VOLUME   XXVII1                              FEBRUARY   1,  1952  -  GRAND   RAPIDS,,   MICHIGAN                             NUMBER   9
                                             ._.

                                                                                   Elihu sensed this, and cried out: With Him is a
           MJ3 D I'T  A T  10-N                                               terrible majesty.
                                                                                   Yes, it is so: wi4th Him is a terrible majesty; He
                                                                              is the only One who is majestic. He is the only Sov-
            d         f4bsolute                                               ereign. He  doet,h all His  goodpleasure.
                                      S o v e r e i g n t y                        &God give, that tie do nbt choose pretty speeches
                    "Therefore bath He mercy on whom He will haGe             when talking about this' terrible text. In short my
                 mercy, and whom He will He hardeneth. Thou wilt              Maker would ,ddstroy  me.
                 say  then unto me, Why doth He yet find fault ? For
                 who I<ath resisted His .will  ? Nay but, 10 man, who              We must, we shall let God be God.
                 art thou. that rep1ies.t  against God ? Shall the thing           The absolute Sovereign.
                 formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou
                 made me thus ?"
                                                       -&om.   9:18-20                               a*`
                                                                                                              **
        There is more and more religion in this world, but
less of the fear of God.                                                           Therefore hath He mercy on whom He will have
       There are.mor$ and more churches built and con-                        m e r c y !
gregations organized, but  ,..less true calling on the                             How beautifully simple is the matter of  electioti!
Name of Jehovah.                                                              It is so simple that even a child can grasp it. It is the
       God is becoming more  aid more the Great Stranger                      diamond of `God's love' and lovingkindness that is e-
among men.  L                                                                 ternal.
       Millions of Bibles are printed and distributed, but                         I may put it this way too: God has mercy on the
feti of them are read.                                                        elect.
       Many read the Bible, but few believe.                                      Yes, there are elect, and there shall be elect always
       Many believe ihe Bible, but a very. few-believe all- on this sorry earth.
of Scripture. They conveniently omit parts, because                                What is election?  El&tion is  this: God  love?
they hate them.                                                .              sotie men, and He loved them before they were born.
       My itext is one of those parts df Holy Scripture that                  He loved them before the world was made. He loved
is hated, hated very cordially.                                               them from all eternity. As' old as God is, so old is the
                                                                                                                        \
       There are some in this God-forsaken age that                           election of some certain men.
know how no man can be saved, except  he believe the                           . And  ii1 the quiet  wakes of eternity, before the
whole Bible, and' so they s.et themselves to corrupt                          world was, &God said within Himself: I love you, My
portions  such as this one. And they believe  their                           elect, `and will love' you unto ail -eternity. I will re-.
corruptions, thinking they believe the Bible.                                 veal all My glory unto you -and unto you `alone. I will
       But it is not true.,                                                   make you vessels that shall be filled with all My glory,
       As a child I heard men say: Ministers should                           and you shall be glorious yourselves unto all eternity.
breach the whole counsel of God! Well, portions such                          And since I  wiil show  my glory in your salvation
as this belong to  the whole counsel of God. Men                              from  etern;l death, I shall be very merciful to  you.
shnuld believe thsm, *and worsl$p. Po+ions such as .-For my mercy, is love for the object in misery.                                        -
these teach a;God  &cat is -God indeed. There could $e                             Oh yes, the elect are elected fo be strangers on the
no other God. It belongs to the Godhead to be this                            earth. And when they shall be  strangeis and pil-
teryible.  .                  ,,                                              .grims they shall be in  great pain and misery, and

 I.

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

  then the love.. of. God shall turn to them. And Iove                   .Oh yes, God hardeneth. How, you ask? I  do- not
  turned to the miserable is -mercy.                                know. And I am  perduaded   thatno one knows. In II
           And t&e number `of those elect that Will be reci-         Cor. 2, we read of the same thing. The  beauteoug
  pients  of the mercy of God are numbered. Their                    strains of the Word of the Almighty is for some a
  number, caqnot be. increased ; not decreased.             `God     savour of death .unto death. They `enter the House
  @ows tlieni .th& are His. He said from all eternity:. of God ; they listen to the sermon ; and when they
 -,xou, a&e My chi-jd ! :_' Apd `you shall be My -child unto         leave the Hoyse. of .Goc$ they are deader than when
  511'  &erni$y  f  .And I will have mercy on you ! -And             they entered. IGod hardened their hearts while they
 you shill'be deliriously happy in the gift of My mercy.             were in church. We -read the simple story in Exodus.
           IOh yes, blessed be God: He is absolute in His            God assured Moses that He, that is, `God, would hard-
  ;willing! He is the Absolute Sovereign in His election.            en Pharaoh's heart so that he would not let tile people
 : R                                                                 go. And it happened according to God's word. It
 -...                        *  s?  *  *                             happened ten `times.
                                                                         The reprobates are hardened by God all througll
           And He is also- absohite in His reprobation.              the  ages; all. of them are hardened.
           "And whom He will .He -hardeneth  !`?                         Yes, I kn.ow that they hardeh themselves too. But
         . Did the  foplish  men corrupt election? Yes, that         only after  <God has hardened them. . Even as with
.is awful.  FL+ wait. Wait, until you see what they                  Pharaoh, so also with all reprobates: they are hard-
 have done to His reprobation. They have so smoothed                 ened by God first, and then they'harden themselves.
 ,ov%r  His reprobat&,  they have. so polished away $11                  Terrible truth, you say-? Yes, but it is the truth
  the harsh lines and sharp corners, that we cannot                  hevertheless.. It is the same truth that is trampled
 anymore recognize the Biblical truth of reprobation. under foot by &he church of our day. Where do you
 When these men are through,  man has reprobated                     find a church t&day that dares to confess the hard-
 himself.          (God  di,d never reject man; man rejected         ening by God of-the reprobate? And all through the
h i m s e l f .                                                      ages the Lord had it written doti, and, later, printed .,
           I have heard it often: It is his own fault that           in a million  B.ibles.  -
 wicked man is reprobated. Which is utter nonsense.                      And still God is `the absolute Sovereign.
 `For that man ought to say:  `God works out His re-                     He sovereignly loves, and the objects of- His love
 probation (of man through the wickedness of, man.                   receive His mei-cy.
 That is correct. But man ought never to say:  it- is                    He sovereignly hates, and the objects of His hatred
 man's own .fault th& he is reprobated.             How could        receive His hardening.
 that ever be? Reprobation took place before n-an was                  But He is  Sovereik:  with Him is a terrible ma-
 born, or had dolie either gpod or evil. Men, a certain jesty!
 number of men, are reprobated before they were born.                                        *  *  *.f?
-Men, a certain number bf men, a& reprqbated  before
the world was made. From all eternity God who' is                        "Thou wilt. say then unto me, Why doth He pet
 the absolute Sovereign said within Himself: For this r find fault? For who hath resisted His will?"
 cause shall I raise you up, for to show in you: My                      That is an objection, a wicked objection `to God's
 power ; and that ,My name may be declared through-                  absolute sovereignty'with respect to His decree of r&
 out all the earth ! And thus reprobates are born. At-               probation. It shows that I have explained it  corred-
 tend to this: ages before Judas was  borli, the Holy               ly. The way other men explain it, would never evoke
 Scriptures said of- him : "Let his habitation be des-              such an objection gs we have to treat here. The way
 olate : . . " Baby Judas was not yet born, but th'e                reprobation is explained ( !) you `haire no reprobation
 Holy Scriptures in the home of the mother and father               left. And the audience bows the head politely, and
 of Judas said : "and his bishoprick let another take. .  ." says : Thank you, so very much ! It sounded bar-
          Let us not  mock, but rather worship with fear barous to me at first, but now that you have so ably
 and trembling. For, indeed, with Him is a terrible                 explained it, Reverend, now it. does not offend me any-
 majesty.                                                           - mbre.
          And so, f would beg of you : let it stand : "And              But that is not the way the Apostle Paul explain&i
 whom He will,He hardeneth." I know, I know, that' it. The -Apostle Paul so explains reprobation that the
 it really makes no difference whether you let this                 wicked objections must come, do come, and he even
 war{ stand or not;_that  He will do 13is goodpleasure              anticipates. them.  " `Paul anticipates the wicked re-
 just the same! But I would beg it of you for your                  joinder of  natural man. Natural man  ha& listened
 own sake, It does  n`ot pay to  niock the Alinighty.                to the explanation of ?eprobation especially, and it has


                                 e .    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                 195

 aroused his ire. He saw himself used unto the glory                  What is man?                            .
 of  ,God. And according to Paul he could do nothing                  Man is nothing. No, he is less than nothing, and
 about it. In other `words, wicked, proud man was de-          vanity. All the nations together are `nothing &nd less
 throned by the Word of God. And he hated it. But              than nothing and vanity. What is then one dissenter?.
 he will try to catch the ILord in His own truth of re-               Is my brain capable of following all the wor& of
 probation. If God willed my reprobation, why does             G o d ?
 He cry out about my wickedness? Why does He find                     Attend. to this : ~6 the depth of the riches both of
 fault with me when I live out my reprobation? Is              the wisdom and the knowledge of  ,God! How un-
, there a man that can resist the will of God unto re-         searchable are His judgments, and His ways past
 probation? Well then, why does He then upbraid me             finding out ! For who  h&h known the mind of the
 for the fruits of His own reprobation? Such is the            Lord?  .Or who  .hath been His  counsellor?  Or who
 argument.                                      _.             hath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed
    And what is the answer?.                                   unto him again? For of Him, and-through Him, and
    "Nay but, 0 man, who art thou that  ~ repliest             to  Him,< are all things: to whom be glory forever,
 against `God? Shall the thing formed say to. him that         Amen..                                              .(1  ,_
 formed it, Why hast thou formed me thus?"                                                                                            E
                                                                      And so the Lord says really to the offended' r&l
    In other words: God is Sovereign.                    _'    probate:' Be still  l, Remember to WHOM you  are;
              ,                                                talking. You  are replying to `the great  `God  who:
                         a  a  *  *                            made the heaven and the earth.             You are finding
                                                               fault with Him who shall be the song of perfect angels
    God is sovereign.                                          and of righteous men unto .a11 eternity.
    And He is so absolutely.                                          I am the Sovereign of  .$he Universe.                   q ,
    He is so absolutely sovereign, that He really does
 not answer the objection. .cGod really does not enter                                     f?  *  *  *
 into the argument.. You believe, don't you, that this
 ans,wer  is God's answer, even though it came from                   God is  sqvereign, absolutely sovereign.
 Paul's pen ?      It `is the answer of the Triune God
throu,gh `the Holy Spirit of the exalted Christ which                 And what is man? A  ,speck  of dust And a filthy
 dwelled faultlessly `in Paul, so that he wrote the Word       speck at that. ,It is his filth that makes him take God
 of  G,od infallibly.                                          to task. We shudder when we say it. For ,God is God.
    10th yes, here is God's answer to the reprobate who               And yet there is argument in the phrase:                Nay.
criticized Him.'                                               but, -0 m,an, who-arts  thou that repliest against God?
    Isnlt it terrible? To criticize God.                              There is a beautiful argument in it. It is this:
    I said once to a young man : Do not find fault             God is above all reproach. God is above all evil. God
with God- you lose before you start.                           is wholly, and exclusively beautiful and lovely, attrac-
    And so it is here. God does not even deign to              tive and comely: He cannot do anything that is
 enter into the arguments. He says to us : I will love, wrong !
 My elect, and I will hate the reprobate. Because that                Do you- not .see that the question of the reprobate
 is'the meaning'of  the first part of my text.: I will have    cast a slur on the beautiful Godhead?. Do you not see
mercy on whom I will have mercy and- whpm I will' that if it were true what this man said, there would
 I harden! God's love comes to the elect in the adorp-         notbeaGod?
ment of mercy ; and the hatred of ,God comes to the             Attend to this: it is the most important sentence
reprobate in their hardening.                                  in this whole meditation: IT IS 1MPOS:SIBLE FOR
    God said that. And man, proud man, reprobate               GOD TO BE ANYTHING BUT  GOOB: IT IS IM-
man does not like `it.          He hates this absolutism.      POSSIBLE FOR GOD TO DO ANYTHING BUT
.(Where  did I `hear this, long ago?) -And so he dared         GOO'D  !
 to start an argument with ,God.                                      And what `has the wicked rejoinder proven?
    But God is God. And He shall give the fitting                     This: the reprobate has shown in his wicked quea-
answer to this arrogancy. Nay but, 0 man, who art              tion that he has a reprobate mind.
thou?                                                                 If holy angels in heaven cover their-faces because -
    0 miun! I That is really the answer. .                     of so much beauty in the Godhead, what shall we. then
    0 man! That is : a handful of clay. And a  soul            do?
or spirit that is like a mist. It is seen for a few hours,            Let .us worship ; o let us worship !
 and it vanishes.        -.'                                                         .,
                                                ,                                           -                      G.. VW. : I: :


