    VOLUME   XXVIII                                MAY   15,  1952~GRAND  RAPIDS,   MICHIGAN                                NUMBER   16

                                                                           tekslt een tegenstelling vormt met het tweede gedeelte.
        MEDITATEON'                                                        Tn -de voorafgaande woorden beluisteren we den  goeden
                                                                           raad van  onzen Vader in de hemelen die ons  waar-'
                                                                           schuwt tegen den boozen weg der goddeloozen. .En
                                                                           die  waarschuwing komt tot ons in sterk sprekende
  Hct  `Pad  des  Rechtv+wdi$en.   em  Sch+end                             woorden  : Verwerp dien, ga er niet  doqr, wijk er
                                 Licht                                     v&i, en ga voorbij ! Er zit drang in deze woorden. En
                                                                           de Heere gaf ook de reden aan voor Zijne waarschu-
             "Maar   het  pad  des  rechtvaardigen:   is  gelijk   een
           schijnend   licht,  voortgaande   en  licktende   tot  den      wing: want zij die op den goddeloozen weg wandelen
           vollen   dag  toe.     De  weg   der  goddeloozen   is  als     kunnen niet slapen zoo ze geen kwaad- gedaan hebben.
           donk&rh_eid,   zij  weten   Get   waarover   zij  struikelen
          .zullen."-Spr.   4:18,19.                                        En: zij zijn het soort menschen die brood der godde-
   Aan het begin. van het teksthoof dstuk beluisteren                      loosheid eten, en zij drinken wijn van enkel geweld.
we de stern van een Vader die zijn kinderen  vermaant                      ICaartegenover  nu,  schildeEt onze tekst het pad van
                                                                           de redhtvaardigen. En die schildering is schitterend,
te wandelen in de wegen des Heeren. Het kan best                           aantrekkelijk, iieflijk als het licht. En  daartegen-
zijn, dat Salomo, rde schrijver van dit spreukenboek,                      over wordt ook het pad van de goddeloozen geteekend,
alzoo zijn eigen  kinderen vermaand heeft. Vooral                          en dan in zeer sombere  trekken:  hun  ,pad is enkel
als we stilstaan bij vers drie en vier, waar we lezen:                     donkerheid. Ze weten niet waardver ze struikelen zul-
"Want ik was mijns vaders zoon, teeder 6n een eenige                       len:
voor het aangezicht mijner moeder. Hij ' nu leerde
mij, & zeide tot mij : Uw ha?t houde mijne woorden                                                                            I
vast;  onderhoud  mijne geboden en  lee!." Dit is  al-                     ,--                      `*     *     *     *
lereerst zeker van toepassing op David die  Salomo
vermaande en onderwees. En in de tweede plaats,  is                               ;Ge hebt al weer bemerkt, dat onze tekst vol zit van
het dan ook van toepassing op Salomo  die op zijn                          beeldspraak. Zoo hooren we vans den weg en het pad,
beurt de kinderen  die de Heere hem gaf onderwees                          van een licht, van schijnen, van den vollen dag, van
in de woorden Gods. En  tech mogen we daar  ni&t                           donkerheid en van struikelen. Altemaal beeldspraak,
bli;j;en staan. Dit hoofdstuk maakt deel  uilt van de                      genomen uit onze tegenwoordige wereld en vanuit ops
Godsopsnbaring.  Salomo is een van de  Bijbelschrij-                       alledaagsche leven, oti ons door. die beeldspraak een
`vers, en  a% zoodanig, een  man Gods die door den                         hemelsche boodschap te geven. Nu is het tamelijk
Heiligen IGeest  gedreven zijnde, het Woord Gods ge-                       duidelijk wat de weg of het pad-des menschen betee-
sproken heeft tot onderwijzing van  (Gods  kerk van                        kent.      Dat is  zijn, leven, zooals hij het vanuit zijn
alle eeuwen. E.n zoo is :Salotio's  stem de stem van                       hart leeft. `Want vanuit het hart' zijn de uitgangen
God, en zoo zijn die kinderen van Salomo de kinderen                       des levens. Zie vers 23. sons leven is niet allereerst'
van God die door dit Woord en door. alle Woord van                         ons woqrd en onze daad.  Achter de woorden en  de\
God onderwezen worden  tqt het houden van Gods .ge- ,daden ligt het diepe hart. En het hangt af van dat
boden en to!t het verkrijgen van de wijsheid Gods die                      hart wat het karakter  onzer daden is. IGe kunt niet
vooral  in d.it boek zoo hoog aangeprezen wordt.                           de lieflijke klank van een woord des menschen ver-
  In het onmiddelijke  verband   merkefi we op, dat                        trouwen.  Achter die  liqflijke klanken kan een  vloe-
onze tekst een- tegensteliing  vormt met de verzen die                     kend en hatelijk' hart zich schuil houden. En daarom,
voorafgaan, alswel,  dat  bet.  eerste   gedeelte van den                  otis pad is ons  Ieven  zooals we  dat leven  vanuit  bet

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

 `hart.  l$n de &eer& noemt dat leven een weg of een                licht is  geopenbaard  in de  schepping,   doch  veei  meeq
 pad,. omdat er voortgang, richting en bestemming                   in de herschepping.       Toen  &n nare duisternis van
 in  ens leven  zit; Er zit voortgang in ons leven. We zonde, dood en, vloek over het eertijds zonnig tafereel
 zijn  ~~i,zi@rs.  Nooit kunnen we ook maar vobr  &n                van het  eerste  Paradijs gleed,  toen heeft God die
 seconde stilstaan. We. loo?,:  vanuit het verleden tot vreeselijke duisternis verbroken .en is in bet aange-
 .@ de toekomst.  .Van zuigelmg gaan we voort $ot kind,             zicht van Zijn geliefden Zoon voor ons gaan staan,
 `tot  j'gngeling, tot man en' %ot grijsaard.  Stilstaan            en dat is het ,Golgotha. .Dus hu zult ge we1 eenigzins
 kunnen &e @., we worden  voortgezweept door den                    zien wat de weg des. rechtvaardigen en het pad der
 tijd.:%,,:GEin   ge'=kdpt  nog  mtnder terugtreden. Voort,         goddeloozen is. De rechtvaardigen zijn dat volk wien
 immer voort.  I$$ we verbazen ons vaak erover hoe                  het mocht gebeuren, dat God naar recht hen niet Wilde
 snel het gaat.      3                                      r
                              I                                     schuildig keuren. Het is het volk, dat +oorwerpelijk
 .:%De  jaren vli'e,&$' gelijk een schaduw voort. Maai              rechtvaardig.  is in den Hee?e Jezus Christus, omdat
 er iit ook$itih&`in,ons  pad. Er daar zit iets vreese-' Hij hunne zonde betaalde in den eeuwigen dood, en
 lijks of obk  ?&t,~~,~e&   `lieflijks in. Gij  allen  weet, dat    door Zijne lieflijke  gehoorzaamheid  een eeuwige  ge-
 de wegen en"de paden hier op aardk een zekere  rich-               rechtigheid voor hen verwierf. Zoo zijn ze in het
king hebben. Als men naar deli weg, naar den goeden                 gericht vrijgesproken en getooid met de gerechtigheid
 weg naar een  zekere  stad vraagt, dan  nc,emt  onze               van Christus.  En onderwerpelijk zijn ze  rechtvaar-
 gids. ons een zekeren weg, en zegt: bewandel dien                  dig, omdat de Heere God door den Geest van Christus
 weg, en ge zult die of die stad bereiken. En zoo is                en door de werking van Zijn Woord hen  wederge-
 het met den mensch. Er zit richting in zijn weg of                 boren heeft  doen  worden,  waardoor ze een beginsel
 pad. Dat is nooit anders. Dat is : verschrikkelijk als             van Zijne gerechtigheid deelachtig  werden.         In  be-
 we goddeloos zijn, want ons pad zal bet toonen. De                 ginsel zijn  ,Gods volk ook onderwerpelijk  rechtvaar-
 gbddeloozen wandelen op een goddeloos pad.  ,Maar Idig. En dat is geschied door het geloof..  De weg der
 de rechkvaardige toont ook de richting van zijn weg.               goddeloozen is  echter  donkerheid;  En zooals  licht
 Zijn, weg is  .Jezus Christus. En dat is zeer iieflijk.            deugd beduidt, zoo beduidt de donkerheid alle ondeugd.
 En, eindelijk, er zit ook bestemming in de idee van                En de goddelpozen zijn de ellendige schepsels die zon-
 den weg of het pad. Er komt een einde aan den weg.                 der God en zonder hoop in de virerefi  ronddwalen.' En
 Licht en donkerheid zijn ook beelden die hier een                  ze &jn diep. te beklagen.
 hemelsche boodschap hebben. ILicht is een sprekend                                         ****,
 beeld. Natuurlijk licht behoeven. we om`hier op a,arde
 te leven, en de draagster van dat natuurlijk licht is                      Het karakter van den weg of het pad is ten over-
 de zon. En donkerheid in natuurlijken zin, is .de ont-             staan van de rechtvaardigen,  dat dit pad schijnt. Dat
 stentenis van het  licht der zon.         Dat is de  nacht.        zegt de tekst.  Ziet ge, hun pad is licht, en dat-is, zoo
 Redelijk, psychologisch is het licht- beeld  van weten,            zcgen we, dat het vol van deugd is. Het pad der recht-
 kennen,  e"n donkerheid is de  dnkunde, domheid en                 vaardigen  is vol van goedheid en lieflijkheid. Gods
 krankzinnigheid. Do& hier wordt het bedoeld in den deugden  schitteren  op het pad van Gods volk.  Aan
 geqtelijken zin, en dan is  licht het beeld van  ,Gdd.             hunne vruchten  zulf ge ze kennen. Hun pad is de
 God is een  licht en  er is gansch gene duisternis in              weerkaatsing.van het lieflijke Wooed  en van den lief-
 Hem. Zoo kunnen we ook verstaan, dat Jezus  zich                   lijken Geest van Christus. Ze  richten hunne wegen
 noemt  bet  Licht der  wereld, want in Hem woont                   riaar dat Woord,  en ze zingen: Uw Woord is mij een
 de volheid der IGodheid  lichamelijk. En als God door              lamp voor mijnen voet,  mijn pad ten licht om `t danker
 Christus' Woord en ,Geest in ons. woont, dan worden                op te klaren.-  ,Overal op dat pad vragen ze: Wat wilt
 wij geheeten det licht der wereld. Matth. 5 :14.. Daar             Gij, Heere, wat  t@  dben  zullen?' En zij zoeken in
 zegt Jezus `cot  Zijn jongeren: Gij  .zijt het  licht  der `Gods  Woord naar `t antwoord. En dat antwoord blijft
 wereld.  .E,n  Paulus zegt: eertijds waart gij  duister-           niet  ui.t.    Dat Woord bestrijkt  .hun gansche leven.
 nis,  doch nu  zijt  gij,  licht in den Heere. En ' de in-         Ook is dat pad voortgaande  tin schijnende. Gods
 houd van bet geestelijke licht is alle deugd. Go.1 is een          Woord is een voortgaande kracht in het leven van
 Licht, en dat  beteeketit  dat Hij  bet  yolle  deugden-           den rechtvaardige. Het ontdekt de zonde aan he%.
 beeld is. Alles .wat deugelijk en goed is is God. . Hij. E,n het doet dat steeds meeY:. ,Ge zingt ervan: Ze gaan
 is `bet inbegrip van alle .deugden, als daar zijn: goed-           van krachft  tot kracht steeds voort! Er is ,opgang  in
 heid, almacht, wijsheid, leven, liefde, eeuwigheid, on-            bet leven van het volk -#Gods.    Er is geestelijke grtiei
 begrijpelijkheid, oneindighei.d,  onafhankelijkheid, lief-         in de planten met Christus. Het karakter van den
 lijkheid,  lankmoedigheid, goedertiereriheid, en Wat er            tieg der rechtvaardigen is, dat ge  tiooit of nimmer
 me?r  deugdelijks  zij in het Goddelijke Wezen. En dat teareden zijt met Uzelven. Ge wilt steed$ voort op het


