VOLUME  XXVII1                          DECEMBER 15, 1951  - GRAND  RAPIDS,  MICHIGAN  :                           NUMBER  6

                                                                     om$at zijn  Zaligmaker  binnenkwam.        Dan is daar
    -  MEDITATIQN                                                    Maria's  ,lofzang, het lied der Engelen in Bethlehem's
                                                                     velden, de herders prijzende en lovende(God, de lofzang
                                                                 ' van Simeon  en -van Anna, en eindelijk, daar is ook de
          D e   Opgang  Uit  D e   Hoogte                            lofzang van'zacherias,  waaruit we dezen keer eenige
                                                                     verzen kozen tot onze overdenking Dat waren allen
            "Om zijnern  volke kennis der zsligheid t,e geven, in    zangen, zangen van lof en van prijs, van blijdsehap en
          vergeving hunner zonden, door de innerlijke                van vreugde over bet, lieflijke Evangelie: God heeft
          bewegingen der barmhartighe'd  onzes Gods, met             Zijn volk bszbcht en Hij zal Zich over Zijn ellendigen
          welke  CIZ:S bezocht heeft de opgang uit de hoogte,        ontf ermen.
          om te verschijnen dengenen die gezeten zijn in
          duisternis en schaduw des doods, om onze voeten t.e           En da! is de geboorte van Jezus Christus, dnzen
          r&ten op den  weg des  vredes."-Lucas   1~77-79.           H e e r e .
   Er is een vogelenkoor dat zingt en kweelt en                                             .  -&  sr  *  .A
kwinkeleert bij' `t krieken van den dagcraad. Vraagt
het vooral a& de bewoners van het vlakke land, en ze                    Ge hoordet van een volk, dat gezeten was in duis-
zullen U vertellen van het liefelijke gezang der vogels              ternis en schaduw des doods.
&ls de' zon aan `t opkomen is.                                          We hebben hier te doen met figuurlijke taal, met
   Daar zit symboliek in. Want zoo l_s het ook met he: beeldspraak. En de idee van duisternis wordt vaak in
koor der uitverkoren zangers die de Zonne van Gods `de Heilige Schrift gebruikt om den natuurlijken &aat
Evangelie op.  zagen komen om een  lieflijk  licht te                des menschen te beschrijven. Op duizend bladzijdea
verspreiden. Die zangers zijn door. de eeuwen heen                   van ,Gods Woord kunt ge lezen van die duisternis`die
geweest als geestelijke naohtegalen, zingende en .ons van nature omvangt. ,Op  66n plaats zegt Paulus
kwinkeleerende van de, liefde Gods die geopenbaarc!                  zelfs, dat wij van nature duisternis xi@. Ef. 5 :8. En
zou worden  in den Messias.                                          in hetzelfde verband  spreekt Paulus van de onvrucht-
   0 leest het in de prbfetign  van Jesaja vooral, hoe               bare werken der  duisterflis, waarmede we geen  ge-
die zanger Hem zag die de hemelen zou doen ruischen                  meenschap zullen hebbep. En in Rom. 13 worden  we
van onbegrijpelijke liefde Gods. En als ge  Petrus' vermaand om de werken der duisternis af te leggen, en
brief  lees& dan hoort  ge het hoe de  Pefeten  onder-               in dat veu?band  zien we, dat die werken der duisternis
vraagd en onderzocht hebben van de zaligheid, onder-                 zijn brasserijen, dronkenschappen, in slaapkameren
zoekende op welken of hoedanigen tijd de Geest van wandelen en ontuchtigheden, twist en  `nijdigheid.
Christus die in hen was, beduidde en te voren                        Bovendien is ook  we1  duidelijk.  wat duisternis  is in
getuigde het lijden dat op Christus komen zoude, en                  geestelijken zin, want de duivel wordt de vorst der
de heerlijkheid daarna voigende.                                     duisternis genaamd, en de duivel is immers het inbe-
   Welnu, dat geestelijke, profetische vogelenkoor grip van alles wat boos is?
Gods heeft  gezongeti tot op de geboorte van  onzen                     Natiurlijke  duisternis is ontstentenis van  licht,
Heere en Heiland,  wien,s geboorte we straks weer                    onmacht om te zien, te wandelen en te leven. .
hopen te vieren met elkaar.. Zoo hebben we gelezen  in                  .Past dit nu toe in geestelijken zin, en ge zult de
het  Goddelijke  Woord van  &et  kindeke Johannes,                   idee van geestelijke duisternis benaderen. Dan, zult
opspringende van vreugde in zijn moeder Elisabeth,                   ge zien hoe geestelijke duisternis ontstentenis van het


 122  1                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

 groote Licht is, en dat is God. Iemand die dliisterms            We  hoqren van  de. Goudglansen van  ,Gocldel;"--
 is en in dG"`duisternis,  wandeit is zonder (God en zonder    Barmhartigheid.               I       `.
 hoop in de wer&d. .Hij ziet God niet, wandelt niet met
 Hem,. en' aaarom heeft geen geestelijk leven.                                        k  73  *  *
     Vrceselijke positie !    Dat is de  toestand van elk
 I natuurlijk mensch, komende in -de wereld.                      Dit is het Evangelie. Dit is de blijde  boodschap
   En let er  .nufop, dat de  idee van geestelijke  duis-      van Gods eeuwige ontferming. Let er tech op, dat hel
                                                               Evatigelie van Christus' geboorte een eeuwigen achier-
ternis'ook verklaard.wordt door de toevoeging van de
 schadti:we  des doods. We  zijn dood van nature,  on-         grond heeft. Dat komt zoo maar niet uit de lucht
 b@ti?am tot eenig goed en geneigd tot alle kwaad.             vallen. 0 meen.  Maar het is uitgedacht door den ilwij-
    %n let er ook op, dat we van nature in dien toestand       zen God en Vader van onzen Heere Jez'us  Christus.
 &ten. Dat  .ziet op  :de absolute onmacht waarin we           En daarom lezen we in Openbaring van het eeuz0i.g
 verkeeren. Dat duidt den mensch van nature aan, den           Evangelie.        _
 mensch der zonde en der schuld. Hij ,is schuldig voor            En- nu gaat de tekst voort om te spreken in
 God en vol des verderfs. En hij is onmachtig om op            beeldspraak. Het volk dat in die vreeselijke duisternis
 den weg des vredes zijn voeten te riohten. Dat is een         zat ziet de Opgang in de Hoogte ! Dat is de zon die
 vreesclijke toestand ! Dat `is een vreeselijke duisternis     aan de kimme verschijnt oin `t aardrijk te verlichten.
 en schadywe  d&s doods. Dan is -bet hart duister, en          In geestelijketi  zin is het de komst van Christus Jeius
 dat wil zeggen, clat het vol .is van zonde, schuld en         die ons den Vader verklaren gaat, den Vader die de
 ondeugd. Dan is het verstand duister en dat betee-            Vader der lichten is. En die Zonne staat aan de kimme
 kent, dat het vol is van booze  overleggingen,   gods-        van  (Gods   hemelen.  De  geestelijke  Zon, en dat  1s
 lasteringen, en haat tegen God en den naaste. Dan is          Christus, is a& `t opkomen. ,Het is de dageraad der
 hij boos in alle zijne genegenheden,  met hand en voet,       kerk op aarde.
 met gave en talent. Dari wandelt hij op duistere paden           Het begint te  dagen in het Oosten van God's
 der zonde en is op reis naar de buitenste duisternis.         eeuwige liefde. Zoo kunnen we ook eenigzins verstaan
 Vreeselijke positie !                             4.          waarom Jezus Zichzelf 6et Licht der wereld noemt.
                                                               Hij kwam om` Zijn,volk te bezoeken. En Hij kwam uit
                                                               de  Hocigte.
                                                                  0, Hij heeft ens heerlijk bezocht :. Hij kwam 266
                                                               dicht bij ons, dat Hij ons g&jk werd, uitgenomen de
                                                               zonde. Hij is vleesch van ons vleesch, en geest van
    Evenwel, luistert nu naar den naam die God aan             onzen gee&. Hij bezocht ons zoo intiem, dat Hij onr
 sommigen van dit menschelijke geslacht geeft.  Hij            tot een oudste Broeder is. Dat is de Vleesehwording.
 noemt hen Zijn volk. IGe gevoelt  direct, dat bier meek          En als ge nu -vraagt : maar waarom kwam Hij zoo
 in' zit dan net maar bezitting.  `God  bezit  alles:  Do      dicht, zoo intiem mbij ons? Dan is ons antwoord een
 duivel is ook van God.                                        van de lieflijkste zangen van het eeuwig Evangelie:
    Neen, hier iit, meer in. En het is ook we1 duidelijk.      Hij kwam 266 dicht bij ons, omdat Hij onze zonde en
 Want God heeft het ons immers geopenbaard in Zijn             schuld op Zich moest nemen. Daarom kwam .%Iij in
 Woord. Het is zelfs het groote en lieflijke  centrum          ons eigen vleesch. Hij werd onzer een. En het  doe1
 van dat Woord.'                                               was om  onzen zondelast  tieg  te  dragen, zoodat die
    Waar we het oog op hebben? Dit: de liefde ,Gods.           zondelast nooit ons meer zou wegdrukken in eeuwige
 Het  bezitteljjke  voornaamwoord  Zijn  -ziet op Zijn         verdoemenis.
 eeuwige liefde voor dat volk. Van dat volk zeide Hij             En in de tweede  plaats kwam Hij zeer  dicht bij
 immers in Jeremia: Ik heb U liefgehad met  6en                ons om ons'door Zijn Geest en Woord tot Zijne broe-
 eeuwige liefde?                                               deren te  maken.  Daarom kwam Hij ten slotte  dooc
    0 ja, dit is een zeer ljarticulier  volk.                  den Heiligen  `Geest.  Dat is de  beteekenis van  Pink-
    Van eeuwigheid tot in der eeuwigheden zijn zij
                                    . .                        ster. .Jezus komt terug tot- ons in den Geest om vlak
 Zijn volk.                                                    bij ons, om in ons te wonen.
    Doch in den tijd zijn ze schuldig en goddeloos,               En die bezoeking van Jezus  Christus was uit de
ellendig en jammerlijk, naakt en blind, en ver van             Hoogte. Ook daar zit een schoone beteekenis in. He%
 huis. Ze zitten in de duisternis en de schaduwe des           wil zeggen, dat er geen andere weg was. De duistere
 doods. `Zoo vinden we hen in den tekst. Maar ze zijn          aarde, de duistere door de zonde verdorven aarde, kon
Gods volk, een volk, dat Hij verkoren heeft in eeuwige         zichzelven niet belichten.
 voorkennis der  ,Goddelijke  liefde,  ,en  van die liefde        Het moet van boven komen zegt het volk, En dat
 zullen we nu moeten spreken,                                  is  wgar.  Dat is  eeuwig  waar. Als het niet van boven

                                                                  .


                                                 . _ .    _ .                   . . _.-. ."
                                        T H E   STANDARD  BE'ARER                                                      i-is

kwam, dan zoudt gij en ik tot in de he1 toe verworpen            zijt ge tech gelukkig voor tijd en eeuwigheid. En als
worden.  Bij menschen der geestelijke duisternis pase            ge dan. sterft, da+ zullen de Engelen ,Gods komen om
de buitenste duisternis, voortgezweept door den VOV'SC           U naar boven  te.  bregen; en dan  zult ge een plaats
der duisternis.                                                  hebben in Gods .eeuwig  Koninkrijk.
   Maar nu? Van uit de  duizelingwekkende  Hoogte                   Dat is de ialigheid.          '
van God's erbarmen komt de Opgang, en dat is Jezus.                 En het kennen van die zaligheid moet U geschon-
    En zoo zegt de tekst, dat dit `opgaan van de Zotine          ken  worden.  Dat zegt de tekst. Leest er tech voorai
der gerechtigheid geschiedde door de innerlijke be-              niet overheen. "Om Zijn volk kennis der zaligheid te
wegingen der barmhartigheid onzes ,Gods. Het is dz               gev.en." God moet onze oogen daarvoor openen,  en dan
liefde Gods die Zich nederbtiigt tot bet voorwerp van            zien we het. En wat staat nu in den weg tot de
Zijn liefde, dat in gpoote ellende verkeert, met de zucilt genieting van die zaligheid?  Dit : onze zonden en
en voornemen om dat voorwerp uit zijn ellende te                 schulden voor #God. Maar God .zegt: om te geven de
verlossen.                                                       kennis der zaligheid  in  yergeving  hzmneyr  xomien. 0,
   Het w'aarlijk groote is ook teeder. Hoe anders is ,als die zonde  vcrgeven kan  worden,  dan wordt het
dat in onze goddelooze wereld. Daat zijn de grooten              licht, dan wordt het heer1ij.k  om te leven. Het zijn die
hard en wreed. Maar God is een God die innerlijke                vreeselijke  zonden die scheiding maken tusschen ons
bewegingen der barmhartigheid heeft voor Zijli volk.             en onzen (God. En nu is het eeuwig Evangelic van den
    En die SGoddelijke  barmhartigheid is geopenbaaril           Opgang uit de Hoogte, dat Hij onze zonden vergeeft.
in de komst van Zijn Zdon, in Zijn lijden en kruisdood,          Die zonden worden  weggedragen door Jezus aan her,
in Zijn verrijzenis en hemelvaart, in Zijn terugkomst            kruis om nooit weder te keeren. God werpt. die zonde
in den Heiligen Geest en Zijn belofte om weder te                weg in een zee van e,euwige ve~get,elheicl. `t Is om van
keeren in den' dag  Zijn,er glorie,  wanne& Hij die              te zing& !
voorwerpen Zijner jiefde thuis zal halen, om dan eeu-                                          ****
wig bij den Heere te zijn.
    En nu zullen we nog wat hooren van de sehoone                  En, eindelijk, komt er sprake van een wandeling op
vrucht dier barmhartigheid Gods, van dien lOpgang                den weg des vredes. Eindelijk, zeiden we. En terecht.
in de Hoogte. Er komt een wandel in het licht. Daa;              Dat is het einde, dat is het einddoel van `God. Hij wil       _
zingt Zacberias van in den tekst.                                Zijn volk dat Hij liefhad met een eeuwige liefde  013
    En dan is daar eerst de kennis der zaligheid. Die            dien weg zien wandelen in de genieting van  onuit-
kennis zal vrucht zijn, en is vrucht geworden van dien           sprekelijken vrede. Het is een vrede die alle verstand
Opgang in de Hoogte, van dien Jezus.                 '           te boven gaat. Vrede is stille aangename rust. Vrede
    Wat is zaligheid? Zaligheid is die zegen vdor een            is harmonic tusschen God en Zijn volk. Vrede is die
mensch, wanne& al zijn nooddruft geheel en al ver-               t`oestand en staat wanneer er harmonie is tusschen
vuld wordt. En wat is de ware nooddruft voor een                 den hartslag Gods en Uw hart. Dan leeft ge en denkt
mensch? Wel, als ge een  antwoord  wilt hebben op                ge en spreekt eri jubelt ge gelijk Vader, Uw Vader in
die vraag, dan moet ge niet luisteren naar den me~~scsch         de hemelen.
zelve. Neen, waht dan ontvangt ge allerlei verkeerde.                En dat alles in de sfeer van liefde. Daarom zlage&
valsche antwoorden.       De een zegt: v0i0p  eten en -we:  -Wat vree heeft elk die Uwe Wet  bemint; zij                            "
drinken. Een ander, het  schoone en lieflijke  der               zullen $an geen hinderpaal zich stooten ! En de weg des
wkreld, al de schoonheid die genoteil kan worden  door:          vredes is Jezus. Hij is- de Weg, de waarheid en he`t
onze natuurlijke zintuigen., Nog weer een ander zegt :           leven. Hij is de Weg naar Vader heen. En daarom is
het bezit van een stuk der wereld, en dan zoo groot              het ook een weg des vredes. Op dien weg zult ge
,mogelijk.    n/raar  #God zegt: wat zal het U  nutten  in-      altijd het Bloed zien, dat betere dingen spreekt dan
dien ge de geheele wereld zoudt bezitten en schade lij-          het bleed van Abel. Dat bloed van Jezus maakte diel:
den  aan Uwe ziel? Al die  atitwoorden, en nog  meer-            weg tot een weg naar Vader  heen. En op dien weg
dere, zijn niet het juiste antwoord.                             wordt  &e  g6zet door den, Heiligen Geest die  U  5  .`t
    `God Zelf zal U het  antwoord  geven door Zijn               Woord verklaart. En het licht van dat Woord onder-
Zoon: Zoekt  eerst het Koninkrijk  <Gods en Zijne                richt U om naar.lGod  te wandelen. En ge komt zeker
gerechtigheid ! de kunt het nog korter vinden in                 uit in den boezem Gods in Zijn eeuwige armen. Deut.
hetzelfde Woord van ,God: en het is dit: rijk te zij?z           33 :27.
aan God. God te`niogen hebben voor zijn deel in tijd                 Daarom zingt `Gods. volk van alle eeuwen:  Uy
en eeuwigheid. Dat is de eenige nooddruft, mijne                 Woord is mij een lamp voor mijnen voet! Dat is zalig-
broeders en zusters. Als ge dien God hebt, maar moet             heid nu ens groote zaligheid straks!
liggen  aan  de  poort des rijken vol van  zweren,  dan                                                     G. vos.