                                                                                                                                        -3
             1                 9        6                                                    TBE  ST*ANDAR,D  B E A R E R                                                        -    -
                                                                                                                                                                            -                       -
              -
                                              THE -STANDARD BEARER'                                                                                     E:  B I T  0  R`  I:  A L
                               Semi-monthly, except' monthly in July and August
                        Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association
                                    Box 124, Station C., Grand Rapids 6, Michigan                                                                               CL&S, JMWW~ 9, 1952
                                             EDITOR - Rev. Herman Hoeksema                                                                                           IMPRESSION!S
                        Communications relative to contents should be addressed
                        to Rev. H. Hoeksema,  1139 Franklin St., S. E., Grand                                                                     This editorial is not meant to be a report. It sure-
                        Rapids 7, Michigan.                                                                                                   ly is no official report.
                        All matter relative to subscription should be addressed
                        to Mr. J.  Bouwman,  1350 Giddings Ave., S. E., Grand                                                                     The official report will, D. V., appear in the Stczncl-
                        Rapids 7, Michigan. Announcements and. Obituaries must                                                                aycl Bearer. The trouble,. however, with such -an of-
                        be mailed to the above address and will be published at a                                                             ficial report is that it usually is so `very  oficial. It
                        fee of $1.00 for each notice.                                                                                         conties itself to bare facts and decisions. It does
                        Renewals:- Unless a  .definite reqnest for discontinuance
                        is  reCeived,  it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the                                                           not publish the discussions, nor the reports of the
                        subscription  *to continue without the formality of a re-                                                             various.committees,  or the letters that were presemed
                        newal order.                                                                                                          to Classis. It presents a mere skeleton, without flesh
                                             Subscription Price: $3.00 per year                                                               and blood.               '
                        Entered as Second Class mail at Grand Rapids, Michigan                                                                    This article does not mean to be such a report. <It
                                                                                                                                              only wants to relate a few of the main happenings and
                                                                                                                                              transactions of Classis East and my personal impres-
                                                                                                                                              sions of them.
                          r
                                                                               Q                                                                  I do not even have notes. I write from memory  '
                                                                                                                                              on the evening of the. same day that `Classis met, the
                                                            -:-                                                                               ninth of January, 1952. '
                                                                                                                                                One of the first thoughts that entered my mind as
                                                                                                                                              I attended-Classis, not as a delegate, but as an onlook-
                                                                                                                                              er, though with advisory vote, was of Classis West.
                                                                                                                                                  You think this strange?
                                                                                                                                                  ILet me explain then.
. .                                                 ~1  C O N T E N T S                                                                           In a way I was envious of  Classis West in the
                                                                                                                                              quiet and peaceful prairies of Iowa and Minnesota,
            MEDITATION-                                                                                                                       in the beautiful plateau of Manhattan, Montana, with.
                               Absolute Sovereignty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
                                    Rev. G. Vos                                                                                               its grand scenery of  snow:capped   moiultains round
                                                                                                              .                               about, and in sunny California, with its. orange and
            EDITOR &S--
                               Classis, January 9, 1952~-Imprexions                       . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196     walnut groves, its partly snow-covered mountains and
                               Conditional Theology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198                     beautifully-hued desert. The people in  Classis .West
                               By all means: let's keep the record straight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
                                    Rev. H. Hoeksema                                                                                          seem to be so far from the madding crowd ! They
                               The Article of Rev. J. D. De Jong . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201                          know nothing of the troubles the churches have in the
                                    Rev. G. M. Ophoff                                                                                         cast  and- of all the unhappy, yea, miserable experi-
            7%~ T                                                                                                                             ences they have w_ith- the Canadian Liberated immigi
                               RIPLE KNOWLEDGE-
                               An Exposition of the Heidelberg Catechism.. . . . : . . . . . . ,. . .`. 205                                   rants.    0, it  is true, they read a few reports and
                          Rev. H. Hoeksema
             _:                                                                                                                               articles in "the papers, and  -perhaps shrug  then
            OUR DOCTFUNB~                                                                                                                     shoulders.        But by experience they. evidently know
                   I
              :                The Hexaeineron  ol; Creation-Week (12) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208                                nothing of our troubles in the east. In'that respect .I
                                    Rev. H. Veldmen                                 .:                                                        dare`say they are blissfully ignorant. And as I sat as
            THE DAY OF  SHAD,   WS-  -                                                                                                       an onlooker-with-advisory-vote at the last sessions of,
                               The protevangel  as the Unifying I@ of all the Scriptures . . . . 210
                                    Rev. G. M. Ophoff                                                                                         Classis East and meditated on this mentality of blissful
                                                                                . .                                                           ignorance in Classis West, I began to understand, I
       SIoti's                  ZANGEN-                                                                                                       thought, in part at least, why many in that Classis
                               Niet Ons, 0 Heere!  Niet Ons (Slot) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , 212
                                    Rev. G. Vos                                                                                               took the attitude that the Declaration of Principles
                                                                                                                                              was not necessary. `They did not know, they did not
            F R O M   HOLY W R I T -
                               Exposition of Matthew 5 :31-32 .***............*........... 215                                                understand, they `had not the experiences we in the
                                    Rev. G. C.  Lubbefs                                                                                       east had  and'-stillhave.  They live  in-,blissful  igno-
                                                                                                                                                                                                         .
                                                                                                                                              rance.  e ,  I                               . .


                                             T H E   .STANDARD   BEAR.ER                                             197
                                   _-.---a                                                    - -
    Another impression .I-received  at the Classis today         Chatham,  the only true and faithful member of our
 was that if the Declaration of Principles had been up           church there, who moved to the far northwest and now
 for  discu&ion  -today,  Classis. East would again  UQ-         belongs to our congregation in Lynden, Washington.
 doubtedly have adopted it with overwhelming ma-                    Let me remind you again that I do not write a re-
 jority, virtually without opposition;                           port. I am only meditating and &ve you my impres-
    But it was hardly mentioned,  in fact, pot at all            sions.
 except by Chatham and in connection tiith its case..               And then I must say, `in the first place, that those
     Chatham, ,you say? Did they not leave the fellow-           people in  Chatham represent the cause of  Jthe Lib-
 ship of our churches?                                           erated in The Netherlands most poorly and most mis-
    T      h    e        y    ,         d    i    d    .         erably.     1
    And yet, the-case of Chat&a&, and partly alsb that              They not  only impress me as redolutionary and
 of Hamilton, oceup.ied  ,nearly all the -time and atten-        without any sense of responsibility, but also as very
 tion of  ClasMs this ninth of January, 1952.  .,                untrustworthy.
    The  case of Hamilton was disposed- of  _ rather                YOU  ask how I received those impressions?
 easily and \quickly.                                               I will relate a few facts that caused them.
    A group of brethren there.  of our former congre2               The first impression I received of- their deckitful-
 gation in that city, that still  ,call themselves Protestant    ness and falsity was from the letter of Mr.  Scheele.
 Reformed, had address&d. a `letter to ,Classis, a reply mentioned above. In that letter he related the experi-
 to a letter from Classis East addressed'to  them, I be-         ence which he had withy them concerning the books
lieve, in April, 1951. Also qn the`classis in April the -ar_d archives of the church in Chatham. As.1 said, he
 same brethren from Hamilton had a `letter in which              was clerk of that congregation and of the consistory.
they claimed  that.  t,hey were. still Protestant Re-            And at' the time when they' had declared themselves
formed, but in which at the. same time they directed             "liberated" they demanded tliat he would hand over
certain charges against .Classis East. At that time, if those books and archives to them, the newly appointed
my memory does not fail me, the Classis repudiated               con&tory. This  -Mr; Seheele refused to do, on the
their charges, and .urged them to. repent and return             basis that not they, but the Rev. Petter and himself
from their evil way. And since the letter that ap-               represetited  the original Protestant Ref. Church of
peared on the table of the present Class& by the game            Chatham. The just&e  of this refusal is, of course, very
brethren virtually was of the-same contents as their             evident. Besides, at the `time he asked advice of the
former letter, Clbssis made short work of it.  It  re-           Classical Cor$mittee;  ahd they corroborated his stand
plied'in the same vein a$ to their former letter. There and position.. As I mentioned, he left Chatham,, and
 were a few voices heard at  Classis that -favored               moied to the far northwest, to become a member of
-sending a committee to these brethren to speak. to              our congregation in Lynden. He made this move in
them face to  face,`but  they  fodizd. no support. And           order to be  in the neighborhood of a Prot. Ref.
the decision to send them the proposed letter  Gas with-         Ghur.ch,  2nd became member there. There, however,
out  .a dissenting vote.                                         hz received a letter from the Consistory of Chatham
  The case  of-  Chatham  reqtiiped  more time..-                in which they asked `that he would send to them- the
    This was, not because there was a single delegate            books and archives of the  forme congregation in
of  Classis that `attempted to defend the erring and             Chatham as a temporary !oan to them. They promised
&oluti&ary brethren?  in. the  Chatham group. No                 that they. would copy those books and return them, I
one defended them, because it was' very evident to all           believe, in two weeks. But when Mr. Scheele did not
that`this would be a hopeless ease. But their case, in- hear from them, he wrote them a letter in whikh he
vdlved the treatment of several documents. And this, requested that they return the books and archives be-
of course;  took time.                                           fore the meeting of Classis,, January, 1952, because
    These documents were the following: 1) A letter              he had to deliver them to this body. Then ,Mr. Scheele,
from  Chatham to  Classis, which also all the  consis-           according to his own report at the Classis, received a
tories received, ndt only. in Classis East, but also `in         very ugly letter, in which the Consistory of Chatham
Classis West. 2) A report by the Classical Commit-               accused him of being a thief, and in which they in-
tze, that met with the Consistory of Chatham shortly             sisted that the books vere not his, but theirs, and that
after they had already separated themselves from our             they would never r&turn.them. Do you wonder that I
churches. 3) A report-from the Rev. Petter, who had              received `the imaression  that the men of the former
been summoned frQm Lynden.  to explain his part in               consistory in  Chatham  were very deceitful and un-
the, history of  Chatham.   4) A letter from Mr.                 trustworthy?  ; They had only asked Mr. Scheele to
Scheele, formerly clerk of the former congregation in            loan-  them the books, and they faithfully promised


      198              *               THE `S T A N - D A R D   B E A R E R
i
      him to return them to him. But this evidently was            out to thein that they could have protested the decisi&
      only a deceitful trick, to gain possession of the books      of Synod at our next :Synod, if they so desired ; and if,
      and archives.                                                after that, they were not satisfied, they could always
         Another item that gave ,me  the impression that           separate and refuse `io abide by the decision of our
      they were untrustwo?thy  was found in the report by          churches. But more than a pretext this certaiizly  was
      the  ,Classical Committee to  Classis.  It concerned a       not.' For in the letter by Mr. Scheele that was read
     financial matter.      ,The former Consistory of  oilr        at the `Classis quite a diffkrent story. was told. And
      church in Chatham had asked Classis for permission           also from ;the report by the Rev. Petter I received a
     to ask for a collection in all our tihurches for the pur-     different impression. They  simply  did not like the
      pose of acquiring a parsonage for their ministe?.  That      Rev. Petter and his preaching, although before he ac-
      request wa$ grAnted them. Several churches had al-           cepted the call he informed them that they must ex-
      ready collected for them. And in all they had received       pect Prot. Ref. preaching. But it was very evident
      approximately $1,500. Remember that the purpose              that the Rev. Petter, when he preached in the Prot.
      of this money was definitely tq buy or build a par-          Ref. way, was not wanted. They did not want the
     sonage for the Rev.. Petter. But they never did any-          Prot.,  Ref. truth. That, and not the passing of the
      thing with `that money. At least, they mad& no at-           Declaration. as such, was the cause why they  "lib-
      tempt to acquire a parsonage for their pasta?. I un- grated", separated themselves from our churches. All
      derstand that they had a_n opportunity to- rent ti par.-     this in spite of the fact that in my sermon at the &-
      sonage for $60 a month, -Which, of course, was very          ganization of-ihe church in Chatham I definitbly and
      cheap, considering the times.     But they considered        emphatically warned theni that they must never or-
      that this rent was too highs and they would not pay          ganize if they could not affirmatively answer the se-.
      so high a sum for a parsonage for their minister.            cond question in *baptism concerning the doctrine that
      They rather let their minister and his family live in        is taught heye in this Christian church. Alsp this ex-
      a small, two-room apartment, in which they slept oh          plains my impression that those people in Chatham
      a mattress ,on the floor in the same, room where during      are very untrustworthy.
      the day the Rev. Petter had his- study. . . But -let that                       (to bk continued)
      be. When the Classical Committee met the newly ap-                                                           H. H.
      pointed consistory in ,Ch&ham, they called their at-
      tention to the f&t that the& had collected.$1,500  from                       --i.-:.A:--
      our churches, and that they had never uied it for the
      purpose for which it was given. And they, the Com-                          Con&ional   TheoIogr
      mittee, demanded that that money should be returned
      to the churches. They could have  easily~ given the             In C&or&u  of Jan. 17, 1952, the Rev. B. Kok be- -
      Committee a cheek for that money at the same meet-           gins to launch an  a_ttack  upon- the Declaration of
      ing, because it was still in the bank;- But they' did        Principles adopted by our last synod, defends the
     not. I `do not remember whether at that meeting they          proposition that the promise is ;onditional, and makes
      promised to return the money. But at any  rate, to           tin attempt to introduce into otir churches, principal-
     date they never did. And the  Classis today  ,had to          ly, the` whole liberated theology.
     make a decision to demand of them that they return               All this I hope to prove in future articles.
      this- money to our treasure;. If they  ever comply              The Rev. Kok does .not do all this personally, but
      with that request, I will inform the reader faithfully.      hides behind the name of Dr. *K. Schilder.
      But at any rate, that item in the report of the Clas-           But this cannot make principal difference.
      sical Committee was another cause of. the 4mpression            He translates with full approval, with. strong re-'
      I received, of those people, that they cannot be trusted.    commendation, without one word of criticism, what '
         `One-more  fact I must mention to explain to yolu         Dr. $childer writes. He even states that one who
      the source of my impressions.                                would translate all the articles of Dr. Schilder in
         In the letter they addressed to Cl&.sis, the same         which he attacks the Declaration of Principles would
      that was addressed  .to all the Consistories in our          do our churches a great service.           -
      churches, they leave  the impression that the passing           He is, therefore, fully respbnsible.
      of the Declaration at our last Synod was redly the              When, therefore, in future articles, I attack Dr.
      cause and the reason of  Their separating from us.           Schilder, the reader must understand that the Rev.
      Now, this may have been the occasion, although, of           Kok compels me to hide behind the name of that lib-
      course, even if this were true, their act of schisti was     erated theologian td attack the theologian of Holland,
      very revolutionary. .The Classical Committee pointed         Mich.                                           H,  H ,


               `*
                                      x  T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                       199

                                                               the same as that to `which +e. Rev. Kok objected in
   By  all  means:  let's.  keep  the  record  straight        The  Stan&ml  Bearer. The latter wrote under the
                                                               title:  Cokvection,  Plea/se;   the former, in  Cbncordia
    It is rather. striking, I think, that both the Reds.       under the caption : Let's keep the recod straight.
Kok and De Jong raise objections against my recent                 The matter has reference to the tist letter writ-
editorial in  The  Stanckiid  &Zearer  "The Stocking is        ten to The Netherlands by the Committee for  Cor-
Finished." I$ is striking, too, that their objeciions do       resljondence,  the letter  that was condemned by our
not concerti what is, to me, the more important part           synod of  i948, and for which that body substituted
of  the article. For this more significant part of the         another letter.
article is contained in the following sentences:                   Both the brethren refer to ;his letter, and object
    "And the whble thing became one entangled mass             that. the synod of 1948 never condemned .it.
when, in the meantime, in August  .1949,  the letter              ,Only, in addition, the Rev. De Jong also refers to
written buy Prof. Holwerda to the immigrants in ,Can-          my reply to a letter I received from him, while I was
-ada was brought to our attention.                             convalescing in California, and leaves the impression.
    "That letter revealed : 1) That instead `of trans-         that I fully agreed with the letter he had composed
acting ~~cclesia~tical  business. in an ecclesiastical way,    and proposed  to send to The Netherlands.
and, therefore, instead  o;f contacting officially our             To this I  rep@:                                  .-
 Committee of Correspondence, the Committee of                     1. Let the Rev. De ,Jong produce the letter I wrote
 Foreign C&respondence .ili the Netherlands decided to         him from California at the time. I pot only git;e him
 transact the business of the chul'ches unofficially by        permission, but now I demand of him to do so. If he
`meeting behind the. back of the C,ommittee for Cor-           wants to keep the records straight, let him produce
respondence of `our churches with the Revs. De Jong            the records, and not draw inference -from the letter
and Kok. 2) That the fears. of those that had ob-              I wrote to him. He coizcl&es frog the mere negative
jections against  corr&pondence with our churches,             fact that I did -not `criticize his letter that I agreecl
such, as van Dijk, van Raalte, `Bolweida and others,           with it. Let him, therefore, keep the records straight,
-were mysteriously allayed. 3) That  *the impression           and  prod&e my  letter is full. Then  ,let the reader
was created that no definite interpretation of the Con-        judge whether I agreed with the contents  qf the
fessions was maintained and binding in the Prot. Ref.-         letter.
 Churches. 4.) That the impression was made  -that             2. That I  clid not write  etiensively on the con-
there was ample room for the covenant views of -the            tents of the letter proposed by-the Rev. De Jong was
Liberated in our churches. 5) That only on that basis          due to the fact I  &ould neither write nor type. My
 the immigrants were advised to join the Protestant            hand was-very stiff, and it was painful labor for me to
 Reformed Churches -but, at the same time,` that, if           write even the shortest letter. It took me a long time.
 the conception of such men as the Revs. Hoeksema and          This is still the case, although my hand has since im-
 Ophdff were maintained in the P'rot. Ref. ,Churches,          proved. This, and not the fact that I agreed with the
 they should never join."                                      contents oi the Rev. De Jong's letter, is the reason
    Let the brethren De Jong and Kok raise objections          why I did not go into the conkents of the letter.
 against- the above paragraphs rather than call atten-             3. I did agree, and I still do, with that part of the
 tion to some matters of minor significance.                   letter that asked for correspondence with the Re-
    The iatter mentioned, iti the above paragraphs. has        formed `Churches (Art. 31) of the Netherlands. But
 never been explained.                                         correspondefice  is something quite different from or-
    Yet to clear the murky air in our churches, and            ganic, union, and whether our co&respondence  would
 to restore confidence in the brethren, I and many             lead to  ithe relation of sister  .churche$  so that we
others with me, have very much need of such an ex-             would open our pulpits to. Liberated ministers, and
 planatibn.                                                    receive attestations from them, was still to be seen..
    I for one will never rest, but will repeatedly refer       And, therefore,  alithough I did not  agree with the
 to this matter. publicly as long as a proper explanation      sentiments expressed in the Rev. De Jong's letter, I
 is not forthcoming.                                           considered it harmless to sign the letter conditionally.
    In the meantime, I am glad for the  li,ttle  side-         That it is not true, what  t&e Rev. De Jong writes,
 glancing criticism the brethren offer to my editorial:        that what was' the contents of his letter was living in
 "The [Stocking is Finished."                                  .our churches, is proved by the fads : 1.  That the
    That gives me, at least, an opportunity to answer          synod of 1948 condemned the letter; 2. That the
them.           j'.                                            synod of 19850 refused $0 enter into immediate rela-
    The matter to-`which the Rev. De, Jong refers is           ti6n of sister. churches with the Liberated churches,