                                                                       f


                                    ^  THE  S T A N D A R D -   BEAR:E.R,                                                  363

pad naar den hemel  heen. Het licht ontdekt de zonde komen zal in den oordeelsdag om te straffen, Dan zal.
en doet U haten en vlieden de kwade pad&. En posi-          hij dezulken vervloeken met een eeuwige vervloeking.
tief doet dat &ht op Uw ,pad U het!"goede kennen en         Die  zich ergeren  aan Jezus, die struikelen over de
minnen. Daar jaagt ge dat goede na, en ervaart, dat         Rots der eeuwen, die zullen door djezelfde Rots ver-:
al dat goede van `God in den Heere Jezus ,Christus          pletterd worden.            Dat leert ons Gods Woord op dui-,
medicijn is voor UW gansche leven.                          zend bladzijden.  _
 Hoe  geheel  anders  is  he`i  l+a&ter van het  pad           Maar die door Gods genade op den weg van het
der goddeloozen. Omdat hun pad d&terns is, strui-           licht mogen wandelen, en dat is Jezus, die .gaan naar
kelen ie. dan ook gedurig. Ze, kurinen niet wandelen        den vollen dag toe. Dat zegt de tekst van hen wier
in den  .goeden zin van `t woord. Er is een gedurig pad een schijnend licht is. Die gaan, voort, .a1 schijn-
vallen-bij den goddelooze. Want hij is zond& d&' gids       ende, tot den vollen dag toe. De uitdrukking van den.
van het licht. Zijn hart is duister, dat is, vuil en        tekst:  schijnend licht wordt in de S&rift op andere
zondig. Zijn verstand is duister en `zoo bedenkt. hij       plaatsen" ge&zigd  voor het opgaan van de zon: zoo,
het vuile en het zondige. Zijn wil is dtiisternis en zod    b-v., iri ,I1 Sam. 23 :3,4. Daar lezen we :. "Daar zal
begeert hij steeds het vuile en het zon,dige. Dai karak-    zijn een  Heerscher  over de  menschen,  eeri Rechtvaar-
teriseert zijn gansche levee, En.als  nu Go! Zich niet      $ge, een Heerscher in de vreeze (Gods; en `Q.ij zal zijn:
onbetuigd  laat, dan ,struikelt  hij gedurig over [God e" gelijk het licht des morgens, wanneer `de zpn opgaat.",
Goddelijke zaken. En hoemeer God spreekt, hoe meer          Wehm, dat wordt hier gebezigd  van den rechtvaardige.
hij struikelt. En roept hij het uit tegen- God: Wijk        Is het niet  schoon en lieflijk? De toekomst van het
ban mij, o God, ik heb geen lust aan de kennis Uwer         volk Gods staat in het teeken van het volle zonlicht.
wegeh! K6mt God dan vlak bij hem in het aangezicht          En de beteekenis is daarom zeer duidelijk. %Iet gaat
van Zijn Zoon Jezus Christus; dan gilt hij het uit:         met de rechtvaardigen naar den vollen dag van den
Kruist Hem! kruist Hem.! En hij nagelt Hem  aan             nieuwe  hemel  en de  nieuwe aarde,  n&ar het  nieuwe
het kruis van (Golgotha. Dat is het struikelende pad        Jeruzalem. En daar zal het steeds  licht- zijn. Daar
der goddeloozen. Leest het  verband  van mijn tekst behoeft men het licht van de zon en van de maan niet,
en ge zult het lezen: ze slapen  niet zoo ze geen kwaad     want IGod is daar het Lie&t en bet Lam is de kaars.
gedaan hebben. Zeleten het brood der goddeloosheid          Daar zal het volmaakte kennen en lieven :en loven van
en ze drinken wijn van enl?el geweld. En als dat volk       God zijn tot  in alle eeuwigheid. Van dat volk zotidt ge
in aanraking komt met Jezus, dan is Hij hen een rots        volmakelijk kunnen zingen: .Zij wand'len, Heer, in `t
der .ergernis.    En  aan het Woord Gods stooten ze         licht van `t IGoddelijk  aanschijn voort ! Dat is hier
zich, waartoe ze ook gezet zijn. Vreeselijk!
                             b                              nog slechts in beginsel. Poch als we gek,omen zijn tot
                                                            den vollen dag toe, dan zullen de schaduwen der don-
                                                            kerheid dat volk niet meer benauwen.
                      *  *  *  *                                                                                  Want daar zal.~:
                                                            zijn de volmaakte wandel in `t .licht dat van Zijn aan:
                                                            zicht straalt. En hun gezang zal dan  iefi  Iioo&ten
   En wat is  bet-einde van den  weg der  rechtvaar-                                                    -,  ,:
                                                            toppunt  stijgen.
digen en van het pad der goddeloozen ? V?el, het einde                           . .                               G. vbs.  s
van het pad der goddeloozen is vieeselijk. Ze weten
niet waarover ze struikelen zullen.     Dat zegt mijn
tekst.    Maar wij  weten het door `Gods genade wel.
Eigenlijk en wezenlijk struikelen de goddeloozen over                                   --
God. Ziet ge,  toen  `God den men&h schiep, schiep                                            :- :-
Hij hem met een wet. En die wet zegt tot den mensch :
Gij zult God lief hebben boven alles en uwen naaste
als Uzelven. Maar nu is het. hart des menschen 266                                       0    NOTICE
duister en donker, dat is,' 266 goddeloos, dat. hij in
arren moede het uitschreeuwt : Ik wil U niet liefheb-         The C?nsistor&  of the Prot&ant Reformed Chuxh
ben. Ik  haat U. En hij doodt'zijn naaste. Jezus            of South Holland, Illinois herewith gives notice to our
zeide,  dat die zijn broeder  haat een doodslager is.       churches that the Synod will meet on Wednesday,
Welnu, Gods Woord zegt ons, dat we allen van nature         June  4, 1952  ai South Holland. The  pre-Synodical
God  haten en elkander hat&. Dus de struikeling is          sermon will be delivered by the Rev: G. Vos, president
over  God' in Zijn Wet en Zijn Woord en Zijn Zoon           of the !Synod of 1951. The time of this  servi& will
jezus Christus. En dat is  vreeselijx Daar  wacht           7:30 P.M.., `Tuesday, June 3rd.
niet anders dan een onbeschrijfelijke smart,, ala God                                              John Van  Baren  Clerk


      364                                                                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   -BEARER


                                      THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                                                    E D I T 0 R-I AIL
                   Semi-monthly,   except,   monthly  in  July  and  Au&u&
         Published   by  the  .Reformed   Free   Publishing  Association
             .         Box   124,  Station   C.,  Grand  Rapids  6;  Michigan                                                                                     To Be or Not-To Be
                                   EDITOR,--.Rev.   Herman-   Hoeksema                                                                             That, in my conviction, is the  questionf that con-
         Communications   rel`ative  IX  contents   should   be  addressed
         to  Rev.  H.  Hoeksema,   1139  Franklin  St.,  S.  E.,  ,Grand                                                                         fronts our Protestant Reformed IChurches today.
         Rapids   7,  Michigan.                                                                                                                     Shall we remain Protestant Reformed which, to
         All  matter   relative  to  subscription   should   be  addressed                                                                       me, is the same as .Reformed  ; or shall we open our
         to  Mr.  J.  Bouwman,   1350  Giddings   Ave.,   S.  E.,  Grand
         Rapids  `7,  Michigan.   Announcements   and  Obituaries   must                                                                         church doors to the Liberated  and their doctrine
         be  mailed   to  the  above   address   and  will  be  published   at.  a                                                               which, as I am more and more convinced, is not Rs-
         fee   of  $1.00  for   each  notice.                                                                                                    formed at ah?
         Renewals:-   Unless   a  definite  request'  for  discontinuance                                                                           This. is a very serious question.
         is  received,   -it  is  assumed.that   the  subscriber   wi.shes   the
         subscription   to  continue   without   the  formality   of  a  re-                                                                        It is-also a very real quest&.
         newal  order.                                                                                                                              I agree with Dr. De Bondt, who, in `cle Baxuin of
                                    Subscription   Price:   $3.00  per  year                                                                     March 21, 1952, quoted thegfollowing  frbm a brochure
         Entered   as  Second  Class  mail-at   Grand  Rapids,   Michigan                                                                        which he wrote and which the late Dr. Schilder at-
                                                                                                                                                 tacked :
                                                                                                                                                    "Within the scope of the Confession there were al-
                                                       -::---                                                                                    ways different views possible . . . But thoughts like
                                                                                                                                                 these: that the regenerated can fall away; that all
                                                                                                                                                 tha: are baptized are believers ; that God -grants tinto
                                                                                                                                                 all the baptized the forgiveness of sins, have never
                                                     CONTENTS                                                                                    been Reformed,  and were in no single age expressed
                                                                                                                                                 by any Reformed Church in her Confession, or deem-
      MEDITATION-                                                                                                                                ed  tolerable."  lg.-  -,  -,  -
                   Het   Pad  des  Rechtvaardigen   een  Schijn&d   Licht   .  .  .  .  .,.  .  .  .  .360
                      Rev.   G.  Vos                                                                                                                I do not know -who teach the first mentioned error;
                                                                                                                                                 I can guess to whom he refers in the second ; but I am
      EDITORIALS-                                                                                                                                sure that the Liberated teach the error (and others)
                   To  Be  or  Not  To  Be .`.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  364             that God grants the forgiveness. .of sins to all the bap-
                   Question   Hour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                  366
                      Rev.   H.  Hoeksema                                                                                                        tized, head for head, and ~soul for soul.
                                                                                                                                                    To be or aot to be!
      IN  HIS  FEAR-                                     ,                                                                                          I can also put it this way: who among us still
                   Looking   To  The   Future   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  373    cares, &er more than twenty-five years of. history,
                      Rev.   H.  C.  Hoeksema                                                                                                    to maintain the pure Protestant Reformed  truth, and
      FROM,   H O L Y   Wm-                                                                                                                      who do not ?'
                   Exposition   of  Philippians   2:1-4  .  .  .  :.  .  .  .  . .  . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...?. 375                             This, too, is a very real and up-to-date question.
                      Rev.  G.  C.  Lubbers                                                                                                         Because of this very concretely real question, I
                                                                                                                                                 n.ow intend to continue my discussion of the attack
      PEFUSCOPE-
                  eeresy   In  Candidates                     . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .     377      on the Declaration by the late Dr. Schilder. At
                  Not  Peace   But  A  Sword . . . . . . . . . . . .<... . . . . . . . . . . -.`...... 377                                       first I was intending to discontinue the discussion of
                      Rev.   J.  Howerzyl                                                                                                        the article printed and translated by the  _Rev. Kok
                                                                                                                                                 in Co&o&a and so heartily and strongly recommend-
      CONTRIBUTIONS-                                                                      *                                                      ed ,by brother Kok..
                  God's   Promises `
                                                 ...' . . . . . . ...' . . . . . ...' ".'
                                                                                                      " `
                                                                                                            ... ."`
                                                                                                                         ..... 378
                      Mr.   H.  A.  Van  Putten                                                                                                     I thbagh$ that, seeing brother Schilder is now, as
                                                                                                                                                 we believe, in heai-en, and he can no long&r  reply to my
      THE DAY OF  SHADOWS--   '                                                                                                                  criticism of hiss views (even if he ~would, which I do
_.                .The   Ma&a  of  the  Desert   Period   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  380         not believe), it were better to refrain from writing
                      Rev.   G.  M.  Ophoff                                                                                                      shout and against him and his erroneous view of the
                  Arminianism'  and  Justification)   by  Faith .  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . ..~.. 382                                      promise of God.
                  The   Lord  Repenteth .  i's  "......................~...,...,, 384                                                               But this now appears impossible.
                      Rev.   G.  M.  Ophoff                                                                     a  .                                For this C&ncorcEa  is to blame.
                                                                                                                                                    For, first of all, my reply to the contents of the


                                      T H E   STANDA.RD  B E A R E R                                                                  365      r
 &,ticle translated by the Rev. Kok, for which I still         Declaration is not in harmony with the Confessions,
 hold thti' brother responsible, and which is far `from .or that any article of the Church Order has been vi-
 Beformed or Scriptural, is not finished.                      olated `by adopting it.
    Secondly, again in .Conco99$  in a letter written              He may not agitate against- it by insidious propa-
 by the son of tlne Rev. Kok, and published by the lat-        ganda.
 ter, mention is made of "the  slight differences" be-             He may not hide behind the philosophy of the late
 btween us and the Liberated, in spite of the fact that        Dr. Sehilder.
I have repeatedly  shdwn that these differences are                He must walk the orderly way of consistoyy, clas-
 fundamental.  I                                               sis and synod.
    And, thirdly, in the same Coneor&, I find an an-               Moreover, he himself is member of the mission                                         .
 nouncement of a,brbchure which the lhte Dr. Schilder          committed,  and how can he possibly function as such, '
 wrote  `against the  Dechation of Principles  adopted         and, at :the same time, agitate in such an unruly man-
 by our last synod,  and by writing which, according           ner against the Declaration.
 to the Rev. Kok, he gkeatly honored our churches.                 Moreover, he must be careful, when he does pro-
    Through the Rev. Kok our `dead brother still               test, that he does not bring old arguments, that have
 speaxeth.        2                                            already been thrashed out. He must come with some;
    .A11 this I call insidious propaganda, which I can-        thing new.
 not and will not and may not ign.Qre.                             May this `serve Him as. a brotherly warning, as it
    In the meantime, I give the Rev. Kok a fair warn-          is intended.
 ing that h.e must refrain from continuing in this dis-                                 -- :---:-
 orderly  ,way of agitating against the  Dedaration of
 Pmhciples,  which is now  ,officially adopted by  our             I have read the brochure df .the late Dr. :Schilder.
 chuiches,  thus keeping our churches in constant tur-             It was sent to me &om `the Netherlands. I know
 moil and attempting to corrupt them by the Liber-             no: whether or not it is the saniti as that which was
 ated errors.                                                  announced in Concordiu.
    My ground for the ~above statement is- art. 31 of              It contains nothing new. A reproduction it is of
 the Church  Qrder. There  we read:                            the  artiqles  that were written by the author in  De
    "If anyone complains that he has been wronged by           R e f   ormutie.  j
 the  decisi.on of minor assemblies,  he shall have the         But the rereading of it convinced  m,e more. deeply
righl to appeal to a major ecclesiastical assembly, and than ever. of two facts :
 whatever may be agreed. upon by a majority vote                         1. That the position taken in that brochure                                _
 shall b,e considered settled and b,inding, unless it be       is unreformed.
 proved to conflict with the Word of God or with the                     2. That the author is either very  stiper'ficial-
 articles of the church order, as long as they are not ly acquainted with our Conf&sions, or hated to work
 changed by a .general synod."                                 with them.                                                                           .
    Now, ou'r last synod decided to declare that the Die-          This I hope to show in the future.
 c'cc~u,tl:on   of Principles  is the expression of our Re-        But once more the question between us and the
 formed Confessions, and that it. should be used as an         liberated is not one of "slight differences".
 instrument or basis for tthe missionary ,and the mis-              For us it is question of to be or not to be.
 sion comniittee for the  organisation  of  pi%spective                                                                      H. H.
churches.                                                                                 El  El  B  El  !El
    Now, although  th&  Dticlaration is not a fourth
 form, binding as  such  upon our ministers or other
 officebearers, so that t-hey could be disciplined on the                                  IN      MEMORIAM            T
 basis of it, nevertheless, the"de&ion  of synod to de-          The  Ladies'  Society   of  the  Hudsonville   Protestant   Reformed
 clare  the Declaration the expression of the Confes-          Church  herewith   expresses   it  sympathy   with  our  fellow-meinber,
 sions, and to use :it as an instrument for the organi-        Mrs.  Harry   Zwak,   in  the  loss  of  her
 sation of churches9 that decision  is settled and bind-                                          FATHER
 ing upon all our churches, and upon all our  office-
 bearers, unless it can be proved from the Word of               May  tbe  God  of  all  grsce   and  comfort   `consol,e   her  heart   in
 `God or from the church `order that it is in error.           the  kno$edge   that   "Blessed   are  the  dead  that  die  in  the  Lord!"                   /
    It is settled and binding also for the Rev. Kok.                                      The  Hudsonville   P.  R.  Ladies'  Society:
    He may, of cdurse,  protest ifi the regular ecclesi-                                           Rev:  G.  Vos,  President;
 astical way. He must, in. that case, prove that the                                               Mrs.  P.  Lubbers,   Secretary.