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                                      THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                     E D I T O R 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                                                         rh'e  Synod of  1951
                                    EDITOR  - Rev. Herman Hoeksema                                                       A second objection from the collated material of
            . Communications relative to .contents  should be addressed
                 to  .Rev. H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S. E., Grand                                          Clgssis West, concerned the literal quotation of th?
                 Rapids 7, Michigan.                                                                             Three Points adopted by the Synod of Kalamazoo,
                 All' matter relative to subscription should be addressed                                        1924. The objection was that the Declaration did xiot
                 to Mr. J.  Bouwmxn,  1350 Giddings Ave., S. E., Grand.
                 `Rapids 7, Michigan. Announcements and-~Obituaries  must                                        quote the Three Points in full, and-requested that this
                 be. mailed to the above address and will be published at a                                      zhould be done. And a motion was made to amend
                 fee of $1.00 for.each  notice;                                                                  point I by quoting the Three Points literally.
                 Renewals:- Unless a  definite--request  for discontinuance
                 is received, it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the                                          Rev. H.  Hoeksemca:     A mere literal quotation of the Three
                 subscription  td continue without the formality of a re-                                        Points  certa:nly  would not express  tileir  meaning. This con-
                 newal order.                                                                                    cerns especially the First Point, which is very  -ambigc,ous. If
                                  _ Subscription Price: $3.00 per year
                                                        _.                                                       we insist on  qtiottng  the Three Points literally, we  certain137
                                                                                                                 mu& also quote the proofs  w&h  the Synod of Kalamazoo ad-
                 Entered as S&ond Class mail ,at Grand Rapids, Michigan                                          duced for' Point I. For it ,is in connection with the proofs that
                                                                                                                 Point I teaches the general well-meaning offer of salvation in
                                                                                                                 the preading of the gospel to all men, elect and reprobate. As
                                                                                                                 is well known, this. "puntje van het eerste punt," which really
                                                                                                                 teaches that the reprobate receives `grace in the preaching of the
                                                                                                                 gospel, is the chief heresy of all the Three Pdints. And  there-
                                                                                                                 fcre,  `a mere  l..teral  quotation, without the proofs, would not
                                                                                                                 help us.
                                                                                                                         The motion is put to a vote, and fails to carry.
                                                                                                                 A third objection deals with the substitution  ot`
                                                                                                                 "the promise of *he gospel" for "the preaching of the
                                                                                                                 ,Gospel".      `The objection is that, whereas the Three
                                                                                                                 Points deal with the preaching of the gospel, the De-
                                                                                                                 claration substitutes the promise of the gospel. And
                                                                                                                 a motion is made to strike) out  grom;ise  and  insert
                                                                                                                 preaching.
                                                 C O N T E N T S                                                    Rev. R.  Ve,ldman:     There is something unfortunate in this
      MBDITATION-                                                                                                subrtitution  of promise for preaching in the Declaration. His-
                    De Opgang Uit De  Hoogce  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121              torically this  -subst.tution  is not correct.  I: would like to ex-
                           Rev. G. Vos                                                                           press something concerning the twofold fruit of the preaching
      EDITORIALS-                                                                                                and of the twofold purpose of the preaching of the gospel. The
                    The  Synod of `1951 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 2 4     word  promise anticipates rather than refers. to past history,  #as
                           Rev. H. Hoeksema                                                                      the term preaching does. We always  obj,e&ted  to the First
                                                                                                                 PO nt because it presented the preaching of the gospel as a
      O U R   DOCTRINE-
                    The Hexaemeron  or Creation-Week                                                             well-meant offer of salvation on the part of God to all men,
                                                                 (10) . .  .`. . . . . . . 132
                    Rev. H.  Veldmen                                                                             elect rnd reprobate. And therefore I. think that  prea&ing is
                                                                                                                 more historically correct.
      THROUGH   ?HB   AGES-                                                                                         H. H.: Will it satisfy the objection of the Rev. R. Veldman,
                    The Arminian  or Remonstrant Struggle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136            if we say, "the promise as preached  ?"
                           Rev. G. M. Ophoff                                                                        Rev. R.  Vel'dman:     I have no objection to what is written.
                                                                                                                 With that I can fully aghee. But I rather object to what is not
      THE DAY OP  SHADOWS-
                    The  Protevangel  as the Unifying Idea of all the  Scriptures  139                           written.
                                Rev. G. M. Ophoff                                                                   Rev. H. Hoeksema: I do not think that it is quite correct
                                                                                                                 to distinguish between preaching and promise. They are both
 , FROM HOLY  WRIT-                                                                                              an' oath of- God. Our Confess&s  #do not make that distinction
           -,       Exposition of Matthew 5: 17-20 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .`. . . . . . . 140           either.
                           Rev. G. C. Lubbers                                                                       Rev. L. Doezema: The expression "the promise as preached"
                                                                                                                 iv&ld still refer to the promise  ,as such. But we want some-
      IN HIS  FEAR-
                    Looking  eo the Future (2) . . . . . , ,I,, , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , , . . 142    thing that  refers  to the preaching as action..
                   Rev. H. C. Hoeksema                                                                                   Rev. J. van Weelden:    The promise of the gospel is the
                                            1                                           .                        content of the preaching. And I think that we must distin-
      _                                                                                                          guish between the content and the  aptivity of the preaching.
                           ,


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R   I                                                 125

   Rev. J. Howerzyl: Is it the contention of the Rev.  ,G.- M.          we want an amendment, we must .insert: "The preaching of the
Ophoff that if this amendment is passed, we would lose the              promise is an oath of God, according to which He  ::nfallibly  leads
truth that the gospel as to its content  is only for the elect?         the elect unto salvation."
   Rev. L. Doezema:       I am insisting on this terminology                   `Rev. R. Veldman: Historically the q&&ion is: what did the
which expresses the  activity  of the preaching because-it is           Christian Reformed Churches mean ? We are repudiating what
Scriptursl..   Ansd we  are-  .ln  the service of' God and of the       they say. And if they meant the general  pro~el~mation  of the,
church when we make  sharp  distinctions. I can distinguish be-         gospel, we shoulld  state it thus.
tween evangelizing and prea?hing,  or heral@ng.                                Rev. L. Doezema: The question is: what was the general
   Rev. G. M. Ophoff: I am surely in favor of making sharp              .term we used in all our writings in the psst concerning  th:s
and clear d:sfinctions. The sharper the distinctions the better.        matter.      I still distinguish between -preaching, promise, and
I am very much afraid of putting in undue or incorrect                  gospel. We  distinguysh  in the sacraments between the thing
phraseology, that is ambiguous and that weakens the clear               signified and the thing itself. So, we can also distinguish be-
distinction.                                                            tween the thing preached -and the preaching.
   Rev. L. Doezema: We are stronger if we substitute preaeh-                    Here the report -simply states : "The amendment
ing for  th,e promise. It  ,:s much more to the point to  reter  to
`the activity of. the preaching.                                        czrries." It is not quite clear from the  repprt   t,o
   Rev. H. Hoeksema: I am afraid that we do not distinguish             what- amendment the reference is. But this can un-
between the preaching and the mere declaration of the gospel            doubtedly be found in the Acts. To these, therefore,
by men. These are by no means the same. Preaching  impl.ies             we will refer the reader.
much more than the mere declaration of the gospel by men as                     A fourth objection ~from the collated material of
such. Preaching is a means of grace, according to our Con-
fessions, and therefoae it is a proclamation of the promise by          Classis West deals with the term "elect" in the expres-
the church-a proclamation that is based upon the  S&ptures,             sion, "will- infallibly lead all the elect to salvation
upon the authority of ,Christ,  and that stands in the service of       through faith."
the efficacious Word of Christ. There is  $0 real preaching ex-                 An amendment is made to alter this clause so- that
cept when Christ preaches And His Word  Y& always efficacious.          it reads: "will infallibly lead ad fhe believers, that is;,
Then; and then only, can preaching also be the main key of the
kingdom of heaven. Man's proclamation as such has no power              the elect, unto salvation".  d
-either to open or to shut the kingdom of heaven. But accord-                  Rev. H. Hoeksema: We must be careful here,  ,and under-
ing to the Confessions, preaching is a means of grace because           stand the  implicatyon   ,of this amendment. The elect are all the
it .stands in the service of the efficacious Word of Christ. And        chosen ones, whether they already believe or not. It also in-
that preaching of the gospel Christ m&es a savor of life unto           cludes infants, that do not yet consciously believe. And there-
life, but also a savor of death unto death. Preaching, there-           fore, in my opinion, we cannot have this <amendment.
fore, is something different from the  d,eclaration  of the gospel             Rev. R. Veldman: I too object to this amendment, because
by mere men. In Lord's Day XXV it is said that the Holy                 it leaves  fa:th outside of salvation. And the promise of  salva-
Ghost  iyorks  faith  in,us  by the preaching of the gospel. True       tion includes faith.
preaching, therefore, is a means of grace.                                     Rev. H. Hoeksema:      There is another  odjectioion  to this
    Rev. R. Veldman: I fully agree. But the question is whether         amendment, Mr. Chairman.` We are in  danger'here  of adopt-  I
the Christian Reformed IChurches  in 1924 meant that by their           ing the  S@cond Point adopted by the Arminians  <n  1'61b. They
First Point and its proofs. If nevertheless we want to express          certainly would not object to this statement. The believers,
this, we ought to define it so that  &her churches may know             they say, are those whom God chose because He saw them to
what we mean.                                                           be believers.
    Rev. J. Howerzyl: I  agr.ee  also with. the Rev. H. H. But                 Rev. J. Howeriyl: In this ien,dment  we nevertheless touch
that exactly shows me that we need "preaching" here instead             upon the approach to the problem. To my mind the weakness
of "the promise."                                                       of the Declaration is that an  attempt  is made to depart from
    Rev. J. van Weelden: We have here a fine distinction be-            the experiental life of the Christian. And this we should never
tween  "presching" and "the declaration' of the promise". This          do.
is not according to Lords Day  XxX1, Qu. 84, where we read                     Rev:  G. M. Ophoff: I have no lieed  of this amendment. And
tha,t the k'ngdom of heaven is opened and shut by the preach-           I can. also see the danger of it. Certainly, if we want to shut
ing of the holy gospel "when according to the command of                the door to Arminianism, we must define the meaning of elec-
Christ, it is declared and publicly testified to -all and every be-     tion; and not simply say, "the believers, that is, the elect."
liever, that, when they receive the promise of the gospel by a                 Rev. H. Hoeksema: It  i$ a  ~st&ing fact that all thk quota-
true faith, .a11 their sins are really  forgiven  them of God, etc."    tions which are given from the Confessions to criticize the De-
    Rev. G. M. Ophoff: Is it the contention of the Rev. van claration were also quoted  in. 1924 to prove  th'e First Point .of
Wee&n,  then, that according to our Confession preaching is             the three  that were adopted by the Synod of KUamazoo.  These
not preaching by Christ,  btit  siiliply  proclamation by men ?         quotations were isolated from the rest of the Confessions. If
Must we not ma'ntain that preaching is only a means .of grace           you do that, it might almost look as if the Confessions teach
because after all it is Christ through  -His Holy Spirit that           common  grace. We should never separate certain parts of the
makes it a means  ? I am very much afraid of confusing pre'ach-         Confessions from the whole of them. Besides, in their isolation
ing with mere proclamation by men.                                      these pass_ages  from the Canons are certainly the weakest part .-.
    Rev. J. van Weelden:       Does Christ ever preach  w:thout         of our Confessions. They are liable to more than one interpre-
men ?                                                                   tation.     They are ambiguous. And" for *that' reason the Synod
    Rev. H. Hoeksema: Of course not.  ,But then`we should say:           (of 1924) could use them for its purpose.
Chris$  never preaches without the church. For the church is                   R&v.  J. Howerzyl: Mr. Chairman, -are parts  of our Con-
sent to preach, and can proclaim the gospel with authority. If          fessions  not worthy of  .the status of confessions?  If there  ?`s


126                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   .BEARER

a w.eakness  or ambiguity in the Canons, should we not hand in          tion. Let  h:m define that definition, Mr. Chairman. And let
a gravamen ?                                                            him write it down and show us how it differs from that appear-
    Rev. H.H.: It is certainly not my intention to hand in a            ing in the Declaration of Principles.
gravamen.    The Confessions are not something- that we can                 Rev. M. Gritters:    I have no different conception of my
change without the communion. of the Reformed churches. And             own, -but am bound by the conception and definition of the
I am satisfied that as soon as these passages are not isolated,         promise that is found in Canons II, 5. That is my sole difficulty.
but explained in the light of the whole of our Confession, they .Ultimately I run upon Canons II, 5. And there I find a  defini-
cannot be quoted in support of the theory of common grace,`as           .tion of the  prom:se  of the gospel that differs from that in the
d.d the Synod `of 1924.. In 1924, when the Christian Reformed           Declaration.
Churches quoted these passages, they spoke of the preaching                 Rev. L. Doezema: I don't like to change this definition of
of the gospel as a well-meant offer of salvation `on the part of        the promise. We are dealing solely with the question whether
God to all that hear the  go,spel.  Now that well-meant offer of        this is the teach'ng  of our Protestant Reformed Churches, and
salvation on the part of God is certainly the promise.           Ac-    whether it is the truth of our Confessions. My point is that
cording to the Synod of 1924, therefore, the promise is for all         this is our definition, but the definit:on  in Canons II, 5 is also
that hear the gospel. This is what we combatted ever since              0u.r  definition. This document-T' mean the Declaration,-loses
1924. We must not lose that again. We must  mantain  that               sight of something. Perhaps in another  definit:on  we might
the promise is for the elect, and not for all men or for those          bring out the fulness of the conception of the promise as it is
that hear the gospel. And to express this, <we  must not change         in the Canons. In the Canons I find the promise in the form
the term "elect" into "believers." Then we weaken our posi-             of a  condit:on.  The form therefore is conditional. In Canons
tion.                                                                   II, 5, therefore, the promise of God comes in a conditional form.
    Raev. J. Howerzyl: I believe that it is God's intention i.n the         Rev. G. M. Ophoff: The Rev. L. IDoezema  speaks as though
promise to save only the elect, and that He promises salvation          we have another definition of the promise of God than is found
only to the elect. But in the Confessions, although they state          in the Canons: In Canons II, 5 he finds the if idea. But I can-
this very plainly and ,also plainly state that there are a definite     not find the condXona1  form of the promise in that part `of the
number of the elect, they nevertheless proceed from the view:           Canons. If does not .appear  in the whole. article. The article
point of the historical present situation, through which God's          states that whosoever believeth shall have eternal life.       And
chosen are revealed as believers. But I.can  see the danger, and.       that is no condition attached to the promise. Believers are the
1 would leave no opening for the Armimans.                              elect.
    Mr. J. Faber:    We should not pass this amendment, be-                 Rev. J. Howerzyl: The Rev. Ophoff states that essentially
cause the wording of it is certainly dangerous. And Mr.  Vis-           the elect are the believers. But would he insert I,  D,, 2 of the
ser, who is one of the protestants against the ,Declaration,  does      Declaration in the place of Canons II, 5.
not ask us to do so either.                                                 Rev. L.. D,oezema:  I did not say that there is an if-clause in
    Rev. M. Gritters:    The Canons certainly  `are.  sticient  to      Canons  11, 5. What I did say is that we have a conditional
close t.he door to the Arminians. I don't think that we can im-         sentence, a relative clause with a  man clause following.
prove upon them. In Pella we have great difficulty because of
the definition of the promise in Canons II, 5. There we find a               Thereupon the amendment is put to a vote, and
good definition of the promise. Why must it be substituted or           fails to carry.           -,
improved upon ?      Is' that necessary ?     Canons II, 5 simply            Objection 5 from the collated material of Classis
states that the promise of the gospel is that  whoso,ever   Abe-        West deals with Sioux. CenteYs contention that the
lieveth in Christ  .shall have eternal life. The `promise is just       Declaration does not distinguish between promise,
that, and no more. I am bound by it. The Reformed churches
were bound-by it for  400 years.                                        offer, and condition.              '
                                     Why is it necessary now to
have something new? Canons I; A, ~5-8, closes the door tight.               Rev. J. Howerzyl: I voted against the amendment to insert
We need nothing more.                                                   "believers" instead of "elect." But our protest from Oskaloosa
    Rev. J. How.erzyl:  This amendment in its- present formula-         has not been answered yet. What is the relation between I, D,
tion should .be voted `down. However; let us note point e of our        2 of the Declaration and Canons II, 5. May I not quote the
protest from Oskaloosa. We call attention to the attempt to             definition of the promise as it  .i,s contained in Canons II, 5
bring the supra view forward. There is a trend to shift the             anymore ? Must I be  ,considered  a heretic if I quote it?
emphasis away from the experientially present. It is true that              Rev. H. H.:. There is no complete ,definition  in Canons II, *5.
the supra view has always been  Iallowed  in the Reformed                Nor is it meant to be such.  Whist is in Canons II, 5 is es-
churches.    But without a gravamen we may not bring this               sentially the same as is in the Declaration, I, D, 2. (Canons 11,
view forward as if it were  tl-e  on.ly  Reformed conception.            5 merely states that whosoever believes in Christ will be saved.
    Rev.  G, M.  Ophof? The  questIon  of supra and infra has           Notice that the reference here is to the future salvation of be-
nothing  to do with the Declaration of Principles. We deal here         lievers, and not to the whole of their salvation as they already
simply with the `principle of the sovereign grace of  4God.  I          received it in the present. That believers  will be saved  is the
claim that  t,he entire Declaration is experiential in the true          promise of God. But this is by no means a complete definition
sense of the word. The Confessions are experiential, no doubt.           of the  promilse.  For the promise of -God includes the. gift, of
How  then can the Declaration be anything else, seeing that it          fai.th.  But here in Canons II, 5, faith is mentioned as a char-
stands foursquare on the basis of those Confessions.                     acteristic of those who receive the  prom.ise and who  will be
    Rev. J. Howerzyl: I was not speaking of a trend in  o.ur            saved. If we want a complete definition of the promise of God,
churches, but :n the Declaration. In the Declaration there is           we must not appeal exclusively to Canons II, 5, but to, the
a shifting of th*e  emphasis away from where it is placed in the         whole of our Confessions.
Confessions.                                                            Rev.  M: Gritters: I disagree with the Rev. Hoeksema. We
    Rev: G. M. Ophoff: The Rev. M. Gritters has a different              have here one of the few instances-in which our fathers gave
conception of the promise from  whlat.  appears.  in  tlie  Declara-     us a  definitmn  of the promise. In Canons II, 5, in connection