 ,200~                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

 as was proposed by their deputies for correspondence,        because we do riot have their addresses. If at all pos-.
 although it had no objection to correspondence.              sible we would like to do Something for- the'members
     4. I signed the letter  concilitio~ally.   And a con-    of  your Churches.            We, would also  like to receive.
 dition, you know, is a prerequisite.  ,And the  pre-         theim,  in  j~ur  Chtir&q,   01' to  drgar&e them  i&o con-
 quisite was that the Rev. SOphoff  also sign the -letter.    gregations  whe&ver  pos&ble.  (I  `utiderscore,   H,H.)  j'
 This means: 1. That my signing of the letter implied         I am sure  that  +lso this last sentence was one of  ihe
 that I wo-uld not stand -in the way of expediting the        reasons why the synod did not want ts subscribe to
 matter of correspondence, though I  cdnfess it had           this letter  bf the committee.  For,  it' surely would
 been better had I never sign&d it; 2. That my signa-         leave the impressidri upon the% churches in The Nether-
 ture would be nul and void if the Rev. Ophoff should         lands that we were .ready simply to receive members
 refuse to sign it, jnst as `the -covenant and promise of     from the liberated church& into otir churches merely
 ,God are necessarily nul and void if they .depend on         upon their &howin& their attestatioris,  `and to organize
 any condition on the part of man.                            churches from their membership into Pro&ant R+
    Now let the Rev. De Jong produce my letter writ;          formed , Churches, without first examining  ok  iti-
 ten to him from California, and not give the readers a       struding them into  OUU; truth. And this we were
 wrong impression by drawing his dwn  conclusidns.            not prepared to' do, as subsequent history, clearly lias
    I promise him my apology if I expressed ,myself in        Bhown.                                          :
 favor of the contents of the letter, except as far as           It  was for these  r&&ofis  th&t synod  coidemned
 the matter of correspondence is concerned. `.                the letter  df the  cornmitt&  and substituted quite a
    But produce it he. must.                                  different        letter-.            "     "
    The  recbrd must, by. all means, be kept straight.           And why, @rap, should synod have dohe this, $f it
    The second. element of, criticism in the .article of      had approved of ihe' letter of. the dommittee  ?
 Rev. De Jong I al:eady answered in my repiy to Rev.             There  was  a  &o&on   begore  ' synod to approve of
 Kok. It concerns my statement that  t.he synod of            the committee's letter, but synod did not .ado'ljt that
 1948 condemned the letter sent by the committee of           motion. I&stead, it adopted .an entirely different letter.
* correspondence.                                              - Is it, not  `true `that -when  `a `substitute motion is
    I do no have to repeat what I wrote in th+t Teply.        adopted the origin&l `m&en `is rejected and; thereby,
    ,Only, I. now want to emphasize that, in order to         condeinhed?      "     :       -'
 keep the records straight,  wee certainly must ma&              Will t@Rev. Qk Jofig, `or, for that matter, the'Rev.
 tain that the synod .of 1948 condemned that letter.          K o k ,   a n s w e r   th%qukstion?
<Grounds :                                                       By all means, let `us keep the `recor`d straight !
    1. That synod substituted an entirely different let-         And' the  above, and not what the Rev. De  Jollg
 ter,  no& in as  fay as the correspondence was con-          writes, is. the record.
 cerned, but in as far as the sentiments expressed by          3. To this  I,  wish to  add that anyone who was
 its committee were concerned. Synod  di&d not want           present.  at the  se,&io&' of  `&&od   l'948  l&ws that
 to express sentiments as uttered in the following sen-       the above is correct. The discussions concerning the
 tences : "But we also believe that the origin of your        letter "`in question broukht  this out tieri &&ly.          In
 churches was a Reformation and .a return to the old          fact;:1 do not &yp&s"niy'self t6o strongly when I say
 and tried Reformed paths." You see, it certainly had         that synod wa$"dumbfounded  that such a letier was
 to appear from our correspondence together whether           ever written by the' cdmmmittee. Those  `that were
 this were true or not. In fact, there was, at the time,      present will well remember that I was called on the
 strong doubt in the synod about the truth of  thiB           carpet for it, and that I  explaingd hbw the letter
 statement. At any rate synod considered it rash to           came into existence. They will also remember, that
 make such statements, before any correspondence had          the Rev. Ophoff'had toiexplati  th& he did notkant  to
_ taken place. We certainly did riot want to character-       sign the letter, but that only under repeated'Ijressu&e
 ize Heynsian theology as a return to tried Reformed          by the ReVi De Jong he `finally signed. it: For all this
 p a t h s .                           I                      I can-produce plenty te&imony  of witriesses  that were
    Another objection synod had to the letter of  ouz         present at the discussions.
 committee is contained in the following sentences:            I do not  `wi,+h  td  `excti&  myself  fo'P signing that
"`Finally, the fact that at present many Refbrmed im-         letter. I know that I was.respotisibl&" The ohly pos-
 migrants are moving to America and Canada, is all            sible excuse I can offer is that, at the time, I still was
 the more reason why we, if at all possible, would like       not well. But o&e,  mqre,  though I agreed on jch6 mat-
 to have correspondence with your  ,Churches. We do           ter of correspondence, I certainly d_id not agree 35%
 not know where theliberated families are to be found,        the entire contents bf `itI?& l@tier:           "      '          '


                                                                                  TH.B,  .ST.ANDAR:n   B E A R E R                                                    201

         And I .was very much relieved when the synod tias                                               valeicing in California I come  upon these lines: "I
 wise .enough to condemn that letter of. the committee                                                   wrote this letter ~(the one that was sent to the dep-
 and to adopt quite a different one.  i.                                                                 uties for correspondence in the Netherlands-O) in
     -But, by all means, let us not muddle up the records,                                               the first place at the suggestion of.Rev. ~Ophoff."
 but keep them straight.                                                                                    -Comment. I can't recall having made such a sug-
         And let the Rev. De Jong, for the sake of the                                                   gestion.  `And to me it seems too unlikely. Rev. de
. record, produce my,letter ti, hiin from California.                                                    Jong. must recall  that I told him in no uncertain
         Then I can, at lea&, apologize if there is any rea-                                             language how bitterly opposed I was to the Liberated
 son for it.                                       i                                                     churches and our churches becoming sister churches.  :
         This 1 hav,e$he right to demand .of him; "                                                      He.,also  must remember certainly that. when he first
                              G  .,                            -
                                             `.                                                ix. H.    said to me in a phone call that Rev. Hoeksema had
                                                                                                         signed  the letter and would I also now sign it, my
                                &Go                                 e             0630                   reply iYas that I never would. Is it likely then that 1
           a.  .,                                                                                        should have been the one to suggest that the f`letter'?
                                       :.
                                                                                                         be mitten?              _
    `
     ,i-'
                     The     &ic[a                      &      R;;:        .__     ..     :
   .  .                                                        ;  8  J.D.  De&ins                         Rev.  de.  Jong.  -No, but knowing that Rev.  Hokk-
     `1 have reference to the same a@& from Rev. de                                                      sema had not voiced his objection either against tl+
 #Jong's pen with which Rev. I!& Hqeksema  is occupied                                                   contents  or the  form  of the letter, Rev. Ophoff had
 in this issue of The :St&nd&d Rearer. 1 (undersigned)                                                   really little argument left'why  he should not sign the
 have real nee$. of giving *his' article sotie additional
                                                                    .>j                                  letter. (Italics-D).
 treatment.                                                         . .                                     Remark. I stand rather amazed at what. Rev. de
         ,Rfy. .de J&g wyites: :`$t is also a fact that I sellt                                          Jong here wrttes.
 SE+ Iettei  to Rev. Hoeksema who was at that time in                                                       Is this true-  true  t,hat .I  had little  argWinent left
 California. It is furthermore a matter of record, in                                                    on that account (on account of Rev. Hoeksema not
 his,  communicati?~  to me,  that Rev.  Hoeksema did having voiced any objections either to the0 form or
 not favor -send&g my proposed letter to the brethren                                                    cantents of the letter) and that I therefore signed the.
 in Holland at.`that time . . . But this was not at all                                                  letter? Let us see, if this is true. What was that `ar-
 for the reas& that the Reverend objected to the con-                                                    gument of mine? (I have a witness that what I am I
 tent of the letter: If he did he certainly did n^ot tell                                                now going to say  is the  truth. And that witness is,
 me."                                                                                                    my wife. For the-conversation took place in my bwn
      Remark. But this is an argument from silence and ' home. And my wife was present and heard all).
 therefore not valid. Though Rev. Hoeksema failed                                                        Now then, what was that argument of mine? It was
 to :reveal to Rev. de Jong that he objec`ted  to the con-                                               this, namely' that  I had principle  objectiotis  to  the
 tents of the letter, he still may haye had objections' signing  bf the letter-objections rising from the  doe:
 to the content of the lette?. A short time later, wheli                                                 trinal differences between-the Liberated and the Pro-'
 be had returned td Grand Rapids, h& called me on the                                                    testant  Reformed and that therefore I would, not. Sign
 phone to express to me his deep sorrow at his having~ the letter for the weighty reason that I could not for -~.
 learned &hat I had' signed. the letter. . . .                                                           conscienck sake.
      But that Rev. H&ksema objected  to both the form                                                      This was. my argument of which  .Rev; de  Jong
 and the content of the .letter is also ressonably' clear                                                says that it was so nearly destroyed  that little  re-
 from his communication to  Rev.. de Jong. Doesn't                                                       mained of it. But this contention of Rev. de Jong
 Rev. de Jong tell us that in his communication Rev.                                                     raises t'wo questions: 1) By what `counter argument
 Hoeksema s-&ted that he favored w@ing withaending                                                       was that argument of mine so nearly destroyed that
the letter until the nekt synod? -How to explain this                                                    little remained of it? 2) Who is that one who claims
 advice except on the grouqd that ,Rev. Hoeksema ob-                                                     to have destroyed it? That one, of course, is Rev. de
 jected to the content of the  letter?;  Why should he                                                   Jong. And what wds his argument,&y  which he now
 be. opposed to ,send$g the letter at that time if he was                                                claims to have destroyed my argument, that is prac-
 agreed, with.  the  con.tent  ?  `I  also recall that in  &is                                           tically so  ? That  argumknt, as he himself tells us,
communicatim Rev. Hoeksema stated that we s&ul$                                                          was precisely this: that Rey.' Hoeksema had voiced no
not w&t to beg but should allow the Liberated to take                                                    objections either to $he form or the con-tents of the
 the next step implying-that .the..letter  as to. its char- letter.
 aoter  was a begging  missiye  and therefore as to its                                                     This was Rev. de  Jo.ng's argument by which he
 content   o b j e c t i o n a b l e .   .,.:  ._,  :-  ..                                               noti claims to have destroyed my argument. But did
     In Rev. de .Jong's letter to. Rev. ~?$c&se&a. con-                                                  he? Certainly, he did not. And this for the.  .very
                                                                                                                                                            _  .i.


       202       a                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R   '                                     ~
       obvious reason that from the fact that Rev. Hoeksema         this) was even so strongly in favor of waiting with
       had voiced no objections either to the  fo?*m or the         writing to the brethren in The Netherlands that I did
       content of the letter it certainly does not follow that      not want to write to them at all with a view to their
       there are no doctrinal differences between the Lib-          churches and our I churches becoming sister churches 1
       erated and the Protest&t Reformed. So the fact is            This is not well `possible, is it? So there must be
       that Rev. de Jong had not practically destroyed my           another reason for my signing the letter, and Rev. de
       argument by his argument. ,On the contrary, when             Jong knew that `reasdn, for it had come to me from
       Rev. de Jong left my presence, my argument was still         him.      -     /
       standing very much erect .and with head  u'plifted.             80 again I turn to Rev. de Jong with the.question,
       How  `e&e could it be? It's simply a  matter.  of cold
                                                -.                  what really is the point to the reasoning  of the pass-
       logic.                                                       age of his article in question. Let him tell us. He
          How then, I would like to know, could Rev. de             should. He is under solemn obligation. For the way
       Jong write -in the Concordia for all to read that by         the passage in question reads it can easily be taken
       his argument he had so nearly destroyed my argument          to mean that, though I did not favor the letter, I
       that practically nothing remained, of it, so that stand-     nevertheless signed it,  just  becaus,e  Rev. Hoeksema
       ing speechless, so to say, I in my helplessness and con-     voiced no objections to it. 0 And this cannot be -true,
       fusion signed the letter as ;lot knowing what else that      as I have just shown.
       T could well do?                                                And is it.true that, as Rev. de Jong states; I read
          What had Rev. de. Jotig to do to give him the right' from Rev. Hoeksema's own. hand that the letter was
       to say that he had practically destroyed my argument?        perfectly alrQ& for; the purpose. I can't recall read-
       This is obvious.. He had tq prove with the scriptures        ing any such thing from Rev. Hoeksema's own hand.
       and the Confessions that the doctrine of the Liberated       And therefore I request that Rev. de Jong  .publish
       is sound doctrine and that therefore, as our doctrine,       Rev. Hoeksema's letter to him in order that it. may
       too; is sound, no  doctritial or dogmatical  differ'ences    appear whether or not he wrote such a thing.
       can exist cbetween  us and the Liberated, and that, such        But there is this question remaining. If for prin-
       being the case, I could certainly sign the letter with a     ciple reasons I was so bitterly opposed to. signing that
       good conscience.  But,. of course, Rev. de Song did          letter,  why then. did I nevertheless sign it? Why?
not even make the attempt. He did not even as much                  Because in my weakness and folly .I allowed Rev. de
       ai take notice of my argument, to say nothing of             Jong to wear me down with this argument of his:
       combating it with proper argument. That neverthe-            You see for yourself that you are the only one oppos-
       less he could write in effect that very little of my ar- `ing the movement toward the Liberated churches and
       gtim&t remained when he had done bearing down on             our churches becoming  *sister  churches. Rev.  Hoek-
       it with  his  argument-the. argument,  iamely, that. ,sema is not really opposed. For he raises no principle
       Rev. Hoeksema had not voiced any objecQo&  either            objections.  ;Our people are for it. You are the only
       to the form or the content of the letter-this, to me,        one that stands in the way.
       is a connumdrum.
  ~                                                                    This was  Rev. de  .Jong's new argument, and it
          But perhaps Rev. de Jong will say that the point proved potent indeed.
       to his article-that particular section of it with which         For the result was that I began to debate- with
       we are occupied-is not at ail that he had practicelly        myself whether I .a11 alone should assume that respon-
       destroyed my a?-gwm&t with his argument.                     sibility, whether it  wasn't the height of conceit' for
          But if this is'not the point to the reasoning of that     me to imagine that I alone was right ,and all- the rest
       section of his article with which we are now occupied,       of us  wrong.  `Could the Spirit be dwelling in me a-
       will Rev. de Jong then state in plain English just what      lone? Preposterous, I said `to myself. `And in that
       is the point to the reasoning of that section of his         mood I signed the letter.
       article with which we are occupied? Is it perhaps               Having obtained my signature, Rev. de Jong im-
       this: that, though I did not favor the letter, I never-      mediately left. He was barely gone, when I began  :
       theless signed the letter, ju.$ because .Rev. Hoeksema       to accuse myself. I' felt that in signing that letter I
       had not voiced any objections either to its form or          had done one of the worst things -1 had ever done. in
       contents? But how could ,Rev. Hoeksema's failure to          all my life: And that is still niy  coriviction. I can't
       voice his objections to the letter .be the reason for my     understand to this day why I allowed myself `to act
 signing the letter, seeing that Rev. Hoeksema at the               under. the impulse of that mood.
       same time &as in favor of waiting with writing to the           For `certainly  th'ere   tias no reason for me  to al-
       brethren in The Netherlands until next synod, and            low myself to be brdught  into this mood. For it was
       seeing  `-that I on my part `(and Rev, de Jong knew          not true that I was the only one opposed. I  .soon