                                I

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

                                 Q                                        ly riches ; and they. employ` every available means to
                                   uestionJ-Iour                          secure that end. So the children of light shotild con-
                  The following is a literal record of a question hour    centrate all their attention and all their efforts up-
           held  at' the spring meeting of the  fiastern  Ladies' on their own purpose; and that end is the heavenly
      .    League, in which the undersigned was called upon to            treasure, the true riches. They must therefore not
                                                                          serve God and mammon. But serving ,God only, and
./         answer the  questiqns.  --                                     concentrating all their attention upon His service,
                               -:-::                                      they must seek the treasure tliat, is in heaven. And
                                                                          to this end they should employ every means available,
           Dear Sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ:           (             even .what is - called the unrighteous mammon. All
                                                                          things, money, wealth, .position,  `honor, name, fame,
                  I am sorry I cannot be present with you in -the         house and  home7everything in the world must be
           body. But I was asked to go to -Redlands, California,          used unto that encl. Then you use mammon for your
           and preach there a few Sundays ; and the inditation I          purpose, and instead of serving him as a god  jrou
           accepted, with the consent of the Board of the Theo-           make  friends of him, to walk in all godliness, self-
           logical School, of course, and of my Consistory.  #So          denial, holiness, righteousness, love and mercy. And
           1. expect to think about you in the train to California.       these friends will belong to your heavenly treasure ;
           Nevertheless, I will try to answer your  que@ons. and when the things of the world. fail you, they shall
           First I thought of typing *hem out and having some-            await you in eternal dwellings in heaven where you
           body else read them to you in the meeting; but after           have laid up y&r `treasure. As the world seeks its
           all I thought it would be nice to put questions and an-        own, so the children of light must seek their own
           swers on my wire recorder, so that even though you             tiith all their  might. That, in brief, is  tb my mind
           cannot see me, you can nevertheless hear my voice.- the meaning of the parable of the unjust steward.
           So this I now proceed to do. And I wish you God's                 The second. question is : "Why was Esau born
           richest blessing in your `meeting.                             first?"
            The -first question is from Luke 16  :9, and reads              Here is the answer': We can give the answer very
           as f.ollows  : "Please explain the making of friends           succinctly by stating that in his birth Esau took the
           with the mammon of unrighteousness, when Scrip-                place of the elect and of- the birthright ahd the cove-
           ture calls us  $0 be  separate. Also the last part of          nant blessing, not indeed to give Esau a chance to
           this text t?re would like explained."                          obtain that blessing, as many have it; nor indeed. be-
                  Here is the answer: In Luke 16 :l-9 we have the         cause the example of Esau shows that there is a cer-
           parable of the unjust steward. It contains many                tain `comhon grace even in the coveriant of God ; but
           difficblt elements, ,but I will try to answer the ques-        in order that he might' reveal himself and make him-
           tion as simply as possible. Verses lo-13 of the same           self ma'nifest as wicked and profane, and <God  rhight be
           chapter tells us that the parable has to do with mam-          justified. That this is true is evident from all &ripture.
           mon. It contains a warning  not to serve mammon.               For Esau was exactly the reprobate. In Rbm. 9 :13 we
           But it also contains an admonition to make friends             read : "Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated."
           of mammon with regard to the eternal tabernacles of            A`nd just what this hatred of God in His good plea-
           the true riches. It is evident too that the  Lo?d in           sure means,  you may read in Malachi  1:2-4: "Was
           this parable also holds before'us the wisdom of the            not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the Lord: Yet I
           world as an example in -a certain way. Even as the             loved Jacob, and I h&ted Esau, and laid his moun-
           children of the world are wise in their way, so the. tains and his heritage waste for the dragons of hhe
           children of light must be wise in their way. Even as           wilderness. Where& Edom saith, We are impover-
           the children of the world strive after their end, and          ished, but we wiil return and build the desolate pla-
           know how, so ihe children of light Aust strive after           ces; thus saith the Lord of hosts, They shall build,
           their end, and also know `how. The children of  the            but I will throw down ; and they shall call them, The
           world lay up earthly treasures: they want the world            border of `wickedness, and, The people against whom
           and nothing else. The children of light seek after             the Lord hath indignation forever." Such, therefbre,
           heavenly treasures through the grace of God. The               was the counsel,.of God. And although Esau certain-
           steward in the parable is certainly worldly wise, al-          ly was responsible for his sin, and trampled under
           though wicked, and so are the friends of the stew-             foot the covenant of God, and, showed himself as pro-
           ard. Here, then, is illustrated the principle of the           fane, nevertheless  ,God through him executed His
           wisdom of this world. They have their mind concen-             counsel of reprobation, and he placed. Esau in the
           trated upon the end they haye in view, that is, ear.th-        position of the_ elect by his first birth, in order that


                                        THE  S T A N D A R D -   B E A R E R                                     3        6         7

 he might  make himself manifest and profane and from  ot'tlers,  it certainly is no cause for us to boast
 wicked, and #God.  would be justified when He judgeth.      in self.  -  `One who really understands the truth of
    Here is another question: "In Sob 12 :6 we read,         this point `will humble himself deeply  before God.
 `The tabernacles of robbers prosper, and they that          Let no flesh glory in His presence. And this also is?-
 provoke God are secure ; into whose hand ;God bring-        plies that one cannot very well speak of the subject of
 eth abundantly.' Does this text refer also to life          God's sovereign rejection of the reprobate, who  in-
 insurance ?j'                     :                         time are our  Sellow men, our  kins'm'en  according to
     Here is my answer. Personally I cannot see in           the flesh, without feeling to an extent the sa-me heavi-
 what way this passage of Scripture has reference to         ness, the same continual sorrow for them, which the               '
 life insurance. ' In chapter 12 Job is speaking. And        apostle. here. so emphatically declares to feel in his
 in verse 6 he evidently complains, as is so often the       heart. No cold-blooded rejoicing in the damnation
 case with the saints in Scripture, that  t& wicked          of our felow men may characterize our contemplation
 prosper and the righteous suffer. It is the same note       df God's sovereign dealings with men.' `The fact that
 that is heard in Psalm 73, as well as in other passages     God's predestinating purpose divides our race, makes
 of Holy Writ. According to the outward appearances          separation between men of the same flesh and blood,
 of things in the world, it almost seems not only that       always remains -a matter of suffering as long as we
 there is common grace, but that God is more graciods        are in this present time. And this leads me. to ano-
 to the-wicked than to the righteous; for they indeed        ther remark. From the viewpoint of our flesh, of
 have-.abundance.    But in reality this is, of course,      our earthly, natural life and relationships, it is not so
 pot true. And when Asaph enters into the sanctuary strange, barring some theological objections, to hear
 and notices the end of the wicked, he obtains an en-        the apostle declare that he could wish to be accursed
 tirely different slant on the things of this world          from Christ for his kinsmen according to the flesh.
 which the wicked possess. They are slippery places          Without wishing to place ourselves on a par with the
 on which God places them, and on which He hurls             apostle, we may safely say that in a degree we can
 them down into destruction. That is also the back-          often repeat these words after him.        Just im,a.gine
 ground ,of the text in Job 12 :6.. And therefore I can      a' parent who experiences the grief of seeing one or
 not see what conned-tion this passage of `Scripture         more of his children walk the way of  sin and de-
 can possibly have with the ,question of life. insurance.    struction. Just imagine `a pastor who in the course
     Another question is the following: "How can we          of years becomes attached to- his flock and earnestly
 explain  Paul's desire as found  in Acts  26:29 and         desires their salvation, but who beholds that many
 Rqmans  9:3 in the light of predestination?"                of them are not the objects `of God's electing love.
     My answer is as follows : In Acts 26 :29 we read :      And what, is true of our own flesh and blood in the
 "And Paul said, I would to God, that not only thou,         narrower sense of the word  and of the church of
 but also all that hear me this day, were both almost,       Christ in the world in general, can be applied to man:
 .and altogether such as I am, except the& bonds." And       kind as a whole. Out of the one blo*od ,God has made
 ip Rom. 9 :3 we find the well-known words: ,"For I          the whole of the human race. And they are accord-
 could wish that myself were -accursed from Christ           ing to the flesh all our brethren. And we  .can un-
 for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh'." der&and a little at least of the attitude of the apostle
My answer follows. It is very striking  that the last        when he speaks of -the great heaviness that burdens.
 text is .found in the very chapter in which Paul ein-       his soul, and says that he could wish to be accursed
 phasizes very strongly the truth of predestination,         from Christ for his kinsmen according to the flesh.
 both election and reprobation.  And he approaches           And in as far as we could wish in our pregent flesh
,- this truth in, a spiritual-psychological way. And now     and blood, we' could indeed desire all men to be
 I will quote from my radio lecture of a few jrears ago      saved."
 on this very subject: "First of  all, let us note that         But this, of course, is not God's purpose. And
 the apostle's  attituds in approaching the tremendous       therefore our flesh must be put into subjection, even
 subject of -God's absolute sovereignty in election and      when it is  our own flesh and blood. We must be
 reprobation is intended by the Word of God as an ex-        willing to suffer for `Christ's and for  :God's  sake also'
 ample for us. When as children of God we-approach           in this respect. S&h is my answer to this iyuestion.
 this subject, and gpeak of ,God's sovereign predestina-        Another question is the following: "How can ,we
 tion, it is but proper that our attitude should be deep-    justify the situation prevalent in our churches, name-
 ly spiritual. It tiay not be, it could not possibly be      ly : It is five minutes to twelve on God's clock. And
 the attitude  ,of pride  atid self-exaltation. For if it    the fields are white for the harvest. The cry is that
 pleased God to ordain ub unto salvation in `distinction     the laborers  are. few.  But we  haye  men.wanting  to
                                               ,

                             ,


  368                                  T H E   STANDAIXD  B E A R E R

work in God's kingdom, and no work for them there             laborers that are ready to preach, to send them
is in our church."                                            whithersoever He pleases. Let us therefore pray that
 `- My answer is as folloys. The question refers' to the Lord may use our churches and the laborers whom
Fatt. 9 :,3'7, 38 and Luke !O :2. In the former passage       we prepare, that He may send them and prepare for
we read: "Then saith he unto his disciples, The har-          ,them a place of labor. That is <my prayer.  And that
vest truly is plenteous, but the laborers atie few ; Pray     should be the  .prayer of our churches. And this also
ye therefoke  the Lord of.the harvest, that he will send      means that we certainly should never forge?Y to pray
forth labqurers into his harvest." And in Luke 10:2,          for our Theological School. That is my answer.
"Therefore said he untb them, The harvest truly is                Here is a rather interesting question, that should
great, buti the labourers are few: pray .ye therefore         at least be interesting for our ladies. The question
the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth la-         is this :    "Please explain II Tim.  2:15,  `Nothwith-
bourers into his harvest."                                    standing she shall be saved in childbearing.' "
   Nqw, in the first place; I would answer that we                Here is my answer. In the first place, the refer-
m&t be careful in saying that it is five minutes to           ence is not second Timothy, but first Timothy 2:15.
twelve. I know that we are living in the time of the          In the second place, it is important that we take the
end. But th& does not mean that we can determine `last Part of the same text in connection with the firsit
what time it is on God's world clock. Many things             part, which was quoted. That last part reads as fol-
in the world indeed poin't to the fact that in our day        lows : "if they continue in faith and charily and holi-
we are  emph&ically living in what are called often           ness, with sobriety." This is important because it
"eschatological times", times that point to the, near         shows that not  childbearing as such is a means of.
coming of the Lord  ~Jesus Christ in the  clouts of           grace or unto salvation. For then it would apply also
heaven. In that sense I can agree with the expres-            to the unbelieving women in the world. But that, of
sion ,that it is five minutes to ttielve.    But neverthe-    course,  is not the .case. We are saved by faith. And
less, we must not forget that all through this dis-           also the women in the church are not `saved by child-
pensation, from the time of the exaltation of Christ          bearing or through.  childbearing, as the original ex-
unto the time of His second,  coping, we are living in        pressiqn is, but through the means of faith which God
the last age.  The end is always  neap, and ,th&efore         implants `in our  hearts:  .In the' conitext  of this pas-
we  must be sober and watch unto prayer. That is              sage the apostle Paul is speaking of the fact that the
our calling.                                                  women must be silent in the churches, and that it is
   In the second place, we. must also be careful in ap-       not their calling to teach or' to usurp authority over
plying the wordi -of Jesus, which He spoke in the days        the man, but to be in silence. And he says: "For
of His flesh, at pandom  to our present time. At that         L dam was first formed, and then  Eye. And -Adam
time the Lo$ indeed meant to say, and actually said,          was not `deceived, but the woman being deceived was
that there were great multittides  ,trying  to press into     i3 the transgression." And then follows : "Notwi.th-
the kingdom of heaven. And in that sense the har-             s'anding she shall. be saved in childbearing, if they
vest was great and ripe to  l?e gathered  iii. But the        continue in faith and charity  atid holiness with so-
labourers, that is, the preachers, were few. Whether          briety." The meaning therefore is this, that child-
this can be applied at random tp our present day ,is          bearing belongs to the main calling of the woman.
another question. Always, of course, the church must          For she must bring forth the seed of the church. In
preach, `whether men hear dr whethkr they forb'ear.           the  ,Old Testament the believing women brought ,
But it cannot always be said at any age that there are        forth their seed in the hope of the Messiah. In this
multitudes trying to press their way into the kingdom         sense Mary,. the nzother of Christ, is the most blessed
of heaven. And it ,seems  to me that in our day this          among women, because she was privileged to bear and
is exactly not the case.                                      to bring-forth the Seed of the covenant, Christ Him-
                                                              self. But also in the new dispensation the women
   And finally, we must  ~pF~,.:qverlook the fact that        are saved in childbearing, becaus_e  their calling is to
the Ltird admonishes @is disciples to, pray that God          bring forth the seed of the elect church, of the body
may'send labourers into His .y$neyard to reap the har-        of Christ. And in the way of fulflling this calling
vest. And we. read in Luke 10 that the Lord Himself,          throygh faith  the woman is saved. In other words,
looking ,at the ripe harvest, *sent seventy disciples in-     just as ,it is always the calling- of the Christian to
to all the land of C&na+n, to preach the kingdom of           walk in a new and holy life, and just as they cannot
heaven in every city and village.,                            be saved who walk in ways of iniquity, so also the
   And as far as our. churches are concerned, I am woman, when she fulfills  he? calling to bring forth
confident .&hat in the Lord's own time He will use the the seed of the church,. and that too, in faith and hope