                                               T - H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                       ii?
                                    -'
with all the rest of our Confessiions,  we certainly have a defini-       sarian,  as I will  .point  out in my discussion. For the sake of
tion of the promise of God.                                               argument I will grant the infralapsarian view of the counsel
   Rev. R. Veldman:         We. can  1 distinguish  b.etween  a strict    of `God, in order to explain that this definition is nevertheless
definition  of the promise and  i,ts contents. The question is:           the speech of the Confessions.
does Canons II, 5 give us the contents, or a complete definition ?         First of all, let us turn to Canons II, 5, which was in dis-
In other words, do we have the whole content of the promise in            cussion yesterday. In the first place, I want to  po:nt out that
Canons II,  5?                                                            the remark as if the clause "whosoever believeth" is a condi-
   Rev. G. Vos: The Rev. M.  Gritters.says  that we have here             tional  cl.ause  is certainly not ,grammatically correct. `We grant,
a definition. If he means by this a complete definition of the            of course, that Scripture is full of grammatically  condit;onal
promise of God, I cannot agree. In Canons II, 5 I do not read             sentences. But this does not m.ean  that there are conditions of
one thing of the prom:se of the Holy Ghost, of which Scripture            .salvation  or -conditions which man must fulfill in order to re-
speaks so. often. And the promise of the Holy Ghost is a-very             ceive the promse  of God: And certainly there is no mention of
essential part of the promise of God. Let us not forget that              conditions in the whole of our  Confes.sions.  Nor is there men-
the same fathens  who gave us `Canons II, 5 also speak in the             tion of a condition in  Cane-ns  II, 5. The "whosoever" does  Anot
Baptism Form of the promise that the Holy Ghost will dwell                mean the same as "if." It is not a  condit:onal  sentence, but a
in us and  .apply unto us all the blessings of salvation. And             general relative clause, and refers to the scope of those that
therefore, it is not true  th,at they mean to give an exhaustive          will receive eternal life. The whosoever denotes the scope.
description of the promise of God in Canons II, 5.                        And that scope of those that will receive eternal life is de-
                                                                          fined by those who believe: whosoever are included  in those
   Rev. G. M. Ophoff: The question is repeatedly asked: what              thsst believe will have eternal life.
is the relation between the Declaration,  I, D, 2 and' Canons, II,                                                    Thus the promise in
                                                                          Canons II, 5 is certainly not presented as conditional. In the
5 ? And the suggestion. is' made that if the Declaration is               second' place, I wish to point out that this article in the Canons
adopted, you probably cannot maintain Canons II, 5 anymore.               certainly does not mean to give a complete definitioh of the
This, of course, is not true. In the Declaration-I, D, 2 we, say          promise of God. For this it is too limited. It does not in-
of the  pr,omise of the  gos.pel  that it is not a gracious offer of      &de all the contents of the promise. Neither the whole of the
salvation on the part of God to all men, nor a conditional offer          promise, nor the whole of  ,salvation  is denoted here.
to all that  ane born in the historical dispensation of the cove-                                                                    The Canons
nant, that is, to all that are baptized, butan  oath of God that He       here state that whosoever believes in Christ shall have, or will
                                                                          have eternal life. And that eternal life in the future is cer-
will infallbly  lead all the elect unto salvation and eternal glory
through faith. Now this certainly does not conflict with Canons           tainly also a part of the promise. But it is not all of the
II, 5.    But I maintain that if you ask what is the essential            promise. I can also say, on the basis of Scripture: Whosoever
characteristic of the promise of God, then you have to have I,            believeth in the Son  hath  eternal life. In that case faith is
                                                                          included in life and salvation. But here, in Canons II, 5, faith
D, 2 of the Declaration.                                                  is excluded from the promise of  salvation.  For this reason, it
    Rev. R. Veldman: It ought to be plain that if you believe             ought to be very plain to us `all that  thies cannot be a corn-
that God leads His people to salvation  throuih faith,  then we           plete  defmition  of the promise. For the  prqmise also includes
certainly say that the promise  i's only for the believers. And           faith and the Holy Spirit and the subjective  ,applioation  of all
if we say that, you also maintain that it is for the elect alone.         the blessings of salvation. When this  :so-called  definition of
    Rev. M. Gritters: I have followed and studied and taught              the promise in Canons II, 5 speaks of everlasting life, it refers
the Confessions ever since I entered the  minXry.  And when               to the  .future  glory. Life in this article, everlasting life, is
Prof. Veenhof .says that God promises His salvation to all the            presented as being future in  relat:on  to faith.  Rut, as has
children that are born in the covenant, head for head, I can              been pointed out, Scripture also speaks of everlasting life as
find plenty`other ammunition from the Confessions to counter-             already present, as a matter of the :subjective  possession of the
"act this.    But my question Is: may I use this definition in            believer. The believer is already raised with  Chr:st  ,and is al-
Canons II, 5 ? Arid may I preach it?                                       ready set in heavenly places with Christ.        And this present
     Synod adjourns until Friday morning. After the                       salvation is also included in the  promse.       Hence, certainly it
Friday morning session was opened with devotional                         cannot be maintained that in `Canons II, 5 we have .a complete
                                                                           definition of the promise of God. As I said before, we must
exercises-singing, reading of Scripture, and prayer                       not isolate parts of the Confessions, and separate them from
-the discussion about the promise of, God continu d.                      other parts. A  defintion must be based on the whole of the
At this point `the Rev. H. Hoekscma' gave a rather Confessions. In 1924 the Synod of Kalamazoo isolated `this
lengthy speech, in which he went through all the Con-                     particular article in order to prove the theory of common grace
fessions to explain' what they teach concerning the from the Confessions, and made it a well-meant offer of sdva-
promise- of God.                                                           tion on the part of God to all  .that hear the gospel. In other
                                                                           words, according to that Synod there is grace. in the preaching
    Rev. H. Hoeksema: Mr. Chairman. As -1 said yesterday,                 of the gospel to all that hear. And that example we certainly
to my conviction the definition of the promisse;  as found in the          must not follow. And therefore, if we want to speak of the
Declaration of  Principles, is based on `the entire Confessions,          promise, we must refer to the whole of the `Confessions;
and not on any separate part or article of them. Besides, I                   Now; if we read all the passages of the Confessions that              '
also want to emphasize that this definition of the promise of              deal with this matter of the promise, you will  find that it is
God has nothing to do with the question of supra  ,and  infra.' much more than what  i.s stated in Canons II, 5.                        -
Whether one favors the  supralapsar:an or infralapsarian con-                 F:rst of all,  * I refer you to  Qu.  22 of the Heidelberg
ception of the counsel of God, this definition of the promisse  of         Catechism. There it is  askled:  "What is then necessary for a
God still stands, because it is -based foursquarely on the whole `Christian to believe?`? And the answer is: `iAll things promised
of our Confessions. To prove the truth of this statement I will.          us  in.`the  gospel,. which the articles of our catholic undoubted
quote from all our Confessions, which are admittedly infralap:            Christian faith briefly teach us." It is plain that the entire


           .128                                         T H E   - S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

            .contents of our faith are included in the promise of the gospel,         70: "What is  :t to be washed with the blood and -Spirit of
             according .to this answer. And what those contents  ar.e is ex-          Christ?" And the answer:'"It is to  r.eceive  of  ,God the re-
            pressed in the Apostoli~,,Creed,  which speaks of God the Father          mission of sins, freely, for the sake ofChrist's  blood, which he
             and our creation, of God the Son and our redemption, of God              shed for us by his sacrifice upon the cross; and to be renewed
             the Holy Gho,st and our sanctification. And ths promise of the           by the Holy Ghost, and sanctified to be members of Christ, that
             gospel, or this contents of our faith, is further expl,ained in the      so we may more and more de ,unto sin, and lead holy and un-
             succeeding-  Lords .Days  of our Heidelberg Catechism as it in-          blamable lives." All this, mark you, is included in the promise
             terprets and expounds the various  arUes of the Apostles'                of the gospel, which is sealed to us by the sacraments.         The
             Creed.    Th,at the Almighty Father Creator is my God and                promise, therefore, includes the  washi,ng away of sins by the
             Father for Christ's sake, that He will provide me with all               blood and  SpirX of Christ, according to Qu. 69. And this is
             things necessary for soul and body, thbat He  will  even turn all        further elucidated in the  answer to Qu. 70 by saying that in
             evils that befall me to my aclvantage, is part of the contents of        baptism is sealed to us freely the remission of sins and the
            this promise.     That Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of             renewal, that is, the regeneration by the Holy  Spir:t, and
             God, Who died and rose again, an'd is seated at the right hand           sanctification to be members of Christ, so that we die unto sin
            ,of God,. is my Redeemer and my Savior, my Prophet, Priest,               and lead holy and unblamable lives. All this is included in the
             and King, Who redeemed me body  and, soul from everlasting               prom-se of the gospel, according to the Heidelberg Catechism.
             damnation and obtained for us the favor of God, r.ghteousness,           And therefore, this promise is much more inclusive .and broad-
             and eternal life-all this is included in the promise of the              er than the presentation of it in Canons II, 5. Olnce  more,
             gospel. Moreover, included in that promise is the promise of             therefore, I' claim that in the latter article of the  ICanons  we
             the Holy Gho.st, Who :s given me in order that by a true faith           have no complete definition of the  prom:se.
             He may make me partaker -of Christ  ancl   ,a11 His benefits, so            Question 74 of the Heidelberg. Catechism is also important
             that I am and forever shall remain a living member of the                in this connection. It speaks of infant baptism. And I will
             church, so that I have'the  forgiveness of sins and the promise.         quote only the first part of the  quest:on  and answer: "Are in-
             of the  re,surrection   ,and everlasting life-all this is included in    fants also to be baptized ? Yes: for  .since  they, as well as the
            , the promise of the gospel, according to the  Heidelb.erg                ad&, are included in the covenant  aand church of God; and
             Catechism. Certainly, this is a much broader conception than             s:nce  redempti0.n  from sin by the blood of Christ, and the Holy
            that wh.ch is presented in Canons II, 5. In fact, in this article         Ghost, the author of faith, ifs promised to them no less than to
             of the Canons, II, 5, only the very last element of the promise          the adult; they must therefore by baptism, as a sign of the
             of the gospel as explained by the Heidelberg Catechism is men-           covenant, be also  admItted  into the Christian church." Here
             tioned, namely, everlasting life.                            -_          too,  .notide that remission of sin by the blood of Christ is in-
                Next, I refer you to Questions. 65, 66, 69, .and  70  of. the         cluded in the promise. But what is more important is that ac-
             Heidelberg Catechism. In Qu. 65 we read: "Since then ye are              cording to  th.s 74th  queatio,n  and answer the Holy Ghost is
             made partakers of Christ and all  h:s benefits by faith only,            promised to them, to the children, and that the Holy .Ghost  is
             whence doth this faith proceed  ?" And the answer is:  "From             here  pres.ented as the author of faith. Now this. is very im-
      _      the Holy Ghost, who works faith in our hearts by the preaching           portant for the subject under discussion at present; .We say in-
             of the gospel, and confirms it by the use of the sacraments."            the Declaration that the promise is only for the elect, and is
             The Holy Ghost, therefore, is the author of faith. And that              unconditional.    Now you know that it is the conception of
             same Holy Ghost, as the author of faith, is included  ;n the             Heyns and also of the Liberated that the promise is for all the
             promise of the  go.spel.  Now, the. promise of the Holy Ghost            &ildren that are baptized, head for head and soul for soul.
             and the promise of faith is surely only for the elect, and is            :But that this  :s not the teaching of the Heidelberg  :Catechism
             surely unconditional. And in  Qu. 66 we read: "What are the              ought to be very plain from this question on infant baptism.
             sacraments"  3 And the answer:' "The sacraments are holy                 For in, the first place, accordmg  to this answer the Holy Ghost
             *+6ie' signs and `seals, appointed of God for this end, that by          is promised to the infants no less than to the adult. And  cer:
             the, use- thereof, he may. the more. fully declare and seal to us        tainly, the  promse  of the Holy Ghost cannot depend on any
             the promise  of. the gospel, namely, that he grants us freely            condition which we must fulfill. The Holy Ghost must operate
             the remission of .sin, and life eternal, for the sake of that one        within us before we are able to fulfill any conditions whatso-
             sacrifice of Christ,  acco.mplished  on the cross." .Notice,  that       ever. Besides, this Holy Ghost is promised to the infants. And
             according to this answer the promise of the gospel ;s sealed to          `nfants certainly are not able to fulfill any conditions whatso-
             us. That is, therefore, to the confessing believers. To no one           ever.    Besides, this answer stresses the fact that  .the Holy
             else, but to the believers, and therefore, to the elect, is the          Ghost is promised to the  infanta  as the author of faith, which
             promise of the  .gospel  sealed. And here too the promise of             means, of course, that God promises to the infants that He cer-
             the gospel is presented broader in scope than is the  presenta-          tainly will work faith in  the:r hearts. Hence, it stands to reason
             ton of the promise in Canons II, 5. For here not  only. life             that the promise cannot be conditioned upon faith, because
             eternal, but also  the forgiveness of sins is mentioned-as  in-          faith is included in the promise. To say that God  prom:#ses
             cIuded in that promise. Here is proof ,again  that in Canons II,         faith to those that believe is nonsense. And it is equally non-
             5 we cannot have a complete definition of the promise. In Qu.            sense to state that  .God promises  fa:th to those that will not
             69 and `70 still more  elem,ents  of the promise. are mentioned.         reject the promise of faith. From  <all this it follows that ac-
~.           There we' read: "How art thou admonished and assured by holy             cording to the 74th answer of the Heidelberg Catechism, the
             baptism, that the one sacrifice of Christ  ,upon  the cross is of        promise is unconditional and is meant for the elect alone. But
           real advantage to thee"? And the answer. "Thus: That Christ                aga& I wish to state that the promise here appears as havmg
             appointed this external washing with water, adding thereto               a much broader scope than the presentation of the promise in
             this promise, that I  ,arn as  certanly  washed by his blood and         Canons II, 5.                                              .
             Spirit from all the pollution of my soul, that is, from all my              Now let us turn to Lord's Day XXVIII. This Lord's Day
             sins, as I am washed externally with water, by which the                 deals with the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. In the answer
             filthiness of the body is commonly  washed-:awayJ?.  And `in Qu.         to question `75 we read: "That Christ has commanded me and