                                       T H E   STANDAR'D  B E A R E R -   ,                                       203

 learned that Rev. Hoeksema &as just as much opposed         in favor of  sending  the letter and therefore  -he at-
 , as I and for the _ same reasons.     And there were       tached his signature to the letter. Besides, all that
 several others among our ministers just as much oppos-      the letter proposes ,to the deputies in the Netherlands
 ed as also many of our people as has become evident.        is that pregaratory work be done. that would lead to
 And  certainljr   the matter of signing or not signing      correspondence. And correspondence as Rev. Hoek-
 that letter could have waited until Rev. Hoeksema           sema saw and still se& it, does not necessarily. mean
 had returned. Then we could have. met as commit-            that two co&nunion of churches be sister churche_s.
 tee. There was no reason for haste. Besides, the                In ,fme, my purpose. in replying to the writihg of
 letter contains stat&mints  that should certainly have Rev. de Jong is not, certainly, to bring in excuses for
 caused me to recoil from signing it. There is this          my doing. Nor do I mean to be blaming Rev. de
 statement: "`But we believe that the origin of your         Jong for what I have done-sign the letter. That
 churches (Liberated) was a Reformation and a return         was my deed ,for which I must and am also willing to
 to the old and tried Reformed paths," mark you well,        bear the blame. However, Rev. de Jong is not with-
 to the old atid tried Reformed paths; Do we believe         out sin. Having learned from my own mouth that I
 that? I for one. do  not believe it. In fact I know         was unable t,o sign the "letter" with a good conscience,
 fro& a study of source material Mat during the past         he should by all means have desisted from attempting
 three years has come into my possession that it is not      to induce me to. give him tiy signature. He did, cer-
 true. Here- is another statement: "Dogmatical dif-          tainly, have the right to make it possible for me to
 ferences? which possibly may exist between you and          sign the letter with a good conscience!' by attempting to
 us, are no -confessional differences." But dogmatical       r,emove my objections. But fact  is  thtit he made no
 differences between us and the liberated do actually        attempt at all to remove kdy objections, made no at-
 exist. And though  we do have the same Forms of             tempt to prove to me that I was taking a wrong at-
 Unity, we do not certainly interpret them "alike,           titude toward the theology of the Liberated. As he
 And then finally this statement.: "If at all possible we    himself admits, the stibstance  of his whole argument
 would' like to do something for the members of your         was that whereas I was, the only on& in the whole
 churches.    We would  l&e to receive. them in  our         denomination opposed to sending the `letter, I had
 churc'hes,  or to organize them into congregations          better sign it. Ahd that is not argument. It is siniply
 wherever possibly," This is what Rev. de Jong would         a statement, and a false statement at that, one there-
 have us' do but not what I would have us do.                for which he might not even make. And certainly I
    Reading  these  statements, I stand atiazed at my        did  .ver> wrong in &owing myself to be influenced
 having signed that letter. Whether I neglected at the       by it.
time to take proper notice of the content of the letter?        I noticed that in his article Rev. de Jong takes the
 I do not know. It is true that at the time of niy sign-     stand that' his doing was ethical.  ! He writes : "Of
 ing the letter I hadn't yet made a study of the theology    course he (Ophoff) did not favor that lett,er, in -that
 of the Liberqted. For I had not in my possession the        respect Rev. Oph6ff has been rather consistent; but
 necessary source material, books and pamphlets of           at that time the potent argument for me with Rev.
 Ilibe'rated  authorship. Hence my acquaintance with         Ophoff was that Rev. Hoeksema had no  objections to
 Liberited theology was rather slight. But the little        the letter (take notice of these Italics. They are Rev.
 I did- know of it had turned me against it. For to me       de Jong's) .
 it smacked of Arniinianism and thus left in my mouth           Rev. de qong must not defend his doing. We may
 a very bad  ta$e. And therefore already then and            never  try to induce a person to go against his own
 especially  beeFuse of my having- listened to Dr.           conscience  iid especially not by means of  falacious
 Schilder's expositions of doctrine on the meetings of       reasonings. That certainly is very wrong.              .~
 %our conference with him, I strongly objected to our           Here follows that passage from Rev. de Jong's
 churches having  correspqndance  with the Liberated         article with which I deal `in this article.
 churches. That is, what I objected to was that we be           "It is correct that Rev. Ophoff hesitated to  sign
 sister churches.                                            the proposed letter when' I confronted him with it."
    As to Rev. Hoeksema, he feels the same as I do               (Remark, the word "hesitated" is much too weak
 &bout our having signed that letter. Also his stand is,     here. Rev.. de Jong- knows that* he should have writ-
of course,. that it should not have been done. He            teri : "`It is  correj that  Rev.  ;Ophoff stated that he
 signed it because if the majority of the committee, could not s@n the letter for conscience sake").
 were in favor of Sending the letter, he did. not want          "If there was a certain measure of pressure on
 to withhold his signature. _ But he felt certain at the     my part to  ,have  ,Rev.  Oihoff sign the letter; `that
 time that the majority~ of tht;! committee would' not be    pressure, if one wants to call it such, ce?tai& was on

                                                                             .


       2        0        4                   T H E   STANDAR'D'  B E A R E R

       the level, `opeli and aLove b,oard,  and a-matter  of con-     principle objection but it is nevertheless an objection
       viction on my part that we were doing the right.".'            to the content and form of the .letier).
             (Remark. H&e Rev. de Jong .admits  tilat he used             `"And it seems to me Rev.  Ophoti  aequiesed  in
       pressure ,on me. Here then we. have prbof from his             signing the letter when he read from Rev. Hoeksema's
       own pen that he had encoqntered  in me a very serious          own hand that the letter was perfectly &right for the
       objection to signing the letter-the objection which I          purpose.`.'
       just stated and that his final argument was what I                 (Remark.  I trust that  it. has become  .plain that
       said .it is) .                                                 also this statement from the pen of Rev. de Jong is
            `-And  $mowitig  Rev. Ophoff I feel absolutelzj posi-     fantastically untrue.                          And I  ~  ati also certain, as I
       t&e that he never would have signed the letter if Rev.         said, that Rev. de Jong is not quoting Rev. Hoeksema
       Hoeksema had irk any way at all expressed his objec-           here literally. Will  .Rev. de Jong do so. Will he
       tion against the content of the letter.".                      please publish that communication of Rev. Hoeksema,
            (Remark. Take notice of the Italics in this  sen-         which he still has in his possession. -And by the way,
       ten&.         They  ape all Rev. de Jong's. Here Rev. de       also ,these italic.? are. J.D;`s) .
       Jong means to establish witli absolute certainly that             Now I suppose that Rev. de Jong and more of our
       Rev. `Hoeksema raised no objec_tions  either to the form       people won't' like this article. I can't say that I like
       or the content of the letter. Butt I am satisfied that         it myself. But what could I do? That article of Rev..
       P have overturned this whole argument .of his: The             de Jong had to be answered. For, as he says, the
       readers may judge).                                            records must be kept straight by all means. I haven't
            "No, but knowing that the Rev. Hoeksema had n.ol:         been writing controversial articles for a- long time.
       voiced his objection either to the  cont.ents  or. the         And it wasn't  my; intention to be breaking out into
       form of the letter, Rev. Ophoff had really little a,rgu-       controversy in this issue of. our paper.' But: we are
       ment left why he should not sign the letter."                  simply being. driven to it.. Also by the kind .of ar-
            (Remark. First, Italics  J.D.`s. How fantastically        ticles that Rev. Kok h,as. been placing in our papers.
      .fallacious  this' reasoning of J.D.! Tlljs, too  has  beeti    These.brethren  seem to be determined.%0  keep. the pot
       made clear.)                                                   boiling. `That is all right, too.                                                                 *
                                                                                                                                        .
            -"$Of course he (lophoff) did not favor (take notice,                                       ;.                       `1_                G: M. Ophoff
       .favor. Much' too weak a term in this connection for                                                                                                . .  .e
                                                                                                                                             ..                                "'
       ,reasons already stated-O) that. letter, in that respect                                                                                       .   .
       Rev. Ophoff has been rather cdnsistant, but` at ;that                              -
       time the .po,tetit argument for m,e -with Rev. Ophoff                                                  ,
       was that Hoeksema- had no objections to the letter."                      ANNOUNCEMENT TO THE CHURCHES
            (Remark. Here -Rev. de Jong says that in raisirig
       objections to signing the letter, I' was consistant.           Classis East, at its. last session on Jan. 9; 1952, de-
       This can mean but one thing, namely that `the objec-           cided that Rev. A. ,Petter  is eligible for a call.
       tion that I raised to signing the ,letter  in my private                                                     Cl.%ssis East-D. Jonker,  ;S.C.
.' meeting with Rev. de Jong is the same objection
     that I at the time had in public all along been raising                                                  -  a  -'
                                                                                                                   .   .
       against the Liberated churches and our chmches be-                                                                   -                        `_
      _.coming sister churches. This objection' ,w& that the          CLASSIS- WEST -of !he Protestant Reformed Chur-
       theology of the Liberated smacks of  .arminianism.             ches will meet in Rock Valley, Wednesday, M@ch 5,.
       Here then we have more proof from th% peri of Rev.             1952.                                                                         M. Gritters, S.C.
_de  Jong  t&at in my private meetihg with him I told                                                                                                              \  -
                                                                                                                                                               ,: I.
       him that I could not sign the letter for conscience                                                    -.:  -  :~i.--                                                              I
       sake. Rev. de Jong- should have told this to his read-                                   .-.                                                              :.
       ers. `But he didn't. He also refrained from revealing                                      Though man, foes beset y&r road,
       to his readers the real reason for my signing the let-                                          And feeble is your arm :                                  91.: `.: .%
       ter. Atid~he so wrote as to leave ,the impression that                                     Your life is hid with Christ in God,
       the reason I -signed the- letter is that Rev. Hoeksema                                           Beyond  tl&:4:each of  harm.
       raised no objection t"o .it. This  `is wrong of Rev. de                     .,-
                                                                                 `,_.,
       Jong. To his. assertion that Rev. Hoeksema had no                                          As sur$y as. He overcame,
       obj.ection  to the letter, I have already r&plied..  Rev.                                        And $&$phed once for ~you ;
       H+ksema` stated  that he did not like .to beg implying             `A*             -'      so
                                                                           I.                           s;r@p, -you, that love His namtit, . ., :. ~~:
       that the letter was a begging one. This may not be a                                            5l$$.  tri~.~p@`i~:H+ too. 1 __  `_ I..
.                                                                                                                                                                            (i-
                                                                                                                                                                             ,.      y


      1                                        T H E   STANDAtiD?BEARER                                                205

                                                                       Now it is certainly true that the believer is the
           THE TRIPLE  KNOWLiDG~                                    same as the elect. It is also true that it must be clear-
                                                                    ly preached that faith is a gift of God, and is the fruit
                                                              -     of His sovereign grace. Moreover, it must be clearly
      An Exposition Of The. Heidelberg proclaimed in the preaching that this gift of grace is
                                                                    bestowed only upon the elect, and upon none other.
                                   Cat&&ism                         Always the whole counsel of -God. must be proclaimed.
                .                                                   There is no assurance of faith in the error of Armin?
                                   PART TWO                         ianism. Nor is there in that false doctrine any key-
                     O f   M a n 's   Rede-mpt i o n                power to shut the kingdom of heaven against tinbe-
                             LORD'S DAY  XXX1                       iievers. The preacher, therefore, that leaves the im-
                                                                    pression in any way that man  h&s of himself the
                                      3                             `power to "accept" Christ distorts the Word of God
                                                                    and his preaching does not serve to open. nor to shut,
               The Preaching` df the Promise (cont.) ,              the kingdom of heaven.     -~
           It is ,,self-evident that if, the preaching of the         `But this does not mean' that the preaching of the
      gospel is ,to be a key-power, to open and' to kliut the       Word may consist in an abstract proclamation of the
      kingdom of heaven, it must produce a very definite doctrine of election. On the contrary, in as far as
      sound. It must not be a vague, general offer of salva-- the preaching of the Word addresses the believing
      tion, but must proclaim the whole counsel of God.  - church, whether those that have only the power of
                                                                    faith or those that have -already received Christ by
      The. more definitely and sharply the promise is pro-          a conscious and active faith, it must alGays call the
      claimed in the preaching, the  more effective en in-          elect.to  believe and to repent. Moreover, it must con-
      strument it will be for Christ to open and to shut the .st&tly explain to them and confront them with the
      kingdom of heaven. As was said before, the preach-            obligation to keep their part of the covenant-of God,
      ing must have a four-fold  eff&t.  It must  co&rm             not, to be sure, as a condition for' God's part of the
      believers in the assurance that they are in the king-         covenant, but as the fruit of the realization of ,God's
      dom of heaven. It must call those  tthat befo?e their         covenant  iti them as rational and moral creatures-an
. own consciousriess are_ still without to enter into that          obligation not to fulfill an outward law of precepts,'
      kingdom. It must. expel those  ,that,   as  far as the        but to keep the law of-love in virtue of ,the law that
      church Visible is concerned, are within but neverthe- is written in their hearts. Always the preaching of
      less have no part in the kingdom of  IChrist. And it the Word must exhort the whole church to cieave to
      must bar those that belong without from ever enter-           and trust in the God of their salvation, td love Him
      .ing into the church  df Christ.
 I                                                                  with all their hearts and minds and soul and strength.
           This is true, as far as the effect. of the prssching     It must exhort them ,to put off the old man; which is
      of the Word is concerned upon the consciences of the          corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and to put on
      hearers, even for the hypocrites. `It &nds to reas"on         the new man, which after God is created in righteous-
      that a real hypocrite is not easily expelled from the         ness and true holiness. It must admonish  them  -to
      churbh visible on earth, even  by. the most definite          walk in  brqtherly  love, to lay aside all malice and
      preaching of the gospe!. He speaks as a believer and          guile and hypocrisies and envies and evil spcakings,
      acts as one, although inwardly he is an iinbeliever  and      and thus as new-born babes to desire the sincere  milk
      knows it. Nevertheless the  kreaching  of the Word            of the Word, that they may grow thereby. Through
      must be so definite that even the hypocrite is con-           the preaching of the Word  they  m&t  bonstantly  .&
      demned in his own conscience, and knows that he has           reminded of the fact that the works of the flesh A?$
      no part in the kingdom of `God. The preaching of the manifest, such as,- adu1ter.y; fornication, uncleanness,
      Word, therefore, as a key power must produce  a very          lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred; variance,
definite  sound.                                                    emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies; envyipgs,
           This is a&o the clear teaching of the- Heidelberg        murdbrs, drunkenness, revellings,  and that those which
      Catechism in Question and Answer 84. To every be-             do sq,ch things h&e no inheritalLce in the kingdom of
      liever the preaching declares that whenever they re-          God, and that, on the contrary, the fruit of the Spirit
      ceive the promise by a true faith, all their sins are for-    is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness,
      given them for the sake of Christ's merits.                   fait&; meekness, temperance, and that in that Spirit
           Here the. j?romise  of God is deelay?! to be only for    they must walk. In this tiay they must be admonish-
 the believers.               .                                     @ t@ make. their calling and election sure. And they