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                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                    369
                                ..-                                                                                      -
     and charity and. holiness with sobpiety,  shall be. saved    of the other: for why is my liberty judged of another
     in that way.                                       \         man's conscience? For if I by  grace be a partaker,
                                                                  why am I evil spoken of for that for which I give
                             -- :---                              thanks ?" On the basis of this passage I would an: .
                                                                  swer that question as follows: a strong conscience is
        `After t.his the speaker was insulted by being cpt        certainly not a conscience that can allow kierything;
     off. He spoke in absentia, over a recorder. >                as, if a man with a strong conscience could walk in the
      - . W h y ? . . . .                                         world and in sin ; but rather it is a conscience clearly
                                                                  instructed and `guided by the Word of God, and that
                             - -       :--                        lherefore stands in true Christian liberty, in the li-
                                                                  berty wherewith Christ hath made us free, so that we
        The next question read as follows: "In our Form           can partake of the things of this wor,d with thanks-
     for the Administration of Baptism  vrie read; `when          giving. And a weak  conscjence  is  &the conscience of
     they shall arrive to years of  descretion'. Just what the Christian that is not so enlighitened and instructed
     does this mean?"                                             to the things that are called adiaphora, indifferent
        The answer is a follows. The expression occurs            things," things concerning meat and drink, and smok-
     in the third questioli addressed to parents when they        ing, and other things. If a man with such a weak
     present their children for baptism. It reads as fol-         conscience, for instance, is in a company and a glass
     lows : "Whether you p?omise  and intend to see .these        of wine is offered him, it is certainly sin for him to .
     children, when come to the years of  ~discretion,  in-       take that glass of wine: not because it is sin in itself,
     structed and brought up in the aforesaid doctrine, or        but  because his own conscience  tiould make it sin
     h&lp or cause  them to be instructed therein, to the         for him before God. And therefore `he must abstain
     utmost of your power?" Now the question is: what until his conscience is furthe? instructed and enlighten-
     is meant by the years of discretion? And the answer dd. `This, according td Scripture; is the difference be-
     is, of course: as soon as  the children can receive          tween i weak and a strong conscience of a Christian.
     instruction. This ingtruction  is begun in (the home,           As to'the wicked, they also have a conscience, as
     and can be started at a very early age. This instruc- well as the righteous. Of this we read in Rom. 2 :14,
     tion is continued by the church in catechism and in          15 : "For when the Gentiles, -which have not the law,
     preaching, as well as in our schools, which ihould be        do by nature `the things contained in tGe law, these,
     Protestant Reformed schools wherever it is possible          having not the law, are a law .unto themselves : Which
     (to organize such institutions; For in baptism we pro-       shew the work of the law written- in their hearts,
     mise that when our ch;ldren  shall come to the years of      their.. conscience also bearing witness, and their
     discretion, we will instruct them and bring them up          thoughts the mean while accusing or else :excusing
     in the doctrine of our churches. But by the years of one another?' This is also taught in our Canons of
     discretion I would understand  .a11 the years of  in-        Dordrecht, ,111, IV, 4, where w,e read of the natural
     S'ruction  from their earliest infancy to the time wheh      light by which the wicked discern the difference be-
     they are able to make confession of their faith in the       tween good and evil. It is not so, therefore, that `the
     church. This does not mean that after that the in-           wicked have no conscience. But in distinction .from
     struction is finished, for we ever grow in ;the knowl-       the Christian they over-ride their c&science, and com-
     edge and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. B'ut.1 may mit iniquity nevertheless. Although they have natural
     nevertheless declare  that the expression "years of          light, and although they have  the work of the law
     discretion" refers particularly to that age. ,,              written in their hearts, so that they can discern the
        Here is a question about conscience:  ",Why: are          difference between good and evil, they nevertheless
     some of God's people's consciences stronger  than            love the darkness rather thin the light, commit ini-
     others? What is the difference between the conscience        quity, and so become inexcusable before God.
     of the godly and of the ungodly?"                             And now I have three questions that are very
        The answer you find in part in I Cor.  10:27-30:          closely related. The first is this: "Is it right for us           .
     "If any of theni that believe note bid you $0 ,a feast,      as a Protestant Reformed League of Ladies' Societies
     and ye 6e disposed to go; whdtsoever  is set before you,     $0 take a collectipn fit our meeting for the Chowpatta
     eat, asking no question for conscience sake. But if          Mission?' A very similar question is this: "What
     any man say unto you, This is offered in sacrifice unto      is the Chowpatia  Miss&i, and should we support it?"
     idols;  eat not for his sake that  shewed it, and for        And the next question is evidently related to the
     conscience sake: for the earth is the Lord's, and the former. two : "Does God ever convert anyone through                 '
     fulness L-thereof  : Conscience, I say, not thine own, but means of a so-called mission, outside of the church,


370                                  `l?J$E  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

where consequently -the sacraments can never -be ad-           fore, is very essential. This is also, evident from the
ministered, dr do& God only call His Ij;eople through          Form for the Ordination of Missionaries us&d in our
the church institute?"                                         churches. In the first place, it is emphasized in this
 - My answer is as follows. In the first place, 1. must        l?orm that" the missionaries as \?ell as lthe ministers
confess Ithat I am not acquainted with what is called          have the authc$ty to preach the gospel, to administer
the Chowpatta Mission, although I can conjecture what          the  sacram&&,  to govern the church, and to  main-
i's meant by it. Nor did I investigate that particular         t& Christian discipline according to th& Word of God.
mission, because I did not deem it necessary to speak          For- we read ;      "And although from the difference
on that concrete mission particularly. I rather answer         of labor no difference is resulting concerning office,
the `question by referring to some general principles          authority, or dignity, since all possess the same mis-
on which all mission must be based. And I'm  sure              sion, the same office and the same authority, yet not-
that in the 1 light of these principles, that is, ip the       withstanding this, it is necessary that some labor in
light of the Word of God, the ladies themselves will           the congregation already  establi&ed,  while others
be able td answer the particular questions, and to act         are called and sent to preach the G'ospel  to those with-
acqordingly.                                                   out, in order to bring them to Christ. 1 And let each
   ' In the first' place, then, I would e'mphasize ihat all    man abide in that balling wherein he was called bi the
mission is preaching of the Word of God. And that              Church of" God and consequently by God himself and
preaching must aliTrays be based upon the Holy Scrip-          whereurito" each has received gifts,  Lmtil it pleases
tures. In this light already much of the mission work          the Lord to lead him along a lawful way to a dif-
`that is carried on .today is to be condemned; because it      ferent field of labor." And again, in the same Form:
does not preach. the Word of ,God and tile gd`spel  of         "And besides all this it is evident that the work of
Jesus Christ.                                                  missions is the  t,ask of  lthe Church since the Lord
 In the second place, however, it is `al& ' essential          Jesus hi&self calls his Church the salt of the earth."
tliat all mission work should proceed from the church,         From all thi$ it is very evident that a preacher must
fbr the simple reason that a missionary must be sent,          be' sent, and  `tha,t  the sending can take place only
as the very word implies. That sending of the mis- through  the church institute.
sionary can be done'and .is done only by God through               No&, if the  Clibwpatta  Mission  aild the' misiion-
our Lord Jesus Christ, Who gathers His church. The             aries that labor there are sent by the church and
rriissionary,  therefore, inust be sent and callea by God      preach the truth of the Word of God and administer
Himself. And that sending and calling does not take            the sacraments and exercise Christian discipline ac-
place immediately, as was the Case With the apostles,          cording td the Word of God, I, have no objection to
but in our day functions only through the church iii-          advise the ,league to support that mission. `If not, I
stitute. -That (this sending is essential is evident from      cannot advise them such. But I leave the matter itself
all Scripture. We read in Rom. 10 i14,15: "How then            concerning the particular mission involved to the la-
shall they call on him in  *horn  they* have  not be-          dies  themselv&.     They ace` no children. And they
lieved? and how shal1 they believe if1 him whom they           can jtldge themselves in the light of the principles of
have not h,eard? and how shall they b&r without a              the Word of God in which I have tried to instruct
preacher? And how shall theji preach ex$$t they be             ithem.
sent? as it is written, How beautiful a& the `feet of             The next question is a rather heavy one. It-is
them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring ,glad          this : "Please explain the hardening  qf Pharaoh's
tidings of  goqd things.?" This is also evident from           heart by God and Pharaoh's guilt before God in the
Acts 13 :2,3, where we -read : "As they ministered to          light of this hardening."
thle Lord, and fasted, the" Holy Ghost said, Separate' T would answer that question as follows. First
me Barnabas and Paul for the work whereunto I have             of all, it must be clearly understood that in the har-
called them. And when they had fasted and prayed               dening of Pharaoh's heart and in ihe hardening of any
and laid their hands on them, they sent them away." man's hearf God, and not man, is first. Otherwisd we
It was, therefore, the church of; Antioch who was in-          destroy the whole problem. That this `is true ii1 the
structed by the Holy Ghost to send Paul and Barna-             case of Pharaoh is evident for`Exodus 4:21, where w-e
bas to preacli unto the -Gentiles: Besides, the .Lord          read : "And `the Lord said unto Moses, When thou
Hi&elf. sent His apostles, and during His ministry on          goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those
earth He sent also the seventy disciples two by two            wonders before Pharaoh which I have put in thine
to preach the kingdom of heaven. And, not only so,             hand: but I- will harden his heart, that he shall not
but He instructed His disciples to pray that God might         let the people go." The point is that Scripture speaks
send laborers into the harvest, The sending,  there-           of God's `hardening of Pharaoh's heart even" before


                                       T H E   STAND'ARD  BEAR&R                         " 
                                                                                         Al `1  '                 371

 Moses returhs into Egypt to speak the Word of God           hardens the heart of any man, and yet so, that he be-
 to Pharaoh. `This is also &ident from Romans 9 :1'7,        comes guilty before God and God judges him.
 18: "For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for            Here is an interesting question: "Were all the
 this &me purpose have I raised thee up/ that I might        animals in the ark of life-size:" The questioner evi-
 shew my power in thee, and that my name might be            dently conceives of the possibility that God by a won-
 declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he        der of His power so diminished the size of the anima$
 mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will          that they could all have a place in the ark. Just as
 he hardeneth," And to quote no more, that this is           in the time of thk war letters were filmed apd great!y
 true not only in the case of Pharaoh, but in all the        diminished in size, in order afterward t,o -be, f+@arg$
 acts of God bjr which He hardens man, is evidenlt  also     again,  so' my questioner evidently conceive? of  t&e
 from  john  12:39,40: "Therefore they could not be-, possibility that this was done with the animals before
  lieve because that Es&as said again, He hath blinded       the flood. How otherwise, such is the presupposition
 their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should      in the question, can we undgrstand that all the animals
 not see with their eyes, nor understand with their          could possibly live in the ark,, @gethe+  with the food
 heart, and be converted, and I should heal them." God       and all they needed. , My answer is, in the first place,
 is sovereign. And in the hardening of the `reprobate        that this is indeed an ingenious supposition, and I
 He is certainly first. \ Neveystheless,  God hardens the    would by np means rule out th;is possibility. Another
 heart of Pharaoh and of  man in general, not as a           possibility is that all the animals were in the ark in
 stock and block, but as a rational-moral creature. Let      life-size btit that we conceive of them as not having
 us remember the following: first of all, that man .as       developed into so many species ah there are today. It
 the object of God's hardening .is already dead in sin       is possible that before the floo,d there were ~only very
 apd misery. He is incapable of doing any good, in-          few species, that later after the flood, developed  into
 capable also of hearing the Word of God in a saving         the different kinds of animals as we know them today.
 sense and heeding it. In the second place, remember         But frankly, whether the one or the other is +rue,  I
' too that the Word of God came to Pharaoh and comes         cannot state positively. Fair the problem is there, and
 to all men that hear ,.the gospel w;ith the -calling to     I cannot solve it. I think that-it was a wonder.
 repent and ,believe. This call ca,me .to Pharaoh in the      Here is a question of .a practical  natured: "What
 form of the Word of  God, "Let my people go." ,And          is our stand toward the Boy and Girl Scout movement,
: Pharaoh refused. This Word of God was repeated             and why? ,And how about membership in the Y.M.
 many a (time and was accompai_ned by mighty powers          C.A.. or Y.W.C.A.?"                                  .-
 and wonders on the part of God. Sometimes it seemed            As to the stand  t&ard the Boy and Girl. Scout
 as if Pharaoh would be softened and was inclined to movement, I would say that:) we cannot possibly join
 obey the Word of God and let  the people go.        But     such a movement. It is cert&nly not Christian, but
 whenever the plague was lifted, Pharaoh strengthened        through and through humanistic`. The pledge, for in-
 himself and hardened himself over against ithe Word         stance, to perform a good deed at least once a day, and
 of God. The same is true with all men that hear the         if possible, more, is certainly not based on Scrip-
 Word' sf God and d6 not receive grace to heed it and        ture, but on humanistic philosophy. Man is by him-
 to obey the gospel. Fdr faith is a gifit of grace, and      self incapable of doing any good, and inclined to all
 no man can hear the gospel in a saving sense unless         ,evil. `He certainly cannot perform any good deed be+
 God first instills into his heart that saving faith. And fore God, un!ess we should believe in `the theory of
 therefore, Pharaoh was hardened not as a stock and          common grace.     On the other hand, the  .Christian
 block, but as a rational, moral creature. He heard          aoes not attegpit  to perform one or more,good deeds a
 the Word of God. That Word of God was powerfully day, but has by grace an inner d`elight in all the com-
 pressed upon his conscience by% all the mighty won- mandments of God. .And .good  works are only those
 ders which Moses in the name of ,God performed in the that proceed out of a true faith, are done according
 land of Egypt. /Bet through that same Word of God           to the law of God, and to the glory of the Most High;
 the Lord hardened him, and Pharaoh,, hardened his           in gratitude of heart. The same may be said about
 own heart over against that Word. This is also. true movements like  the  Y.M;C.A. and the Y.W.C.A., al-'
 of all men that do not receive grace and hear the gos-      though n,o doubt it is possible `"to acquire a limited
 pel of Christ. God is that first cause of his hardening,    membership, in  ord@r to gain  .access to their gym-
but man is nevertheless the responsible and tioral a- nasium and swimming pool, etc. These ecumenical
 gent that assumes an cttitude  of rebellion over against movements, although at the beginning characterized
 the Word of God and thus hardens himself. Thus,we by a certain orthodoxy, have gradually deteriorated
 can explain how God hardens the heart of Pharaoh: and and have come under the iqfluence of humanism and


