one .may             corrupt body? But, ig corruption, then, physical, ma-
  also .argue in support of Traducianism that it offers terial, inasmuch as a corrupt body corrupts a pure
  the best explan&ion for the inheritance of moral and             soul? Besides, is it Scriptural that my soul-becoties
  spiritual depravity and corruption, which is after all corrupt through contact with my body,  or  is it  cor-
  a  matteF of the soul rather than of the body. Tra- rupt because of Adam; my first parent? Besides, Crea- -
  ducianism, therefore,. seems to explain the corruption           tionism does not explain the phenomenon that children
  of the entire huban race as out of the one man. Does             resemble their parents, also psychically.  Characteris-
  it-not teach that the souls of men are propagated  &long         tics of the soul, traits of character, etc,,  are. often
  with the bodies by generation and are therefore trans-           transmitted from .the parents to the chilren. But how is.
  mitted to-the children by the parents? tiowevec,  Tra-           this possible if we do not receive our souls from our
  ducianjsm has not escaped unscathed. Several  objet-             parents, as the theory of Creationism, wquld have us
  tiqns have been lodged against this conception. It haa           believe. Our own Reverend Hoeksema  @ers us another            .
  been said that Traducianism is contrary to the doc-              solution of this.problem in his book: In-the Midst ol
  trin_e  of the simplicity of the soul. Th_e soul, then, is, a    Death. However, this quotation must wait until our
purely spiritual substance and does not admit of cli-  following  artic1e*                                  $I.  V e l d m a n
  vision. But, the propagation of the soul would seem
  to  imljly that the soul  df the child separates itself
  from the soul of ,the parents. And, if the soul is pro-
  pagate by generation and therefore transmitted to
  the children from the parents, would this not neces-
  sarily imply that the soul does admit of division .inas-
  much as it is separated from the. paGents? Besides,                                         q   - *
  then the difficult question also presents itself : Does the               :
  soul originate from the soul of the father or -that.,gP
 the mother, or of both? This p@lo&ophical argument
  which coii$er& the propagation of the .human s,oul is
  something which we are not able to &Seuss. This we
  do not hesitate to admit. An argument, however, which                a
  can be lodged against  `Traduci,anism  is that which                             Attention : Consistories _
  revolves about the Christ.         If, as Traducianism             The Board of the RFPA decided at their last board
 teaches, the entire mall comes from his parents, what meeting to send THE ST,ANDARD  BEARER. to all
 must .we say-about Jesus? He assumed an impersonal                the  young men of our demoniation  who are in  tge
hutian nature, was not personaZZy human. Hence, not Armed Forces.' Will you please forward their.nam~s
 being a human person, He therefore did not become a
 full and complete man. Traducianism claims that the               and addressed  to `Mr. John Bouwman; 1350 Giddings
 tihole  man, person and nature, body and soul, is con-            Ave., S.E., Grand Rapids 6,  Mich. Also PLEASE
  ceived  and born from the parents. Christ, however,              KEEP  .US INFORMED OF CHANGES OF  AD-
 was  no& a human persbn.  Hence, `He must. habe  as- ,DRESSES.
  sumed  an incomplete human nature,            `.                  .,  .",,.-.  ..-                   THE  BQ,ARD

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

                                                                                  * dat-aangezien  immers Hunne Edelmogenden bij een  iegeii.jk
               THIiO,UMl THE AGE                                                    erkend  worden voor degenen, wien het opperste  opzicht en  bet
. .                                                                                 hoogste gezag over-Kerkelijke en wereldlijke zaken, onder God,
                                                                                    naar zijn woord toekomt (welk punt zij ook verstaan alzx  naar
                    The Arminian or Remonstrant Struggle - Gods woord geleerd en.gehandh.aaft  te moeten  woorden)-(dat)
                                                                                   zij,. Remonstranteen, in een wettige  Synodale   vergadering-onder
               In our previous article we were occupied with the                    de authoritelt,  voorztting, beleid, medeoordeel en moderatie der
       ' principal section of the "Remonstration" of Wtenbo-                        H. H. Staten te houden-volkomen gehoord  worden  en, hun
       gaert and his party-the Remonstrants-a section in redenen behoorlijk 5:verwogen  zijnde, de voorschreven leerstukken
       which they set forth their own beliefs regarding the n,ader   worden  ingezien en ondezocht, of ook dat de  Re-
        points of doctrine in dispute..                                             monstrasnten  en de andere Gereformeerde Predekanten malkander
                                                                                    van weerszijen hierindragen  en dulden, zonder dat voorts iemand.
              The close of the ,"Remonstration"  contains -a num- hij zij in kerk- of scholdienst, zoo m5n voor het tegenwoardige als
       ber of requests.                              _                              het toekomstige,  zoo min voor hen,ldie  alreede  deze diensten ver-
                       "That their noble Lords-be pleased to .give                  vullen, als. voor hen, die er nog toe geroepen sullen  -orden,, om
                                                                                    de voorzeide  leerpunten, zooals ze hiervoor  ter weerszijden ver-
                    to these things their full attention, according                 klaard staan, gesuspecteerd, gewraakt of in `t minste bezwaard
                    to the authority given them of God in all  ~                    zal  worden,  of, zoo men dat niet  doen  wil,  tien  ons uit het
                    matters  ecclessiastical  as High Christian                     woord Gods beter onderrichte: met verder verzoek en bede aan
                    rulers of these lands and churches ; and doing                  Hunne Edel Mogenden,  d,at hun gelieve, hen te nemen onder
                    so, first to see to it that-considering that                    H E.M. tegen alle Kerkelijke censure, die, ter oorzake van
                                                                                    deze hunne Remonstrantie met den aankleve van dien, tegen
               their noble Lords are acknowledged by all                            hen gezamenlijk of tegen iemand hunner in  `t bijzonder zou
                to be such as to whom is-due supreme super-'                        mogen worden  uitgesproken."
                vision and highest jurisdiction in matters ec-                          Rightly considered, this - closing section contains
                    clesiastical and worldly under God and ac-                      the sixth article of faith of the Remonstrants, a faith
                    cording to his Word (which point they well                      or conception according to which the civil government
                understand to be such as according to God's                         js under God the head also over all things in the
                Word must be taught and explained) - (that)'                        church. As was explained in another connection, in
                in a lawful gathering of synod, to be held un-                      this conception the Christian state and its citizinry is
                der the authority, presidency, guidance, co-                        the' church and the church is the state, and in this
                judgment, .and moderatorship of the States                          Christian commonwealth the. sole ruler under God is
                Lords, the. Remonstrants, their reasons hav-                       i the civil government. Consistories are allowed but
                ing been properly considered, be given a full                       only  -as so many executive committees of the govern-
                hearing, and the aforesaid doctrines be more                        ment. As has also been explained, the conception goes
                closely examined and investigated ; or else                         by the name of Erastianism. The request of Wtenbo-
             - that the Remonstrants and the other Re-                              gaert and his party was that the,government  make the
                formed ministers from both sides bear -and                          conception its own and act uponit,  first by declaring
                endure each the other in these matters with-                        the Confessions to be in error and on this account de-
                out anyone being suspected, suspicioned, out-                       void of power to limit the teaching ministry in its in-
                lawed or in the least troubled on -account of                       terpretation of the Scriptures, and.then  second by or-
  I             the aforesaid  .doctrines as explained on                           dering the clergy of both camps to tolerate each other
                either side-be that one in the service of the                       respecting their doctrinal differences.            - -
                church or in the service of the state or still to                      Once having become known, this secret "Remon-
                be called to either of these services-that he                       stration" could be counted on to arouse:the  ire of the
                be not troubled no more for the present than                        Calvinists such as Gomarus. Fully aware of this and
                in the future; or else, if they do not want to                     fearing the wrath of their opponents, Wtenbogaert
               do this, that then they instruct us better from                      and his party. also petition their government to take
                God's Word, further their request and petition              '      them under the protection against all church censure.
             is that it please their noble. Lords to take                              The concluding part of the "Remonstration"' is a
               `them under their protection `against all                           protest.                                                         I  :
        -       church censure that on account of this their                             "In closing the Remonstrants protest before ' ce
                Remonstration and the- stigma thereof might                              God and His hoIy congregation and likewise
               -be proclaimed against them jointly or against                            before their. noble Lords and even before the
                any of them separately."                                                 whole world that this our doing by no means
             Dat Hunne Edel Mogenden  gelieven' op al deze  dingen,   voi-              tends towards any partisanship, strife, sepa-
       gens de Autoriteit, die hun in kerkelijke zaken als Hooge                         ration, or, schism, be it in church or state,
       Christelijke Overheden dezer landen en kerken, door God ver-                   - much less toward any change in the religion, _
       leend is, rijpelijk te  letten,  en dit doende,  voor   eerst te  make?          -but that their only purpose is to free them-.
                                                                                                                                 _