                        ,

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

 must understand that only in the way of sanctifr_cation      do, he does not; and the .evil that he Gould not do, he
 can they be sure of their election and calling. They         performs.. He therefore is the man that can truly
 must give diligence to add to their faith virtue ; and       cry out : "`0 wretched man that I am ! Who shall de-
 to virtue, kriowledge ; and to knawledge, temperance ;       liver me from the body of this death? I thank God
 and  .to  tetiperance,  patience  ; and to patience, god-    through. Jesus Christ our Lord."
 liness ; and to godliness, brotherly kindness ; and to          -All this must be definitely proclaimed to the whole
 brotherly kindqess, charity ; so that they are not bar-      church of God in the world. And to those believers
 .ren, nor unfruitful, in the knowledge of our Lord           that' thus hear- and heed the Word of God. %e assur-
 Jesus Christ.                                                ance must be given that they are indeed in the king-
        `Moreover; the preaching of the Word must not         dom of heaven. For the Catechism teaches us that
 fail to call athe elect by their spiritual name: they are    the preaching of the Word testifies "to all and every
 believers in Christ Jesus,  .called to be saints, and        believei, that, whenever they receive the promise of
 sanctified in Hiti. They are those that have the cer-        the,gospel-by a true faith, all their sins are really for-
 tain spiritual knowledge of Christ, and  not a mere          given them of IGod, for the  sake of Christ's merits."
 cold, doctrinal, intellectual knowledge.' They are those     The remission of sins is here presented as the con-
 that put all their confidence in Him as the revelation       tent of the promise of tGe gospel. This does not mean,
 of the God of their salvation, trusting that all their       as we" have explained before, that remission of sins
 sins are forgiven only for the sake of Christ's merits.      is the only blessing contained in the promise of God.
They are those that labor and are  heavy laden,  and          For the promise includes the application of all. the
 constantly come to Christ to receive from Him the            benefits of  #Christ,  which He merited  for us  by His
 rest and  th,e peace that  passe!h  all understanding.       perfect  .obedience.  Nevertheless, if  the preaching of
 They are the poor in spirit, whose alone is the king-        the gospel is to be a key-power, whereby believers are
 dom of heaven. They are those that mourn because of          assured that they belong in' the kingdom of heaven,
 their present state of sin and tribulation in the midst      the promise of  the forgiveness of sins through the
 of the world,. and that shall certainly be comforted.        merits of Jesus Christ our Lord is not only sufficient,
 They are the me'ek,, that are able to endure tribula-        but must be considered the chief and principal ele-
 tion arid the suffering of this present time for Christ's    ment of the promise. For, in the first place, objec-
 sake.  They are those that hunger and thirst. after          tinkly the blood and merits of Christ are the sole gate
 -righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the         to the kingdom of God.. Another passage into that
 peacem.akers,  and those  .who, in principle love the        kingdom there is not. Not the works ,of the-law, not
 commandments of God and do them. Unto all these              self-righteousness, not any measure of religiousness,
 the, kingdom of .heaven  is promised, and the preaching      in a word, nothing of man himself, but only the cross
 of the gospel must not fail definitely to assure thein       of Christ and His perfect obedience gives entrance
 that they are children -of the kingdom.                      into the kingdom of God. And that gate is  subjec-,
        Moredver,  the preaching of the gospel  must  alsa    tively the gate of humiliation and sorrow after AGod.
 be very definite in describing the present condition         One can  never pass through  .that gate with a stiff
 of the children of God in the world. It must indee.d         neck and a proud heart. Only on his kn,ees can the
 assure them that they  are perfect in principle, in          sinner enter through the gate of the kingdom of
 `virtue of the life of regeneration that is itiplanted in    heaven. And that means that he must have forgive-
 their hea& But they must also.be brought to a clear          ness, and that only when Christ Himself, through the
 understanding of the truth that they have, and until         preaching of the gospel, as,sures  him that his sins are
 the day of their-death will have, only a small begin-        forgiven, he may be confident that he belongs in the
 ning of the neti obedience, and that there is' still mu&     kingdom of Christ. And therefore it- is not to the
 carnality in their old nature. They must understand          perfect, not to those that have no sin, nor to sinners
 that the picture which the apostle Paul draws of him-        in general, but to penitent sinners that hear and re-
 self in the seventh chapter of the epistle to the Romans     ceive the promise of forgiveness, that the gate of the
 is a very ?aithf&l represent&on  of him that .is in the -kingdom of heaven is opened.  Beside&  even as the
 kingdom of heaven in his present conditidn and `in the       righteousness of  <Christ  is the sole basis for  a!1 the
 midst of the present-world. To be sure, he never says        other benefits of salvation, so the forgiveness of sins
 that he would rather continue in sin, in. order that         is the. key that opens for the contrite and .troubled
 grace may abound. For to live in sin is impossible .heart all the blessings of grace. And therefore the
 fir him. Nevertheless, he knows that that which he           Catechism is certainly cdrrect  when it states that the
 `dqq he allows not, what he would he does not, and           kingdom of heaven is opened by the preaching pf the
 what `he .hhates  that he does. The good that he would       gospel when "it is declared and publicly testified to


                                        T H E :   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                            207

  all and e&y believer, that whenever they receive the              Hence, the Heidelberg Catechism speaks in the same
  promise of the gospel by a t&e faith, all their sins              sentence of those who are still unconveried, Besides,
  are redlly forgiven -them of God, for  3he  ,sake of              even as the preaching of the gospel does not address
  Christ's merits."                                .-         `,    the elect in the a&tract, but speaks to them as be-
      Nor must in the preaching of the gospel to the                liebers, so it does not address the reprobate as such,
  church of Jesus_Christ in the world the congregation              but sseaks to them as unbelievers and those that do
  be divided into different groups, as was often done in            not  s"incerely repent;. Nevertheless, the preaching of
 - past years, when the sermon was characterized by a -the Word `as a key-power expels .them  from the church
  separate  .application.  In fact, in those cases the ap-          and declares-unto them that they have no part' ir!. thz
 plication  was often considered, to be the most inter-             k i n g d o m   o f   `God.
  esting and most important part of the sermon. The                     We may, of course, distinguish, as evidently does
  expository part of the sermon frequently induced the              the Catechism, between unbelievers and those that do
  congregation to go to sleep, in order to wake up'whe:~            not repent, although the two are, -of cburse,  insepar-
  the minister began with the apphcatory part. In the `ably related. Unbelievers are those that either openly
  main the congregation was divided into converted and              deny the truth of the Word of God as it is in Christ
  unconverted, although the former were often again                 Jesus our Lord; or .reSeal by their entire attitude tilat
  distinguished into assured children of God, seeking               they do not possess the true and living faith in
  souls, those that were constantly in doubt, etc. But              Christ. They do not know Him with a certain spiritual
  this is an error. The whple Word  of, God must be knowledge as those that- hunger and thirst after
  proclaimed  to- the whole church. And that whole                  righteousness. They do not put all their confidence il;
  church consists, according to the Reformed concep-                Him alone for the forgiveness of their sins, trust in
  tion, of believers and their-seed. Of them we confess             their own righteousness, and trample. under foot the
_ at the moment of baptism that God establishes His                 blood of Christ. And those that do not sincerely re-
  eternal covenant of gr'ace with them, that their sins             pent are not filled with 2 true sorrow after God, do
  are forgiven them, and that they are adopted in Christ            not crucify their old nature,- do not forsake the world,
  Jesus  &s children of God. `Of them we confess that               but rather walk in the lust ,of the flesh, the lust of tho
  they are sanctified in Christ, and that they are                  eyes, and the pride of life: And they are those who
  obliged to walk in new obedience, to. love the Lord               are really excommunicated from the table of the Lord
  their God with all their heart and, mind and soul and             by the Form for the Administration of the Lord's
  strength, to fopsake the world, to crucify their flesh,           Suppe? when it declares: "Therefore, we also accord-
  and to walk in a new and holy life. That whole church ,ing to the command of Christ and the apostle Paul,
  must be called to repent, and all without exception must          admonish all those. wlio. are defiled with the- following
  heed the Word of IGod, put off the old man andoput on             sins, to keep the.tiselves  from the table of the Lord,
  the new. And to those that thus heed the Word of                  and declare to  <them that they have no part in the ,
  God the promise must be proclaimed that their sins                kingdom of Christ; such as all  .id&ters,  all those
  are forgiven them for the sake of the merits of Christ            who invoke deceased saints, angels or other creatures;
 .Jesus our Lord.                     h --                          all those who worship images; all enchanters, diviners,
     Nor is this all.           .                                   charmers, and those who confide in such enchant-
     The key-power of the Word dbes not only concern                ments; all despisers of God? and of his Word, and of
  believers, but also unbelievers.. Hence, the Heidelberg           the holy sacraments; all blasphemers; all those who
  Catechism in Question and Answer 84 -teaches us that -are given to raise discord, sects and mutiny in Church
  "on the contrary, when it is declared and testified to            or S%ate ; all perjured persons ; ,311 those who are dis-
  all unbelievers, and such as do not sincerely repent, .obedient  to their parents and superiors ; all murderers;
  that they stand exposed to `the wrath of God, and                 contentious persons, and those who live in hatred. and
  eternal condemnation, so long as they are uncon-                  envy against their neighbors; all adulterers, whore:
  verted." These the key-power  bf the Word expels                  mongers, drunkards, ,thieves, usurers, robbers,- games-
  and definitely places outside of the kingdom of heaven.           ters, covetous, and all who. lead offensive lives;" To
  The Catechism here speaks of. unbelievers and such                them must be proclaimed, according to the Heidelberg
  as do not si'llcerely  repent. They are not necessarily           Catechism, that they stand exposed to' the wrath *of
  the reprobate iii the same sense that believers arc               God and eternal condemnation so long as they remain
  necessarily the elect. For of course it is possible that          in their unconverted state.
  the unbelievers can still be. converted,. and that those             POnly when the gospel is thus dkfinitely preached,
  who do not sincerely `repent are by the grace of Go'd             and gives no uncertain sound, i is and can the preach: --
  brought to true sorrow atid repentance of their sini.             ing be the power of the keys, to open and shut* the


                                                          .

            208      -                              7xE  STRNDARD  BEARER

            kingdom of heaven. Thus the kingdom of heaven is
            opened to all believers, weak or strong, small and
            great, assured or hesitant. For to them, all the cer-                0 -U-R  IlO C T R I  N  J3
          ~. tain, indubitable promise of  IGod is proclaimed that
          they have the forgiveness of sins for the sake of              The Hexgemeron or Creation-Week
          Christ's merits, and that therefore all the blessings                                   -                   -_
            of salvation are theirs. And thus the  kingdo"m of
            heaven, is shut to unbelievers as those that stand ex-
            posed to the wrath of God, and who will be judged                     ,      THE' CREATIlON OF MAN- (5)
            according to the testimony of the gospel both in this           We were busy in our previous article -with a dis-
            life and in the life to come. And if thus the gospel         cussion of the conception known among us as the
            is definitely and truly preached, according to the           Covenant of Works. We quoted, from Prof.' Berkhof
            Scriptures, there can be no' doubt that what, is bqund       and presented his Scriptural foundation for this doc-
            on earth shall be bound in heaven, and what is loosed        trine. In this article we wish to continue with this
            on earth shall be loosed in heaven.                          discussion and will first of all quote once more from
                Once more we must emphasize that this preach-            the same author. _ In this quotation he presents to us
            ing of the gospel could have no power at all, if it were     the various elements of the covenant of `works.
            not that the preaching stands in the service of the liv-
            ing Word of Christ. Christ ~has the key`-power, and                             Quotation  &m  Prof.  Beskhof
            He alone. He opens, and no man shutteth ; and He                "`The following elements must be distinguished.
            shutteth, and no man openeth. -And only when Christ            1.' The. Contracting Parties.             On the one hand
            Himself, through  _ His efficacious Word binds the `there was-the triune God, the Creator and Lord, and
            preaching of the gospel according to the Scriptures          on the other.  hand, Adam as His dependent creature.
            upon the conscience of every hearer, can-it be a savour` A twofold relationship between the two. should be
           ' of life unto life to those that believe, and a'savour of    distinguished:                - .
            death unto death to those that do not repent and be-           a.          The natural  relatidnship.  When  LGod created
            lieve. For'it is never the word of man, but "the Word        man, He by that very fact established a natural rela-
            of IGod that is quick, and powerful, and sharper than        timship between Himself and man. It was a relation-
            any two-edged sword, piercing. even to the dividing          ship like that between the potter and the clay,  be-
            asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and mar- `tween an absolute sovereign and a subject devoid of
            row, and is a discerner of the thoughts' and inltents any claim. In fact, the distance between the two was
            of the heart. Neither isthere any creature that is-not       so great that these figures are not even an adequate
            manifest in his sight ; but all -things are naked and        expression of it. 6 It was such that a, life in com-
             opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to            munion with each other seemed to be out of the ques-
            do."                      -                                  tion. As the creature,of  God man was naturally un-
                                                               H: H.     der the law, and was in duty bound to keep. it. And
                                                                         while transgression of the law would render him liable
                                                                         to punishment, the keeping .of it would not constitute
                                            q                            an inherent claim to a reward. Even if he did all that
                          s
                                                                         was'required-of him, he would still have to say, I am
                                                                         but an unprofitable servant, for I have merely done
\                              ,,BOUND VOLUME XXVII                      that which it was my duty to do. Under this purely
     9                                                                   natural relationship man could not have merited any-
                Volume 27.to be bound are now at-the book binder         thing. But though the infinite distance between God
            and should be ready in about thirty days. Those re-          and man <apparently excluded a life of communion
            siding out side of Grand Rapids and who have a stand-        with each other, man was created for just such com-
            ing order for this volume should forward at ones their       munion, and the possibility of it was already given in
            loose issues to Mr. C. Kregel, 1250 Philadelphia Ave.,       his creation in the image of God. In this natural
             S.TE., Grand Rapids 6, Michigan, or to Mr. J. Faber,        relationship Adam was the father of the human race.
             829 Oakhill  St., S. E., Grand Rapids `7, Michigan.           b.  The  cov.enant  yekxtion-ship.  From  the very be-
             Those residing in Grand Rapids should have the              ginning, however, God revealed Himself, not only as
            loose issues ready to be picked up when the. bound           an absolute Sovereign and Lawgiver, but also as a
           . volume is delivered,                                        loving Father, seeking the welfare and happiness of
                Q                          Book Comm., R.F.P.A. Board    His dependent creature.              He condescended to come