  372                                     1'HE' STAND`ARD  B E A R E R

 moderism. `That this is true is evident from a single in one of my radio sermons `dn the Apostles' Creed.
 quotation of an article written by-one of the Y.M.C.A. 1 Undoubtedly the questioner can receive a copy of that
. secretaries, from which I quote the following : `tAl-          serFon. In brief, however, I would answer that it
 though I tail the attention to the, imperfections of the        cannot be  de?;ermined with  cerkainty  just what the
 thmking of Jesus, it is far from my purpose to main-            fathers meant by the expression,  `-He descended into
 tain that`the Christian movement has made a mi&ake              hell ;" that the descension into hell has been variously
 by giving him the place of a leader. I believe that mterpreLed  by Lutherans aizd Roman Catholics, as well
 the hutian race produced not a single figure that by            as. by okhers ; and that, although it is evident from the
 his character and doctrine had more right to symbolize article  in the Apostles' Creed that it refers the des-
 the ethical and spiritual  aspira;tions  of humanity.           tension of #Christ  into hell to the time after His death
 Jesus was not so entirely unique as we formerly pre- and probably before His resurreotion,  the Reformed
 supposed.    It can no longer ,be maintained that ins churches have always interpreted this expression spi-
 Jesus we have--a complete and perfect revelation of `ritually, as meaning that Christ suffered the torments
 all the conceivable ethical and religious truths." That of hell, before His death, on the cross, <and especiaily
 the term Clzristiun in Y.M.C.A., meanB very little is           when He cried.  out, "IViy God, my God, why hast thou
 very evident from qudtations like these. And there-             forsaken `me?"
 fore, we canndt support movements like the Y.M.C.A.                          Well, I khink I have r"ooln  on the wire for just one
 and Y.W.C.A. from a principal point df view.                    more question, and then also my time will undoubted-
    Here is anbther practical question for the 1,adies:          ly  be  u@* And besides, i finish the (questions with
 "Proverbs  31:10-31.  Just how  .must this be applied           this last one. The question reads : "This question con-
to today's Christian mother ?"               9                   terns what our attitude must be toward the state or
                                                                 government.             How must w.e explain Rom. 13 :2, when
    I would answer that in Proverbs 31 we have the - we also read of the many revol+s of the Israelites a-
 picture of an ideal woman, not only of a mother, but            gainst their oppressors, such as those under the  leader-
 also of a Christian wife,-an ideal- that can be  fol-           ship of Gideon, Samson, and @hers?"
 lowed in any age. It is the picture  of a virtuous wo-                       My` answer is ichis,r that according to Scripture tie
 man,  of* a woman that fears the Lord. We read'of               must altiays be in subjection .to the government, but
 her that lthe heart of her husband safely trusts her,           that.. this subjection does not mean that we may ever
/ that she will always do him good, that she lab&s dili-         obey men more than God. When the government re- '
 gently from morning till night for her household ; That quir.es of us to do something agiinst the precepts of
 she even provides not qnly for her family, but also for our God, we must refuse and suffer the consequences.
 the poor and  .needy.      Besides, she is a  woman of As. far as the attitude of Israel is concerned, this was
 strength, and honor, atid' she openeth her moekh  with not really an attitude of revolt, but rather an attitude
 wisdom, and in her tongue is the Paw of kindness. Her           or' obedience to the ,Lord,  Who called upon them to
 children rise up and call her blessed, and her husband          hberate themselves from their oppressors after they
 also `praiseth her.. Such, according to Prov. 31, is            had turned  from'their wicked way.
 a wife and mother that feareth the Lord. It st,ands to                       And now, ladies, I have no more room. I just have
 reason that .this picture cannot .be applied to modern space and time yet to say, Goodbye. I enjoyed myself
 conditions in all sts details. Besides, the realization         1 ery much, and' I hope that you did the same.
 of that ideal. not only requires a woman that fears                    _                                         Your pastor,
the Lord, but evidently also a strong woman, strong                                                                        H. Hoeksema
 in body and mind. And therefore, I would say that                 .
 the principle of  thii ideal is after all expressed in                 ,,                               El
vs. 31, which tells us that she is a woman that fears                                         IN     MEMORIAM
the Lord. And the fear of the Lord is the principle,                    The  Ladies' Socie'cy   of'  the  Oa:kla\Gn   Protestant   &formed
-the beginning, of all wisdom, also for a Chirstian iChurch   expresses   its  sinceae  syrnplthy   t;,  one  of  its  members,
wife and mother.                                                 Mrs.  R.  Rhoda,   in  the  departure   of  her  mother
   The following is a;qu&tion concerning an article in                                          _  MRS.  R.  P08T
the Apostle's Creed : `<If  we  believe  from  the  Bible        on  Saturday;  May  10,  1952.
 that Jesus suffered t@e torments bf hell before He died,               It  remains   our  abi'ding  comfort   to  know   that   the  Lord  does
why does t,he Apostles' Creed read, `He suffered under all  things  for  good  unto  them  that  love  Him.
 Pontius Pilate, was crucified,` dead and buried; He                                            The  Ladies'  -Society:
 descended into hell?' "                                                                                Mrs.  G.  Vanden   Berg,   Vice-Pres.
    This question I have recently stltempted  to answer                                               M~s;,   B;  .Zandstra,   Sec'.y.




                                                                                                                                             .


                                       /.lXlE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                        813

                                                             in which `a person has made confession of faith in a
               I N   H I S   FEA,R                           Protestant Reformed church, and has therefore con-
                                                             fessed to believe "the doctrine which is taught here,
                                                             in this Christian church", and who have sooner or
                    Looking To The  futym                    later, contrary to their public confession, left us. Not
                                                             only that, but examples can be cited of such people,
                          Chapter 2                          now ex-Protestant Reformed, who at one time taught
                 THE  TEAC'HER PROBLEM                       in our Protestant Reformed schools, who did so even
               (SUGGE$UTIONF   TOWAR& S                      shortly before they left our communion. Of such peo-
                                           OLUTION)          ple it is certainly true that they went out from us,
   At the conclusion of our previous article we pr.omis-     but they were not of us. `They never were really
ed to continue our discussion on the subject of solving      Protestant Reformed, even though they sometimes try
 the problem of .obtaining teachers quahfied to teach in     to maintain that they still are Protestant Refor.med
 our Protestant Reformed schools by suggesting cer-          though they are affiliated with another church. Nor
 tain stop-gap or emergency measures which shoukl be were they at heart ever Protestant .Reformed  teachers.
 taken as long as we lack the regular facilities to train    .And it is too bad both f,or our schools and for the chil-
 our ,own teachers.                                          dren who were  commieted to -their instruction and
     To this task we now address ourselves.                  who now can see them affiliated elsewhere, unfaithful
    We may seem to be repeating some of our former           to the truth., that such people were ever teachers in
 material. This is' only due %o the fact that in these       our schools. I say `it is too bad. But it is unavoid-
 suggestions toward solution we follow up on our de-         able. Neither the consistories who accepted their con-
 lineation of the, pr,oblem which we made a few articles     fession,  nor the school boards who engaged them as
 previously. .`-                                             teachers can search the hearts of men. And hence,
    In the first.place,  then, we want to emphasize that     they cannot foresee who will and who will not be faith-
 our schools should insist on engaging teachers who ful to his confession. In  Oother words, no absolute
 are confessing members of one of ,our Prdtestant Re-        certainty can be attained by us in this ,matter.
 formed churches. Some time ago we called this one              All this, however, does not change. the f,act that              '
 of the necessary qualifications of a Protestant Reform-     we must be as certain as possible.        .
 ed teacher. It follows then that this is one of the mea-       And therefore the fust rule to which our schools
, sures that must needs be taken in obtaining Protestant must adhere in engaging teachers is this: Every tea-
 Reformed teachers. Someone might object that this           cher in a Protestant Reformed school mzcst be a mem-
 is not an emergency measure. And I concede that             ber in full~communion.  in a Protestant` Ref. Church.,
 there is truth in that contention: this must also be a         In the second place, we must insist upon it, that all
 permanent rule for our schools. But my point is now our teachers be committed in principle and practice to
 that sll the more while we have no teacher-training the ideal of Protestant Reformed education.
 facilities our schools must insist on `this point. The'        About this-there can be no quarrel.
 reason is plain. ,One who is only a baptized member           ' If we are to have Protestant Reformed schools,
.has not committed himself publicly and personally as' they must be Protestant Reformed indeed ! There is
 to doctrine and walk to the truth as it is maintained       absolutely no sense in establishing separate schools,
 in and by the Prdtestant Reformed Churches. He is' only to have them stand in the line of the tradiitional
 duty bound to do so. He may very well do so also in ,Christian  school. Let us never forget that. Exactly
 the future. But the possibility, and also the proba-        therein lies the greatest pit-fall to the whole move-
 bility in a certain percentage of cases, remains that       ment. We have been used to the traditional line of
 he will *manifest himself not to be Protestant Reform- Christian instruction, have long been accustomed to
 ed. Now certainly,. we cannot ,and may not commit           the.line of "the school wilth the Bible", instead of the
 our children and our schools to the trust of one who        school fournded  on scripture one hundred percent.. Let
 as yet does not say that he confesses the doctrine that     us not deceive ourselves: it is difficult to get out of
 is taught in the Protestant Reformed Churches. But that rut. The path of *least resistance, when we have                            '
 we must, be as certain as possible that the teachers        established separate schools, is to remain principally        '
 whom we engage are Protestant Reformed..                    in that old rut. That is inevitably the death of
    It maybe objected, however, that even then we            our Protestant Reformed schools, no matter then whe-
cannot be sure that we commit our children to the in-. ther we have separate organizations and buildings.
struction of Protestant Reformed teachers, And for this         H.ence, we ourselves, but necessarily also our tea-
 objection. there is also ,grsund. We all know of cases      chers must be `committed to the p~iflac@c:  of Prote&mt

          \                                                                                                 D  *


.3'74                                   THE  S T A N D A R D   BEARER
               _~
 Reformed education. I cannot conceive, of course, of            must :be done not in an ,attitude of suspicion, but of
 a Prdtestant Reformed person who can be pri?cipallzj            copfidenck and helpfulness, and because after ,a11 the
 opposed to Protestant Reformed education. Of such               board is responsible above the teacher. ,Our teachers,
 a person who claims to be principally opposed to our            I am convificed, have a difficult task, since they `are '
 own schools- I can only~draw one conclusion: he is not          opening a new field. They themselves must take this
 Protestant Reformed. Anyone who  understsands  and task seriously, and be op& to sugg&tions, criticism,
 maintains the tri&h as taught in our churches, and              encouragement, and help from the board.
 that in distinction from all other.churches,  must peces-           In the second place, let the teachers individually
sarily insist that our children be instructed and brought        address themselves very seriously and earnestly, by
 up in that truth, also as that truth has undeniable way of hard study and honest self-examination,  %o
 significance for the so-called secular pher;es  of life.        the task of founding their instruction on  ou? Pro-
         The school boards, therefore, who `are responsible      testant Reformed truth.        This has been lacking in
 in this matter, must make very sure,`therefore,  that           their  f,ormal education.  It is a lack  which, -for the
 the teachers whom they engage are adherents' to the             time being, because of the lack of our own 5arJlities
 principle of Protestant Reformed education. They' snd the lack of our ow.n text-books, they will have to
 must investigate on that scor'e. Let ithem examine the          make up f,or individually and privately.
 teachers. Let th&& determine that the teachers whom                 In the third place, I believe it can be of great bene-
Ithey engage \are not men and women who would as                 fit that Muir teachers; wherever possible, address them-
 soon teach in one of `ohe other Christian schoo!s or even       selves  tp this task collectively. Let study-clubs be
 perhaps, in a public school. Atid let them place this           organized among the teachers of one or more schools.
matter above all  @hers ; any teacher who will not Euch groups can together devote +n evening a week,
 commit himself io the principle sf Protestant Reform-           for example, to one subject- or  one phase of a sub-
 ed education must be avoided like the plague ! Unless           ject, with  .a view- to distinctively Protestant Reform-
we are willing to insist on this, we may as well close           ed instruction. I do not believe thti< a school board
tie *doors  ,of Qur schools and'go back.                         can  hake such a thing compulsory.          But I do be-
         But in the case of teaihers it is just as importatit    lieve that a good Protestant Reformed teacher will
that they be a practically committed to the ideal -of            approve`the  idea,- support it, and profit from it. And
 Protestant Reformed education. It is entirely-possible,         I believe that our boards should' ,encourage  such acti-
 of course, that for certain practical reasons one can-          vities, suggest them where necessary, arid support
nok and doesnot for a time favor Protestant Reformed             them wholeheartedly. Much can be done in this way.
 edueatiop under certain circumstances. Thai may be              Iti fact, there is a certain benefit connected with this
 readily conceded. And we must not be quick tp con-              type of thing which is often missing in formal educa-
,demu such people. They need instruction, help, and              tion, the benefit namely, that the teachers themselves
 encouragement. But such people must not be teachers,            do ,the research and ,are actively engaged in trying to
 in a position of leadership. The halt and the lame and          apply %He truth of Scripture to every phase of educa-
 the doubtful and fearful must not be in the lead. And           tion. For the benefit of the smaller schools, where
Ith&efore  our teacher's must be men or women who                the location and the nujmber of teachers makes it im-
actively and wholeheartedly back up the movement,                possible to org$nize  a study club, worthwhile material
who are fired with zeal by the vision of this beautiful          might even be published in some form.
 and essentially practicable ideal.                                  My fourth suggestion is one of tihich more lengthy
   Rule TWO, therefore is this:  We must  insist that            consideration may perhaps, be givefi. It is that our
 every teacher in our Protestant Reformed schools is             [teachers organize -nationally into a federation, and
pri@pally and `practically committed to the ideal of that a rather lengthy teachers" institute or conven-
Prdtestant Ref armed' education.                                 tion be. held at least annually. This tdo, if properly
         That is probably ati much as can be said, as far. conducted, could be highly beneficial.
 as har,d and fast rules ar.e concerned in this respect.            In closing our discussion' on `this subject,  I would
         But several suggestions may be made yet.                make two remarks.
         In the first place, let the school boajrds by means         First of all, let me repeat that we must not rest
 of -frequent committees of school-visitation maintain           until we have provided adequate teacher-training  fa-
 a close watch on the ins!truction  that is given, not so        cili'ties for our  schoolb.
much ,from the formal viewpoint-I doubt that there                  .And secondly, with a view to the foregoing, as
 are many ,boara members who are capable of this,-               well as with a view to what can be done heanwhile,
but from ,the viewpoint of the question whether the `in-         let's all put our shoulder to the wheel!
 struction  is  positively   Psoteatwnt   Refor&e~,  This                                             I  W,  C.  IWo&s3ma


                                                                                                            -.
                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                         37s