                                               T H E   .I,`$T~ANDAR'D  B E A R E R                                          89,
                                     -    -                                        . _
     selves, by this  bandit; voluntary disclosure                     tenets (heresies) by outlawing the.Confessions in their
     and declaration of their sentiments, from all                     present form.
     strange suspicions by which they now for                              5. IA petition to the effect that their gcpernment
     some time abroad and here at home have been '                     acknowledge itself to be under God the head also over
     troubled ; (and) to requ,est  correction (of the                  all things in the church and assert itself accordingly ;
     confessions-O) or better instruction (in the                      thus a petition that the$r govern.ment pronounce the
     same_0) or at any rate forebearance on                            Reformed Church .Order that the churches had offi-
     both sides and peace `and love ; .or in case                      cially adopted null ,and void and replace it by the         e
     against all hope and expectation they could                       Erastian.          r
     obtain neither and as a result could no longer                       Every one of these petitions is contained in the "Re-
     with good conscience and in peace. perform                        monstrantion" either as clearly enough expressed or as           _
     their public services, they in that event by                      suggested.
     order of their'government will leave them in                          Finally the manifest aim of the "Remonstration"
     order  hencef'orth to serve God and  the?r                        in its introduction was to make it appear that the
     neighbor according.as they in good faith and                      *God of the Calvinists' is the fatum of the pagan reli-
     in full submission to their government;. will                     gion of the Romans, who spins the thread of men's
     find it proper to do."                                            lives arbitrarily without rhyme, reason and purpose,
                                                                       and that thus the Calvinists' doctrine of predestina-
   "Remonstranten protesteeren  ten'.slotte   voor-God en Zijne
heilige  gemeente  misgaders voor uwe Edehnogenden, ja                 tion-election and reprobation-is fatalism 
                                                               VOX                                                   pure.  and
de ganoche wereld, dat dit ons d::en geenszins,  strekt tot eenige     si.mple.
part+jschap,  tweedracht,  (afzondering  of scheuring, `t zij in           Yet  despite- `these their petitions and this their
Kerk of Staat, voel minder tot eenige verandering in de                aim, Wtenbogaert and his party in the closing section
Religie; maar dat hun bedoeldn anders  n.iet  is dan  zich. van        of their "Remonstration" could communicate to their
vreemde  suspicien,  waarmede ze nu geruimen tijd zoo binnen
rls buiten  3 Lands, bezwaard geweest zijn, met deze ronde,            government sentiments such as these: "The Remon-
vrijwillige  opTen:ng  en verklaring van  bun. bedenken, te bevrij-    strants protest before God and His holy congregation
den; verbetering of  beterem onderrichting, of  ,althans  dulding      . . . that this our doing by no means tends toward
ter weerszijden, en vrede en liefde te verzoeken; of zoo zij, tegen    partisanship, strife, separation, schism . . ." and "but
alle ho.op en `derivachting  geen van beiden ku,nnen  verwerven  en    their purpose is peace and love . . ." Peace and love
diensvolgens hun publieke diensten  niet langer met een  goed
geweten en met vrede zouden kunnen vervullen, zij . dan op             indeed but on their terms, of course. They say, too,
bevel der Overheid gewillig afstand  daarvan  zullen  doen,  om        in this closing section of their "Remonstration" that
d,an voorts God en den naaste te dienen, zooals  zij in  goeden        their purpose is forebearance. But we shall see of how
gemoede, altijd zonder kwetsing van de onderdanigheid, die ze          much forebearance. they themselves were capable.
de  Overhei'd  schuldig zijn, zullen bevinden te behooren"                ,There .is now this question. Did the government
    Having now before us the "Remonstration" in its                    yield to Wtenbogaert and his party? As we shall see,
entirety, it may be well to state in their order the sev- the government yielded to the Remonstrants on every
eral petitions contained in it-let us take notice, peti-               point. Relentlessly did it strive to put into execution
tions directed by its author and  signitories  to  theb                all their petitions.
government.                                                                Wtenbogaert immediately placed the "Remonstrac
    1. A petition to the effect that  `their government tion" in the hands of the States Counsel, Oldenbarne-
authorize a revision of the Confessions, that is, order                velt. But the document as to the thrust of its con-
the Confessions to be changed and this despite the  fact               tent must have frightened him. For it was not until a
that they had been officially adopted by the churches.                 half year thereafter that he was able to muster syf:
    2. A. petition to the effect that their government                 ficient courage to submit it to his government and
wait with the calling of a national synod until a synod                then as a piece not meant for publication. Not that he
could be convened willing to do their bidding (change                  was at variance with the aims of the Remonstrants.
t h e   C o n f e s s i o n s ) .                                      These aims had his full sympathy. But he feared the
    3. A petition to the effect that their government reaction of the Calvinists.
,make an end of the Confessions as a limiting instru-                      Also Wtenbogaert evidently thought it wise to-pro-           ,
ment in the' interpretation of the Holy Scriptures and                 teed with caution. When the "Remonstration"> was
thus all'ow the teaching ministry to explain the Scrip-                still locked in the cabinet  of Oldenbarnevelt he wrote
tures as it pleased and this on the ground that the                    and published a tract in which he strove to provide the
Confessions .belong  to a species of writings from the                 sixth article of his "Remonstration" with proof from~
nature of matters always in error. '                                   the Scriptures and from history. Doubtless his pur-
    4. A petition to the effect that their goverkment                  pose was to feel out his countrymen before allowing his
make room in'the churches for their peculiar doctrinal
               .`.                                                     secret doing to beoome  known. The States of Holland