                                                                                                                                  I

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

 all believers. to eat of this broken bread, and to drink of this             In Art:cle XXX111 of: the same Confession we are told that
 cup, in remembrance ,of him, addhg these promises; first, that            God seals to us His promises through the means of the `sacra-
 his body was offered and broken on the cross for me, ,and `his            ments. "We believe, that our gracious God, on account of our
 blood shed for me, as certainly as I see with my eyes, the                weakness and infirmities hath ordained the sacraments for us,
 bre3.d of sthe Lord broken for me, and the cup communicated to            thereby to seal unto us his promises, and to be .pledgas of the
 me; and further, that he feeds and nourishes my soul to ever-             good will and grace of God toward us, and also to nou&h  and
 lasting life, with his crucified body and `shed  blood, as ,assuredly     strengthen our faith; which he hath joined .to the Word .of the
 as I  rece-ve from the `hands of the --`minister, and taste with          gospel, the better to present `to our senses, both that. which he
 my mouth the bread and cup of the Lord, as certain signs of               signifies to us by his Word, .and that which he`works `inwardly
 the body and blood of Christ." -Also in this answer it is evident         in our hearts, thereby assuring and confirmmg  us Bn the salva-
 that the promise is only for t$he believers, that is, therefore, for      tion which he imparts to us. For they  `are  visible signs  sand
 the elect. This  :s evident from the very first clause in this.           seals of an inward and invisible thing, by means whereof God
 answer, "Christ has commanded me and all believers," and                  worketh in USA by the power of the Holy Ghost." These promises
 also from the personal pronoun "me" in the rest of the answer.            are further, as to their contents, described in Article XXXIV,
 Further, it is evident from this answer that the promise in-              which speaks of Holy Baptism.        I will not quote the  whobe
 cludes all the blessings implied in the atonement of Christ. The          artcle,  for it is rather lengthy. But as to the contents of the
 body of Christ was broken for me, and His blood shed for me.              promise of God it informs us that it includes that "we are re-
 Such is the promise. Further, it is included in the promise that          ceived into the church of God, and separated from all other peo-
 God will strengthen and  noursh my soul to. everlasting life.             ple and strange religions, that we may wholly belong to him,
 This is also furt.her  explained -in Ques. and Answer 76 where            whose ensign  an#d  banner we bear." It includes further the
 we read: "What is it then to eat the crucified body, and drink            promise that God  will "forever be our gracious God  and-  Path-             ;
 the shed blood of  *Christ?" And the answer: "It is not only to           er." Further, it implies the washing away of our sins through
 embrace with a believing heart all the sufferings and death of            the blood and Spirit of Christ: "so doth the blood of Christ, by
 Christ, and thereby to obtain the  p:a.rdon  of sin, and life             the power of the Holy Ghost, internally sprinkle  the- soul;
 eternal;! but also, beside.s  that, to become more and more'united        cleanse it from  `its sins, and regenerate us from children of
 to his `sacred body, by the Holy Ghost, who dwells both in                wrath, unto chil.dren of God." It therefore  in.cludea  the gift of
 Christ and in us."' Here too the pardon of sin, I:fe eternal,  the        grace that is oalled regeneration, and the assurance of  adop-
 Holy Ghost, and union with Christ is in~cluded  in the promise of         tion unto sons of God. Further, the contents of the promise of
 God. And again I `state that' the promise here includes- much             God in this article is described as  followe:   "the   gifts and in-
 more than the presentation  .of the promise in Canons II, 5.              visible  graEe; washing,  cleansmg  and purging our souls of all
 And also in Question and. Answer 84, the  que.stion  about the            filth and unrighteousness; `renewing our hearts, and filling  _
 preaching of the gospel as (a ,key of ,the kingdom of heaven, the         them-  w:th all comfort; giving unto us  ,a true assurance of his
 for,giveness  of sins f,or the sake.of Christ3 merits is implied in       fatherly goodness; putting on us the new man, and putting off>
 the promse  pf the gospel. That this. promise is stated here <as          the old man with all his deeds." And as to the baptism of in-
meant only for the believers does not  mea,n  sthat faith is a             fants, the article states: "And indeed Christ shed his blood no
 condition to receive the promise.       For as we have said  re-          less for the washing. of the children of the faithful, than for
peatedly, according to our Confessions the Holy Ghost and                  adult persons; and therefore they ought to  receive  the sign
 faith  *are included in the  promise..itself.                 -           and sacrament of that, which Christ hath done for them." Now,.
     Nor .do we meet with any different conception of the promise          mark you wel.1,  that the Reformed Confessions, over ,agaipst  all
 of the gospel  i,n the Netherland or Belgic Confession. In                Arminians, maintain the doctrine of-  particullar  atonement.
 Article XXII we read: "We believe  .that,  to attain the true             Christ  $did aot die for all-men, but only for the el.ect. Nor are
 knowl,edge  of  th.s great mystery, the Holy Ghost  kindleth  in          all the ohldren that are born in the historical dispensation of
 our hearts an upright faith, which .embraces  Jesus Christ, with          the covenant elect children, as we well know from Scripture
 all  *his  merits, appropriates him, and seeks nothing more be-           and experience. It follows, therefore, when we read in this
 sides him." If we read this  :n  connection.with  -the rest of our        article that "Christ shed his blood no less for the washing of
 Confessfons,  it is evident that the Holy  ,Ghost,  the author of         the -children of the faithful than for the adult persons," not all
 faith, is  mcluded in the promise. He,' the Holy Ghost,                   the children of the faithful are meant, but only the elect ch&          -
 "kindleth  tn our hearts an upright faith, which embraces                 dren. For Christ shed His blood only for the elect,-according to.
 Jesus Christ, with all his  .merits.".  And once more I wish to,          all the Reformed Confessions.       And since the sacrament of
 state that it is impossible and it is n.onsense  to maintain -that        baptism is one of- the seals of the promise, it follows too that
 the Holy ,Ghost  so operates in our -hearts that we receive the           the promise is not for all, but for the elect only. The same
 saving faith on condition of f,a:th. The gift of faith, and there-        truth is expressed in Article XXXV, which speaks of the Holy.
 fore the promise, cannot be conditioned by faith on our  gart.            Snpper of our Lord Jesus Christ. There we read: "We believe
 Besides, in the same  articl,e  it is stated  1:terally  that faith is    and confess, that our Savior Jesus Christ did ordain and in-
 nothing but  `a  .means  or instrument, and therefore, certainly          stitute the sacrament of the holy supper, to nourish and sup-
 not a condition. For in this  article we read: "However, to               port those whom he hath already regenerated, and incorporated
 speak more clearly, we do not mean, that faith itself justifies           into his f.amily, wh:ch is his Church." That the promise of God
 us, for it is only an instrument with which we embrace Christ             is not for all, but only for the elect, is plainly stated here,~.be-
c our Righteousness.    But Jesus Christ, imputing to us  all his          cause the sacrament of the Lord's Supper is ordained for those
 merits, and so many holy works which he has done for  .us and in          whom He hath already regenerated. And according to  the
 our stead, is our Righteousness. And faith is an instrument               same <article, this life of regeneration is peculiar only to' God's
 that keeps us in communion with him in all his benefits, which,           elect. And as to the contents of the promise which'is sealed in _
 when become ours :are more than su&ient  to acquit us of our              the supper of the Lord, we read: "Now, as it is certain and be-
 sins". Faith, therefore, is not a condition, but an. instrument           yond ail  .doubt, that Jesus Christ  bath not enjoined to us the        '
whereby we embrace ,Christ and stand in communion with Him.                use. of  KS sacraments in vain, so he works in us  la11 that he


        represents to us by these holy signs; though the. manner :sur-           speak  ,a11 the truth. For we must add that they cannot be-
        passes our understanding; and cannot be comprehended by us,              lieve, because they are not of Christ's sheep. And the ultimate
        as the operations of the Holy Ghost `are hidden and incom-               cause of their unbelief, although the approximate cause is in
        prehensible. In the meantime we `err  ,not; when we' say, that           their own sin, is nevertheless in the fact that ,God, to speak Zn
       what is eaten and .drunk  by us is the proper and natural body,           infaalapsarian language, passed them by, according to His de-
        and the proper blood of Christ. But the manner of our partak-            cree, with the gift of faith. And in Article 7 we read: "Elec-
        ing of the same, is not by the mouth, but by the spirit -through         t:& is the unchangeable  ,purpose  of God, whereby, before the
        faith. Thus then, though Christ  always'sits at the  .right hand         foundation of the world, he hath out of `mere grace, according
        of his Father i,n the heavens, yet doth he not therefore cease to, to the sovereign good pleasure of his own will, chosen, from ,
       make us partakers of himself by faith. T?nis  feast is a  :sp:rit-        the whole human race, which had fallen through their. own
        ual  ,table,  at which Christ communicates himself with all -his         fault,  f.rom their primitive state of rectitude into  s:n and des-
        benefits  ~to us, and gives us there, to enjoy both himself, and         truction, a certain number of persons to redemption in Christ,
        the merits of `h:s sufferings and death, nourishing, strengthen-         whom he from eternity' appointed the  MedIlator  and Head of
        ing and -comforting our poor comfortless souls by the eating of          the elect, and the foundation of Salvation." Also here, let me
        his  flesh,-.quickening  and refreshing them by the drinking of          point *out, the infralapsarian presentation of the counsel of God
       his blood."' This. then is the contents of the promise of the             is very plainly expressed. God chose His elect from the human
        gospel. It includes the application of all the merits of Christ          race "which had fallen through their own `fault, from  the1.r
        to us, the nourishing and  strengthenmg  and comforting of our           primitive state of rectitude, into. sin and destruction." That is
        souls, and the  quickenng  and refreshing of them. Moreover,             pure infralapsarian language. And to it- we have no object:on
        that the promise of the gospel, as signified and sealed in the           whatsoever as far as the Declaration of Principles is concerned.
        sacrament, is not received by all that partake of the sacraments         For  eveIn  that infralapsarian' language expresses very plainly
        in the outward sense of the word is also evident from the rest           that the promise is an oath of God for the elect only, and  un-
     o f   t h i s   `a r t i c l e . For there we read: "Further, though the    con'ditonal. That ought to be very plain from the rest of this
        sacraments are connected with the thing signified, nevertheless          article, which says:    "This elect number, though by nature
        both are not received by all men: the ungodly indeed receives.           neither-`better nor more deserving than others, but with them
        the sacrament to his condemnation, but he doth not receive the           involved in one common misery (note again the infralapsarian
        truth of the'sacrament". He therefore receives the outward sign,         term.nologyj  God hath decreed to give to `Christ, to be saved by
        but certainly not the thing signified.-Just as  Cn the preaching         him, and effectually to call  an.d draw them to his communion
        of the gospel the ungodly may hear with the natural, external            by his Word and Spirit, to bestow upon them true faith,
        ,ear the promise of God, but he receives it to his condemnation.         justification and sanctification; and having  .powerfully  pre-
      _ He certainly does not receive the promise of the Holy  ,Ghost.           served  ,them. in the  fellow&:p  of his Son, finally, to glorify ,
        Nor  Cs that promise of the Holy Ghost meant for him. It is              them for the demonstration of his mercy, (and for the praise of'
        only for the elect.                                                      his glorious grace." All this is the contents of the promise
            Now let us turn to the Canons of Dordrecht. In I, 6 and 7,           of God: effectual calling, the drawing to the communion  ,of
        we read: Article 6, `That some receive the gift of faith from            Christ by  I& Word and Spirit,, true faith, justification,
        God, and others do not receive it, proceeds from God's .eternal          sanctification, preservation, and glorification-all is contained
        decree, `For known unto God  .are all his  ,wo,rks  from the  be-        in the promise of God. You say that this refers to.the counsel
        gtnning  of the world", Acts  1538. "Who  worketh  all things' of  ,God:- And I admit it.  [But that does not make any  differ-
        after the counsel of his will," Eph.  1:ll.  According to which          ence. For what God decrees He also performs. The promise in
        decree, he graciously. softens the hearts of the elect, however          the decree is the  same  as'%he  promise in its. execution. If the
        obstinate, and inclines them to believe; whiie he leaves the  non-       promise in the decree is absolutely only founded upon God's
        elect in his just judgment to their own wickedness and ob-               own sovereign w-11,  .so is the promise in its execution. What
        duracy. And  heren  is especially displayed the profound, the            God decrees  H.e also fulfills.    An,d He fulfills it in the very
        merciful, and at the same time the righteous discrimination be-          manner that He has  decreed  it.
        tween men, equally involved in ruin; or that decree of election             0 yes, the Arminians also speak of election. And to be
_       and reprobation, revealed in the Word of `God,  wKch though              sure, only the elect are saved. But the Arminians speak of a
        men of perverse, impure and unstable minds wrest to their                conditional election. And therefore they can also speak of a
        own destruction, yet to holy and pious souls affords unspeak-.           condit   onal promise. Our fathers refuted that whole doctrine
      ,. able consolation." Let me call your attention to the fact that          of a conditional election in Canons I, B, 2, 3. It is well that we
        I am quoting here from the Canons of Dordre&t, that are `a(d-            understand this. There we read that the true doctrine con-
        mittedly infralapsarian. For  Ct speaks of "the righteous dis-           cerning election and rejection having been explained; our fath-
        crimination between men,  .equally  involved in ruin." This is           ers reject the errors of those: "Who teach: That there are
        infra.    But I want- to call your  Iattention  to the fact that It      var'ous  kinds of election of God unto eternal life: the one g.en-
        does not affect whatsoever  .the presentation of the promise of          era1 and  indednite,  the other particular and definite; and that
        God `as it is in the Declaration of Principles,. Supra and infra.        the latter in turn is either incomplete, revocable,' non-decisive
        have nothing to do with the question. It is a gift of God  ac-           and conditional, or complete, irrevocable, de&ive  and absolute.
        cording to His own decree, and flowing from His d,ecree,  that He        Likewise:  t,hat there is. one election unto faith,  .and another
        bestows faith upon some. It is also according to the same deizree        unto salvation, so that election  -can be unto justifying faith,
        that .He does not bestow that same gift of faith upon others. It         wIthout  being a decisive election unto salvation." It is not dif-
        is not Reformed to present the matter as if the promise                  fi'cult  to understand what this  ,means.  The Arminians taught
        were  condit+ned  by faith. For in the first place, as has been          that! in last instance, salvation is after all dependent on the will
       said repeatedly, faith  Is included in the promise,        And that       of man, and that therefore also election is itself contingent upon
        promise of faith God bestows only-upon the elect. And if we              that free will of the  snner. By complete, irrevocable, decisive
        say that the rest do not receive the promise  .be$ause  they re-         and absolute election the Arminians meant election unto final
        ject it in unbelief, we certainly speak the truth; but we do not         salvation,  whbch is always dependent upon the will of man to