                                                              own  thiings> but  ev,ery man also  pn the things of
iTtOM  IiO%Y  - W R I T others."
                                                                 It seems  to us, that it is of the utmost importance
                                                              for the correct understanding of this  Scriptur,e  pas-
          Eymsition  of  Phd+pians  231-4                     sage to bea? in mind, that' Paul is here' speaking of
                                                              likemin&dness i?z the Lord. It should be remembered,
                         I  I.                                that there is a caricature likemincla&ness also in the            ,
   There is really nothing so painful under the sun as        world of unbelief nob, and that <there  shall be such
to see brethren and sisters in the Ldrd live in disunity      liike.mideclness in the greatest pdssible measure pre-
of mind'and soul ; it is the pain df the breaking of the      sently in the w&d of Antichrist. *here too is a like-
harmony of the music of the love `of `Christ in the unity mindedness in purPose.            It will *be the unification of .
of the Spirit and the bond of peace. Conve&ely it is          all the vain imaginations of inen, who rise up against
also true, that.nothing gives such joy as to see that         the Lord ,and His anointed Son. These the Lord till
brethren dwell together in the  `unity of brotherhood.        have in derision ; He will laugh at them from .His holy
It is like the precious ointment wherewith Aaron and          pavilion. Nevertheless' among these evil men there is
his sons were anointed ; it is like the dew of Mount          unity of purpose: Pilate and  Herod   .become  friends
Hermon upon the top of Mount Zion.                            in one <day when they have a common Foe, Jesus of
   From out of the depths of the Apostolic heart of           Nazareth. Such iS not the likemindedness ip my text
Paul, that haS only concern for the spiritual well-being      here. This is the likemindedness not of those who are
of the ,Church, we li'ar the earnest precept of th'e Gos-     "put under the feet of -Jesus". Psalm  11O:l: I Cor.
pel: Only walk worthily of the :Gospel  in your citizen-      15 :25. On the contrary it is the unity of purpose of
ship walk of the heavenly kingdom on earth! Then those, who, by the grace of God, learn to pray: Rule
shall the enemy be met in the gate ; we shall then .be        us so by thy Word and Spirit,  th&t we may submit
without fear striving  togeth,er for  the faith of the        ourselves more and more to thee . .' . till the full per-
Gospel. Then shall the  bulw&ks of Zion be strong fedion of thy kingdom take place, where& thou shalt
and `her palaces beautiful with the, grace of <God.           be all and all. Ques. 122, Heid. Cat. It is, then, most
   For the church is really beautiful`by grace and by         emphatically a likemincleclness  in-the Lord.
grace alone. It is given us out of grace td believe in           That such is'the likemindedness and unity of pur-
Jesus Christ, preached to us in the Holy IGospel ; it is      pose here spoken of is evident from three matters that
equally by grace that we may suffer for the sake of           we her& let pass in review.      ,
Christ in the ~miclst of this woild. In this, believers         In the first place,  it should  ie remembered that
share a commofi heritage in the Lord.                         Paul is writing this letter to the saints that are in
   Should not such a church be one in every fibre of          Christ Jesus at Philippi. He is writing to those who .
her being and heart? And does not the love of ,Christ         al-e by faith in the Lord.
constrain her to this walk in the unity of one common            In the second place,  it should be noticed that this c1
aim and purpose in life? Is  nd  .the love `of Christ Christ Jesus is emphatically the Lord, who has re-
manifest in this, that He humbled Himself before God          ceived the Name which is above every name, that at
and` tias  .exalted  by Him as a reward?  You  under-         the name of Jesus every knee should bow in all the
stand this Mystery of godliness that is great, you as-        universe.    In this -Lord and  His dominion, by His
sert ? Well, then, you wi!l also have the. necessary          Word and Spirit we are likeminded,.and must become
point of appeal given in the Scripturk passage that we        more and more so. ,Wherefore  Paul writes in chapter
wish to consider with one another in this and the             4.2: "I beseech Euodias and I b&eech Syntycee,  that
next essay.                       _.                          they be of the same mind in the Lord."
   What is this passage?                                        Thirdly, we should emphatically notice, that all of
   It reads as follows : "`If there be therefore ,any con-    the incentives unto the likemindedness here spokeli of
solation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if a~.y fel-      are in the IL,ord as'the risen Savior, who' was' exceed-
lowship of the Spirit, if any bowels ,and ~merci&, ful-       ingly highly exalted because He humbled Himself so
fil ye my joy, that ye be like minded  (that ye mind the      deeply.  ;L,isten: if there then be any consolation in
same thing),  having the same love, being of one'ao           Christ, if any comfort of loire, if any felfowship of the
cord, (harmony of your soul)  of  one  mind  (minding         $pirit if any bowels and  mercy . . . `This  is-`all in
the one thing). L.et  nothng. be done through strife Chridk our &en Lord.
or vain-glory; but in lowliizess j let each- esteem other        A,likemindedness  in the Lorh then.
better than themselves.  L,ook not every man  on  his            Upon a bit closer scrutiny of the tje%t we notice the
                                                                                                    i    . .."


       3        7       6                       T H E   STANDA,RD  B E A R E R

       following elements e!ucidatillg  upon this likeminded- not employ a~ finite verb .here. He says: having this
       ness.                                                               love. It is the participle. The thought is that since
            It is a likemindedtiess  that is rocited in and con- zue aye having this 4ove in 'our `hearts this likeminded-
       ttantly flows from our ."having the same love".                     ness must needs follow. It is like water that makes
            What is this love? Why is it the  pr.e?equisite  of            one wet, fire that burns, food that nourishes. So hav-
       likemindedness  in the exclusive Christian sense?                   ing this love,  liketiindedness  must needs follow  -as
            Love in the Holy Scriptures mu@ never be . con-                good fruit from the gift of love.
       fused with personal likes, natural. adaptedness. It                    Then too we should notice that Paul also says:
       must not be confused with. natural enthusiam. For                   having the same love. Each word is important here
       love in the  Holy  .Scriptures  is  .the bond of spiritual          and must be weighed. The same love `as  yho? It
       perfection. It-is the perfection wrought by the Holy seems but natural to ,here  think of the same love that
      .Spirit  in our hearts  so -that we are perfect image                all, of  God% people have had shed  abroad `in their
     -(bearers of  IGod, perfectly keeping all of His Com-                 hearts throughput the ages. Jesus `Christ is the same
       mandments. He who loves, keeps the'commandments                     yesterday,' today and  .forever.  It is the same love
     of God. For  th& very reason it is very easy to  evalu- wherever it is manifested.  Tini; cannot effect it. It
       ate our deeds in the light .of this law of love to deter-           is also ~the same in :every child of IGod, in `&very be-
       mine whether ours is a lifer of love. This is not a                 liever in Christ Jesus. And this means that in the
       matter left to personal subjective-rationalistic judg-              church at Philippi every believer has the same love,
       ment.         It' is-entirely a .matter  th& is measured by it is of the same kind and nature. Love must lbe ni&a-
       the standard of the' Word of the Gospel as the Rule                 sur,ed in all, in that it lays down its soul for the bra-
       of faith. (Regula Fidei).  H,ere we do not measure                  ther;, .Love  always rejoices in the truth, believeth all
       ourselves by ourselves; man.is not his own law. Here                things, hopeth and  endureth all things. No one can
       we are.measured  by the law`o? love in our heart and parade his own patent of love. There is no counter-
       conscience. It is the Rule given from above: a Royal                feit. All have the same, real, genuine love, which
       law it is..                                                         the Holy :Spirit sheds abroad in our hearts.
       N.otice  f&t of all, that the Scriptures teach that                    Only frdm this love ,does like-mindedness proceed.
      *God is love. Scripture ,does not lift the lid on all that              Does this preclude  likemindedness', in doctrine?
       happens in the inter-trinitarian life. of God. Even in Nay, this .is a likemindedness  rooted in faith in the
       this love-life  `God is  incotiprehensible.  However, we            self-same ,doctrine. For it is not a walk worthy of the
       confess that God is love.. God is the fule of His own               approval of  men, but it is a walk that is worthy of
       life ; He measures ul?~ to. this perfectly as Father, Son           the IGospel of Christ. And then this is all do&&e, in-
       and Spirit.                                                         struction, reproof, correction in righteousriess as in-
            IGod reveals His love, the'.inner and real natur'e of          structed by pure words, in sound doctrine.
       this love always in the Cross. Herein we always see                    If love were a matter of  suldjective  opinion then
     *' love, not that we loved `God; but that He loved us and             tie  could discard .doctrin&  in likemindedness. Then
       sent His Son a propitiation  f,& our  ,sins.             leaving    we  cbuld `play out love and pure doctrine as  anti-
       loved us `He loved us. unto the end. He loved us so                 poles. We then could, speak of pure doctrine as an ob-
       that He sheds abroad His love in our hearts by His                  stacle toward' likemindedness. But  tiow this is dif-
      Word and Spirit, assuring us of all His loving-kind-                 ferent. For pure doctrine is the- Royal law of the
       ness so that we may cry, Abba, Faiher. For He hath                  King; It is the Rule of faith that is energized by love.
       quickened us  vhen we  were.yet   sinners. And why?                    When we all mind the "same thing" then certainly
       Because of His great. love wherewith He loved us.                   this means, that we place our necks under the yoke of
            And this love in our hearts is such in its very na-            our Lord and Christ. Thiss yoke is always the same.
       ture that we will love the brother, whdm w'e see. It                Pure doctrine `does not change. It is always the plumb
       rejoices in his joy, sorrows in his sorrow, rejoices in             -line of Christian conduct. .Always it tells us to love
      the truth, beareth all things, hopeth all things and en-             even as we are loved by ,God in Christ. In this love
       dureth. ail things, Such love never fails. It never of God to us we are to love one another with pure
       puts to shame.                                                      hearts. T%us,we are instructed in purity of doctrine.
            Now this is thk love of which Paul speaks in our                  It is thus a matter of unity in doctrine and life.
       text. .                                                             In that.  ord.er.  Never can there be a `unity in  Zif.i  '
            There. are two fine touches here that we should                (zooee) where there is no, unity in Christian teach-
       observe.                                     `.    !.      !        ing in the f'undamentals of the Christian religion in
            In the first place we should notice, that P?ul does            godliness. It is true that where strife is thePe  some-.
                                           .
I                                                                                      P


                                         .THE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                       /                     377

 times purity of doctrine is maintained. And it is                     "I made a motion that we vote for these candidates
 sometimes maintained simply from the motive  .of                individually so that we could conscientiously approve
 strife. But this malady in God's church should not              several of them. After the motion was ,defeated  the
 tempt us to the greater catastrophe of relinquishing            vote was taken that all nine be licensed to preach the
 purity of doctrine in the cause (sic) of love. For              Gospel-by a standing vote only five  .bf  usa  we?e op-
 likemindedness is in the Lord. And the Lord also .is            posed, while. fifty voted affirmatively. Dr. Fowler,
 Lor'd of pure doctrine.                                         pastor of the Knoxville  Presbyterian Church, declared
                                         Lto be continued.       that he would appeal to the Synod. Unfortunately
                                         G. C. Lubber's          many other commitments prevented him from bring-
                                                                 ing this serious matter to the attention of the Synod
                    ---::                                        within the required number of days.         .'
                                                                 I    "I  dannot tell `you how dismayed I was by  ,this
                                                                 clear-cut evidence of compromise with some of the
                                                                 most fundamental doctrines of  our Christian faith.
             PERISC
             ,                  'OPE                      .-     It brought vividly to my mind many similar experi-
                                                                 ences  tihen P was 6ne of a minority group opposing
                                                                 liberalism in the Presbytery of Brooklyn-Nassau. Let
HERESY JN CANDIDATES                                             me assure you that you can feel perfectly free to
    Under the above title a contribution to the South-           make use of  thii information, should you desire to
ern Presbyterian  Jo&w,u,l  was recently published. We           do so. May God's richest blessing attend the effort
quote it to indicate to what lengths unbeli.ef has gone          that you and others are making in the Southern Pres-
in some pulpits.                          .                      byterian Church to preserve `the faith once delivered
    "An editorial by Dr. Robinson. in (the  Southern             tinto the saints !' "
, Presbytericm J0urnadJ.H.)  in the January 30, 1952                  `This letter was signed by the Rev. ILnther  P. Fincke
issue makes reference to an action of Pittsburg Pres: `pastor of the Poirit Breeze Presbyterian Church.
bytery (Presbyterian Church `in  U,S.A.-the  "Nor-                    <Certainly  histdry is bearing out and justifying
thern Presbyterian Church"-J.H.) concerning a  spe- the actions of Dr. Maehen and his group who .were ex-
cial meeting for the examination of ministerial can-             pelled from this same Presbyterian Church for al-
,didates.    Your information is correct except that li-        legedly making propaganda and rebelling against the .'
censure was involved rather than ordination. As a "instituted authority" but in reality for defending  _
member of the. committee on examination of candi- the faith of the fathers.
dates I was present at the meeting held' last spring             How anyone can remain, soul-sick  though he may
in Sewickly, a su,burb  of Pittsburg.                           be, in such a communion is a conundrum to tie.                  .
    "You may b& interested to know that at least three
of the nine young men from two, of our theological                          ..            -:- :-
seminaries, Princeton and Western, were guilty of
heretical statements. `They happened to be Western              NOT  PEACE BUT  A  .SWORD
men, and I must say I was much more impressed by                      Under the above title from a different issue of the
the theological papers read by the young men fro& same magazine we quote that which was written by
Princeton. In answer to a question-which I raised a-            one of the editors, Dr. L. Nelson Bell.
-bout the virgin birth, of Christ, one young man said                 One of the hardest facts Christians are called upon.
that the doctrinB  was not important, but that since to face is that a faithful Christian witness brings di-
it was in the New Testame'nt  he woul,d  accept it.             vision, not unity. As long as Satan continues to wield
    "As is indicated in your editorial, a second young his malignant influence in this world he will resist
man refused to express his belief in the doctrine of            and try to pervert the preaching of the ,Gospel,
.&tern?1 punishment. But by far the most blatant ease                 To all of us come the grave temptation to try
of heresy occurred4n connection with the examination to make Christianity and Christian truth popular with
of the last of these nine candidat&.           He had already the world. This is a spiritual impossi'bility. There is
read in his paper that the Bible is subject to error on         constant conflict between light and darkness, between
account of its `being written by man. W,hen examined the Christian`witness and the lies of the evil one. To
orally on. the floor ~of Presbytery he made thhe bald           atigue otherwise is not only to fool ourselves *but also
statement that Mark and .Luke, tire the, only depend-           to be utterly unrealistic.
able ibooks in the New Testament.                                     "Christ did. not come into this! world to give us a