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

were highly pleased with his production. To their           disputed far too much" and to bear one another in
minds its argument was irrefutable and they com-            love.
manded the classis and the curators to see to it that           In the mean time the secret doing of Wtenbogaert
no one openly write against it.      .                      and his party, their addressing to their government a
      The indignation of the Calvinists at being thus       secret "Remonstration", had become known, definitely
mandated by their government was great. And they            to the synodical deputies of North and South Holland.
did not keep silence. Fact is that through the years        Their informants were the States-members of Am-
Wtenbogaert had completely reversed himself. Twenty         sterdam and Dordrecht.
years- previous in a sermon on J.oh. Xxli3 "To him the          These deputies met together; Aug. 3, 1610. To-
porter openeth ; and the sheep hear his voice : and he      gether they read and appraised the "Remonstration"
calleth his own sheep by name and calleth them out" of Wtenbogaert. Jointly they decided to appose to it a
he had championed the principle of the autonomy of          writing known to posterity as "The Contra-Remon-
the church with reference to the government and ac-         stration." On the 10th of November they appeared
cordingly had set forth the government merely as an         with their document on the meeting of the States and
,executive  committee of the church and had thus al- let it be known by their spokesman Plancius that they
lowed it simply the right to cooperate with the church      were prepared in a lawful synod to prove that the
and to approbate and execute her resolutions: How           articles of Wtenbogaert's "Remonstration" were in
Wtenbogaert had changed? But so it goes. Neverthe-          conflict with the Word of God and with the Con-
less it raises the -question what in the world had come     fession and the Catechism. Whereas these articles had
over Wtenbogaert; this court-preacher of the Prince.        never been examined in any lawful ecclesiastical
This sermon was published, needless -to say, to the         gathering, they requested the States .not to impose
great embarrassment of Wtenbogaert.          ,              them on the churches, but rather to convoke a synod
      There were several assailants of Wtenbogaert's        for the investigation of these articles.
argument. But the reasonings, however well-meant,              The Lords of the States were of the opinion that
were not always correct. So one, Van Mehen, set forth       a Provincial Synod could as yet serve no good purpose,
the view in which he coordinated under God the high but if the aggrieved ministers had need of proving
government (for example in this land of ours the pres-      that the V articles militated against God's Word, op-
ident and the congress in contradistinction to, let us      portunity would be given them so to do in the meet-
say, the state governors) and Christ as the head of         ing of the States ; let us take notice, in the meeting not
His church, and thereby proclaiming the legal parity        of synod but of the States.  So the Lords of the States
of the two. IAS the lower lay rulers (the state govern-     (government) insisted. The Calvinists yielded the
ors) are subject to the .president  and the congress, so    point, though reluctantly; whereupon the Stcites  de-
the rulers in the church, and they only,  a.re              cided that each side-Calvinists and Remonstrants-
subject to Christ. Such was here.the  conception. But       delegate six persons for the discussion of the "points"
the Scriptures teach us differently. According to Holy      in a conference to be held in the presence and hearing
Writ, Christ is not coordinate with the high* govern-       of  the  States.  But the discussion,  so  the  States  in-
ment but as seated at God!s right hand and thus under       sisted, had to be friendly; it had to be carried on in a
God its supreme Lord. `The Potentate of potentates is       spirit of love (These people-Wtenbogaert and Olden-
He,, and as such also the head over all things in the       barnevelt and their party-always and forever were
church which- He rules by .His Spirit and His Word.         shouting : love ! love ! love ! But'at the same time they
Not .only the rulers in the church but the rulers in        were selling the truth down the river. So it goes) ;
the state as well are subject to Christ, He being the       moreover the purpose of the. conference'had to be to
Lord of lords and the King of kings as well as the          see if it were possible for the parties to the dispute to
king of His church.                                         understand and bear each other, *and if not, they must
      The government by now had adopted measures for        clearly state their difference, circumscribe, fix, indicate
protecting the Remonstrants against any action that         its limits, in order that their government might know
the churches might want to take against them. It for-       what next to do.
bade the convocation of synods. It sent the classes the        On the sp.ecified  day the twelve- debaters were as-
five articles of the Remonstrants and required that         sembled with a delegation of the high government (the
they regard them as not  .bei'ng in conflict with the States General). The Calvinist Hommius surprised his
sentiment of the church... In examining the students no     Remonstrant opponents by producing the previously
one might sound them regarding their attitude to-           composed "Contra-Remonstration*`, which, upon the
ward these articles. The `ministers were commanded          insistance of his Calvinist colleagues, he was permitted
to remain silent in the preaching respecting "the high      to read when Wtenbogaert had done reading his "Re-
mysterious points that at the present time `were being      monstration". This "Contra-Remonstration" .is an
                                                                                                        .-.. _,
                                                                                              -,  .;