                                       T H E   S T A - N D A R D ' B E A R E R                                         209

   down to the level of man, to reveal Himself as a              mandment was unto life, he means life in the fullest
   Friend, and to`enable man to improve his condition in         sense of the word. The principle of the covenant of
   the way of obedience. In addition to-the natural rela-        works was : `the man that does `these  things shall live
   tionship He, by a positive enactment, graciously              thereby; and this principle is reiterated time and
 . established a covenant relationship. He entered into          again in Scripture, Lev. 13  :5; Ezek. 20 :ll, 13, 20;
  a legal compact with man, which includes. all the re-          Luke 10:28; Rom. 10:5; Gal. 3:12.
   quirements and obligations i.mplied in -the creature-            3. The. Condition  of  the Cobenant.  The promise
  hood of man, but at the same itime added' some new             in the covenant of works was not unconditional. The
  elements. (1) Adam was constituted the representa-             condition was that of implicit and perfect obedience.
  tive head of the human race, so that he could' act for         The divine law can demand nothing less than that, and
   all his descendants.    (2) He was temporarily .put on        the positive command not to  eat of the fruit of the
  probation, in order to determine  wheth,er he would tree of the knowledge of good and evil, relating as it
  willingly subject his will to the will of ,God.     (3) He     did, to a thing indifferent--in itself, was clearly a test
  was given the promise of eternal life in the way of            of pure obedience in the absolute sense of the word.
  obedience, and thus by the gracious disposition of God         Man was, of course, also subject to ithe moral -law of
  acquired certain conditional rights. This covenant en-         ,God, which was written on the tablets of his heart.
  abled Adam to obtain eternal life for `himself and for         He knew this by nature, so that it did not have to be
  his descendants *in the way of obedience.                      revealed supernaturally, as the, special test was. Es-
      2. The Promise  of  the  Covenad.  The great               sentially, the moral law, as Adam knew it, was un-
 ~ promise of the covenant of works was the .promise  of         doubtedly like the ten commandments, but the form
 eternal life. They who deny the covenant, of works              was different. In its present form the moral law pre-
  generally base their denial in part on the fact that           supposes a knowledge of sin, and is therefore pri-
  there is  no. record of such a promise in the Bible.           marily negative'; in `Adam's heart, howeverj  it must
  And it is perfectly true that Scripture contains no            have had ,a positive -character. But just because it
  -explicit promise of eternal life to Adam.         But the     was positive; it did not bring to his consciousn-ess  .the
  threatened~  penalty clearly implies such a promise.           possibility of sin.    Therefore a negative command-
  When the Lord says, "for in the day that thou eatest           ment was added. "Moreover, in order that the test of
  thereof thou shalt surely die," his statement clearly          Adam might be a test of pure' obedience, God deemed
^ implies that, if Adam refrains from eating, he will            it necessary to add to the commandments of which
  not die, but will'be raised above the possibility of death.    Adam perceived the naturalness and reasonableness,
  The implied promise certainly cannot mean &at, in              a commandment which was in a certain sense arbitrary
  the case of obedience, Adam would be permitted to              and indifferent. -Thus the demands of the law were,
  live on in the usual way, that is, to continue the ordil       so to say, concentrated on a single point. The great'
 nary natural life, for that life was his already in             question that had to be settled was, whether man would
  virtue of his creation, and therefore could not be held        obey [God implicitly or follow the guidance of his own
  out as a reward for obedience. The implied promise             judgment.    Dr. Bavinck says:  >"Het proefgebod
  evidently was that of life raised to its highest develop-      belichaamde voor hem (Adam) het dilemma : God "of de
  ment of perennial bliss and glory. Adam was indeed             mensch, Zijn gezag of eigen inzicht, onvoorwaardelijke
  created in a state of positive holiness, and was also          gehoorzaamheid of zelfstandig onderzoek, geloof of
  immortal in the sense that he was not subject to the           twi j f el (the probationary command embodied for-him
  law of death. But he was only at the beginning of              (Adam) the dilemma : God or man, His authority or
  his - course and did not yet possess, the highest pri-         own opinion, unconditional obedience or independent
  vileges that were in store for man. He was not yet.            inquiry, faith or doubt-translation of undersigned,
  raised above the possibility of erring, sinning, and           H. V.)"
  dying. He was. not yet in possession of the. highest              4. The,PenaltzJ bf the Covenant. The penalty that
  degree of holiness, nor did he enjoy life in all its ful-      was threatened was death, and what this means can
. ness. The image .of God in man was still'limited by            best be. gathered from the general meaning of the
  the possibility of man's sinning against .God, changing        term- as it is used in Scripture, and from the evils that
  from good to evil, and becoming subject to the power           came upon the guilty in the execution of the penalty.
  of death.    The  .promise  of life in the' covenant of        Evidently `death in the most inclusive sense of the           a
  works was a promise of the removal `of all the limita-         word is meant, including physical, spiritual, and
  tions of life ito which~ Adam was still, subject, and of       eternal death. The fundamental Scriptural idea of
  the raising of his life-to .the highest degree of perfec-      death is not that of extinction of being, but that of
  tion, When Paul says in Rom.  7:IO that the  com-              separation fr,om the ,source of life, and the resulting


       216                                                          T H E   STkNDARD  B E A R E R

       dissolution or misery and woe. Fundamentally, it con-
.      sists in the separation of t.he soul from God, which
       manifests itself in spirituaal misery; and finally termi-                                               THE DAY OF  SHAbOWS
       nates in eternal death. But it also includes the sepa-
       ration of body and soul and the consequent ddissolu-
       tion of the body. Undoubtedly the execution of the                                                     The  I'rqtevangel   as-  the  Unifying  Idea
       penalty began at once after the first transgression.                                                             - of  all  the  Scriptures
       Spiritual death entered  ~instantly,  and the seeds of
     death also began to operate in the body. The full                                                      - III. We now come to the epoch in. the series con-
       execution .of the sentence, however, did not follow at                                             stituted of a new and marvelous work of God. It is
       once, but was arrested, because God immediately in- an epoch or dispensation. of grace that set in with
      traduced  an economy of grace and restoration.                                                      the Egyptian bondage of the' people of Israel, and
                5.  The.Sacrament(s), of  tk Covenant.  We have `ended with the Lord's entering with His people into
       no  ' definite  information in Scripture respecting the                                            the typical rest of Canaan. The Lord brings His
       scrament  (s) or seal (s) of this covenant. Hence there                                            people into Egypt where it is enslaved by Pharaoh.
       is a great variety of opinions on the subject. Some                                                Humanly speaking, the state of the church is again
       speak of four : the tree of life,- the tree of the knowl- ' hopeless, as hopeless as it was before the deluge. But
     edge of good and evil, paradise, and the sabbath  ; . the Lord -delivered His church by  His outstretched
       others of three : the two trees and paradise ; still oth-                                          arm through the destruction of the adversary by the
       ers of two: the tree of life and paradise, and still oth-                                          waters of the Red Sea. He leads His people to Sinai,
       ers of one : the tree of life. The last opinion is the                                             where .He gave them His covenant. Eventually He
      most prevalent one, and would seem to be the only                                                   entered with His people into the rest of Canaan.
      one to find any support in Scripture. We should not                                                  -. It is plain that we deal here with a new epoch
      think of the fruit of this tree- as magically connected                                             of sacred history.
       with the gift of life. In all `probability it must be                                                 As to the salvation of the people of Israel from
       conceived of as an. appointed symbol or seal of life.                                              the clutch of Pharaoh; there:was a negative and posi-
       Consequently, when Adam forfeited the promise, he                                                  tive side to it. Its negative side was Israel's deliver-
      was debarred from the sign. So conceived the words                                                  ance from the oppression of Pharaoh; Its positive side
      of ,Gen:`3  :22 must be understood sacramentally."-                                                 was the tLzord's entering with His people the rest- of
       thus far the quotation of Berkhof.                                                                 Canaan. Herewith this epoch closes. The Church is
                                                                         H. Veldman                       again .on the heights, so to speak.         ,
                                                                                                             `How plainly Christ-the seed of the' woman  -
                                                     q                   .--..                            stands. out in'this segment of sacred history, first in
                                                                                                          the blood of' the Pascal lamb, and second in Moses,
                                              IN MEMORIAM                                                 the Mediator of the Old Covenant and in this capacity
              The  .C&sistory  of -the Orange City, Protestant -Reform&d                                  the type of Christ, and third in the entire ritual that
      Xhurch herewith expresses. its sympathy with our brother                                            was instituted at Mt. Sinai. For the soul of this ritual
      Deacon H.. P,als in the death of his sister.                                                        are the sacrifices by blood allpointing`to Christ.
                      ,t  `.                  Mrs. S. Faber                                                  In this third epoch the two seeds and the enmity
              May' the  $od of all grace' comfort the  beFea&d  family and                                between them take on a new -distinctiveness. Here
      relatives.
                                                    Co&story' of Orange City,  Ibwa                       the seed of the woman is the house of-Israel,  the twelve
                `
                 ,                                     .Riev.   W .   `Hofman,   Pres.                    tribes according to election. The seed of the serpent
                                                        M. De  Zager, Clerk  ..                      -    is prominent in `the persecuting Pharaoh, second in
                                                                                                          `the Canaanite tribes under the ban of God and ex-
                                                               L
                                              --    :--...-::
                                                                          `.                              tirpated by the. sword of Joshua, and third `in the
                                                                                                          carnal, reprobated Israel.      '
                                Plenteous grace with Thee is found,                                         - The enmity on the side of the -serpent is seen in
                                  Grace to` pardon all my sin ;                                           Pharaoh's oppression .of the people of Israel, in the
                _.
       .`^                      ,iLet the healing streams abound,                                         hard bondage to which he subjected them, and es-
                                  -Let me feel them flow within..                                         pecially in his ordering the infant males among the
                                Thou of life the fountain art,                          :                 Hebrews to be killed at birth. The seed of the woman
                                  Freely let me take of Thee: -                                           had to be destroyed. The serpent was determined.
                      `: Spring Thou up within my heart,                                                  `For in the- loins of this seed was the Christ. The en-
                      .C',        Rise to all eternity.  -                        .          -.*.         mity on the -side of the.seed of the serpent is seen
                                        .-


                       .~                   THE:STANDARD  B E A R E R                                             211
                             ---
  further in the wa'rs that the coalitions of Canaanite       Solomon's accession was the climax constitute ,a dis-
  tribes initiated against Joshua. For tho Joshua ha& tinct epoch iri sacred history, & new dispensation of
  orders to *extirpate the Canaanites, the wars betwe&        grace.
  these races and the people of I&ael were al-Gays be-            In this fourth segment .of sacred history Christ is.
  gue by the Canaanites. They would not repent and            set  fortlr in a new  -light.                               --
  cast themselves upon the mercies .of Israel's God-.            First we see Him,  the Christ, in the person of
  For, so the sacred writer remarks, the Lord hardened        David persecuted by Saul, as the suffering .servant ozi!
  their hearts as iIt was his purpose to destroy them.        Jehovah, who m&t pass through suffer&g to glory; jl
  Finally, the enmity `in the side of the seed of the ser-    again we see Him, again in the person of David now
  pent  .is seen in the rebellion and  apostacies of the      in .the throne, as Israel's glorified and exalted war-
  carnal, reprobated Israel.                                  rior-king fighting the battles of  Jehovih.      I n   t h e
     As to the enmity oli the -part of the seed of the        language- of Ps. 2,. the. kings of the earth-Israel's
  woman with regard to the seed of the serpent, it is         adversaries-were setting themselves, and the ruleps
  seen in Moses' bringing over Egypt the ten plagues          were taking counsel `together against the Lord and
  of God, whereby the deliveranve  bf Israel was ef-          His anointed, in ,the first instance King David but in
  fected. It i-s seen further in the judgmehts of Christ      the final instance Christ as typified by David. They
  by which the carnal, reprobated Israel was destroyed        said, did these kings, "Let us break their bands as-
during Israel's wanderings in the desert. It  is seen -under, and cast thei'r cords from us," in the first in-
  finally in the extirpation of the Canaanites by the         stance the bands -and cords of -David as ruler of the
  sword of Joshua. What we have here are so many              heathen nations that he in his wars of conqpest had
  triumphings of the seed of ,the woman over the malice       m,ade his footstool ; but in the final instance again
  of the sertient, so many initial crushings  of the ser-     the bands and cords of Christ tixalted at the Father's
  pent's head. by this seed. All these triumphs at once       r.ight hand in the highest heavens. So these heathen
  Icok. ahead to the victory of Christ over all His and       kings were speaking. So the kings of the earth now
  His, people's enemies legally through His cross and         at the present time are speaking. But again, in ,the
  actually at'His appearing at the end of time..              words of the Psalm, (God in heaven laughs, as He had
     We have now arrived at thk fourth epoch in the           laughed with David in the theoclatic throne. And He
  series, to the fourth dispensation of grace, and con-       speaks  tiow as He then had spoken. He says again
  stituted of a new and different work of %od. It began       in the words of the Psalm, "Yet have I set my king"-
  with the  choas that  charadterized  the age  o$ the        in the first instance David, but now in this present
  judges. And ended with the accession of David and . d*lspensatiori-of. the word, Christ -"upon my holy hill
  Solomon to the theocratic throne in Israel.                 in Zion"-in the first instance the earthy Zion in the
     Shoktly after the death o$ Joshua, whose .deeds. of      land of Canaan but-now the Zion above. "I will de-
  faith belong not ,to this epoch-  but. to the preceding,    clare the degree." And this is the decree that He, the
  Israel forsook the Lord. ,111. punishment thereof the       Lord, declares, "The Lord has said unto m@`,in the
  enemy &me, as sent by the Lord, and. overran God's          first instance David and in the second instance Christ'
  country.                                                    _"Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee."
     The captur6 of the ark terminated the services at        Ad referring to David it means, "This day have I
  the sanctuary. At the close bf Saul's reign the whole       formed thee and set thee in. my throne and sustain
  -of Israel groaned under the yoke of the adversary.         thee b;V my mighty. arm and Spirit. But, this. same
  From the point of' view of nature the plight of the         language, God is now addressing to `Christ. The
  church was again hopeless. But the Lord sent de-            Psa!m continues, "Ask of me and I shall give thee
 liveranbe.    He  ailointed David. The rejected and          the heathen as -thy inheritance, and the. uttermost
  demented Saul tried to kill him. After a number of          parts of the egrth as thy possession." This, too, has
  unsuccessful attempts on David's life, he died in a war     reference, in the first instance to David. The Lord
  with .the Philistines, and David was king. -He made         gave him the heathen kingdoms included in Israel's
  war against Israel's enemies. And the Lord was with         ideal boundaries. So has God given to Christ all the
  him. He finally  retyrned. his sword to its scabbard        kingdoms of the earth. ' Thus.in the final instance the      -
  with all Israel's enemies his footstool. On the ruins       reference is  again  to Christ. The Psalm continues,
  of their kingdoms, he built a mighty empire, extend-        "Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron ; `thou shalt
  ing on the east to the Euphrates and on the. West to        dash them ih pieces .like & potter's' vessel." David did
  the Mediterranean Sea. David passe$ to his reward           so with all the heathen kingdoms' -ir$zluded  within
  and was succeed by Solomon, the king of glory.              Israel's ideal`boundaries. e -By his sw'o?d he subdued
      How plain that the series of, events of which           them one and all, and they became  $he. vessels  of