 378                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEARER

 Pollyanna-like  ,gospel of sweetness and light. He came        unto you, and ye  shail  be. my sons and daughters,
that we might have a Gospel of God's redemption from            saiih the Lord Almighty.
the  w,orks   and'the power of the Devil. This is. a               "If ye .were. of the world, the world would love his
 conflict and the more faithfully this conflict is waged        own : but because- ye are not of the world, but I have
the morelcertain  that we will sense the opposition and         chosen you out of the world, therefore the world
 see how ,evil is the working of the `father of lies.'          hateth you.
        "Popularity is a pleasant experience, but it can           "You may choose the way of peace but it may be
be a desperately dangerous one. When all men speak              the way of death ; for a follower of and witness for
well of us we are standing on the edge of an abyss.             Christ it is not peace but. a sword."
When our preaching brings only pats on the back it is              With what is written here we can all agree es-
not the preaching of God's righteous judgment on sin            pecially in our age of worldliness and world-con-
                                                                                  -
 or of the fact that only Christ can free men from its          formity.
penalty and guilt. W*hen our preaching and our per-                                                       J. Howerzyl.
sonal witness fails .to bring a division among those
 who hear and who are spectators to this grim struggle,
 it is high time that we examine our own hezirts  and
our message, .
        `{On the o!her hand, while a faithful ministry must
bring division it is nevertheless a mrnistry of, power ;                    C O N T R I B U T I O N S
not the power of personality or mind but. of the Holy
 Spirit. Where the Holy Spirit is working there comes                             GOD'S PaROMISES
first a conviction of sin ,followed  by repentance and          Dear Editor of the Stanxhwd Bectrw:-
faith in the Redeemer. ThiS is a .crisis in one's per-
sonal life and a renunciation of Satan and his works..             Pleace permit space for the following in the Stan-
 This                                                           clawi Bearer, thanking you in advance.
          must cause a conflict because it entails transil
*ion from one camp' to another, between which there                Again and again we may hear the' remark "We
 is a bitter and relentless warfare.                            have nothing against the `;Contents' of, `The ,Declara-
                                                                ition', but we only say that there is no need for it".
        "The inescapable result is that the Christian be-       Then again% "The Three Forms of Unity are sufficient".
 comes, or should become, a marked individual in his
`business, in his profession, in  `.his  hiome, and  it;hose       Now we confess that everyone has a right to his
 who'd0 not know the Lord, at best look on him as a             own opinion; and as soon ,as we discontinue to express
 peculiar person and often view him `with open an-              our opinions on a .given subject, that then ,a11 advance-
 tagonism. (Our Lord never intended His followers to            menit,  or `firmer establishment of any and all truths
remain.in obscurity. We are `light' and we are `salt'. is f,orever nil. Be that as it may, in its placg it does
"He expects us to be. living epistles. But our position         however make ,a lot of difference just what is meant
                                                                when such statements are made, or what we wish to
 qxts  and if it does not cost it is high time that we
 examirie  our faith and our w&y of life.                       convey to others, when we do so. Now to me it seems
                                                                that if there is no objection to  ihe `contents' of the
        "We'cannot stand beneath the cross of Christ on         `Declaratidn', that then also all other  objectiond  cer-
 Sunday and fly the ensign of'the Devil in our business,        tainly must be of minor, or no value, which to me
among our professional associates and before those `of          seems self-evident:
 our own households the rest of the week.                         However, when the claim is made: "that the Three`
        "We cannot take up our cross and follow Him and         Forms ,of Unity are sufficient," then I cannot help but
 at the same time walk in the ways of Satan. .If our feel that ;this statement implies also that ther.e can be
 life does no: show by personal example,. by our re-            no logical reason why we as churches formulated, and
nunciation of the wqrld, a willingness to be different,         have adopted the `Declaration of Principles'. Some
 even peculiar in the eyes of the unsaved, then we are          seem to be df the opinion that this then closes the door
not paying the price involved in becoming a Christian.          for any further development of the truths of Gods
        `%o far as this world is concerned our-Lord did not     Word.  `Or that it  .bars others from joining with us
come to send peace but a sword ; not accord with, but           into our communion and fellowship. `Or that the pro-
 siparation from the' world.                                    clamation of .the Gospel is `somewhat curtailed, etc.
        "Whereifore  come out f;orn among them, and Le ye       Taking all `these statements just at face value, then
 separate, said the Lord, and touch not the unclean             they might be quite` acceptable, and no doubt, often
 thing : and I will., receive you, atid will be a Father        make or leave an impression upon the minds of the


                                      `T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R . .                                      379
                                                                                                                      I
                                                                                                    /
 people in general that Synod had done something               own churches, then I honestly can %nd no reason why
 here for which no go`od reason can be advanced not            they should .in any way differ with us at all, for then
 only, but that it may do untold hurt in the future for        there can be. no objection to accepting our concept
.us as churches. And when presented as such, then              with which they feel constrained to differ sufficiently
the matter becomes rather a sorrowful happen-chance,           to refuse fellowshipping or uniting with us; Look at
 which only can be lamented, that ever anything as             it as we will, anything other than that just doesn't
such has taken place.                                          make for good sense, nor logic. That does not say
    After all has been said, then I firmli bilieve (and        that in time we as churches may not be able to iron.
that is my opinion) that if we will but carefully re-          out our differences. I see that possibility, even with
trace our  steps, to take careful  note of  abl that has       the `Declaration', as well as without  it.
taken pldce in the' Y;ecent past, as well as &her things          Thus (as.1 see it) it~is obvious that we as churches
which if properly evaluated in the present, and future         only have ,dbn&`what we should have done years ago.
 welfare of our churches, then I believe that several          Had we done so, then the Mission Committee would
very good reasons can be advanced and substanticated           have been able to present to the Liberated brethren a
 that the `Declar&ion' is not only very ti:mely but will       clear-cut de,finition of `our accepted confessions : major
,prove to be a monument of value for $he .future,  as          and minor. It can be denied; but not  gains,aid  that-
 well'-as the present. It doesn't change the stafius quo       the doctrine contained in the `Declaration' has always
of our confessions, bars no one any more now then our          been our accepted doctrine, and has always been con-
 confessions have done, does not ,diminish, but rather,        sidered birding for each and everyone of us as mem-
 adds to the distinctiveness df our doctrines as we as         bers (and tlien why should it not be so to others who
churches confess to believe them, whereby we are dis-          wish to join with us?) whigh is only proper and con-
 tinguished from all other Denominations who also              sistant that it be so. To allow anything short of just
base their beliefs upon the "Three Forms of Unity" that  tiould be equal to dispensing with the sove-
 as we, and many othkrs-  do, and still disagree with <one-    reignty in our own ddmain, which finally would be
 another, so much so that we can not dwell under the           the equivalent to a mad bull in one's china closet.
 same roof-of- fellowship. Many of them also bear the             In  ,our present question which we as churches
name "l$eformed". I believe that off-hand I' can name          were called upon to consider more carefully, we can-
about  :a dozen of  ,them,  and each of  thAem interprets      not escape the fact, that in essence there is "no dif-
 the Came confessions differerdl~. It may be true that         ference at all in the question of today,  ,and that of
 some of these Churches attach no binding powers to            1924. Both strike at the self-same fundamental, the
their confessions ; but I'll wtiger a guess that the num-      Promise.  And all we do in that `Declaration', is to
ber is very few. Some believe in general and common            reiterate, arid/or confirm that fact, but only this time
 grace; or permit lodge members to affiliate with them         at the very deepest seat of our. emotional being our
 01: believe in presupposed regeneration  ; or  ,are as        heart-our darling baby, and whether ,God's promises
 Arminian as the Methodist. And so ..we could go on,           are seriously promised unto that child at  bgptism.
but l&t we think that other churches do not at&h               Truly, a very sensitive question indeed. In 1924 the
 bCn&ng powers to their .doctrilies,  I'll advise such an      question was rather' general in its scope, whereas now
 one to attempt to preach OUT* doctrine in that'so-called      it  seems to be  very  partkdar  in its  ,application.  I
Reformed ( ?) church once, and I can assure- him that believe that it can only be very bene!icia;l to become-
he shall very- soon find that he is thrown out. No,            very personal here aizd permit .you as reader to enter
 they may not bind your conscience, nor preaching,             the very recesses of my heart, as to %vhat- only com-
but will soon give you a lease on life, but not with%          fort in life and in death, my o&y hope, even for the
 their bosom.  ,.                                              dead loved ones of which one is a baby son. If God's
    And of other churches attach binding  values to            promises are not the Yea and Amen in Jesus Christ
 their doctrines, claiming that sovereignty in their own       from all eternity to all eternity, then I ds paretit  can
 domain ; is it taboo for us as churches to do the same        never have, nor entertain an ounce of -hope for that
 as they do? I do not disrespect  any denomination             infant.    Even  though it never has been baptized,
for being faithful to their doctrines. That is the way         makes no difference to the  fact- as such, in such a
 it should be. `That does not say though that I agree . a case, God's w,orks `are eternal ! And, "God is not
with him. And let me add here that we must not for             a many that he should lie, neither the son of-man that
 a moment imagine that the Liberated brethren do               he should repent; hath he said, ,and shall he not do it?
not ,attach  a high value to their concept about God's         or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?"-
 Promise. in infant  baptism. And if we think that             Num.  23:19. That is our  on& hope.  Add Rom.  8:33
their concept isn't billding within the bosom of their         to that: "Who shall lay  .anything to the charge of


380                                           ,THE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

of God's elect. . . . ?" And so we cotild go on and on,
for the Bible is full to the. brim from cover to cover
declaring unto His elect the secrets of His love, and
the blessedpess of their salvation in and t&rough our
beloved Savior, and all by His sovereign grace, and
no other. Herein have I hope: that  ,God's mercies                           The Manna of the  Dese,+rt Period
fail not. He .alone is faithful, and shall also perform                  How sad they imagined their plight to be is indic-
it. And the nearer I come to  the full realization of ated by their weeping. But they were not starving they
that, my eternal joy, the more beautiful this trtith  be- were well-nburished men, strong and vigorous and
`comes to me.                                                         in the best of health. For the manna, to which they
       I thank God %r this our recent controversy, for                were restricted, was a perfect food. Thus what they
we need a sock on the ear, and I mean evtfryone of us.                cried for .is not nourishment, they had that, but the
We were caught off-guard, in our sleepy  hollow?:  of                 pleasukes  of the table, sensuous enjoyment, for they
self-complacency, and were far enough removed- from cried for l'eek_s and onibns and cucumbers and smel-
our keen observations of the 20's that it knocked `us                 ons and garlic and above all for flesh ; in a word, they
from  our feet; and  wenblundered  plenty to our own                  cried for  the  fleshpots  of Egypt. `These men were
shame. May God set us on bur feet once more and                       carnal and wicked not because at ,the time they could
remain with us, is my prayer.                                         have r,elished  some flesh. Though the manna, as an
                         Y,ours in Christ;                            article of diet was a perfect fobd, and though, as re-
                                          H. A. Van  P&ten            stricted to this bread of God, they were in the best
                                    CI                                of health, they nevertheless  iose up in rebellion
                                                                      against <God, because *for a short time, while' on, the
                                   q   . . .                         way to Canaan-the promised land  of their  abode-
                                                                      they had to do without flesh, without the  ordinary
                                                                      pleasures of the table.    It shows that the god  of
                                                                      these men was their belly. It shows that for these
        Thy providence, great ,God,  owe praise ;                     men the  .only and  supreme  good was not' IGod, and
        How good and great are all thy ways!                          life with God in Canaan, but Egypt's  fleshpots,  the
        Thy bounty#crowns  our passing years,                         pleasures of this earthy. What cared  these  men a-
        And dissipates odr anxious. fegrs.                            bout Canaan ! They preferred the bondage of Egypt,
                    *                                                 if o~lly they could have their melons and flesh.. Thus
        Thy cromise stands for ever fast,                             rightly considered, their wailing for melons and flesh
        While sun, and moon, and earth shall last;                    was a rejection `of the heavenly, of the heavenly
     The laws of seasons shall endure                  '              Christ and of Christ's heavenly Father, and a reach-
       Till time and stars are known no more.                         ing out for, a 1u"sting after, the things below. These
                                                                      &en were carnal and  .wieked indeed. Yet, as is al-
       Summer and winter, cold and'heat,                              ways the case with such men,. they refused to face tl~e
        And night, and day in order meet;                   '         truth about themselves. They admitted not that they
      Seedltime and. harvest, each succeed,  '                        were wailing for Egypt and its pleasures. But they
        To prove  thy love-supply our need:  `-                       insisted. that they were in dire need and that they
                                                                      were  angry with God because, so they said, he was
        When years are past, and seasons o'er,                        let;ting them, starve, while the fact of the matter is
.       We still shall prove thy cov'nant sure ;                      that they were angry with God because he had taken
        And in the shining realms above.                              them away from the  fleshpots  of Egypt. It was
        Ador.e thy goodness and thy love.                             leeks and garlic that they wanted, the husks of this
                                                                      world, not that manna, not the Christ of  (God, not
                                                                      Christ's God, and the heavenly pleasure of His hea-
                           -        a           -                .    ven. Had they been allowed to act upon their impul-
                                                                      ses, they would have returned to Egypt at that very
                 0 ! may thy hand be with us still,              .    juncture, instead of pressing  6n with God's people
                   Our guide and guardian be ;                        to Canaan.
                 To keep us safe from ev'ry ill,                         God heard and answered the prayer of those weep-
            ,      Till death shall set us free.                      ing Israelites.    For that is what their wailing for


                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R   -.                                        381

 .flesh was-a prayer. Said the Lord to Moses, "Say was poisonous, and thus unfit for human consump-
unto the. people, `"`Sanctify yourselves against tomor- tion. The plague was worked immediately by God.
 row, and ye shall eat flesh ; for ye have wept in the         The evidence of this is that the plague began to riot
 ears of the Lord, saying, Who shall give us flesh to          in the mortal frames .of those lusting Israelites, ere
 eat? Bor it was well with  us  in Egypt: therefore            the flesh was chewed by them and thus ere they'had
 the Lord will give you flesh and ye will eat." The            opportunity to eat of the flesh of' the quail  and, to
 Lord's manner of speech bode  *only evil for those            swallow any of the juices. So did the Lord provide
 wailing Israelites.' He was angry with them. In               those men with the unmistakable evidence that the
 his anger he will answer their prayer.                        plague was -of Him. And through `His ,waiting with
     The 1Lord's  anger can be understood. These men           smiting them until the flesh was between their teeth,
 were sobbing out their heart for flesh, for the earth-        He established before their consciousness a certain  -
 ly, The Lord will answer their prayer, but to their           connection between their lusting and the plague.
 own hurt and destruction. "Ye shall eat," said the               The plague'must have `done its work speedily, so
 Lord to them, "not one day, nor two -days, nor five           that soon there `were few tents that housed not a
 days, neither ten days, nor twenty days, but a whole          corpse. The people were panic stricken and cried to
 month, until it come out of your nostrils, and it be          Moses to pray for them. With the encampment sud-
 loathsome unto you: because that ye have ,despised            denly .and` swiftly being converted into a morgue, the
 the Lord  .which is among you, and have wept be-              living, in their consternation, would east the bit -of
 fore him saying, Why came we forth out of Egypt?" flesh that each had appropriated far from them, re-
     So the Lord ceased  sending  the manna for- a             solved not to eat it, lest they be over taken by a like .
 whole month and simultaneously *brought them. fate. But the Lord had said, ye  shali  -eat. And so
 quails from the sea in great abundance. And, the              they did, for it- was all the food they had for the
 people, instead of repenting for their great sin, in-, whole month.
 stead of prostrating themselves before the Lord in               The plague was doubly deserved. For even be-
 true  ,contrition of heart,  ,hardened themselves. For        fore the wind had dropped-the quails about the camp,
 they stood up all that day, and all that night, and           the Lord, by the mouth of Moses had set forth their
 all the next day, and they gathered the quails. And great sin and. commanded them to repent. Said he
 they spread them abroad for themselves round about to them, "Ye have wept in the ears of the Lord, say-
 the camp. But while the flesh was yet between their           ing, Who shall give us flesh to eat? For it was well
 teeth, ere it was chewed, the wrath of the Lord was           with us in Egypt." Hearing, those men should have
 kindled against the people, and the Lord smote the            considered.     They should have been afraid and be--
 people with a very great plague. T-he plague began            sought the Lord's mercy and pardon. Instead, they
 to riot among them immediately, It may have con- hardened their hearts, and continued to demand flesh.
 tinued but a few days ; but it took a great deal of           And sighting the quails, they .stood  up and without
 lives. And those that `died not of the plague were            any compunction of. Conscience; went forth to gather
 smitten with nausea accompanied by excessive vomi-            and so persisted in showing their contempt. for the
 ting. This seems to be the thought conveyed by the            manna, for ,Christ, and the heavenly, and were there-
 language, "Ye shall eat even a whole month, until fore over thrown.
 it come out of. your nostrils, and it be loathsome to                                                   G.  $3. Ophoff
 you." Yet they. were restricted to that diet of flesh
 a whole month, there being during that time nothing
 else for them to eat.        -.                                                     Ii-m  El  n  El
    To have in prayer our affections set not upon
 Christ and His `God and the heavenly but upon the
 earthly, to seek in prayer this earth, in a word; to be                 The law of God is just,
 seated in prayer not about the table of the Lord but                         A strict and holy way ;
 about  ,the fleshpots of Egypt-this, I say, is a dan-                   And he, that would escape the curse,
 gerous practice that might prove fatal.  IGod might                          Must all the law obey.
 answer that prayer ,but to our own hurt and eternal
 ,doom,  if we repent not.                                              -But does the curse' still rest
    And we should not .fail to observe that we deal                           Upon  .my guilty  `head?;             -
 here with a divine -visitation of the first magnitude..                 No-Jesus-let his name be blest!-
The -people  -did not, die .because, the flesh of the quail                   Bath borne it in my stead, i     ,-  :  .,-  -.  ~