                                          T H E   S T A N D-A R D - ' B E A R E R                                                 91               "

arresting bit of- composition. As freely translated it
reads thus :
              "Noble, Noble born, potent, exceptionally                             I N   H I S   FE'AR
       wise, Mandating Lords ! The  undersign&d,
       commi&ioned  by the classes to confer with                                          Back To School
       some co-workers in the `Gospel reply to the                                                (Conclusion)
       contention of the Remonstrants as follows :
       that the Remonstrants are sorely mistaken in                            In our previous ai%icle we laid emphasis upon the
       thinking that they have not occasioned the                           fact that the path of Christian isolationism is indeed
       rumers that they strive after a change in the                        a dangerous one. This implies of course that when this
       doctrine. The only explanation of the present                        principle of isolation is applied to the department of
       unrest is that, some ministers oppose their                          our life which we describe by the term education, the
       peculiar opinions to the general sentiment                           result is inevitably a dangerous education.
       of the church, and that they. have never been                           -`Salutary it is, that we realize this, for especially
       willing to give a candit Andy open statement                         two reasons. In the first place, it  is well to realize
       of. their opinions, much less to submit them-                        thoroughly what we are doing and what we are sup-
       selves to the judgment of the churches. They                         porting and what we are seeking. We do i& want a "
 .     cause themselves to be suspected not 6hly by                         movement  for- Reformed education that is based on
       their insistance on the revision of the Confes-            _         anything less than good sound prindples, not only,
       sion and the Catechism but. especially by al-                   .    btit we do not want a movement for Reformed educa-
       lowing it to be said that they have something                        tion that is launched and maintained by parents who
       new while refusing to reveal in any classical                        do not know and thoroughly understand the principles
       meeting what it is. We, too, admit that the                          upbn which they stand, and realize full well the con-
       Confessions as to their authority and worth                          sequences of their actions. We must not act blindly
       .may  not be conipared with  f;he  ,Holy Scrip-.                     in this matter. We must not imagine that from any                 g
       tures ; he who says differently wrongs is. But                       earthly point of view the outlook is rosy. On the con-
       cbnsidering  that all sects abuse `God's Word                        trary, thq.?more stringently this principle is applied,
       by using .it as a covering for their opinions,                       the darker the outlook becomes. And we must realize
       It is highly necessary for the better preserv'a-                     this, lest we be di&ppoinlted at the results, lest we be-
       tion of peace and unity that the Church pos-                         come discouraged, and lest we be tempted to give up
       sess some -general Forms of Unity setting                            the .battle when OUT position becomes narrow. In the
       forth  wh&t she believe to be-the truth of God's                     second place, we may certainly to a degree judge the
       Word and by subscription binding on all the                          true condition of any movement for Christian educa-
       ministers in the Church. It is a caus& of con-                       tion by the, amount of opposition it faces in the world      _
       cern when such general Copfessions of the                            and from the world, by the degree of its dangerous-
       Church are brought under a cloud `and dis-                           ness. If in the coursepf its existence such a movement
       puted about; this is harmful to the church`                          ."fmds the going easy", meets with little opposition, ex-
       and leads to suppression of the truth. This                          periences little of the dangers which we enumerated,
       fruit is discernable also in these lands, where                      we may be fairly certain that there is something wrong
       Revision has been sought though there be no                          with the movement. We `may be certain, because th-?
       need. As a result the common doctrine of the                         difference of principle between ,God's people and the
       Reformed Churches is being distrusted! If                            world is a dividing difference, an irreconcilable dif-
       there is something in Catechism or Confession                        ference. And the manifestation of two such irrecon-
       that is in conflict with the word of God or is                       cilgble -principles leads inevitably to a constant war-
       not in sufficient agreement with it, no one                          fare. Sometimes that warfare may be cold, sometimes
       among  .us is so unwise that he would not                            hot.  Prin.cipally it is always hot. And therefore, we
       admit that the Word of God is the only                               may safely conclude that when one or both parties
       standard by which all  doctline must be                              in this warfare put the sword into its sheath, some-
      proved.; but the error would first. have to be                        thing radical has happened. `And that "something" is
       pointed out, and this has not been done to this                      without fail this, that the movement for Christian edu-
       `day, despite the fact that the Remonstrants '                       cation has deserted its principle of isolation, and ex-
       often  have been requested and urged so to                           changed it for that of ,amalgamation.
       do.                                                                     But all this leads us to the question:
               (continued in the following article)                         What Really is Safety?          '
                                         `G. M.  mOphoff  .`:v                 If by the safety of God's people in the world is