                                              THE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                              131

 persevere unto salvation. There, however, is also a revocable           purge. them from all sin, both original and actual, whether com-
 and incomplete election, whi1ch is not decisive; as, for instance,      mitted before or after believing; and having faithfully pre-
 the election unto justifying faith. When God in His eternal             served them even to the end, should at last bring them free
 counsel  h.as foreseen  ,that a man will believe, He chose him          from every spot  #and  blemish to the. enjoyment of glory in  this
 unto that justifying  fe:th. Rut even that  Eaith depends for           own `presence forever." Now, once  more':I  want to emphasize
 its continuance upon man's own will in last instance.           And     that the  Confess:ons,  and especially the Canons, are infralap-
 therefore it is possible that God chose a man unto justifying           sarian.  And I am very willing to subscribe to this infralap-
 faith  withcut  choosing him unto final salvation. That is the          ssrian presentation of the truth, although I' am personally con-              0
 meaning of this article. Of si.milar  conditions article 3 speaks,      vinced that the supralapsariam  conception of the counsel of God
 in which the Arminians  teach; "That the good pleasure and              is certainly  m0r.e  Scr:ptural.           Infra. is supposed to be softer
 purpose of God, of whch  Scripture maalkes.  mention in the doc-        than supra.    At any rate, it presents  j the historical view of
 trine of election, does not consist in this, that God chose cer-        God's counsel, while  sup&   emphtasizes  the ideal' order in the
 tain persons rather than others, but in this that he `chose out         counsel of God, as Scripture does very often. Now in article
 of all possible conditions (among which are also the works of           8, wh'ch  we just quoted, we certainly have a complete presenta-
 the law); or out of the whole order of things, the act of  f&th         tion of the promise of God as it is in the  idecree  of the Most
 which from  Bts very nature is undeserving,  `as well  ,as its in-      High,  and as it  is  aitually  executed in time. When in article
 complete obedience, as a condition of salvation." 0 yes, faith          5 of the same chapter'of the Canons we read that `(the promise'
 is a  concltion  of salvation. `And even the Arminians will not         of the gospel  :`s, that whosoever believeth in Christ crucified,
 deny that  fasith is a gift of God. But do not forget that the          shall not perish, but have everlasting life," we may -find in
 question whether God will bestow that gift  .upon  anyone does          article 8 what is the exact .scope of this "whosoever believeth."
 not in last instance depend solely upon God's sovereign  eleition,      That scope is limited to the elect alone. For them alone, ac-
 but upon man's own will. Whether  aman will  receive the gift           cording to this  art"cle,   Christy died. To them  (alone  the saving
 of faith from God is conditioned by the question whether he             efficacy" of His death extends. Upon them alone He  .bestows  the
 will use the light of nature  aright. These conditions remain           gift of justifying faith.  _ They alone are redeemed and given
 condl:tions  throughout the whole way of salvation, according to        all the blessings of salvation. Upon them alone He confers the
 Arminianism.      Faith and sanctification and perseverance are         gifts of  justifyimg faith, together with all the gifts of the
 all conditions which man must fulfill in order  to. reach final         Holy Spirit. Them alone He purges from all sin, both  orglnal
 salvation.    ,Ma.n,  according to the  Armin?ans  is always first.     and actual. Them alone He preserves even to the end. Them
 Whether man  .shall enjoy any part of his salvation and shall           alone He leads unto final glory infallibly. That is the promise
 finally  perservere depends on the question. whether he will re-        of God in all its fulness. And therefore, I say once more:  we-
ceive  faith to persevere. Now, I am well aware-that none of             must  ,not base a definition of the promise upon one article of
 us believe in such conditions. And none of us  w?ll teach that          the  Confess'ons,  but upon the whole of the Three Forms of
 faith is a prerequisite which man must fulfill. Rut, it is strik-       Unity.                              "`I
 ing that 1% spite of the fact that the fathers of Dordrecht were           Now let me turn once more.to  the Baptism Form. The doc-
 well acquainted with the term  condition,  they nevertheless care-      trinal part, of this Baptism Form deals with the promise of ,God,
 fully avoided it in their confessions. And it certainly is  ,safe       as sealed in the sacrament  ,of Baptism. This we `all admit. lB,ut
 for us to follow ths:r example, and not speak of conditions, at         certainly in that doctrinal part of the Baptism Form we have a
 all. At any rate, the promise of God is for the elect alone, and        much fuller description of the promise of the gospel than in
 is strictly unconditional. That we must maintain.                       Camons II, 5. What< according to `that doctrinal part of the
    Let me quote once more from the Canons, and this time                Baptism Form, the second part, is the contents of the promise?
 fromCanons II, 5-8. To II, 5 we  alr.eady  called your attention.       This: that God the Father makes an eternal covenant of grace
 And I will `not repeat what I said  :n that connection. In              w't,h  us, adopts us for His `children and heirs, will provide us
 Article 6 it is emphasized that the sin of impenitence land un-         with every good thing, and avert all evil or turn it to our
 belief is not owing to any insufficiency. in the sacrifice of Christ    profit. `All this God the Father  seals. to us. This is- the same
 upon the cross, but is wholly imputed to the unbelievers them-          as saying that He, swears-by an oath that He will .surely fulfill
 selves.    The  ,sin of unbelief is not God's, but  `man%.    God is    the promise unto those'to whom He promises these things.
 nev.er  the Author of sin. But this does not mean that the un-          Will God  fail to fulfill His  promi.se?   Can unbelief prevent
 belTever  is capable of faith without the grace of God. For in          Him from fulfilling it? You answer with me: of course not!
 Article `7 we read: "But as many as truly believe, and are de-          Jf that were the case, He would never fulfill it. He fulfills
 livered and saved from. sin and destruction through the death           His promise unconditionally. This is evident all the more be-
 of Christ, are indebted for this benefit solely to the grace of         cause  ths Form speaks of the  sacr'ament  of baptism as applied .
 God, given them-in Christ from everlasting, and not to any              to infants, who certainly cannot  fulfili  conditions,. With us, that
 merit of their own". And  i.s Article 8 we read: "For this              is, the believing  `church and their spiritual seed, God establishes
-was the sovereign counsel, ,and most gracious will and purpose          His eternal, covenant; and He shall never, never break .it. The
 of God the' Father, that the quickening and savmg.  efficacy of         promise is sure. BesSdes,  the promise consists in this, that the
 the most precious death of his Son should extend to all the             Son sealeth unto us that He washes  us. in His blood from all our
 elect, for bestowing upon them  alohe the gift  of- justifying          sins, that He incorporates us into the fellowship of His death
 faith,  t.hereby to bring them infallibly to salvation: that is, it     and resurrection,  .so that we are freed from all our sins, and
 was the will of God, `that Christ by the blood of the  cross,           accounted righteous before God.                That is the sure promise.
 whereby he confirmed the new covenant, should effectually re-           And that promise will surely be  ful%~led.  But it is fulfilled  -
 deem out of every people, tribe, nation, and language, all those,       only in the elect. And  it does not mean anyone  `else than the
 and those only, who were from eternity chosen to salvation,             elect. Again,  whem. we read here that in baptism the Son
 and given to him by the Father; that he should confer upon              sealeth unto us, what is meant by this personal pronoun `us
 them faith, which together with  !a11 the other saving gifts of         is the church as it. confesses these things, the believing church
. the Holy  Sp:rit, he purchased for them by his death; should           and  their.spiritual   .seed. No one  else can possibly be meant by


            132                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                      __-
          the  Baptim`Form.  Lastly, what according to the Baptism Form
            is the contemts  of the promise ? This: that the Holy Ghost as-
          I sures us that He will dwell in us and sanctify us to be members                      0  U.R D 0 C .T  @I N E
            of Christ, that He will apply unto us all that we  have   ;m
            Christ, the washink  away of our sins and the daily renewing  of
            our lives, till we  .shall finally be presented  wi6hout  spot or                The Hexaemeron or Creation-Week
          wrinkle among the assembly of the elect  im life eternal.  Aga.In
     s      I ask you: can the Holy Ghost be conditioned ? Can the work                                                (10)
            of the Holy Ghost be conditioned upon the work of man?                     Or
            can the Holy Ghost be prevented from realizing the promise by                              TH.E CREATION OF MAN  (3)
            our unbelief? Then we could mever be saved. But this is not
            the case. Wheh  the Holy Ghost ass&es  us of these thh:ngs,  He                     We concluded our discu&ion  of the origin of the
            will surely fulfill them. And He will fulfill them uncqnditional-                soul in our previous article with the remark that Rev.
            ly. But He will fulfill them only `in the elect. The us of the
            Baptism Form al4s.o here refers to the believing church and t,he!r               Hoeksema offers us another solution of this problem,
            spiritual seed, and to no one else. Amd thefef&e,, I mainta:n                    a.nd `promised to quote ifi this article from his book:
            that the language concerning the promise that is found in the                    In The Midst of Death. Tliis quotation we may read
           -Decl.aration  of Principles certainly is based foursquarely on our               on pages  X5-156,  and is  a$ follows: "All these ob-
            Confessions;                             .-                                      jections would seem to suggest that the distinction of
               It has been alleged by some that this teaching concerning:                    the ,human being in body and soul cannot serve as a
            the prdmise that is presented in the  Declaratibn  of Principles
            is something new in our  chuaches.                                               basis for. the explanation of the propagation of ori-
                                                           Bht that this is not the
            case may be plain from a quotation  out of the  pamphl,et,  "The                 ginal corruption. It does not offer us the proljer  work-
            Gospel," publ'shed by our Sunday School 12 or 15 years ago,                      ing hypothesis. The reason for this must, perhaps, be
            when Prof. Heyns was  .still living. And I' quote: "Very' fre-                   found- in the fact that it is not clearly. defined what is
            queol'tly   Dhe  IBible speaks of the promise. Sometimes it refers               meant by ~"soul". In' Scripture, too, the word for soul
            to it in the plural to express the riches of its implications; more
            often in the singular to denote  its unity and identity, but al-                 has different connotations. Sometimes it is used for
            ways it  is the same promise. It is the promise that is given                    the whole man ; in other passages it is properly trans-
            to Abel, Enoch  an.d Noah, to Abraham,. l'saac, `can,d   dacob. `Fey,            lated by life; while again in other parts of the Bible
            having mentioned these saints of the old  dispensatioh,` and                     the meaning' of- the term closely approximates tliat of
            `having spoken of  *heir  life and death or translation by faith,                spirit. It would see& expedient, then to proceed from
            the eleventh chapter of the Hebrews tells us: `These all died in
            faith,  not having received the promises, but having seen them                   a little different  point of view, and choose another
            afar off, and were persuaded of them, tind embraced them, and                    distinction between person and nature. The whole liv-
            confessed that they were strangers and pilgrim's on the earth',                  ing nature of man is propagated through generation,
            v,s. 13. And having reviewed the  1Xe and battle of faith of                     conception, and birth. _ But this propagation of the
          many more of the great cloud of witnesses,  and including them                     human nature takes place under the operation of an
           ,a11 in his view the author of thk Hebrews  fimally' states: `And
            these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received                 act of providence whereby that nature becomes a
            not the' promise,' vs. 39. It  as evident from these passages                    p&-so-n&-nature.  This distinction &d ekplanation has
            that all through the old dispensation there was a promise,                       this in its favor; that it is in accord with what we con-
            -given  u&o the saints, which  they embraced and believed, by                    fess concernng the incarnation. Also in the incarna-
            which they  lived  and died, for the which they were  w.Xling  to                tion of the Son of God the whole human nature, we
          be strangers and pilgrims im the earth, suffer hunger and  :exile
            and imprisonment, endured cruelty arid .mockeries  and scourg-                   believe, is conceived in the womb of the virgin Mary
            ings, were  sla:n with  the sword and sawn asunder, wandered                     and' born from her.  Btit  th8 Son of  *God  &ssumed  ark
            about in sheepskins and goatskins, afflicted, destitute, and tor-                impersonal human nature: the Person also in this
            mented. And in the greatness of their faith and  .endurance                      case came from God, is, in fact, the very second Per-
            and the .&verity of their sufferings' we may see reflected the
            beauty and Aches of the promise  .they  possessed <and  saw afar                 son of the Holy Trinity Himself.  If, then, the human
            off. Galatians 3 is a classic chapter on this subject of the                     nature is become corrupt in paradise, and the whole
            promise. It emphasizes that the- promis.es were made to Abra-                    human  nature  in each individual child that is born
            ham and-his seed,  mamd that this seed of Abraham is centrally                   comes from the parents through conception and birth,
            and essentially Chiist, vs. 1~6. It ds plain that Christ, the seed,              we can  conceiqe  .of the possibility that a "corrupt
            who is the fulfillment ,of`the promise, is at the same time also
            the  ohief recipient of the promise. It  states that the law                     stock produces a corrupt offspring," and that, as the
            which came 430 years later than the promise to Abraham,                          Catechism expresses it : "our nature is become so cor-
            could not.  poss:ably  make the latter of none effect, vs. 17; and               rupt, that we are all conceived and born in sin."-end
          that God gave the inheritance to Abraham by promise, vs. 18.                       of quote.?  -
            It reaches the conclusion that if we are Christ's, then are we
            Abrah&n's  seed .and-.heirs  according to the' .ppomise,~,vs.  29..              Csented in the  Iryage of  God.
                                    ( t o   b e   co$&led)                                     ,-First, we would present to our readers a short his-
                        `. .          ..-     ..,
                               :                                 .;  x,_i_ H.  ,HHi          .torical review  of this concept. We read in Gen. 126 :


I


                                    `l'i%E  STACDARD   BEAiZtiR                                                    133
                                                                                        -
"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after           ception of the image of God became the prevalent one
our likeness.: and let them have dominion over the fish      in Reformed theology. Thus  Witsius-  says : "The
of the sea, and over the fowl of thk air, and over the       image of God consisted antecerdenter, in man's spirit-
cattle, and ojer all the earth and over every creeping       ual and immortal nature ; formaliter, in his holiness ;
thing. that creepeth upoti the earth."- As far as the        consequenter, in his dominion." A very similar opinion
distinction is concerned between "image" and "like-          is expiessed  by Turretin. `To sum up it may be said
ness" some have declared that the one word  refers to        that the image consists : (aj In the soul or spirit of
the body whereas the other refers to the sdul of man.        man, that is, in the' qualities of simplicity, spirituality,
Augustine held that the "image" referred to the in-          invisibility, and immortality. (b) In the  psychicai
tellectual, and the- "likeness" referred to the moral        powers or faculties of man as a rational and moral
faculties of the soul. Others, as the Roman Catholics,       being, namely, the intellect and the will with their
maintained that the "image" wag a designation of the         functions. .(c) In the intellectual and moral integrity
natural gifts of man, whereas the ",likeness" was .a         of man's nature, revealing itself in true knowledge,
description of that which was supernaturally added           righteousness, and holiness, Eph. 4 :24 ; Col. 3 :lO. (d)
to man.                                                      In the body, not as a material substance, but as the
   Professor Berkhof, in his "Reformed Dogmatics",           fit organ of th.e soul, sharing its immortaiity ; and as
gives us the following historical review of this concept     the instrument through which man can exercise
which we wish to quote, pages 206-208.                       dominion over the lower creation. (e) In man's
                                                             -dominion over the earth. In opposition to the Soci-
                                                             nians, some Reformed scholars went too far in the
                                                             oppdsite direction, when they regarded this dominion
       EERKHOF'S  HISTORI(?AL REVIEW                         as something that did not belong to the image at all
   "1. The Reformed -Conception. The Reformed but.was the result of a special disposal of God. In con:
Churches, following in the footsteps of Calvin, have a       nection with the qtiestion,  whether the image of ,God
far more CornprehensiVe  coriception of the image  o-f       belongs 40 the very essence of man, Reformed theology
God than either the Lutherans or the Roman Catholics.        does not hesitate. to say that it constitutes the essence
But even they do tiot $11 agree as to its exact contents.    of  m&n. It distinguishes, however, between those ele-
Dabney, for instance, holds that it does not consist in      ments in the image of God which -man cannot lose
anything absolutely~essential  to man's nature, for then     without ceasing to be man, consisting in the essential
the loss of it would have resulted in the destruction of     qualities and powers of the' human soul ; and those
man's nature ; but merely in .some acciclents.  McPher-      elements which Ean `can `lose and still remain- man,
son, on the other hand, asserts that it belongs to the       namely, the -good ethical qualities of the soul and its
essential nature of man, and says that; "Protestant          powers. The image of God in this restricted sense is
theology would have escaped much confusion and  niany        identical with what is called original righteousness.
needless and unconvincing doctrinal refinements, if `it      It is the moral perfection of the image, which could be
had not encumbered itself with the idea that it was          and was, lost by sin.
bound to define sin as the loss of the image, or of             2.    The Lutheran Conception. The prevailing
something belonging to the image. If the image were          Lutheran conception of the image of' God differs ma-
lost man would cease to be man.        These two, then,      terially from that of the Reformed. Luther himself
would seem to be' hopelessly at variance. Other dif-         sometimes spoke as if he had a broad conceptiori of it,
ferences are also in evidence in Reformed theology.          but in reality he had a restricted view of it. While
Some would limit the image to the moral qualities of         there w&e during the' seventeen&h century, and there
righteousness and holiness with which man was                tire even now, some Lutheran theoldgians who have a
created, while others would inc!ude the whole moral broader  conception of the image of God, the great
and rational nature of man, and still others- would          majority `of them restrict it to the spiritual qualities
also add the body. Calvin says that the proper seat of       with which man was originally endowed, that is, what
the image of God is in the soul, though some rays of         is called original:righteousness.  In doing this they do
its glory also shine  in the body; He  fitids that the       not sufficiently recognize the essential nature of mai-1
igmage consisted especially in that original integrity of    as'distinct  from that of the angels on the one hand,
man's nature, lost by sn, which reveais itself -in true      %nd from that of the animals on the other hand. 11~
knowledge, righteousness, and holiness. At the same the possession of this image men are like the angels,
time he adds further "that the image of God extends          who also possess it; and in comparison with what the
to everything in which -the nature of man surpasses ttio have in common, their difference is of little impor-.
that of all other species of animals. This broader con-      tance. Man lost the'image of God entirely through sin,