 382                                       T H E   STANDABD  B E A R E R

                                                           come to examine the doctrine of justification by faith
        A rminianism and  k&cation  l3y  faith             only ; since the establishment of the latter will dis-
        Arminianism is a subtle heresy. Let us see how     prove the former. They cannot stand together.                  F
&ue this is by attending to its teachings regarding           "4. `The fourth scheme of justification to be con-
 justification by faith.    My quotation is from' the sidered, is that which teaches that we are justified
 "Elements of Divinity" by Thomas N. Ralston, D.D.,        by faith and works taken together.
 an avowed Arminian, who wrote in the latter part of          Closely allied to this notion is the doctrine of the
the 17th century. From this work we quote the fol-         Roman ,Catholics  on the subject of satisfaction, pen-
 lowing. from chapter XXX1 :                               ance, etc.' They not only hold that works are essen-
                                                           tial to the complete remission of sin, but they teach
"Justification-False Theories Refuted-Justification that they are meritorious., They confound justifica-
by Works Alone, and by Faith and Works United,             tion with sanctification, and contend that we must
 Considered.                                  I 1          be inherently righteous before we can be just in the
 "Justification by wo+s alone may be understood in         sight of IGod ; and this inherent righteousness, accor-
 several. different senses. 1. It may mean justification ding to them, is derived from the merit of  l good
by perfect 0bedienc.e  to the original law of `God. This works.
as we have always shown, is absolutely impossible             "But the full refutation of all these variant
to a fallen sinner. The condition of the first  cov-       schemes of justification .by faith and works united,
enant being `do this, (in your own person,) and            we trust will be sufficiently apparent in the discus-
live,' and  (Cursed  is every one that  continueth  not    sion of the  theme  of justification by faith only."
in all things which ar.e written in the book of the law    Thus far Ralston.
to ,do them,' it will hence follow that, as the apostle       We see from this excerpt how this Arminian div-
declares- that all have sinned, and all the world are      ine insists that justification is by faith only and not
guilty before (God, to be justified by works of per- by works.
fect obedience to the first covenant, or original law       In the sequel he  ,devotes  a whole chapter to the
of IGod, is absolutely impossible.                         refutation of the false views cited above and to an-
    "2. Justification by works  alone may mean a per- swering `objections to the true doctrine. And in ano-
fect conformity to that moral code or law given to the     ther chapter he illustrates and proves with the Scrip-
Jews in their own Scriptures, and to the ,Gentiles  by tures' that, justification is by faith only.
the influence of the Holy Spirit given unto them, to       Yet despite Ralston's insistence that justification
 `show the work of the law written in their hearts.' is by faith only, he is still an Arminian also regard-
    "This is substantially the same law that was given     ing this truth. Let us bring this out by quoting some
to Adam, and, in reference to its subject matter, is       more .from ,his book. He writes : "That we dmay per-
identical with the covenant of works, which is still       ceive clearly the force of the Scripture proof z%ae we
in force, not as a principle of justification, but as a    aTe  justified   by faith  only, we will first define- the
rule of life, by which to estimate the moral standing      sense in which we understand that doctrine.
of men, and exhibit the magnitude of his delinquen-           `$On this subject, we first quote the clear and
`ties in the sight of God; for, as the.ap.ostle  says, `By forcible language or Mr. Wesley. In his sermon on
the law is the knowledge of sin.' In reference to          `Justification by faith,' he speaks thus : `Surely the
this law, it was that the Jews, in St. Paul's day, set difficulty  of assenting to the proposition that  faith
up a claim to justification by works.                      is the  o&y condition of  jmtificatioilz,'  (Italics-O)
    "The great argument in the epistle to the  Ro-         must arise from not understanding it.           We mean
mans is to show the utter impracticability of this thereby thus much, that it is the only thing without
scheme of justification.              :                    which no one is justified-the only thing that is im-
    3. Justification by works alone may be understood      mediately, indespensably, absolutely requisite in or-
as implying  jtustification by works of evangelical        der to pardon. . . .For supposing a sinner of any kind
obedience under the Gospel, or those works which           or degree, in a full sense of his total ungodliness, of
proceed from faith, and are performed by the assis-        his utter inability to think,  speak, or do good, and
tance of the Holy Spirit. _                                his  absplute  meetn,ess  for  hell fire  (Italics-O), sup-
    "The grand argument in support of this scheme pose , I say, this sinner, helpless and hopeless, casts
has been founded upon the language of St., James,          himself wholly on the mercy of God in ,Christ; which
who, it is contended, expressly teaches justification      indeed he c&nnot  ,ao bzct by the grace of God i(Ital.iO)
byworks;... We reserve the refutation. of this and         who can doubt that he is forgiven in that moment?`"
every other scheme `of justification by worlds, till we Let us pause here for a remark or two. Let us talte


                         0            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                      3 8 3

notice of the statement in Italics that begins with the        of the first covenant, by suffering `for us,' and we
 phrase : "in full sense of his total ungodliness," .etc.      are now placed under the covenant of grace. To be-
 Would it be possible to state in clearer and more             come personally righteous under the  covenanti. we
 forceful language ,that man apart from the grace of must comply with its conditions."
 God is totally depraved ? And then this other teach-             Mark you; we must comply, says our author with
 ing  .contained in the above lines, namely `that the          its conditions,-comply, he should have added, out of
 sinner cannot  wholly- cast himself on the mercy  of-' our selves. For that is what he means. Why does
SGod except by the grace of God. Can it be possible            he not say what he means? It just goes  to. show
 that we here. quote an Arminian? Well, we do. Take            what a subtle heresy Arminianism really is.
 also notice of the italicized expression, "Faith is the          Our author continues :
 only condition of justification." So then, you see,              `<God who graciously placed us under,the  covenant,
 according to this teacher, faith is the condition, mark has a right to prescribe the con.d&on  upon which we
 you, a condition-here the condition to justification.         shall be accepted under it. This, we have shown, is
 This precisely stamps him an Arminian. And this               faith. By the satisfaction of Christ we are not to un-
 precisely is his Arminianism.                                 derstand that Men are -absolutely and unconditionally'
    The teacher whom we .quote  continues:                     freed from the demands of the covenant of `works.
    "By faith as a  conditl:on  of justification, we are       They are only unconditionally freed so far as to be
snot to ,understand that it is absolutely, and in every        placed under the new covenant. Those,of  whom con-
 sense, the cause of justification. Far from it. The           ditions are required, can only be delivered from the
 love or grace of God is the originally moving cause.          curse of the law by complying with the condition of
 The efficient cause is the Holy Spirit, `who takes all faith ; Hence, Christ is said to be `the end of the law
 the things of Jesus and shows them unto us.' The for righteousness to everyone that believeth.' When
 meritorious cause `is the death of Christ. The instru- we believe, fai#th is imputed unto `us for evangelical
 mental cause, on God's part, is. the w0r.d of God ; but       righteousness.    It derives its efficacy from the ap-
 the  cowditional cause, on our part is  f&h.' (Ital.aO), pointment of ,God ; and had the wisdom of God pre-
    Let us take notice. "By faith as a  conditioiz   of        scribed love to God, to anything. else, as condition of
 of justification, we are not to  understand:says  our pardon, instead of faith, it is very clear that love to
 author-that, it is absolutely, and. in every sense, the       God, or whatever else had been prescribed, would then
 cause of justification,,, no, not in every sense, but only    have sustained the same relation `to our justification-
 in a certain sense, our author means to say.. But in that faith now sustains." ,So far our author.
 what sense ti faith the cause of justification, accord-          The Arminian has use for the term  tiondition
 ing to our author? In the sense that it is the deter-         or rather for such expressions as `<God saves men on
 mining cause. This is the meaning that Ralston `(and the condition that they believe," and "faith -is a con-
 with him all Arminians) attaches to the term con&             dition for or to justification." For, according to his
 tiori.  And rightly so, for this is the proper meaning theology,' as I have just pointed out, the choice, cle-
 of the term.                                                  termination to believe is out of man. Man sovereign-
   So when Ralston (and all Arminians) says that ly determines his own. destiny. Such' is the concep-
 faith is the condition of or to justification, he means tion. But such is not our conception. Hence, we have
 thereby that faith, that is, man's choice, determina- no need for the above-cited expressions.
 tion to believe is the determining, the sovereignly de-          We can say all we' want to say and may say by
 termining cause of justification. For, according to such expressions as: God saves, justifies men through
 our author, though faith and the power to believe may faith, in the way of faith. Without faith justification
 be said to be God's gifts in man, the determination to        is impossible. Faith is indispensible to justification.
 believe is man's, `so that .man determines whether or         If a man believes not, he perishes, etc., and we should
 not he shall-believe and be justified. That this is our       not make a condition of this "if".
 author's conception, that .this is what he and all Ar-                                                   G. M. Ophoff
minians mean when they say that faith is the condi-
 tion to or for justification, I shall prove by quotations                         El  Ill  Ia   El  q
from Ralston's work to appear in another article.
But it is already plain from the following from his
pen. He writes:  _                                                       Christ is my everlasting all,
    "As we have seen, justification by works, which                      To him I look, on him I call ;           .
implies perfect conformity to the first covenant, is                     He ev'ry want will well supply,
 to us impossible: Christ has satisfied for our breach                   In time, and thro' eternity.


                                        .- ___-~                        -~__-   --  ___-
       384                              T    H        E         STANDARD  B.EARER
                                  -_
                                                                     spoken of will I give unto your  seed, and they shall
               ,   T h e   L&l  F+nteth  .   .   .                   inherit it forever:"  -
                                                                      How in view of all this could the Lord destroy
         .' "And the Lord repented of the evil which He              His'people or even say that He wduld destroy them?
       thought to do unto His people." Exodus  32~14.                He could  Got. And therefore the "Lord repented of
          This Scripture can be understood only in its con- `-the evil which he said (not `thought' as our English
       tent. .                                                      `version has it) to do unto his people."
          iGod's  people had corrupted themselves.  .They had           The Lord repented. This must be rightly under-
       turned  quickly &de out 6f the tiay which the Lord            stood.    Man's repentance contains in  .it three ele-,
       had commanded them. They had made them a mol-                 ments : 1) remorse, 2) chan.ge of heart and mind and
       .ten calf, and worshipped it, and sacrificed. thereunto,      plans, 3) grief.
       and -said, These be thy gods, 0 Israel, which have               A man does this or that thing. It grieves him,
       brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.                     for he sees that it was a mistake. And he wishes that
          "And the Lord said unto Moses, `I have seen this           he could undo the thing. This certainly is not IGod's
       .people,  and behold, it is a stiff-necked people: now       repentance. For He  makes  no mistakes. All  &at He
       therefore let me alone,. that'my wrath my wax hot -determines  to do .and actually does is the expression
       against them,. and that I may consume them : and I            of perfect wisdom. But God does repent. not as a
       will make of thee a great nation."                           .man but as God, which means that definite pheno-
          .Does this saying of  IGod have reference also to         mena and even considerations grieve Him. The wic-
       the Israel according to the election? `Clearly it do&.       ksdness of man grieves him. The, wickedness of the
       For in  this saying Moses and the whole nation ap- ante-deluvian race  oP men grieved Him, wherefore
       pear side by side. "That I may consume them," says He also destroyed it from the face of the earth. And
      the Lord, "and make of thee-Moses--a great na-                so also what .He said he would do to  `his  people-
      tion." But the Lord cannot destroy His `elect. But            consume them--in case Moses had not prayed for the
      how then can.He say-even as much as siy-that  He              people, grieved Hiq., that is, the, thought 02 His de- .
      would do just that.                                           stroying I& people-the Israel according, to the elec-
          Fact `is that the Lord said. no such thing. For           tion-was thoroughly repulsive to Him. And the
       clearly implied in the saying is the clause: "except         reason ? That people He loves in Christ-so loves
      thou Moses.int&rcede  for the people,' so that the com-       that He wounded the Christ-His only begotten-for
I. ' ..' .`-' plete thought coriveyed is this: "Now therefore let the  trans&ressions of  thi% people and bruised Him
      me alone, that I may consume them," `which I will for their iniquities.
      actually do, except thou, Moses, intercede for them,'             And so it is plain that the Scripture statement,
      in other words:. `pray thou, 0 Moses, for my people           "And, the Lord repented of the evil which He said
      and in the way of and in response to thy intercession         to do unto his people,"- does not mean that the' Lord
      I will spare and forgive my people.' And Moses did            changed His mind, underwent a change of heart, as
      intercede for the people. . For so  t.he Lord had de-         prevailed upon by Moses, and that therefore He did
      termined. And as  ipterceder  Moses was  ~God's crea-         not do what He in His anger said He would do, was
      tion and as such Fis gift to His. people. The prayer intending to do.
      that he `prayed was put `into his' heart by the Lord.             For as w4 have seen the Lord had. not said that
      Let us attend to the words of this prayer-:                   he was about to destroy His people.
          "Lord, why doth thy wrath  iax hot against thy It is plain from Moses" prayer that he was fully
      people, which thou hast brought forth oat of the land         aware that the Lord. could not possibly destroy the
      of Egpyt with great power, a,nd with a mighty hand?           nation, and therefore he also must have prayed in the
      Wherefore should the Egyptian; speak, and say, For            confidence' that his intercession would avail.        But
      mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the he seems to have been prayin,g for the whole nation
      mountains, and to consume them from the face of the           as unaware that it contained a reprobated seed doom-
      earth,? Turn from. thy fierce wrath, arid repent of           .ed, to extinction.
      this evil against thy people.                                    As appears from the sequel, he had also this dif-
        "For,  remeibe? Abraham, Isaac and- Israel, thy ficulty, namely how, seeing there was no real atone-
      servants, to w&om thou swearest by thine own self, anient, God coul,d spare andforgivej  He being righteous
      and saidst unto them, I will  multiiply your seed as          and holy God.
      the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have                                           0          (G. M.  Ophoff

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