                                                  .
92                                   T H E   S T A N 'D A R D   B E A R E R

meant the `safety of our earthly life and existence,           places. Would you say that the fool who goes out inl;o
then it is indeed dangerous to be spiritually isola-           the current of the Niagara River, and is being borne
tionist. Then all the -dangers which we depicted in the        inevitably to destruction by that current, is safe, even
prevous  issue of the S'IMNDARD BEARER come into               though he himself may hilariously  gloa't that he is
the picture.. And they, give the lie to the contention         having a wonderfully easy and fast boat-ride, and
that there is any safety in isolation. For it is not only      though he makes no effort to resist the force of the
a fact that this principle of isolation calls for financial    current that will surely carry him to his .deaih over
sacrifice, but that same principle requires that you           the falls ? No more is the spiritual fool safe, who en-
condemn the world and expkess that ,they are not fit           joys being carried by the current of the lust of the
to educate your children. From that principle an act           flesh and the lust of,the eye and the pride-of life, find-
of separation flows spontaneously, a- confession. You          ing in that current all the things of- this present
say : "I go forth from you,`because I do not want to           world, while he is being swept to sure destruction by
come into contact with that whish is vile and impure.          the swift tide of the very current which he has no de-
And I do not want my children to be trained by you.            sire to resist and which he makes no effort to resist.
They are holy, sanctified, members of God's covenant.             Safety is ndt in things. Things as such ha% noth-
And the>refore,  when I go forth from you, I take my           ing to do with the safe& df any man, be he a child of
children along, that neither I nor the children whom           God or a child of the `devil. There is only one kidd of
the Lord has- given me may be contaminated by that             saf ety+he safety of being the dbject  of God's favor.
which is unholy, but that together we may stand be-            To know Him, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to taste' His
f&e the face of the Lord our God."
             :_                                                `favor, His blessing, His -goodness, His grace, His
      And then indeed, from the viewpoint of the earth: . mercy, His lovingkindness which `is better than life-
ly it is not safe; and from the Gie%point~of  the flesh it     that, and that "only, is safety. And to- be separated
is dangerous.                                                  from the God of all grace, and instead to-be pursued
      We must learn to understand, therefore, that this        by His wrath and fierce anger-that is danger.
question of safety and danger is in no sense of the               Of these ,thing$ we must be constantly reminded.
word a relative matter. It is not a question of safe,          .For  it is so eaby for -us to be deceived by the.philo-
safey,  or  safest.  Nor is it a matter' of  &oosing be-       sophy of this present world and by our own deceitful
tween two alternatives: either to be safe now, in the          flesh.' Before we are aware of it almost, we fall into
world,  in order then, to suffer everlasting agonies in the error ~of relativism in. regard- to this !question of
hell, or to be in danger now, here, in this life, in order     safety and danger.' And we must understand that the
then to be everlastingly safe in the life to come. But         dangers of this spiritual isolatiop  of God's people are
in the most fundamental sense there are only two pos-          but appayent dangers,. while .re#y our safety is ex-
sibilities, safety or danger. And those two possibilities      actly in this isolation, rio matter how dangerous it may
apply to the one man in his one life: that is, a man is        appear. If we understand this, we cannot attempt the
either in `danger duying all of his earthly existence          foolish, haltipg gait of him ~who essays to walk with
and walks,  and then he is  &Valking always further            one foot in the world and the other in the kingdom of
down a dangerous path, until he is carried over the heave6
precipice into everlasting danger ; OS he is safe in. all
his walk and earthly sojourn, until he finally reaches         Real Safety in Isolatiorz                          9
the perfect and highest manifestation of that safety
in the everlasting arms of the Almighty.                          Hence, it is not when <God's people individually, or
      For safety is  not a  question of earthly goods, of      the church as a whole, are rich and lack nothing and
earthly riches, of an earthiy name, of earthly gosition,       make themselves  .worthy of the friendship of the
of worldly honor, or even of our earthly life itself. ,Such    world, that they are safe. Exactly. then thejr are lost.
is  the philosophy of the world-a deceitful and ma-            And well may we remember the unqualified truth of
terialistic philosophy that had its  ori&n under the           the words of ,the Lord .Jestis:  "He that would save his
ehadow of the tree of knowledge of good and evil in            life shall l&e it !"
paradise the fir&. By that philosophy the world is                But it is just when the people of God keep their
controlled. According to it the world acts. And by it          identity in the midst of the world, when the church
the world goes to destruction. We cannot even qualify          remains church, when they manifest clearly and LUG-
the term, and say that this is temporal s'afety. It is no      equivocally that they are God's people, of His party---
safety at all ! For he who would find safety in things,        be it  with. the  loss of  .everything else-that they are
mere things, must understand that he llot only finally         safe. Then let the world and thF gates of hell rage,
is cast into destruction, but he is go&g progressively         As long Bs God's -people do not go under spiritually,
further into destruction,. He is walking in slippery           they have the victory. And the latter is possible only


                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   ,@EARER                                              93          -

 in isolation, never in amalgamation. And remember:
 this principle acplies to-all of life, education included i
    That is. the real lesson of church history, of all br'      F R O M   H O L`. Y   ,W.RIT
 sacred history. Israel did not go down to defeat be-
 cause of her isolation, but exactly then, when it for-                        Exposition of Luke 19:~10
 sook the living God and united with the, world. Never
 do you find any instance in the history of God's oic!             ,Since  this passage of the Word of God is quite
 dispensational people in which they were defeated              lengthy and whereas we all have our Bible to. look up
 while they faithfully maintained their isolated posi- this passage tie shall not quote it in full, but will limit
 tion.  To be sure, the powers of the world raged               our quotation to the verses 9 ,and 10, .where we read
 aganst them because they were #God's people. .It was           "bad Jesus said  unto him: today is salvation  co&e
 not the intention of Assyria and Egypt and BabyJon             (happened) to this house, in as much as he also is a
 to assail the people of Israel because they were  s:3          son. of A`byaham. For the Son of mm is come to seek
 apostate. They raged against the people of God. But            and, to save that which was lost."
 lievertheless, it was at those periods when Isl;ael for-          For the proper and correct understanding sf. this
 sook the iLord their God, played the harlot with the           passage from Luke 19, it is of the greatest importance,
 nations of the world and their idols, and because              that we notice carefully what we read in the ,former
 apostate, that they invariably went down to defeat.            Chapter, verse 35. There we read. that Jesus is on
     The history of the new dispensation teaches the            His way to Jerusalem; that it is His last journey to
 same lesson. When the church becomes rich, powerful,           this city ; for now His hour has come that as the Son
 and' influential at the cost of its spiritual identity,        of Man He will be lifted up, even as Moses lifted-up
 then it has lost the battle and laid down its own life.        the Serpent in the wilderness. For Jesus took His
 And it is that church that refuses to be swallowed up          disciples aside on the way to definitely instruct them
 by the world, either from within or from without, that         in the meaning and purpose of His ,going up to Jeru-
 remains safe and- secure.                                      salem. He tells them all this, so that when it  do&
     What is the ground of  that safety?  :Scripture            come to pass they may understand and believe !
 teaches us that they are safe because God is their                 Oh, it is true "they understood none  ,of these
 refuge and because underneath are the everlasting              things, and this word was hid from them, and they
 a r m s .                                                      did not know the things said." `Later, when Jesus had
     They are safe, then, not because of their isolation.       risen from the dead, He opened their minds that they
 If that should ever be the relation, their safety would        might know the meaning of. the Scriptures, as. all is
 be a. very insecure and doubtful matter. For at the            fulfilled in His death and resurrection. Luke 24 :26,. 27.
 very best, the isolation of God's people is but very               Hence, we ought to give the more -earnest  heed to
 imperfect and characterized by many failures. But              this word of Jesus spoken to His disciples by the wajr,       _
 they are safe, then-and safe  befol:e their own con-           and that, too, when we try to understand the meaning
sciousness too-because then it has been realized in             of what Jesus is doing by inviting Himself into the
 them through the Spirit of Christ, "I-will be your God,        htiuse of Zaccheus !
 and ye shall be my sons and daughters.`! For it is God             Let us, therefore, try to under&and the meaning
 that chose them. He -it is Who called them. He it is           of what Luke relates to ~1s in the first ten verses of
 Who for and in and through them fights the battle,             C h a p t e r   1 9 .
 Who maintains His covenant, Who makes them more                    It' is quite evident, that Luke wishes to impress
 than conquerors. And He it is Who shall finally reveal         upon us the note worthiness of a certain man, Zac-
 that the cause for which they stand by grace, is in-           cheus by name. He tells us the following about th.is
 deed the cause of the Son of God, which surely bath            man.
 the victory.                                                       In the first place, we are told about this man that
     Dwell alone then, you and your children. Do nor.           He was a Chief of the.Publicans,  or .Tax Collectqrs for
 hesitate to be a separate people also in the sphere of         the Roman goverriment. From the viewpoint of Jewish
 education. But know that this is no cause of the flesh,        patriotism this man was on the low&t possible level
 but a cause of faith.                                          of society. He is notorious in this city of palm-trees,
     Then you shall have to "go it alone", yes-but with         Jericho. He is known by all `the populace as a man,
 your God. And He is a sure refuge. With Him you                who is a sinner, a notorious sinner, with a very bad
 are forever  safe1 His arms are everlasting! And in            reputation. `There was. no love lost upon him ; hated
 Christ Jesus they are underneath you!                          by all was he and esteemed by none. Such a man was
     Our safety lies in isolation!                              Z&ccheus in Jericho. That is a matter' that Luke
                                            I$.  c:  I&         vividly portrays to us.