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  1 3 4                                THE  STANDARO  BtiARE;R

  and what now distiiguishes him from the animals has           find the image of God.only in the free personality of
  very little religious or  theologicbl  significance.' The     man, in his rational character, his ethico-religious dis-
  great difference between the two lay in the image of          position, and his destiny to live in communion with
  God, and-this man has lost entirely. In vi&w of this          God?-end of quote.
  it is also natural that the Lutherans should adopt tra-          Let us first attend t6 the Roman Catholic view.
  ducianism, and thus teach that the soul of rn& ori-           Roman Catholicism views the image of God in Adam,
  ginates like that of-the ,animal, that is, by `procreation. `-not as .belonging  to his essence (according to Rome,
  It also accounts for the fact that the Lutherans liardly      therefore, man is not essentially the image of God)
_ recognizes the moral unity of the human race, but em-         but as added to Adam, a gift which they call "donum
  phasize strongly its physical unity and the exclusively       superadditum," i.e., an added gift. Man, then, is  a
  physical propagation.of sin. Barth domes closer to the        complete being without this image. He can lose it and
  Lutherans than to the.Reformed  position when he seeks        remain man, and, what is more, a good man.           Man
  the image of God in "a point of contact" between God consists, without this image, of a lower and a higher
  and man, a certain conformity with God, and then says         existence. The lower part of his existence is the ma-
  that this was not only ruined. but even annihilated by        torial,and the higher form of his existence is the spir-
  s i n .                                                       itual.~ It is his calling to pursue after that which is
     3. The Roman Catholic View;  R&an Catholics spiritdal, to live according to the spiritual aspect of
  do. not altdgether agree in their conception of the           his existence. However, he finds it extremely difficult
  image of God. We limit ourselves here to a statemerit         to do so because he is hindered by the lower, the ma-
  of the prevailing view among them. They hold that             terial aspect of his being. To aid him now in that
  *God  a* creation endowed `man with certain  natur&           struggle to live according to the spiritual aspect of his
  gifts; such as. the spirituality of the soul, the freedom     existence, God gave him the added gift of His image,
  of the will, ,and the immortality of the, body. Spirit-       also called original righteousness: This added gift of
  uality, freedom, and immortality, are natural  enclow-        original righteousness is as a gold chain which has
  mepts, and as such constitute the  natural  image  of         been added to and is adapted to his nature and which
  God. Moreover, God "attemper6d"  (adjusted) the na-           aids him in his struggle against the flesh. When man
  &ural powers of man to one another, placing the low&          fell he lost this image, this  added gift of original
 in due subordination to the higher. The harmony thus           righteoustiess. This view, we should and do under-
  established is called just&a-natural  righteousness. But      stand, is surely a serious heresy. It is nothing' else
  even so there ,remained in man a natural tendency of          than Peiagianism.      Mind you, man  sim$y- lost his
  the lower appetites and passions to rebel against the         added gift, the .added gift of original righteousness.
  .authority  of  the higher  powers  of reason and con-        This meins, in other wor_ds,  that he did not become es-
  science.' This tendency, called concupiscence, is not if-     sentially  and radically corrupt. All he lost was  th`hz
  self sin, but becomes sin when it is corisented to by the     added help to;-aid  him in his struggle against the flesh.
  will and passes into voluntary action. In order to en-        This, we  say;..is a serious error. Scripture knows
  able man to hold his lower. nature in check, ,Giod added      nothing of such a presentation. We are simply told
  to' the  dona  naturulia  certain  dona  supernuturalia.      that God created man iri His own image and after His
  These included the `donurn superad@..&  of original           own likeness. Hence, man was created in that image.
  righteousness (the supernatural likeness to God) ,            This  imagi was, therefore,. not merely an incidental,
  which was added as a foreign gift to the original c&l-        something added to what Adam originally was. The
  stitution of man, either immediately at the time of           image was not something given to. Adam after he had
  cPeation, or at' some .later point as a reward for the        been created by the Almighty. He had it from the
  proper use of the natural powers. These supernatural          very beginning. Besides, this is simply Pelagianism,
  gifts, including the  dosum  superad&tum   of original        the denial of the truth that man became wholly cor-
  righteousness, were lost by sin, but their loss did not       rupt. And it is well that `we .omphasize  .this today `be-
  disrupt the essential nature ok man. ~,`y                     cause of the teaching of the Christian Reformed
     4. Other views of the Image of .God>$: :According          Churchas. They teach, do they not, that the' sinner,-
  to the Socinians and some of the earlier Arminians the        without  regeqeration,  without the renewal of the
  image of God  consisti in  man's" dominion over  ihe          heart, can please God;.*can,  in fact, accept the proffer-
lower creation, and in `this only.: Anabaptists main-           red salvation which is gaaciously  extended to him even
  tained that the first man, as a finite atid e&thly crea-      as it is extended to .a11 who come under the p,reaching-
  ture, was not yet the image of God, but `could become         of the gospel.  _  '  Fe
 this only by  regeperstioti.   .`Pelagians;  mdst of the          We also wish to say a Ee&&rds about the distinc-
  Arminians, and Rationaligts -all, . with little variation,    tion : image of God in the ~brbader  and narrower sense.


                                        T       H        E             STAN'DARD  BEABER                                      135

Prof. Berkhof also mentions this distinction when he            adorned  wibh a true and saving  -knowledge.   03 his
writes, page 207: "In connection with the question,             C,r&ator,  and of spiritual things ;, his heart  and. will
whether the image of God ,belongs to the very essence           were.   upriiht;  all his affections pure; atid the- whole
of man, Reformed theology does not hesitate to say              man was holy ; but, revolting from God by the in&&a-
that it cotistitutes  the essence of man. It d.istinguishes,    tion of the devil, and abusing the freedom of his own
however, between those elements in the image of God             will,`he forfeited these'excellent  gifts ; and on the con-
which man cannot lose without ceasing `to be man,               trary entailed on himself blindness of mind, horrible
consisting in the essential qualities and powers of the         darkness, vanity and  perverseness  of judgment, be-
human soul ; and those elements which man cati lose             came wicked, rebeliious, and obdurate in heart and
and still remain man, namely," the good ethical qualities       will, and -impure in his affections." Here we read that
of the coul and its powers. The .image of ,God in this man was originally formed after the image of God,
restricted sense is identical .with what is called ori-         that his'und&standing  was adorned `with a true and
Final righteousness., It is the moral perfectibn  of the        saving knowledge of his  Cpeator,  and of spiritual
image, which could be, and was lost, lost by sin." It           things, etc., and also that he simply lost or forfeited
m&t be granted that t-his distinction has been rather           these excellent gifts and e&ailed on himself horrible
generally accepted as` belonging to R'eformed doc-              darkness, vanity and perverseness of judgment, etc.
trine. What is meant by this distinction? The image             Secondly,~ we belieye that this is a dangerous distinc-
of God in the broader or wider sense refers, then, to           tion. To be sure, as lung as one maintains that the
man's rationality and morality. and immortality. And            image of #God in the narrower sense was completely
the image of *God in the narrower seve refers to his            lost very little harm will result and can occur.              But
true knowledge of God, hi8 righteousness and holiness.          the trouble is that words and terms have meanings.
The former implies all that distinguishes man from              And it is not merely a question how I may interpret a
the lower  aninials, whereas the latter ,is his original        certain term, but also -how a certain term can be in-
state of righteousness and holiness. The: latter man            terpreted. Using words and terms which permit er-
lost through the fall whereas the former he retained.           roneous interpretations is like playing with fire. `This,              .
In a wider sense man still retains this image of God.           WC firmly believe, also applies to the late discussion in
Ho,wever, he no longer possesses his original righteous-        our churches about "conditions." And the fact  re-
nezs. What'must be our judgment of this distinction? .mains that when we speak of the image of God in a
First, this distinction does n,ot appear in our Confes-         wider and narrower pense,  that man retained the for-
sons. Lord's Day 3 simply informs us that our nature            mer and lost the latter, we are speaking of a certain
is become so corrupt that we are all conceived and              retaining of .the image of ,God. The `result has been
born in sin, and also that we .are incapable of doing           that -today ~they speak ,of a retention o$ the image. of
any good and inclined to all wickedness except we are           God by man, also in the narrower sense, so that man
regenerated by the Spirit of  .God.  In Art. 14 of our          has not become wholly corrupt but has retained  1
Confession'of Faith we read: "But being in honor, hz rc,mn.ants of his original righteousness whereby `he is
understood it not, neither knew his excellency, but             enabled to do things wlhieh are favorable in the sight
wilfully subjected himself to sin, and consequently to          of `God. Hence, we reject the distinction which is often
death, and the curse, giving ear to the words of the            made today with respect to the concept: image of God
devil. For the commandment of life, which he had re-            in man, the distinction namely of the image in the
ceived; he transgressed ; and `by sin separated himself         broader and narrower sense.             How, `then, should we
from God, who was his true life, having cbrrupted  his          conceive of this image of God in man? This question
whole nature ; whereby he made himself liable `to               we will attempt to answer in our following article.
corporal and, spiritual, death. And being thus =-become                                                         H .   V e l d m a n
wicked, perverse, and corrupt in all his ways, he hatll
lost all his excellent gif,ts, which he had received from
(God, and only retained Ia few remains thereof, which,                                                                   a
how&er,  are sufficient to leave man without excuse ;
for all the light which is in us is changed into dark-                                      El
ness, as the Scriptures teach us, saying : The light                                              _=
shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth
it not: where St. John calleth men darkness." And                         Lord, what shall earth and ashes do ?
the same thought is expressed in the Canons of Do&d-                      We would adore our Maker too;
recht, III and IV, Art. l-: "Man was originally formed                    From sin and  dust to thee we cry,
after the image of  ,God. His understanding was'                          The Great, the Holy, and the High!


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136                                      TH-E  STAI$DARD   B E A R E R

                                                                    fear, doing so with & view to the weaknesses
   TIj[RO~GH  THti A-GES                                            of their flesh, whereby they of necessity
                                                                    would perish should the Lord through His
                                                                    unmerited grace not .make them ,to stand, for
                                                                    also that they watch and pray and are pr.e-
       The  Arminian  ,or Remonstrant Struggle                      pared to strive, thut ,they have not of them-
       The last two articles (6 and 7) of the Contra-Re-            selves but only of the Holy `Ghost who by a
monstration.                                                        particular grace prepared them thereto and
                                                                    thus mightily sustain them.
          VI. That those thus enlightened, regen-                     Dat evenwel de ware  geloovi,gen  uit deze
        erated and renewed through this same power               D leer  geeti oorzaak  izemen  van zorgeloos de
        of the Holy Spirit by which they are initially              booze lust'en-van hun vleesch te volgen, dewijl
        converted, without any intermediation on                    "het onmogelijk is, d& degenen, die Christus
        their part are constantly sustained and kept                door een waar geloof zijn  -ingeplant, niet
        in such a manner tha;t, although they be en-              zouden voortbrengen vruchten der  dankbaar-
        cumbered by  numeroui weaknesses of the                     heid." Juist het tegendeel geschied. Hoti meer
        flesh  Iso long as they  are in this life.  and            `ie zich verzekerd houden en verstaan, dat God
        sometimes fall into grievous sins, the Spirit               in hen werkt beide het willen en het volbren-
        of sanctification. prevails `in them neverthe-'            ' gen naar zijn welbehagen, des te meer werken
        less, so that they cannot ever wholly or final-             z$ in vreezen en beven hunne zaligheid uit,
        ly lose the true faith and adoption of chil-                dewijl ze weten, dat dit het eenige middel is,
        dren of God once imparted unto them.                        -waardoor het  `God belieft hen staande te
          Dat degenen, die' alzoo  verlicht, wederge-               houden en ter zaligheid te brengen ; waartoe
        boren en vernieuwd geworden zijn, door                      Hij ook in zijn Woord allerlei, vermaningen
       ,diezelfde  kracht des .Heiligen Geestes, waar-              en bedreigingen gebruikt. Want dat doet Hij
        door ze aanvankelijk bekeerd zijn  zonder.                  niet om hen te  doen wanhopen  bf te  doen
        eenige toedoen hunnerzijds, ook gestadiglijk               ' twijfelen aan hunn_ft zaligh_eid, maar om een
        alzoo worden  onderhouden en bewaard, dat                   kinderlijke.  vreeze in hen te  werwekken,  en .
        alhoewel hen de  zivakheden des vleesches                   Hij doet dit uit aanmerking van de zwakheid
        aanhangen, zoo lang zij in dit leveti zijh, en              huns  vleesohes,  waardoor ze noodzakelijk
        ze zomstijds vallen .in zw&re  zonden, nochtans             kouden  moeten vergaan, ten ware dat de
        de geest de; heiligmaking in hen de overhand                Heere ze door zijne onverdiende genade
       behoudt, .z.oodat  zij het, hun eens geschonken-             staande hield, want ook dat  ze waken  -en
       ware geloof en de  aatieming tot  kin$eren                   bidden en ten strijde bereid  zijn, dat hebben
        Gods nimmermeer-  geheel eti al, noch ook ten               ze niet van zich zelven maar alleen van den
        &nde toe kunnen verliezen.                                  Heiligen Geest, die hen door een bijzotid?r
          VII. That evenso the true believers do not                genade  daartoe bereidt en alzoo krachtelijk
       take from this doctrine a cause f,or carelessly              staande houdt.
        following the evil lusts of their flesh, seeing
        that it is impossible that those who by a true             These are the `7'articles  of the Calvini&s against
       -faith have been planted into Christ -should         the Remonstrants.         It is known as "The  Contra-
        not bring forth fruits of gratitude. The very       Remonstratibn," and it includes besides these 7 art-
        opposite takes place. The more. they hold           icles  ap introduction and conclusion. The latter reads :
       -themselves persuaded and understand that                      `fThis Noble, Potent and `Mandating Lords
       ,God works in them both to will and to do, ac-               is in brief what we insist is being taught in
        e&ding to -His good pleasure, the more they         _       our churches. What the Remonstrants add to         -
       -work  out with fear and trembling their salva-             it to make it appear as hateful as possible is-
        tion, seeing that th'ey know that this is the               but a mass of consequences and slanderings
        only .means whereby it pleases <God  to make                that the carnal mind, which is enmity against
        them to stand and to lead them unto, salva-                 God, deduces from it. However, he who holds
        tion. For which purpose ,He also in His Word                that God was no.t resolved to damn anyone but '
        employs various exhortations and threats.                 for his sins ; that He does not move anyone to
        For He does that not td cause them to `dis-                 sin and that also they who, dead in sin, cannot
        pair or to make. them to doubt  their own                   otherwise but sin, yet sin voluntarily-will        .
        salvation but to awaken in them a childlike                .not  be offended by this doctrine. If there be


                                          TtiE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                       134

        in our churches ministers who-even as                   tegen Gqd, uit deze leer trekt. Die echter aan-
        Doctor Martin  ILuther  did -- go somewhat              merkt, dat God niet voorgenomen  heefit,
        higher with respect to God's counsel regard-            iemand te verdoemen dan om- de zonde; dat
        ing the salvation of man than is set  forth_            hij niemand tot zonde beweegt, en dat ook
        above, about this there thus far has never              zij, die-in zonden dood-niet anders kunnen`
        been any disharmony or strife in our                    dan zondigen, tech vrijwillig zondigen, die.zal
-       churches, seeing that regarding the founda-             zich aan deze leer niet stooten. En als er in
        tion there-is complete agreement among them.            onze kerken eenige leeraars zijn, die_even
        We all teach, certainly, that faith and godli-          als Doctor  Lutherus deedwat hooger gaan
        ness are fruits of election and not-as the              in `t  aanmerken. van Gods raad  alangaande
        meaning of the Remonstrants seems to be-               der menschen zaligheid als hierbopen is ver-
       the ground and condition for election. If these          haald, daarover is tot noch toe. nooit eenige
        (the Remonstrants-O) but truly admit that               oneenigheid of strijd in onze kerken geweest,
        God alone works faith and steadfastness in              aangezien zij in `t fundament met elkaar
        us,  then they need not  contxovert  with us,           overeen komen ; allen tech leeren'wij, dat het
        seeing  [that  Gdd certainly cannot foresee more        gelbof en de godzaligheid  vruchten zijn der
       good in man than He Himself purposed to                  verkiezing, en niet-zooals der  Remon-
       work in him as His elect! If on the contrary             stranten mekning schijnt te wezen-de gron-
       they mean that faith is called God's gifts               den en voorwaarden voor de- verkiezing. Als
        only in the sense that God supplies the power.          deze  slechts  waarlijk  toesltemmen,  dat God
       to be able to believe but tha$ .it then depends          alleen liet geloof en de volstandigheid in ens,
       on the arbitrariness of man either to regard             werkt, dan behoeven ze geen strijd met ons
       this gift or not to regard -and utilize it and           te voeren, aangezien God tech niet'meer goeds
       that also the progess and perseverance is of             in den mensch heeft kunnen voorzien, dan hij
       man-such a sentiment we cannot admit see-
       `.                                                       zelf voorgenomen had in hem, als zijn `&tver-
       mg it militates against God's glory and our              korene, te werken ! In dien zij daarintegen
       only comfort.                                            meenen, da,t het geloof God's gasie genoemd
             "If in fine the Remonstran$s request that          wordt alleen in dien zin, dat .God -kracht geeft
       they be tolerated, we would have your noble              om te kunnen gelooven, doch dat het dan aan
       Lords consider whether already they have not             `s menschen willekeur hangt om die gave al of
       been tolerated above measure. Whether  they              niet waar te nemen en te gebruiken en ook dat
     are willing to  tolerate   theii fellow brethren,          de  vooptgang  en volharding eensdeels van den
       who-do not agree with their sentiment, that             mensch komt, zoo kunnen wij  zulk een  ge-
       already has come to arttention  in some places           voelen niet toestemmen, aangezien dit strijdt
     where they predominate! `The almighty God                  tegen Gods eere en. onzen eenigen troost.
       is our witness that we eagerly tolerate eveTy-             Als ten slotte de Remonstranten verzoeken,
       thing that is tolerable in SGod's church and             gedult te  worden,  daarop geven wij  tiwe
       seek nothing but quiet and peace in the                  Edelmogenden .te bed,enken,  of .ze niet reeds
       cl+rch for the prosperity of our beloved                 meer dan genoeg zijn gedult  gewarden.  Of
       fatherland, no matter how they make us out               zij hun medebroeders, die met hun gevoelen
       f,or a contentious people unwilling to submit            niet instemmen, willen dulden, dat heeft men
       to the government. The Lord will one day                 alreeds in zommige plaatsen, waar zij de over-
       judge whether we have supplied the ma-                   hand hebben, bespeurdi  De almachtige God
       terial for such slandering. But this cannot be           is onze .getuige,  dat wij gaarne sllles dulden
       tolerated in the church that in the meetings             wat duldbaar in -Gods kerk is en anders niet
       for public worship they preach in the morn-              dan iust en vrede zoeken in de kerk om de
       ing thus and in the afternoon the reverse."              welvaart van ons lieve vaderland, hoe men
             "Dit is,  Edele,   -Mogende,   ' Gabiedende        ons ook voor twistgierige en tegen de Over-
       HeeFen, kortelijk hetgeen wij volhouden,                heid wederspannige menschen scheldt. De
       dat in onze  kerken geleerd  wordt;  Wat  de.            Heere zal eens. oordeelen, of wij voor zulke
       Remonstranten er bij doen om deze leer het               iiastering stof geieverd  hebben.
       hatelijkst  .voortestellen,  het zijn anders niet          Doch dit' kan niet in de kerk geduld
       dan valsche consequencies -en lasteringen, die           worden,. dat voor den middag zus geleerd
       `1; vernuft des vleesches;  dwt vijandschap is           wordt en des nademjddags  andersom."
                                                                                                       .._


