     VOLUME   XXVIII                         JUNE  1,  1952 -  GRAND   RAPIDS,   MICHIGAN                                    NUMBER  17

                                                                                Also, the sound concentrated at a certain spot
         M E  D .I  T-A"T I  0  N                                          in the great city of David.          Otherwise we cannot
                                                                           account for. it, that so many people came together
                                                                          at the place where the little band met. There must
                  Pentecostal Reaction                                    have come a great many thousands of people at this
                                                                          spot, since three thousand were converted that day.
              "and they were all filled with the  Holy  Ghost."           And the conver.ts are always in the minority, so the
                                                      Acts  2:4a.         aggregate must have numbered at least ten'thousand.
  . .         "anti that no man can say that Jesus is the                       And what `a sight they have come to see ! All                         "
            Lord,' but by the Holy  Ghost."-1  Cor.  12:3b.;
              "others  mocking said, These men are full of                the disciples are filled- with the Holy Ghost! And
            new  wine."`iActs   2:13.                                     there are evidences.        There is a  grea.t  column  of.
                                                                          fire, no9 not fire, but something that looked like fire,
     How wonderful are the `works of God!                                 and from it, darting downward, flaming tongues that
     How  mlsearchable are His judgements and His sat upon each of them.
 ways past finding out!
     See it, and adore it, on this day of Pentecost!                 '          And listen: they speak. And their speech is
     A little band of men, women and children, about                      wonderful.       They praise the Lord Jehovah. And
  one hundred and twenty. How little were they re-                        ha-e. is the wonder of it all : they speak' in all the
 garded at that exact point of time in the history                        languages and. dialects  of. the multitude that had                    -
  of the  ,world.  Who took note of that  littler-band  at                come to the Pentecostal feast:            Parthians,  Medes,
  the moment when God was about to pour out His                           Elami!es and the dwellers in  Mesapotamia, and in
 Holy Ghost upon the New Testament church? And, Jude& and- Cappadocia, in Pontus and Asia, Phrygia,
 the answer is : No one! Andif they noted them, it and Pamphyla,  in Egypt, and ,in parts of Lybia about
 was with a `shrug of the shoulder, a smile of indul: _Cyrene,  and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes,
 gence. For ten days the people must have seen their                      Cretes,  and Arabians: they all heard this little band                      .
 strange behaviour : why did they not go to `work as                      speak in their tongues. Yes, this speech told about
 did everybody else? But no : they .met, and . . . they the wonderful works of God.
 waited  ,for the promise of the Saviour : He would                             They were all filled with the Holy Ghost!
 somehow` return to them.                                                 , And they gave ample evidence to the fact.
     And He did !                                                               Wonderful Pentecost of the New Testament
  \ Hark! What a strange and mighty sound! We -Church !
 `all know the sound of a mighty rushing wind. It is
 something like  a storm. And yet-there is no sen-                                                -*  *  a  * --
 sation of a storm. It is perfectly still. Yes, I think
 that the Lord had sent a very great calm upon the                              They were all filled with the IIoly Ghost!                 - ----, _,-. .I
 earth is those regions, so that the contrast of that                           Who is He?
 sound might speak the louder.                                                  Is He the Third Person of the great and exalted
     And the sound came from heaven. Well, that                           G o d ?
.is right. To heaven Jesus had gone. They had  stocn                            Y e s ,   b u t   H e   w a s   m o r e .
 Him ascend to heaven. And so Kis promise  "would-                              He was the Holy Spirit such as He was given
 necessarily have to come from the regions of -heaven.                    to. Jesus Christ at His exaltation, '