                i
94                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEAR`ER

      In the'second place, we are told that this Za&heus      demonstration of this in Jericho, then it is that the
was rich in this world's goods. He is a man of financial      thoughts of many hearts are revealed ; Christ; then be-
means.  he had, no doubt, at times takeri money -fro-m        comes the sign that is contradicted, which has been
the people by fraudLlient means. He had succumbed             set for a falling and rising of many in Israel, for the
rhany a time to the tem$tation  of -the deceit -of riches.    glory `of Israel and the light of the. nations ! Tha;;
He probably had a good house and investment, and              Jesus would i.ntentional "go out of His way" to deq-q
people cursed him under their breath when they saw            onstrate this here in Jericho is exactly what the Scrip-
his estate. And there was certainly a. great deal_ 6f         tures abundantly teach us to expect from our .Savior
reasoli for their being offended at the wrong deeds of        in  His  ,prophetic-priestly and kingly labors in this
this Zaceheus. And the point that we would.have you           humiliation. Does Jesus not, two days hence from this
notice is that this is placed on the very foreground by       day in which He passed through Jericho, deliberate
Luke, the Evangelist.                                         requisition the  ass's colt of one of the citizens  01
       That this Zaccheus had taken money from the peo-       Israel's commonwealth to show the meaning of and
ple by black-mail and other illegal means  is also cbn-       to fuifi!l the prophecy written concerning Himself in
fessed by him. Say he to Jesus: `
                                    tid if I have taken       Zachariah 9 :9 where we read: "Say mlto the daugh-
anything from any man by extortion I restore $0 him           ter of Zion, behold thy `king cometh unto thee, meek
fourfold." The conditional sentence that is here~ <em-        and riding upon ari ass's colt, upon the young foal of an
ployed in the ,Greek  indicates a conditidn of $a&. The       ass P' Well, thus it is also in this case.      This is a
fact of extortion is here admitted by Zaccheus. The           deliberate demonstration of the meaning of His work
people certain were not speaking untruth when they            on the Cross; it speaks of the very genius of His com-
said that he was a notorious sinner, (who had robbed          ing into the flesh to suffer ancl clie, to reveal the full
nearly everybody in the city with exorbitant taxes).          counsel of God concerning our salvation, and to rule
       Now it certainly is a remarkable thing and worthy      in our hearts by His grace and spirit, so that we
of special notice, that Jesus, while on his way to Jeru-      should'walk in newness of life.
salem to die on- the cross, selects this man as the one          For let us notice the following i'n the text.
with whbm He will spend the night as guest, is it not?           In the first place we repeat that Jesus chooses His
Were -there no others ? Could he not have tarried under       demonstration material rather carefully. He chooses
the roof of Bartimaeus, who would, no doubt, glad1.y          the seemingly worst man in town. But such is grace,
have had Him as his gu'est  ? And if the aged Timaeus         is it not; Where sin abounds grace does much more
was still living would he not have deemed it a distinct       abound. Jesus could not have made a better selection.
honor to have Jesus of Nazareth at his house, the man         Not that we are judges, but this we simply humbly
Whp had given sight to his son?          1                    and thankfully- read in the text. He was the  ChiFf
       But no, Jesus says: I must abide at your house,        of publicans and he was rich ! I almost hear Paul say
Zaccheus !                                                    this of himself : for I .am the chief of sinners ! But
      Pray, what does this mean?                              these people in Jericho all  mur.mur: He is gone to
       Certainly it cannot imply, that Zaccheus was after tarry with a man that is a sin.ner. Behold, a glutton
all not such a bad man as the people presented him to         and a wine-bibbed, a friend of publicans and. sinners !
be, and that Jesus -%vished to show the people that              In the second place it is evident, that Jesus wish&
Zaccheus was not such a bad man after all. Thus, at           to reveal Himself, as the one in whom grace and truth
least,  .some who reason as those not knowing the             will become ,a reality, for when Zaccheus comes to his
 Scriptures nof the power of God, would present the           own defense over against these murmuring  iellow-
matter. It is-then pointed out that Zaccheus was try-         citizens in Jericho with an appeal to fulfilling the
 ing to see Jesus. He made. a great attempt to get by a       works of the ceremonial law, then Jesus very firmly
 glimpse of Him. Had he not climbed into the  fig-            brushes this aside as being so much loss and dung
mulberry tree by the road-side. Surely this Za'ccheus         compared with the excellency that is in Himself, Zac-
 was not wholly bad. Jesus did not enter the house of         cheus indited gave back fourfold to those whom he had
 such an evil man after all. And the ,pepple must be          defrauded, and he gave half of his goods to the poor.
 taught to have a little  more respect for the down-          But did he give all that he had as Jesus instructed
 trodden ! ISuch is then the presentation                     the rich young ruler as recorded in Luke 18 :18-30?
       Bnt such is not the meaning of Jesus' action !            In the third place Jesus Himself tells Zaccheus and
       What Jesus wished to teach here is the fundamental all the people and us`why He tarries at the house of
 purpose of His coming into the world as the Son of Zaccheus. It is because the nature of His work as
 man in whom was going to be fulfilled all that was           Prophet, Priest and King demands it. He has not come
 written by the Prophets.                                     to fill up what was still lacking in the native endeavors
      And  wheti Jesus proceeds to give a  yery `definite     of legalis& and moralists. He has con-k into the world