                                                      P                                        .
                                    _  -


 2 1 2                                 T H E   S T - A N D A R D   BEARER

 David. But ?f this pr,ediction  Christ is again the ful-
 fillqent in the, final iristan&. The exalted Christ as                  S'ION'S  ZANGEPJ  I
 the Lord of' l?rds and the King of kings breaks the
 -kings of the earth-the  anti-Christian power in this
 world, formed, as it` is, of the kings *and. judges of the              Niet  Otis,  0  Ho&!  NiiOns               _
 earth-with a rod of iron ; he dashes them in pieces
 like a potter's vessel. Think  of. how these kings                              `(Psalm 115; Slot)
 through all the ages of the past have been making                De vorige maal, dat we bij dez& psalm stilstonden
 war against one another. Think of the wars of- our            hebben we-vers  negen behandeld, en zagen, dat Israel
 day-wprld wide in  their.  scope. Think of the war            vermaand werd om op den Heere te vertrouwen. 001~
 now pending. Men are' saying that it will spell  the          gaf de dichter  aan hoe zij dat konden doen:     Hij was
 end of our  civilization. It will be that ruinous. But,       htinne hulp en hun schild.  "
 it is all the work of- the elialted  and glorified Christ.       En nu zien we in het volgende vers, dat het huis
 Through.these  wars, through the agency of these very         Aarons dezelfde vermaning ontvangt :  `$Gij huis  A-
 kings, he continually breaks them and `their king-            arons, vertrouwt op den Heere ; Hij is hunne hulp en
 doms with a rod of iron, and dashes them in pieces            hun sbhild."
 like a potter's vessel. -And as a result of this work
 of the exalted t@hrist the world 2nd al! that is of the.         We hebben iets gezegd vati ie groote waarheid dat
 world is passing away continually before our very             God een hulp en schild is voor Zijn volk, dus behoe-
 eyes, ar$ through it all the ,kingdom of Christ is co%-       ven we dat niet weer te  doen.  Tech  moeten we wat
i"ng;                                                          zeggen van dat huis  Aarons. Dat huis Aarons was
         And through this- doing. of Christ the wrath of       het priesterlijke -huis, en in den engsten zin van het
 God is continually being revealed from heaven eve:            woord, het Hoogepriesterlijke huis. Eigenlijk moeten
 all unrighteousness of these kings .and their subjects.       we teruggaan op het huis van Levi, den  Vader van
 But because*  God has his elect also among the kings          Aaron.
 of the earth, and in order .that the reprobated kings            Levi is de naam van Lea's zoon. Zij had zeer ge-
and judges of -the eapth-our own president and the             worsteld om de liefde'van haar man te bekomen. Ja-
 cong:ess and  -every judge in our land and the gov-           kob had Rachel lief, veel liever den Lea. - Wat zal die
 ernors of our states, and thus every rtiler here and          arme vrouw geleden hebben.        Door bedrog was zij
.abroad-may be without excuse, the Psalm closes  with          zijn  ,prouw   gewopden.  ..En nu is het  we1 waar, dat
 the admonition, "Be wise now therefore; 0 ye kings ;          Laban de meeste schuld daaraan had, doch `Lea is niet
be instructed, ye judges of the earth; Serve the Lord,, viij te spreken. En tech erkelit God Lea als de huis-
 with fear, and rejoice  with trembling. Kiss  the`Son .vrouw van Jakob. Eigenlijk had  Jakob geen andere
  (in the first instance David and ih the second  in:          vrouw mogen verkiezen. God maakl-e  B&e vrouw voor
 st,ance  the exalted Christ) lest He be angry, and. ye        Adam: dat is het klassieke voorbeeld. En als afwij-
 `perish from the way, when His wrath is kindled but           king  daaivan  meet als zonde  gebrandmerkt.  En nu
 a little." "Blessed are all they that put their trust         weet ik wel, dat men mij tegen zal werpen, dat Jakob
 in him."                                                      tech de twaalf patriarchen  moest voortbrengen,  en dat
         David-what a remarkable prophetic type of             die twaalve'uit vier vrouwen  w&en, maap dat  ver-
 Christ was David in his capacity of theocratic  king.         anderf de zaak  tech niet. God voert Zijn raad uit
 What a remarkable development the promise of the              ook dwars door onze zonde  heen; maar zonde blijft
 protcvangel   undergqes in the person  of, David' and         zonde, en de'veelwijvkrij der patriarchen is gebrand-
 the events of sacred history ,$nnected with his per-          merkt zonde to zijn. Het is er mee als met den moord
 801-l.                                                        van  Jezus. God gaf Zijn Zoon, en die  Zoon moest
         David and his reign and. wars of conquest are the     gekruist,  doch wee den mensch die.Hem kruisigt.  `De
 type of the glorified Christ as He is now engaged in          ergernissen moeten komen, doch wee den m&sch door
 breaking with a rod of iron. the wicked kings of the          wien zij komen. En later sehijnt  QJakob het ook zqo
 earth in whose midst he reiri's and must reign until          te zien, want hij zet het lichaam van Lea bij in de be-
 they all, without exception, shall-have been made his graafplaats van  l#achpela   wa,ar  de  paderen en de
 footstool in the final .judgment  day and when as ,ac-        moeders in Israel  begraven   waren.     Maar Rachel's
 tivated by carnal fear they shall confess .that Jesus         licaaam-vordt  daar niet begraven.
 is the Lord. It- will mean that all rebellion against            Welnu, toen, Lea haar d,erden-  zoon. ontving, zeide
 Christ on the part of the reprobated will have ceased.        zij : Nu z,al iich ditniaal mijm man bij mij voegen,  de-
  `(to be continued) ,                    G. M. Ophoff  "      wijl ik hem. drie zonen gebaard  heb: daarom noemde


                         s                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                       `213
                                               .
 hij zijnen naam Levi. Levi' beteekent bijvoeging, aan- werden als  doodcn; Gods kind  vreest God, en zijn
 k l e v i n g .                                    D          vrees is rein; ze opent een fontein van heil, d.at nooit
     Nu` was Lea zich niet bewust dat er meer in dien          vergaat. Die vreeze is het beginsel der wijsheid, en
 naam zat dan  hit  zooeven aangehaalde. Maar God              is vrucht van Gods genade.
 had een zeer bizonder werk to  doen voor Levi, een                Nu dan, die den  Heere vreezen met de lieflijke
. werk, dat schoon door -zijn naam uikgedrukt  wordt.          vreeze der liefde,  worden hier aangespoord om  tech
 De Heere zou later zljn zaad over de andere stammen           op den Heere te vertrouwen,  en dat past. Ze zullen
 strooien, en dan moest Levi een aankleving worden,            zich latei zinken op de rots der eeuwen die van geen
 waardoor zijne broederen aan elkander zouden kleven,          viratikelen we&, en de Rots is Christus.
 en tezamen ;God aankleven. Levi is de prie*sterstam,              Ook is er goede g?ond voor dat vertrcLlwenT  = God
 en de priester brengt IGod tot het volk en het volk tot       is hunt tot' hulp en heil. Hij -is hunne hulp en hun
 Go& Levi zou zich straks. toespitsen in het huis van          schild.  .God  help?  hen  elken dag. Hij  loopt hen  voor-
 Aaron, en dat huis van Aaron' zou voor zeer langeI? uit, opdat zij  zich niet zouden `stooten  aan eenigen
 tijd zich toespitsen ?n &5n man, en dat is goed, want         Steen. Hij is hun tot een achterhoede en beschermt
 naar Gods raad zal er .strakB 4Bn Man kcimen om Israel        hex op den weg die de verstandigen  .naai boven leidt.
 voor eeuwig  aan elkaar te doen kleven, tezamen hen. Hij staat hun terzijde en FQj besdhermt de vromen,
 doen aankleven aan God, en God zal Zijn verbindende           want  Hij. is hun tot  ,een  Schild. Dat  is  schoone
 liefde in dien Man openbaren, de verbindende liefde           beeldspraak. ,God vangt de slagen op die op hen ge-
 van Zijn eeuwig verbond. Aaron is de Hoogepriester; munt zijn. Over die gedachte zou men we1 een boek
 en alle Hoogepriesters zijn met Aaron typen geweest           kunnen schrijven. God is het Schild van [Gods' volk.
 van `Jezus, den beteren iLevi en Aaron.                       .En dan zou het thema we1 het Kruis van Golgoth-a
     Gij huis Aarons, vertrouwt op den Heere ! .               moeten  zijn. Daar zijn zware  slagen neergekomen,
     Hoe hou Aaron ,of zijn huis o&t het grootsche  werk       en al die slagen zijn op God neergkkomen, en niet op
 van priester en Hoogepriester Solbrengen  zonder dat          oris.  ". De  slagen van den toorn *Gods, van de  haat
 vertrouwen-op God? Vertrouwen is zich ielven laten            Satans en van de haat der wereld: Jezus heeft ze allen
 zakken en zinken op de Rots. En de Rots is God.               opgevangen.    ,O ja, God is het  Schild van al Zijn.
     "Gijlieden die den Heere vreest, vertrouwt op den         volk. Vertrouwt daarom  `gerust op hen.
 Heere, Hij is hunne hulp en bun schild."                         ",De Heere is onzer gedachtig geweest, Hij  zal'
    Eerst Israel, dan Aaron's huis, en nu allen die den        zegehen, Hij zal het huis Israels zegenen, Hij -zal het
 Heere  vreezen;.  het is compleet.. Deze laatste  ver-        huis -Aarons zegenen.  Hij zal zegenen die den Heere
 maning komt tot  21 het volk van  ,God. Deze zanger           vreezen, de  kleinen met de grooten."
 dacht natuurlijk aan de kerk vari zijn dag. Maar de              Hoe aanbiddelijk schoon !       Och i had Kalamazoo
 vermaning komt tot alle kinderen  Gods van alle eeu-          slechts geluisterd naar. deze Godsspraak: hoe zou het
 wen.               "                                          verloop onzer geschiedenis gansch anders geweest
    Den Heere vreezen is eeli zeer particulier werk.           zijn! Wat kan men  tech tegen deze  dingen zeggen?
 Dat doet de mensch van nature nooit. Dat kan, wi.l            God zal zegenen die den Heere vreezen! Waar zal
 en durft hij  niet.,         Van alles wat de natuurlijke     dan de goddelooze en zondaar verschijnen? 41s God
 mensch  haat,  haat hij God het  tieest.  Hoe zal Hij         tech-alleen   zegent die den Heere vreezen, dan blijft
 Hem dan ooit kunnen vreezen?                  ,               er tech niet dan vloek over voor de armzalige mensch-
   `.O ja, er is we1 vreezen bij den natuurlijken  men&h,      heid die Hem  haat? Er zijn  tech geen drie  wegen?
 do& het `is het sidcleren  .van den slaaf die zich -kromt        En de fqntein van dat zegenen van Gods volk is
 onder de zweepslagen van zijn meester. Ep die vreeze          dit: De Heere is onzer gedachtig geweest!
 is  wezenlijk  haat. Als God  Zich openbaart in Zijn             Elders zingt IGods Salk : Hij heeft gedacht  aan Zijn
 oordeglen is er qok een soort  vreezen bij den natuur-        genade! Zijn trouw  aan Israel nooit gekrenkt!  Wat
 lijk& mensch, maar daarin is geen liefde, en die hou-         .is  dit~ anders' dan de eeuwige liefde Gods voor Zijn
 ding  wordi door  <God's Woord veroordeeld. In  ,Gods         erfdeel?.  Dat is het  Evangelic en niets anders.  Als
 Woord wordt hetzelfde woord gebezigd,  beid?  vo&             God niet aan 011s. gedacht had was er eenvoudig .niet
 den angst die de goddeloozen hebben als ze iets van den       &n mensch behouden geworden. Wij dachten niet
 levenden IGod zien, en voor het beven voor God, dat           meer  aan God ; wij dwaalden allen als schapen, wij
 Gods volk kenmerkt.           Beide godvruchtigen en god-     keerden  ens een  iege'lijk  naar  xijnen weg! Maar de
 deloozen beven voOr God, doch bij den een komt die            Heere heeft gedacht aan Zijn genade! En het resul-
 getiaarwording  op uit haat, en bij den andei? uit liefde.    taat is, dat de Heere Zijn +olk zegent.
 De wacht bij het graf van Jezus vreesden  met groote             En wat beteekent het nu, d& de Heere bet huis
 vreeze  toen ze iets  zagen -van de glorie  `Gods, en ze      IsraeJs  zegent, de  kleinen met de  grooten?. Dat  be-
                                          -


                                                                                 .