  138                                       TtiE:  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R '

      Having now the Contra-Remonstration before us in          j ections ? What were they?           They were the same
 its entil"ety, let us offer our comment.                       complaints that are always being advanced against
 -    Certainly the  Contra-Remollstration  of the Cal-         thz conceptions of. things of the Calvinists. The Ar-
 vin&s is a. noble document despite the fact `that -minians said this:
 there are weaknesses in it. The theme of its `7 contra-             I. The Calvinist's system is contrary to the
 articles is that God is God and none else and that ati-             evidence and general tenor of Scripture. This
 cordingly His predestination-election and reproba-                  they proved or father thought they proved-
 tion-and saving grace are sovereign.  And this  doc-                a. by appealing to those declarations of Scrip-
trine it successfully  ch$mpions  and defends in op-                 ture, in which, in speaking of the atonement,
 position to the lying theories of the Remonstrants.                 or the death of Christ, terms of the widest
 All the complaints and requests that it voices and                  possible import are used- such as all, all the
 directs to the rulers in the state are just. The spirit          , worjd, all mankind, all the world, etc.
 that pervades the document throughout is thorougly
 Christian; it is humble, contrite, sincere and respectful.        The Arminians refused to take notice of the limit-
 Not onde did the author and th,e sign&tories of this           ations that these terms receiie from the context in
                                                                                                                  .s
 writing forget that it was their,government that they          which they appear.
. were addressing. Yet in stating their complaints and               b. by appealing to those passages which place
 in exposing the theories of their opponents they did                in direct  contr,ast Adam, and  .the extent of
 not mince words. On  the contrary,  .their sentences                the effects of the fall, with Christ, and the
bespeak a firmness of spirit born of the conviction thai             extent of the effects of His death.
 the doctrine championed is the truth and nothing but              I shall have to break off here to continue this dis-
 the truth.                   -                                 course in the article to follow.
      We must understand the purpose of the Contra-                                                        G.  ti. Ophoff
 Remonstration of the Calvinists. Td know this pur-
 pose we must get before us the one element of truth                       :
 so distasteful to the Arminians.
      In opposition to the Arminians the Calvinists-Su-                                        q            .
 pralapsarians and Infralapsarians alike-held to the
 following..
             1. God in Christ has chosen some men unto                           :IN MEMORIAM
         everlasting life and past by the rest to be af-
         flicted for  theh sins  without any  regimi to           The Con&tory  of the Protestant Reformed Church of Orange
                                                                City, Iowa, expresses sincere sympathy for our brother Elder
         faith nnd unbelief.       (To the thought of the       A. Wassepaar and family  ili the death of his mother,.
         phrase in Italics all subscribed, that is, all                                 Mrs. I'. Wassenaar  :
          C a l v i n i s t s .                                   May the God of~dl grace comfdrt  them with His Holy Spirit.
             2. Christ died only for the elect.                                                       The Consistory,
             3. Grace is all-sufficient.                                                                W. Hofman, Pres.
         4.  .Grace is irresistable.                                                                    M. De Jager, Clerk      .
             5. The saints `persevere to the end because,
         being the object of a sovereign election, they
         cannot fall from grace.
                       .
      It.,is apparent that what we have he?e in `the total                       ..-
 of these propositions is a thought-structure reposing
 upon a single unnifying `idea or conception, which is                           Attention : Consistories
 that the sole cause, necessity and fountain of the sal-            The Board of the XFPA decided at their last board
 vation of the elect is the will and counsel .of ,God ; and     meeting to send. THE STANDARD BEARER to all
 that the primary cause of the damnation of the re-             the young men of our demoniation who are in the
 probated is this same divine will.                             Armed Forces. Will you please forward their names
         It is `this idea to which the Arminians were so        and addresses  to Mr. John Bouwman, 1350 Giddings
 bitterly opposed as is evident from their Remonstra-           ,Ave., S.E., Grand Rapids 6,  Mich. Also PLEASE
 tion. To this conception and accordingly to the entire         KEEP US  9NFORMED OF  CHANGE% OF  AD-
  dogmatic of the Calvinists they had serious objec-            DREBSES.
 tions. So they said., We are interested in these ob-                                                    THE BOARD
                                                                    n.-                        .,


                                              T H E   STANDARD  B E A R E R                                                139'

                                                                  Heidelberg caiechism.        The question reads: "From
              THE'DAY OF  SkIADOWS                                whence knowest thou this?" and the answer: "From
                                                                  &he Holy Gospel, which God himself first revealed in
                                                                  paradise ; and afterwards published by the patriarchs
                                                                  and prophets, and represented by the sacrifices and
         The  ProtevAqpz~  as the  Unifying Idea                  other ceremonies of the law; and lastly has fulfilled
                       ~of all the Scriptures                     it by His only begotten Son."
                                                                     As was just `stated, God shed this required light
         The P'rotevangel is the promise of- the Gospel as        also through mighty works of His. It means that also
     first proclaimed and this by the very voice of Christ.       the history of the people of Israel is typical-symbolical.
     Let us get this #Gospel before us:                           To deny this is to deny the unique character of Israel's
         "And I will put enmity between thee and the wo-          history; it is to place this history ,in the category of'
     -man, and between thy seed and her. seed; he shall           ordinary history. Also by Israel's history the required
     bruise~thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel."            light was shed.
         The importance.of this promise must be perceived.           We must now concentrate on  this history, this
     It is verily the embryo, the seed, so to speak, of all       typical, prophetical history of the people of Israel.
     the promises thereafter spoken through the centuries         Examining this history we discover that it divides in
     of the formation of the Canon of the Sc&ptures,  which       a number of parts or epodhs or dispensations of grace.
     is to say that the lattftr  are but the development, un-     We discover further that each- part ,is complete by it-
     f,olding, of the `Gospel cqntained in the former.            self and that it constitutes in contradistinction to each
        Students of Scripture rightly speak of a history of       of the other parts or epochs a  ddmplete  type of the
     revelation. But what is this "history of revelation'! salvation held forth by th6 protevangel. We discover
     but the h&tory of the unfolding and development of           finally that in each succeeding picture type of the
     the Gospel of the  protevangel-an  unfolding of this         series, the features. of this salvation stand out in' al-
     ,Gospel  in and through the discourses of  Israei's di-      ways bblder relief. Herein each succeeding type dif-
     vinely inspired prophets. There is therefore but one         fers from the one immediately preceding.
     promise essentially. Yet the Bible speaks of promises.           The first picture is that epoch of sacred history  '
     But this cannot mean that the "prdmises"" hold` forth        that begins with the fall of man ,into sin and that ends
     a Gospel that differs from the Gospel of the Prote-          with Noah and his family leaving the ark `after the
     vangel 01: that is not as to -its substance contained in     deluge and his being blessed by the Lord God.
     it. What is nieant `is simply that the `salyation  that,        Let us get the events of this epoch before 
     the protevangel .holds forth is that many-sided and                                                            us.
     includes a variety of riches-riches of His grace-so              The first man Adam left the hand of God his Maker
     wonderful that, if it was to be fully compiehended  by       a sinless-  mall. For in His own image God created  '
     God's believing people more and always more light            him. But Ad&m subjected himself to sin. He there-
     had to be shed upon it. And this light was not with-         by corrupted his whole nature and became perverse ilt
     held.      It  was given in all the promises thereafter      all His ways potentially as to himself and actually in
     spoken.                                                      his generations: Then God brought in His Gospel, "1
                                                                  will set enmity,.- , . ."
         Nbw in shedding this  ,needed light, in unfolding
     &he gospel of the protevangel, the Lord availed Him-             This divine declaration raises questions.
     self Of definite vehicles of thought.                           Just who in the final instance. is the serpent? . Who
         The question is now: what was the character of           is his se.ed? And-who is the seed of the woman? And
     these vehicles? Through the ages of the Old Dispen-          what is the nature of the enmity that the Lord will set
     sation this character. w;1s typical-symbolical.      That    between  them?  `The head of the serpent will be
     is to say, through the ages of the `Old Covenant the         crushed by the seed of the woman  ; but the serpent will
     Lord shed the required light through the vehicle of          crush his heel. What is the meaning of these mys-
     a typical-symbolical language, typical-symbolical in-        terious words?
     stitutions such as the sacrifices, and third  typical-          The protevangel itself does not s,ipply the answers.
     symbolical mighty works of His such as the deluge and        Hence if there had not been any subsequent revelatiotis
     the deliverance of the people of Israel from Egyptian        of God, these questions would forever have remairi'ed
     ,bon$age.                                                    unanswered. The Lord must shed light on His Gospel ~
        Now the line of thought here presented is in full         if it was to be understood. And this light was also
     accord with the answer to the 19th question of the           shed through the centuries.
                                                                                                               '

I


`140 .                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

   Immediately the two parties appeared and soon               . By the flood the head of the serpent was again
thereafter the seeds of each.. There was Adam and Eve        crushed typically and prophetically.
and Abel as opposed by Cain. And there was enmity,              Thus through the work of the flood in connecticm
between the two and they strove the one with the             with the verbal revelations to Noah a great new light
other, the seed of the serpent, who was Cain, and the        was shed upon the promise of  the- protevangel.
righteous Abel, the seed of the woman. The strife            Through this work of God the gospel concealed in the
culminated in the slaying of Abel by Cain. This was          protevangel underwent a marked development.
the first crushing of the hekl of the`woinan  by the ser-                                             G. M. SOphoff\
pent. Btit Abel was not destroyed; for, in the figura-
tive language of the  protev%ng&  only his heel was                                      El
crushed and not his head. For he has fought the war-
fare of God by God's mercy. Hence he will rise again
in Christ unto everlasting life.                              F R O M   H O L Y   W R I T
   Abel was followed  ~by Seth and the holy line of
patriarchs. Cain was supported by the serpent brood
of which he was `the progenitor. And the holy war-.                        ~&m&on of Matthew  5:17-20
fare continued. But the "sons of God" and the seed              In this article we plan to make a beginning of our
of the serpent amalgamated. And soon the wicked-             exposition of this very beautiful and instructive pas-
ness of man was great upon the earth as a result. Fin-       sage recorded here in this .fifth Chapter of Matthew.
ally all that  remaineg of the church was the eight          We plan not only to study these verses written above
souls that entered the ark. , It was a small remnant         this arti&, namely .the verses 17-20, but it is our in-
indeed. And it was exposed to the fury of the world          tention to try to give a-popularly written exposition of
that  eSery day and every moment of the day was all the verses from verse 17 till the end of the Chap-
threatening to overwhelm and destroy it. The plight          ter `in -subsequent contriljutions.
of the church was hopeless. But the Lord brought                 Since these verses 17-20 contain  the foundation, the
deliverance. He. sent the fldod ; by its water He des-       principal Viewpoint of all the teachings of this section.
troyed that  kicked race corrupting the earth, and           we will call attention to this first.
thereby separated His church from it, and, He brought            The verses literally read as follows:  "Tl&k  not
forth the righteous Noah from thk ark an heir of the         that I' am come to destroy the law or the -prophets: 1
new earth and world.-                                        am not come to d&troy, but to fulfill. ~For verily I say
   That the event was typical-prophetical is plain           unto you, till .heawen and ea??h pass, one  jbt or one
from the Scriptures at II Peter 3 :19-21: "By which          `tittle shall in no wise pass from the law  till all  be
He also went and `preached to the spirits in prison ;        fulfilled.  Whosoevir therefore shall break  one of
which sometimes were` disobedient, when once the             these least commandments, and shall teach men
longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah,             so, he shall  Zie called the  lea.&  / in the kingdom
while the ark was a. preparing, wherein few, that is         of heaven: but  whosoeaer shall  .do  and teach them,
eight souls, were saved by the water. The like figure,       the same shall be called great in the kingdom of hea-
whereunto, even baptism doth now save us. . . ."             ven. For I say unto you, that except your righteous-
   Let us take notice of the expression, "A like             ness shall exceed the righteousness of the Scribe& and
figure. .  ." It is `equivalent to the statement, "The       Pharkes, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom
water of the flood and the salvation that God `worked        of  heaven." ,
through this water was a figure, a type, and so like-            These very clear and lucid words of Jesus were
wise baptism,                                                3 uttered by Him when he sat on a mountain slope in
                                                             ,Galilee of the nations, and was teaching His desciples
   And what is the speech of these figures? It is thi:; :    and the multitudes that came unto Him.. These words
as by the water of the flood the church in the'days          are an integral part of what is known as "the Sermon
of Noah was separated from that wicked ante-deluvian.        on the Mount." As such~ %hey are quite well known
humanity and as the body is cleansed of its filth and        to the average Bible-reader. And. a not too detailed
thus separated fk;om it by the natural water of the          exposition of them should  proie beneficial and in-.
rite of baptism, so are  ,Gods people  sepalated,  from      teresting.                                    .,
sin and its pollution by the blood of Christ as sym-             Let us attend to the text then.'
bolized both by the water of the flood'and the water             In these words Jesus utters a word of warning to
of baptism-and  bfor Christ's sake clothed with per-         the church csf Hiti day as to the purpose of His coming
fection and glory.                                            into the flesh as the Savior of His people. We must