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                            95

to save that which was perishing under'the wrath and           later in the church at Jerusalem with those who gave
 curse of almighty God-under the burden of the law!            their all ;, sold their possessions to give to the poor.
.He became from a woman and was made under law                 Bartimeaus will not need to sit begging by the way-
 that He might redeem us perfectly from this curse of          side. Zaccheus will be like the widow, whp gave her
 the law. That must be manifested here on the way to           la.st mitti simply because Jesus so completely saves the
 Jerusalem. Behold the blind receive their sight and the       lost!     -
 lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear and the dead are                                                  G. Lubbers
 raised up and  the-. poor and contrite of heart  have
 the gospel preached to them! And blessed is he who is
 not offended in this Jesus of Nazareth, King of the
 Jews who will hang on the tree as the accursed one a
 week hence, on th@ place of a Skull!                                    :PERISCOPE'
    For in effect Jesus tells Zaccheus; as the great
 Prophet, that he must not make his defense before the
 people. Not excuses and self-defense help before God!         The Synod._of 1951 - September-October !.S'essioms
It is simply the .only comfort in life, and death that             Synod of 1951 has finished her sessions some time
 m&t be the boast of Zaccheus ; that he is not his own,        ago. !As we have given a factual report of the June
 but that .he belongs to this faithful Savior; Jesus of        sessions of this Synod, so again we will give such a
 Nazareth, who will fulfill all the Promise of ,God to         factual report.
 Abraham and to his Seed in His death and resurrec-                Synod opens its second series of sessions Wednes-
 tion. That must be the humble boast of Zaccheus.              day morning, Seljtember 26, meeting this time in the
    Zaccheus must say: I have defrauded the people.            basement of the First Protestant Refqrmed Church of
 But by the stripes of this Jesus I am healed.        God      Grand Rapids, Michigan. Both Classis East and West
 gives me repentance and thus He heals nie with the            were represented by a full delegation. There were a
 leaves of the Tree of life which are -for the healing ol      few changes made during the sessions of Synod. Sev-
--&a n&&s,._  God comes to save His .own people. This          eral times Elder delcegates found it impossible to be
 people is hop&?ssly  lost up to the very moment. Nay there and were represented by their alternates. And
 not simply some outstanding evil in the past as super-        on the second day of Synod Rev. Vermeer received
 ficial people and hypocrites judge, but hopelessly lost       word from his consistory of, a!1 accident resulting in
 in sin, being dead through trespasses And sins. That is       death to one of the members of Redlands and it was
 what Zaccheus' must say.                                      necessary for him to return to conduct the funeral.
    Why did salvation come to the house of Zaccheus ?              Called to Synod's attention after the opening .ex-
 Why did Zaccheus wish to see Jesus? Why must Jesus            ercises were  two, documents, one from  Classis West
 call Zaccheus out of the fig-mulberry tree? Is it not I regarding their action on several documents before
 because this Zaccheus andOhis entir house also are so&        Synod, and another from Rev. Veldman regarding the
 and daughters of Abraham, the father of believers, ant1       provision made ?or him. Both of these were received
 of Sarah, the Jerusalem above?                                for information and no further action was taken.
    Ah, Zaccheus take now the shoes from off Fhy feet              Synod than began its treatment of the  Declara-
 for  the ground upon which thou  standeth is holy .tion proper by reading the Declaration together with
 ground. Jehovah hath seen thy plight as He has seen           the Preamble and the amendments suggested by Clas-
 the plight of all the children of election, steeped in sin    sis East,.as well as Classis East's ground for adoption.
 by n&ure,  hopelessly lost.1 Does Jesus of Nazareth,              A motion came to the floor, "That the :Synod de-
 the I-shall-be who I-shall-be h&e not step across the clares  &at the. Declaration of Principles as amended
 threshold of thy dwelling to save thee and thy entire         by Classis East is the expression of the Three Forms
 house' simply because He foreknew thee. in sovereign          of Unity, with regard to certain fundamental prin-
 love, and because by virtue of this love He has               ciples, as these Confessions have always been main-
 promised to saved thee completely?.                           tained and interpreted by the Protest&t Reformed
    Presently this Jesus will surely make His "Exodus" Churches." A substitute motion was allowed, "That
 at Jerusalem when He will deliver Zaccheus and all the        Synod treat the Declaration point by point,". and the
 filthy sinners from their Egypt of sin to bring them          amendment was added, "To determine whether the De-
 to the glory of grace and truth. `Then will the shackles      claration is in harmony with the cpnf&sions."
 of self-righteousness fall and all the, righteousness .of,        After  ail  pertinent material  was- placed in the
 law will be so much loss and dung for the excellency          hands of the Preadvisory C&mniitt&  in this matter,
 of Christ Jesus in His. saving the lost.                      for collation and its report rendered Synod began
    And Zaccheus will stand no more than two months            its deliberations on the above motion.