2        1     4                     T H E   STANljARD  B E A R E R

teekent dit : alle dingen werken U mede  ten gokde !            Christus dien  ,Hij zond. Straks zijt ge begonnen te
                                                                                                                            -
En alle dingen beteekent daar albe dingen, niets uit-           stamelen, en als klein kindeke hoorden we U zeggen:
geslqten.  Dat is het Evangelie. `Het  onveranderlijke          `k Leg mij nedtir om te slapen  ; goede God die altijd
hart van  `God denkt altijd  aan Zijn volk ten goede.           waakt! Wil mij in Uw gunst bewar& als_het  kwade
Hij spreidt Zijn vleugelen steeds uit boven Zijn volk. .mij genaakt ! En Hij heeft gehoord.; Hij hoorde steeds
Hij weert alle kwaad van hen, of Hij keert bet hun              naar de stamelende  bede van. Zijn volk. En Hij ver-
ten beste. Als  Hij Zijn  eenigeti  Zoon niet spaarde,          meerderde  de; zegen. Want ge z.ijt bevende gekomen
doch overgaf  VOOP alle  kinderen  Gods, zal Hij  ~dan          en naamt Zijn  Naam op Uwe  lippen.  Wacht! ik zal
niet met Hem hun alle dingen schenken?            l%j  viart    het uit `Gods  Woord Soverschrijven.         Uwe woorden van
op den hemel  tkr hunner hulpe, en tiet Zijn hoogheid           belijdenis  doen op den kerkeraad  lagen gereed  voor
op de bovenste wolken.. De eeuwige God is ten allen' eeuwen. "Deze zal zeggen: Ik ben des Heeren, en die
tijde hun tot een waning, en van, ond&en  zijn altijd           zal zich noemen  met den naam Jakobs, kn gene zal met
-Zijne eeuwige  armen; Hij verdrijft den' vijaid van            eijne> h&d schrijven :    Ik ben des Heeren, en  zich
vodr hun aangezicht; en zegt: Verdelg ! En dan komt             En zoo zal Hij -voortgaan om Uwen zegen te vermeer-
er een land vol -van koren en most. 0 ! &ds  vblk is            derde Uwen zegen, want "ge hebt belijdenis gedaan.
zoo veilig, zoo gelieel en all veilig !                         En zee zal Hij voortgaan om Uwen zegen te vermeer-
        Als dan de Heilige Geest dat volk iiet in. de vlakke    deren,, over U en over Uwe kind&en.
velden van Moab, dan roept die getrouwe Getuige                     Moet ik hier nog bij  zeggen? dat Gij  .en Uwe
uit:  Wejgelukzalig  zijt gij, o Israel, wie is U gelijk?       kinderen  ziet op het  uitverkoren  volk? Dat weet ge
Gij zijt een yolk verlost door den .Heere!                      tech wel? Alle Kains, Ezaus and Judassen  zijq bui-
        0 zeker, des Heeren zegen is over Zijn volk.            tengesloten.
        Ik zal het U  schetsen.,   opd&t ge op Hem  vertrou-        De vermeerdering za! doorgaan, totdat de gansche
wen moogt ten all&x tijde. 1 Toen Jezus, en Hij is Je-          kerk van  Christus aankomt daarboven om  xiaar  li-
hovah,-naar  den  hemel   terugiing,  toen breidde Hij' chasm en ziel zalig te worden.  * En dan zal diezelfde
Zijne gezegende  armen uit over dat kleine  hoopje              Jehovah roepen van den troon.: Komt gij gezegenden!
amechtige volk, dat Hem yevolgd was op de glooiing              be&ft het Koninkrijk, dat voor U bereid is van voor
van den  ,Olijfberg,  en  toen sprak Hij lieflijke  woor- `de grondlegging der wereld.
den,  vertroostende  woorden. Niemand weet  bier  .op               En zij  b&onnen vroolijk te zijn.
aarde wat die woorden geweest zijri, maar ik geioof,                "Aangaande den hemel,  de hemel is des  Heeren ;
dat ik den algemeenen inhoud ken. Hij zal ongeveer              maar de aarde  heeft Hij  d&r  mensch&  kinderen   ge-
dit gezegd hebben: De Heere zegene U en behoede II!             g e v e n . "                           D
De  Heei-e doe Zijn aangezicht over  u  lichten en zij              Het oogpunt is hier- de kerk die door. God ob de
u genadig! De Heere verheff.e het  licht Zijns  aan-            garde gezet is  met. slechts  &?n doel: ze zullen den
schijns over u en geve u Zijnen vrede!                          Heere prijzen. We zullen ons  niet-  bekommeren   om-
        Daar  waren ongeveer 120 zielen bijeen; Ik denk, .den hemel.  Die-hemel is Gods troon. Daar wonen de
dat dit !20-tal ook kleine kinderen  insloot, want Gods         gezaligden rondom  Christ& met de Engelen  G%ds.
zegen i:. over de kleinen met de grooten. '                     En die prijzen den Heere volmaaktelijk.  Doch wij zijn
        0 zeker, de Heere is immers Israel goed!         -      op aarde. En God wil, dat we Hem hier op aarde prij-.
        En dat, ,O Kalamazoo, is .uwe veroordeeling !           zen zullen. Daajrom volgt hierop: "De dooden zullen
        Want ge hebt in 1924 gebazeld vap den zegen             deli He&en niet prijzen, noch die in de stilte nederge-
                                                         GQ&
over de verworpenen.  _.                                        daald zijn; maar wij zullen den Heere loven van nu
        "De Heere zal den zegen over  ulieden`  vermeer-        aan tot in eenwigheid. Hallelujah !"
deren, over ulieden en over uwe kinderen."                          Deze verzen bedoelen niet te zeggen, ,dat als Gods .
        Uw leven hier op~aarde  is daar bewijs voor. Ala        kind gestorven is, dat hij den `God niet loven en prij-
g'e geboren wordt, dan roept God Zijn .iegen  over TJ           zen zal. Maar ze bedoelen te zeggen : Gods volk ! Uw
uit.      Luistert  naap Goddelijke klanken:  `Gij hebt         verblijf op aarde bedoelt, dat ge den..Heere prijzen
mij-doen vertrouwen,  iijnde aan mijner moeders bor-            zult alle de dagen `Uws leyens. Als Uw mond  ver-
sten. `Op U ben ik geworpen van de baarmoeder af,               stomd  `werd  in den dood, en Uw  lichaam bijgezet
van den schoot mijner moeder af zijt Gij mijn God.!             wordt in het graf, dan is het prijzen val) God op aarde
En Gods leeraren' zeiden : &  dbop U in den Naam voor U ten einde. En daarom:  prijst- en  looft Hem
des Vaders, en des Zoons en des Heiligen Geestes!               terwijl  Uwe-zaaiperiode   geschonkcn  werd! .
Hij omhulde U met Zijn  zeg& alle de dagen Uws                      Roept  bet daarom  allen  uit;. Uw  gatiscie  &ven  :,
levens,. Hij v,ermeer;der'de  Zijn zegen, want ge leerdet       Hallelujah! Looft den Heere!                    `p,
meey  .:en meer kennen  ,&n.,  levqden God  en.  Jezus
                    _.-.                                                                                                         G; Vos  :-
                                                                                                                       *


                                       T H E   `S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                       2i5
                                -                                                       a
                                                                the -very desires of the heart. He that looketh on a
 F.  R 0 M' M 0 L Y $v a  I `6: woman to desire her hath already committed adultery
                                                                with her in his heart. Therefore the eye as the medium
                                                                of lust and the* hand as the emblem of its ex&utidn
           Exposition   of  hatthew   5:31-32'                  must be wholly mortified by us. For lest this be done
                                                                by.us we shall wholly be-slaves of sin, be ruled by lust-
     The Scripture p&sag& to~which we would `call the           ful passions as is t.he world ; the end of all such is
  attention of the reader in this essay' reads as follows-:     destruction. For the wrath of God is upon all- such.
  "It was said also, Whosoever shall put away his wifi,         "s work iniquity.
  let him give her a writ&g of divorcement; but I say              Certainly this principle of the Seventh Command-
 unt-o you, that ,eveq one that putteth ccway his wife,         ment also has meaning to its last iota and-tittle for
 saving for  thk, cause  of  fornicaiion,  maketh her  an       the Marriage State, for the relation ?f man and wife
 adulteress: and whosoever shall mmrry her when she in holy wedlock. It is to this that Jesus refers in the'
 is put away committeth adultery."                              Scripture' passage `now- under consideratidn.
     Wee would warn the reader, that, in considering
- this Scripture passage, we must with might and mgin              Jesus insists that no one, be he rich or poor, bond
  remember the warning of, Jesus to us, as the children         or free, of high or low estate, shall  ever break the
  of the Kingdom of heaven, not, to have the terribly           marriage vows, the bond of matrimony, except in
 mistaken notion that He has come into the world' to            those cases where it is already broken ,by the sin of
 -destroy the law and the prophets. Let us see the full         sdultery.    This  is simply. applying the principle of
 implication of His assertion, that He has come to ful-         the Seventh ,Commandment  as to it spiritual nature
 fil the law -and the prdphets to th& last i&a and tittle.      and-governing the heart, to the marriage relationship.
 Any other attitude in studying these, words will simply        From the very nature of the New Testamant Dispen-
 make it spiritually impossible to--understand their real       sation of the Coveliant of grace Jesus does not enter
 implication for our lives; we shall then n& be able to         into a. detailed account of every possible angle of this
 work ouf our salvation with fear -and tremblipg. Let           qu&ion.  He simply lays down  the eternal  principliz
 us therefore, beware !                                         of the.Kingdom  and says with a. warning finger : -Work
     Jesus did not intend` this word of w$rning to -be          out your -salyation  with fear and trembling into the
 cbnsidered as a sort 6f mere introduction to the body          least commandments of your existence. Be ye perfect
 of the teaching cocerning the iaw proper ; nay, this even as' your heavenly Father is perfect. Let the
 warning is woven into the very warp and woof of all            simple learn wisdom. He that h@h ears to hear let
 of this teaching .of the Chief Prophet.                        him hear.     Do not kick against the pricks of the
                                                                exaltedness of this inviblable law of the Kingdom.
  . . We shall have to notice this also when Jevus lays
 open to our spiritual understanding the implication               But what are some of the points in which Jesus
 pf the Seventh  Commfitidment  in relation to the in- #gives definite and conclusive instruction ?
 violableness of the institution of the marriage state.            Among the  work&s of iniquity, who very loudly
 The great .all-controlling  principle is :' What `God `hath    said: Lord, Lo'rd, honoring God with their 1ip.s while
 put together let not man put asunder. Thus it was              their. heart was far removed from Him, there is also
 from  -the beginning before the hearts of men were             the  sin of putting away wives for  ,a11 trifles. For
 calloused and made obtuse and hard by sin. And that            trul3; such is the horrible plight of man by nature thaz
 shall evermore be the standard of the perfection of the        he holds down in unrighteousness all tke truth of God,
 Kingdom of heaven. Wherefore let us beware what                als6 the truth Of the sanctity of .marriage. Such was
 we hear  an< read.        For he that hath shall receive also t& case even in the teaching of the Pharisees and
 and he that hath not from him shall be taken what he .Scribes.  Because of  .the blindness of  their eyes and                    :
 thinketh or seemeth to have. He that hath ears to              the hardness of their hearts they interpret Moses' law
 hear let his he&. And blessed is he, who hearing the           Very perversely and read their own sins into the per-
 words of Jesus, also performs them.          He shall be fect law of Moses. They made the law of God an ex-
 likened unto the wise man who builds his house upon            cuse for their sins, wresting its meaning ito their qwn
 a rock, while those who ar'e disobedient are likened to        destruction. How did they do this in this particular         :
 the foolish man building on ;the sand.                         caze? They said : Moses commanded us in D&t. 24 : 1
     Before we turn to the implication of this passage          to give oilr.wides  a writing of divorcement if we found
 itself it is well to be reminded, that the meaning of          something in them that did not pleaee  us. They in-
 `the Seventh Commandment -extends- not merely to the           terpreted this word of Moses so that it gave them
external deed of adultyry, but that it has reference to         much room f& their sinful practices and the lust of


                        :              \
          .-- --                            ---           -
     216          .~                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R   -
                                 --__-                                                                       -

     their hearts and eyes. .They perpetrated crimes in the         for the husband to continue to live with he? as long
     name of Moses!                                                 as she  lives in this sin, such a man would be one
         Btit the  (Greater than Moses,  Wha nevertheless           flesh with an adulteress. And he tiould thus be living
     honors the whole Moses, the law and the prophets, un-          in sin. Oh, what 9 pain there must be in the heart' of
     masks this hypocricy.                                          the man or woman who finds this to be true in their
         Overagainst  this corrupting of the meaning of             help-mket.    The way to heaven's perfection shut off
    `Deut. 24 : 1 J&us places His : "But I say unto yod. . ."       exc.ept  by the pu%ting away of the wife ! Here is deep
     What does He say? Listen:  Every one who putteth               purpose of the love of God. It is the same as being
     away his wife except for the  cm$e of  forrkation              obedient unto authority unless it. makes obedience to
     causeth her to co&n& adultery, and whosoever shall             God impossible. Here cleaving to the wife is the ride
     marry her when she is p,ut away commkteth adultery.            unless, such remaining with a wife makes .it impos-
         We should notice  tliat the putting away of our            sible to abstain from all uncleanness, accursed of God.
     wives wou$d  never be heard of or' even arise in the              Such is the underlying principle bf the righteous-
     heart of man in a perfect state. All putting away of           ness that is more abundant than that of the Scribes
    .wives is to be considered ab-NORM&+.  It is contrarjr          and Pharisees.
     to-all the laws of `God and the pure desires of man. It           In the light of the foregoing we immediately sense,
     -all must be explained out. of evil lusts, out of the hard-    do- we not, that, all other putting' away of our wives
     ness of the hearts. ,God did not make man so evil and          is itself rooted in hatred for God and the lust of the
     perverse. But man' by the-act of &s will through the           flesh. He who puts away a  .Godfearing  wife surely
     instigation of the Devil has deprived himself of all the       causes her to stand outside of the ordinance of ,God
     excellent gifts, also of the gift of  continency   and of      as'g$en .from  the beginning. $he stands in the place
     fidelity in marriage. From the beginning this was              where the adulteress must stand. !She is done cruel
     not so. Compare Matthew 1953.  ~ This is abundantly            injustice.  ;She -is, very really debauched; She is. set
     evident  .from the reproachful attitude of Adam to-            forth as ,an adulteress, while she really is not one.
     ward Eve immediately aftevi tlie fall. But this, state         She cannot live the !ife of a faithful spouse which she
     of affairs, as come about by reason of original as well        so fervently desires to do as a subject of the Kingdom.
     as actual sin, is not the rule in the church of Jesus          She would reverence her husband in all things, but
     Christ. Here we are instructed, to f&e from all un-            this she can now no longer do. IThe way to sanctifica-
     cleanness in heart and mind  ; we are not to try to            tion is cut off for hey ih the place where God has set
   justify our sins  with an appeal to the law of Moses             her. What a-plight!
     for such is always the way of those who are veritable             Thus it shall not be in the Kingdom where the
  `, children of the Devil. Such we are not to be.                  righteousness is real and -genuine and which will be
         This should sta>ld  before .our eyes as the guiding        consummated when the heaven shall be rolled away.
     star : From the beginning it was the rule, that -a map         For ii1 this Kingdom all shall be as the pure and un-
     shall cleave to his wife and they shall be one flesh ;         defiled bride, the faithful spouse.
     tihat (God has joined together let not. man put asunder.          There is for her only one  way open. She must
     This ~must be our guiding star in life, and, therefore,        continue to seek ,God, flee from all filthiness of the
     also in the proper understanding of this Word of God           flesh and of the mind as her reasonable service. If
     in its spiritual application. Whoever does `not see            her husband, will not have her again that is his re-
     this is very really Blind to the things of God's kingdom.      sponsibility. She is free in the Lord, and is one whom
         One may only put away his wife when she  has               the Lord will avenge. But she cannot be married by
     played the harlot. Why? Because in the Kingdom                 another as lohg as her cruel husband lives., Should
     02 heaven the positive purpose of life is to maintain          any marry her he simply makes himself and her an
     the law and the prophets as fulfilled in Jesus, and as         adulterer and an aduiteress. Why? Because, God
     they lead us on to the perfection of `God's design in          maintains the lnarriage state as it was from the be-
     marriage. This latter really becomes impossible  u+            ginning. In the Kingdom of heaven the rule is not
     der the law of being tixecuted  ; one cannot realize the       that the law and the prophets are destroyed. Far be
.  perfection .of marriage as it depicts the relationship           it. The rule is that the last iota and tittle ~of the law
     of Christ to His church where adultery has entered in. `shall be fulfilled.
     The covenant has been broken according tp the law of              Such is the implication of the law of the Kingdom.
     Moses. Wherefdre no one longs for the state in which           Moses stands in his "permission," but Christ has come
     Moses permits the putting away of his wife. But if             to fulfill th.e law. to make this "permission" forever
     things have come to such a St&e that -it is &possible          unnecessary $mong -His saints.                ,G;  L u b b e r s
                                                                                                   1        :-
                                                     -