                                      THE'STANDARD   B E A R E R   ti                                             141

never. have the mistaken and dangerous notion that           of life in #Christ  Jesus, so that we walk not after the
Jesus-came into the world to make the law of none ef-        flesh but after the Spirit. Rom. 8 :l, 2.
fect. When Jesus here speaks of the "law" or even of            Such is the viewpoint and scope of the warning of
the "law and the prophets" he has reference to all           Jesus to His disciples and to us in this 17th verse
that is written in the Old Testament Scriptures con-         when He raises His warning finger saying: Think
cerning the law of `God in our `lives, be it the moral,      not. . . !
ceremonial or civil law, and as this is to be to the sal-       Forsooth the very opposite is the truth `of the
vation of the elect.    .  i                                 matter in Jesus. Jesus came  tb fulfill .the law and
    The question arises: was there then occasion in the      the prophets. `That is the purpose, the Divine intent
coming of Jesus for jumping at the erroneous and             of His coming. All  righteousnebs must be fulfilled:
harmful conclusion, `chat He came to disannul the law?       ithe just demands of  th; law must be fulfilled in us.            .
For why does Jesus warn the people in His day a-             Matt. 3 :15; Romans 8:4. It is true the law is weak
gainst this error?                                           through the flesh and cannot possibly bring us to ful-
    We tire of the, conviction that the error of assum-      fill the ~same ; as law it can only bring out the sinful-
ing that Jesus, came to, destroy the law and the pro-        ness .of sin. Rom. 7:7-13. But what the law couldsnot
phets is not forthcoming  out of Jesus' work itself.         do, since it was weak through sin, God has done in the
There was nothing in Jesus' work as such to make -sending of His Son in the likeness of .sinful:flesh,  to
this assumption; it is wholly to be explained out or" condemn sin in the flesh, and so to fulfill all righteous-
the tremendous sinful inclination of human nature,           ness. Says Jesus; standing in the likeness of sinful
that, as soon as liberty is proclaimed, this liberty is      flesh: I am come  to  fu&fill  the law. In so speaking
used for an occasion to the flesh to serve the flesh.        He employs a term in the ,Greek  which means : to make                 .
Surely Jesus came to bring liberty to the captives, but,     the measure full. Jesus will put the last drop in the
this does not mean that they atie no longer under the . measuie of all righteousness in all of His redeemed
royal  law of liberty. Christ does not lift out of the       saints. There shall be nothing lacking; no spot or
land where-the law is of effect, into that where the law     wrinkle or any such thing will there be in any of the
is disannuled, but he leads us from being under the ,saints.   .All shall be filled with the knowledge of  IGod
curse and guilt of the law to that of our being under        and of His holy law. I have come to fulfill the law.         ,
grace and the blessing of the law. For grace does not        Let there be no misunderstanding. And he who hears
disannul the law but it establishes- it. And the warn-       and keeps these words shall be likened unto a wise
ing af ,Jesus presupposes this tremendous sinful in-         man who builds his house upon a rock.
clination of the flesh which wars against the Spirit            All this Jesus speaks with truthfulness and cer-
and wills to always and again take us captive. With          tainty. He says:  vetily I say unto thee. It is most
this in mind Jesus utters the warning: think not that        sure and truthful that .He is come to fulfill the law
~J am come to destroy the .?.a~!                             and the prophets.      Besides it is. spoken with the
   IO,ur Savior here touches upon-  the crux of the ques-    greatest authority : `I say unto thee ! Jesus speak:;
tion, of s_alvation by grace; He places His finger upon      here as the faithful witness, the Amen, beginning of
the very debated question between the believiiig Chris-      the creation of Gqd. Rev. 3 :14. W&e not the people
tains and Jewry, between Romans and the Reforma-             and multitudes astonished at His doctrine, since He
tion. The error of, those who are without grace is           taught them as one having authority and not .as the
always either that of making salvation dependent on          Scribes? Matth.  7:28, 29.
works of law as the Pharisees did, or that of the An-           He came to fulfill all righteousness in His suffer-
tinomians who wish to sin that grace may abound.             ing and in His death and resurrection ; to fulfill -all
Now Jesus does not place the truth of His work of sal-       righteousness He `ascended on high to give His holy
vation .between these fcwo errors. The truth does not        Spirit unto His people and to lead them into all the..
lie somewhere between Legalism and  Antinomism.              truth. He shall ful,fill all righteousness as God in the
But the truth is that salvation is of grace and grace        flesh even to the uttermost end of the earth. Then
establishes  the law. This is not a position somewhere       heaven and earth shall pass away with a fervent heat
between Legalism and Antinomism, but it is whoLly            and the very elements shall burn. But when this comes
different.  It is being a new creature! It  means  that      to pass then all the law and the prophets shall be ful-
w.e have a new commandment in our heart, which is            filled, and righteousness shall be the very foundation
at o&e the old commandment.                                  of  the new heaven and the new earth! Not one jot
   And our thoughts are therefore led by Jesus to the        or iota shall fall from the law. The jot is the smallest
implications .of this new commandment-as He teaches          letter in the Hebrew alphabet and the iota desig-
and lays it. down in our lives as the law o! the Spirit      nates the  minutest  diStinction between two of the


        142                                  THE  STA'NDARD  B                 E     A       R    E           R
-z
        Hebrew alphabet characters. Not the  minute&  detail           in the keeping of the commandments we have the as-
        in the law shall be forgotten. Trifles make for per-           suring promise and the testimony in our hearts that
        fection, and perfection is no trifle.  ,God i's  pleased       we are the children of God. We are called great in
        in the perfection of the righteousness of the Kingdom          the Kingdom. Our cup overflows with fulness of joys
        in which the law receives its own ; the last drop i-s          and blessedness. -
        placed in the container of the cup handed to Jesus.               Such zest and joy is not the portion of the Scribes
        And all is finished, all comes to pass. Then the CLW-          land Pharisees in their  legalism ; nor can the- Anti-
        tain falls on .history,-  the heavens are rolled together
                  . .                                                  nomian enjoy this. This is the peace,and  blessing upon
        as `a :&roll,  and as a vesture they shall be changed ;        those that walk according to the new rule, (at once
        but to the Sop it shall then be said: Thy thyone  ,O God       the old rule) in Christ and upon the Israel of God.
        is forever and ever; a sceptre-  of righteousness is the       And ,it means entering into the Kingdom now by faith.
        sceptre of Thy Kingdom !                                       and presently when the heavens are relied away to
               No one shall then think.that Jesus came to destroi      enter -into the jbys and happiness of the Kingdom of
        the law!                                           _           our Lord and His Christ, whose Throne  stiands. in
           All shall then know beyond the shadow of a doubt            justice forever, in the perfection of the love of God
      - that righteousness is the pillar of Christ's Kingdom.          revealed in the law and the prophets fulfilled!
          Such-is the import and the solemnity of these words                                                           G. Lubbers
        of Jesus when He raises a warning finger and speaks
        truth and veracity on earth.          '
            FQY let ng one think that this word of Jesus does
      `. not have meaning for his life. Let every- preacher
        and teacher beware. Says Jesus: "Whosoever there-
        fore shall break one of these least commandments .ancl
        shall. teach men so, ,he shall be called the least in the
      , Kingdom of heaven.: but whosoever shall do and teach                 - I N   .HIS  F E A R
        them, the same shall be called great in the Kingdpm of
        heaven."                                                                     iooking  To  The-~future                         -
            These are words worthy of reflection. They are
        cheering words for the righteous and are woFds call-                                           II          -
        ing to repentance those who do nit take the law of
        God s&iously into the last jot and tittle in the new           The Teacher Problem
        walk in righteousness and thankfulness.                           Before proceeding with the specific treatment of
           We notice in this part of the text, that f,alse teach-      the problems of our own school movement, I have two
        ing is preceded by a  lack, of  concei-n  about  zaal,lciny    more  intrbducitory remarks which I must make.
        a`cco&ng  to God's_ commandments. It is: do and                   The first ,one is this. If you would take the troublt
        tea'&,  and conversely loose and teach accordingly.            to check the past, you would discover that some 20 or
           Then too we ought to notice that evidently there are -125 years ago these same problems were faced .by the
        least of .the commandments. All the precepts are not           existent Christian School movement. At that time our
        equally, great and important as we work out our salva-         Editor-in-Chief wrote a series of *articles on the sub-
        tion with fear and trembling. There are least of the           ject,  `:The  Cliristia,n School Movement, Why a Fail-
        precepts of the  ,gospel too. This does not militate           ure?" And although his answer to the ,question of the
        against the rule that the law is one, or that all the          above-mentioned subject was different, he was not the
        commandments are summed up in the  :Great  C'om-               only one who realized that there was something
       mandment : `Thou shalt lpve the Lord, thy God with till         wrong. His series of articles  yas occasioned .by an
        thy heart and mind and soul and strength  ! There are          addre'ss by R. B. Kuiper,  .then president of Calvin
        the details, the working out of salvation in the fines:        College, (now professor at Westminster Seminary in
        corners of. our existence in our relationship with men.        Philadelphia), to the Michigan Christian Teacher's
           But even here ,we are not to be sluggish. We are Institute, an address that was reported by the Grand
        not to be careless and prof,ane. All of life is under the      Rapids Press under the caption:  "Kuip& Points to
        tension of the law in our life of walking in santifica-        New Peril ; Says Christian Schools Are Facing Moral
        tion. This does not make this rule of Jesus a heavy            and  Financjal Crisis." (See: Standard Bearer,  VIII,
        burden, a hard yoke for the meek, the poor -in spirit.         p. 76, ff.) And in the third article of that same series
        It gives life <and zest to our existence. It gives a re- of .edito?ri$ls  reference is made to an address delivered
        ward of joy in the things that are least. It means that- by Dr. Herman Kuiper before the Educational Con-.


                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   BtiAR'ER                                                145

 vention of the. National Union of Christian :Schgols,             ,th,e public  ,schools. There is a very dangerous and
1930, on the subject: "How Should We Seek  to                      acute lack of -teachers. But the problem is made more
 Guarantee for the Future the Distinctive Character of             acute for our own school movement by several factors.
 our Christian Schools ?"                                          In the first place, there is the obvious fact that our
    It is not my purpose to go into detail regarding               boards are severely limited in their search for teach-
this series of articles that was written ifi 1932. But             ers. Ignoring for the moment any other requirements,.
they hold a lesson for us? as does the history since that          it is cle& that the teachers, in our schools must be ob-
time. And the lesson is this. Unless we positively and             tained within the bounds of our o,wn denomination.
,vigorously face the problems which are  befor?  o~lr              And we are small in numbers. And propo&ionately as
 own school movement, and unless we arrive at their                our denomination as such is small in numbers, so also
proper solution-a solution incidentally which history              is the number of available teachers small. -Further-
 proves was never reached by the existing Christian                more,`although I have no statistics before me on which *
 Schools-our own school movement is doomed to fail-                to base a comparison, I am reasonably certain that the                               c
 ure likewise. And I venture to predict that it will meet          number of teachers in proportion to the size of our                       '
with failure more quickly and ignominiously.                       denomination is also small. This already  pu&s  Otis
    And that brings me to my second remark.. It is                 schools under a severe handicap. In the second place,
this. I want  to' emphasize that  ,this series of arti-            while it is true to an extent that the need of teachers
 cles has a positive purpose. It is not aimed at the des-          declines as the size of the school declines, so, that our
truction of our own school movemerit. I love the cause' smaller schools need but two or three teachers while
that is represented by that movement with all my                   the larger school may need a ddzen, nevertheless our
heart. Nor is it aimed at the discouragement. of those             smaller schools labor under a more severe handicap in
who are actively  engaged in the mountain of work                  a way. Not being .able to find teachers out of their own
connected with that movement. Rather it is aimed at                midst, they have been forced to look elsewhere, par.ti-
the upbuilding and solid establishment of our  own                 cularly to ,Grand Rapids, and in some cases to other
 school movement. I would consider it, as you well                 congregations, for xteachers.. And it is sometimes dif-
know from my previous series, a great calamity if                  fioult to persuade these  teatillers to take up their
ever our people should fo>esake the *principle  that ail           residence elsewhere, and especially to do go perma-
our education, primary and secondary, must be posi-                nently. In the third pl-ace,  and in close connection with
tively Christian, i.e., distinctively Reformed, i.e., Pro-         the above, this whole problem becomes more acute ac-
testant Reformed;                                                  cording as our school movement grows. T i m e                                       was
    Undoubtedly one of the most pressing problem's                 when there was no school in Grand Rapids, and when
facing our schools is the teacher problem, as we                   the other schools could more easily draw on the supply
choose to call it. For the sake of convenience and                 of teachers there. Redlands, for example, more than
clarity I will divide the problem into its various                 once allured a Grand Rapids teasher. Noti, however,                            .
phases, and attempt to offer some suggestions towar?               there is a school in Grand Rapids which employs more
solution after treating the .entire  problem.                      teachers than all the other schools combined. And as
                                                                   the number of schools increases, the demand for
As to Psrocuring  Teachers                                    1    teachers increases. And unless the supply of teachers
    The above sub-title expresses a problem which ev-              increases, the tension between supply and demand is
ery school board has fiaced  t,o a greater or lesser ex-           going to create an increasingly difficult pk;oblem  for
tent. One need only recall the numerous public calls               our school boards.                                  -.  I.;...:
for help which have issued from the various school                    You may object perhaps, in a laissez faireattittide..
boards to verify this fact. In years gone by our school            &at up -to now none of our schools have been' forced
in Redlands repeatedly was in almost desperate ,st?aits            to close because ,of this situation, and that therefore
because of this very difficulty, so desperate that they            the above picture is rather pessimistically painted. I
were on the verge of `a forced closing of their school             answer that such&n attitude is detrimental to the wel-
doors. And the story was much the same for the other               fare of any school, and that if a school board wotild
schools. Personally I can recall the. day when the mere            assume the same attitude it woul'd indeed result in the
question of the nurmber of teachers was a very w,eighty            closing of school doors. The results of this teacher
.one for `the school in Grand Rapids. And Hope and                 shortage are quite self-evident. Let me mention a few
Edgerton have had the same experience.                             of them.                                                  . . . .._ ,:
    Now, it is a  .,well-known  fact that  ithis  teacheF-            In the first place, as far as the school boards them-.
shortage is nation-wide at the present time, not only              selves are c&cerned, it is evident that they are forced
as regards the Christian Schools,. but also as regards             to devote far too much of their time and efforts'.mere-


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 144  I,                        I         THE  STANIARD  B:EAUR                                          c

ly to the matter of procuring  ,enough teachers  each        quirements, in order to become actively engaged ir
year. `The simply fact which every school -board f&es        teaching as soon as possible. Partly this may be due.
is that a school must have teachers. That is an im-          to pressure from the school boards, who approach
mediate problem. If there are no teachers, the school        prospective teachers with an urgent `appeal to hell.:
cannot be opened in September. The result is that ev-        them out. Partly too this may `be due to a misconceived
ery  `year, beginning  shobtly after New Year's  the         zeal for and devotion to the xause of OLW own educa-
board, either as a whole or through a sub-committee,         tional movement. And partly these prospective teach-
must wresgle  with this problem. Can they engage the         ers may be forced by their financial circumstances to
same teachers for the coming year? If ndt, what oth&         go out and earn some money in order,to  continue their-
teachers are there, whom they might possibly  cc&            education at a later date, with the result that not in-
tact? And, if they are contacted, are they willing-to        frequently their education is never .completecl. Again,
enter a contract? ,Sometimes  a board may meet with          I do not mean to deny that circumstances often force
one disappointment after another. And the result is          .our teachers to t.ake this path. And I can well see that
that  huch time and effort are` wasted only on this          under these circumstances it is often=a good thing that
matter. The school board is-not at fault. The matter is      we have teachers who are willing to forego a complete
immediate and pressing. But all this -means that Ehe         education in order to help out our schools. But the
board cannot devote the time and effort that it should' fact remains that from the over-all point of view this
to other problems, and that it cannot give its attention     situation is good for neither the teachers nor' the
to more permanent  aind valuable projects.                   school -as a whole, nor for the ixidividual  pupil. Ancl
    .A second  r.esult which is inevitable is that the this is a f,act which we must face.
teacher standard is lowered. Often, merely in order to          ;A fourth result is that due to this shortage of
get a sufficient number of teachers, the school board        teachers our schools are forced to re_sort  to over-crowd-
is forced to  over.look  more important matters, con-        ing of classes. If the ideal class consists of, say, 20 to
cerning the qualifications of the tgachers which it en-      30 ptipils, it, stands to reason that it is not salutary
gages. This situation  is also quite common in the           either for the teacher or the class or the individual
schools throughout our country today, but is never-          pupil to put one .teacher in `charge of 40 or 50 pupils,
theless more pressing according as the field from            ,and that too, in the case of the smaller schools, pupils
which teachers may be obtained for our own schools           from 4 or-5 different grades. No teacher can do justice
is limited. Our schools catitiot be too -insistent that      to. such a task.
their teachers have completed the standard four-yeal:           These then are a few of the very obvious results of
course for teachers, or they will find themselves teach-     this teacher shortage. We dare not close our eyes to
er-less. They must sometimes be satisfied with very          them. If we'ddo,  we stand in danger of allowing the
poorly and incompletely trained teachers, therefore.         emergency  situatio,n become the normal situation.
They are forced at times to overlook the fact that a         And to live in a constant emergency is dangerous, to
woman teacher is married and has a home and family           say the least.
to care for besides her full-time task of teaching. And
apart, from .this, they must be satisfied at times with I       I have no doubt that our s&b01 boards are aware of
teachers who show very little positive ability to teach,     these matters, to a degree at lea&, and that- their eyes
who have very little initiative, who even have little        alye qpen to the results which we have ennumerated.
heart for truly Reformed education, who might  .be           I trust,`fcoo,  that anyone who is a teacher at heart wiIl
more interested in a salary than in their profession.        be aware' just how detrimental .these  things are for a
But teachers are *a necessity. Hence, the requirements       school. And our parents should be aware of it. If they
-must'be reduced to a minimum. Do.not misunderstand.         are, they will realize at once that the factors men-
This is not meant to disparage eiather the school boards     tioned above spell out but one result for their children,
or thelteachers.  I simply mean to pbint out the facts,      the children for whose training they- themselves are
while at the `same time realizing the unselfish efforts      ultimately responsible. And that result is  : inaclequate,
of school boards and the unstinted devotion of the           inefficient, and insufficimt education.,
maj,ority of .our teachers. Nevertheless, the fads are          The problem is indeed a serious one. And while it
there, and they make for a situation that is far from        is but one phase of the whole "teacher problem," it al-
ideal.                                                       ready raises the cquestion  : what can we do?
    Thirdly, and in close connection with the above,                                                          H. C. H..
there is a very real danger that our teichers them-
selves ,hasten to meet the minimum educational re-                                 -Lilly


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