                                      1                 ~.                  ./

                                                                                                                                                               .~





                                                                           .-
                                      '     r
      --g6-.      ._     _     _            -.    .     -      -      `
                                                                      .          -.THE.   STAlif.D&RIi  BEA-RER  ~.                          --.
                                                                                                 -                                                       I
             Thursday morning -the motion was made aid sup-                                                        At the beg@ning of .`the:  Friday morning -sessiolz
        ported "That Synod declare  that--Point I of the  De-                                                  Rev..  Hoeksema  .asks for  .&he floor and speaks  tinkil
        claration of Principles,- as amended; by Classis East, is                                              1l:OO on the .m&ion.~Aftec.this  an amendment Comes;
        the expression of the Three Forms. of Unity,,with  re-                                                 "That the preaching of the Gospel is not a gracious
        gard to certain-fundamental principles, as t&se Con- _ offer of Salvation on-the part, of God to all men, but
        fessions  have always been maintained and interpreted                                                  the official declaratioti~of  the oath of God, that ,He will
        by the  _Protestan$  Reformed Churches.!                                            -                                                                                   _
                                                                                          :  :                 inf&llibl$  lead all the' %1&t unto eternal  salvati;ioi;
          . An amendment comes  to.  strike   o&  7h.e  "et` alii" through 8aith.Y. DLiring the discussion of this motion
        and to enumerate as follows : "Form for the &dmin- * the morr&g session is ended and finally in the atier-
        istration of Baptism, Forin for the- Administr&ion of noon session it is defeated.  :
        the Lor,d's Supp.er,  _ Fdrm of. Excbmmunication,  :%`orm                                                 A substitute for the whole motion  as areended  ir;
        of Readmitting Excommunicated Persons, Form of' now  off&d  as follows: :fThat Synod expresses that
        Ordination of the Ministers of God's Word, Form of                                                     there .iS nothing objectionable--to the Declaration of
        ,Ordina%ion'qf  welders  and Deacons, _Form* for the I& .Princip!es,  I$nt I and the amendmepts as adopted -on
        stallation of Professors of  Theol6gy, Form of  Or& the floor of Synod." An amendment to this substitute
      nation of  Missiqnaries,  Form for the Confirmation  of                                                  for  the  ihoie  ,is  +nnec@ately  c&red as fqllows:  "Be-
        Marriage  Bef,ore  the Church, and Formula. of  :Sub-. .cause.. it. is the: truth express?d  in oilr confessions."
        scription." This amendment is carried,  .$vl$ch ..me$ns                                                Theamendment passes by a vote of .9-7. The amended
        that instead ,of reading, "They accept the Liturgical                                                  subs&&e' passes by- a slightly larger majority.
        Forms- used -in the public worship `bf our churches,                                                   AAm,+ion  noti  comes.   tb  ,the floor that Synod de-
        such as the Baptism Form, et alii," as cdnfessions  -if a                                              clare "That Poin6.11 o$ then D.e&&tion as amended by
      .- minor -orde&"- the et-&i is o@ted aiid -the above list -Classis: East:is t_h& expressi& of the Three Forms of
      '  .is put  theye  instead.   I-                          .~                                             Unity, with regard- to. certain fundamental pr:i@ples,
            Next a motion is  gade  to strike out  the p&a-                                                    %- these Confe;sions haye always been maintained and
        phrase and insert the literal "Three Pqints" in point I                                                interpreted by ,the Protestant  Reformed. -Cl-uurches.?!
      of the declaration.: This'niotion however -fa?ls. to carry. During' $he di$&ion  --of->: this  m.otioii .-the meeting
            Ne+  a   n-$!i6n  i s   m a d e   t o   s t r i k e   -out  t h e   `w o r d   "mes  to  a  c1ose.   2.                                                  -
        promise and ins&t the word preaching in I B. (This is                                                    At. the begi?itiifig, of the. &Ioliday morning session
        in the paraphrase of the  Thre? Points  2nd it was                                                     Rev. Doezetia  -reqtiests  Synbd to state definitely the.
        pointed -6ut that hi&or&ally  our struggle was exactly reasons-  .why  it  exprc+?ses   .the previous motion  am1
        against the cbntention that the preaching is a gracious                                                asks that- this requkst  be recorded. an< that Synad's
        offer of salvation to al men). This n&ion was adopted                                                  &nswer-,be   recoyded.  -(This request refers to the  mo-
        in the afternoon session.                                                                           c tion in the  -paragraph  above)-.  The chair  rules this
         -A niotion is next offered to amend  1.D 2 by insert- request .out of brder. .Grqi+ls : The- procedure to ex-
        ing "believers; that @" .following the wordsj "infallibly' press that the  Detil,aration is  -?n  ha?mony   w$h  the
        lead all. the.". %hiS par?graph now.`reBds : "That the                                                 &hfessiori  proper& belongs.)to the business of Synod.
                                                                                                                                                    ._ . -.
        promise of the gospe!  is ndt' a gracious. offer of salva-~ Synod ,of 1950 pl&%d .thiS matter before the churches,
        tion on the  ,part-of  G-ad to all  :men, nor'a conditional  convened   in  -synod-of  lg51.
        offer to all that.are  born in the historical dispensation                                                A motion .is now m?de to table- further discussion
        of the covenant, that is, to -all tha;t are baptized; but                                              on the contents until Synod takes  Up the matter of-.
        an oath of `God that He wil! infallibly lead all &he -elect                                            the necessity of the De&ration. This motion is ruled
        unto salvation and eternal~glory tbhrough faith." This                                                 out 03. o?der  by the Chair on the basis of Synod's de-
        last phrase wotild  t&n have- been -changed' to` r*ead I                                               cision to treat' the Declaration- point by point; The
        ". . . .that He .will inf_allibly lead ~a11 tl$e believers, that ground is given fqr the &ov& motion that ,Synod haps
        is the elect unto salvation etb.7' ThisIf& to carry.                                                   gone beyond  her decision and that by the'~motion  as
            An amendment regarding this &me part Icomes,                                                       discussed she virtually adopts~  the declaration- while
        dealfng now with th_e "oath". It sug&&s  :that we. in-                                                supposedly co&paring it with the Confessions. .The
        sert : ".A  Word of God bound  by an  oath" following. ding of the President declaring the above motion out
       the  w&d but in this section. It  would:  then', read:  5 of order is challenged. The vote to sustain the Presi-
        "That the prbmise of the gospel is . . . a $`&?d of God : de& is a tie. The President is not sustained. The mo-
       bound by an oath" instead.of "That the prom%% of the $n to table is.put to a vote and is?>a tie. The motion
      g0spei  is  v .  ., $,h oath of God- etc". This amendmen?  -is "defeated.
       fails to carry. Revs.  Doeiema  and Van Weelden  recb"  _=                                                                  (-`To be continued) .,
                                                                                                      .:
       ord their positive votes on the above issue.                                                                                                             J. Howerzyl.



                                                                                                                   I     -
__