                                                                           ,

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

       You see, there never before was such a Holy          ant life such as we shall ,live it in perfection in heav-
Ghost- on. earth as there ,&me on that first day of         en?. John shall give us the answer in his book: they
 Pentecost  ,of the New Testament Church.                   sing the hallelujah's before the throne of God!
       The Holy Ghost as the Third Person of the. Trin-         Now look at those simple folk in the house of
ity had always been on earth. And it is true that           John $ark: they speak about nothing but the won-
notwithstanding His marvellous and everywhere` pre-         derful- works of God. They sing in prose, but' they
sent work, He had never received the interest- and          sing nevertheless, and -their theme is THEOLOGY.
notice from `God's people which He so richly deserv-        God is praised.
ed. And the reason is simple: His work is so mys-               Oh yes, they were all filled with the Holy Ghost.
terious and mostly'-hidden.                                    With the Holy `Ghost of Christ.
       ,Oh, the works of the Holy Ghost are so many            That Spirit is  brooding   again. He is brooding
and glorious! He wrought the mysterious work of             on the work of redemption.
brood&g upon the waters, upon the face of the deep.            ,Glorious  Pentecostal reaction.
And after the  `work of God's creation was estab-
lished, it was  .that same Holy  ,Ghost  that stayed                               sr  *  a  *
with all things' and wrought again and again. I
know but little of His work, but I ,marvel.                    They were all filled with the Holy Ghost.
       Think of it : it is through the ever present work       And they have proved it.
of the Holy  IGhost  :that as a little child you learn         It is peculiar to the Holy Ghost, both in His func-
tha> the stove is hot, the marble hard, the carnation       tion in the Trinity and in the Church, to be the Con-
fragrant, ,and that the8 honey tastes sweet in your         veyer of the love of God. He tells the Son that the
mouth. Through the Holy ,Ghost  everyone that has           Father loves Him ; and He knows, for He searches
sense learns that two times two makes four.          And    the depths of the Father eternally. And returning,
I know so little of this  brooding  Spirit!                 Ee tells the Father that the Son loves Him too, and
       But there is so `much more!                          He knows, for He searches the depths of the Son of
       When created things became filthy because of         God eternally.
sin, God wrought another work, the work of redemp-'            And so He is the Harbinger of love, of love of
tion.      And in the fulness of time, the Holy Ghost       God in God.
of God must come to brood again upon. the work of              God is the loving Covenant God in Himself.
God's redemption:                                              And so it is the Holy Ghost in His ,brooding  work
    And that time became f&Z this day of Pentecost.         of redemption ;I. at brings love, the love of God to
    And that Holy' Ghost is not anymore the same the church.
Holy Ghost that broolded  in creation; or that broo.ded     Paul speaks  bf it.        Hope  maketh not ashamed,
in providence, but He is the Holy Ghost as He was           because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts
given `to Jesus Christ in His exaltation at the Fath-       by the Holy  Ghost`which  is  gitien unto  UPS.
er's right-hand. -When Acts  2:33 says that He re-             Henceforth the church will love.
ceived the promise of the .Holy Ghost from the Fa--.           First, they will love God, His truth, His people,
ther, then the meaning is that all the blessedness of       Eis cause in the world.       .
God's Covenant such as men are able to taste unto              Second, they will prove. that love: their whole
all eternity,, was given to Christ in His reception of      life will be an anthem,  .singing of His marvellous
the Holy Ghost. At that moment in heaven- Christ works.
became filled with all the blessedness such  as. the           The church began this work already in the Old
whole new creation that is to. come, and now-is in          Testament. They left you their record, their psalms,
principle in the saints, shall enjoy unto all eternity.     their tears and blood.      Yes, sometimes they -were
   And this Christ, filled with that Holy  ,Ghost  of       killed for their lovely endeavor.
promise, came back in that same Holy Ghost to His              They continued it on that ,glorious day when the
church on this first day of the New.. Testament Pen-        Spirit came to brood, to brood on the work of -God's
tecost. Does not Paul say that Christ is that Spirit?       redemption.
..-i I wrote above this meditation: Pentecostal Re-            And they will  `-continue until time shall be no
action.     Well, `you can plainly see the positive re- more, but then they shall love God and His world as
action. ,Christ came back to His church with untold never before. The new world shall be a monument
blessedness, the blessedness of IGod's eternal Coven-       to God, the God of our salvation.
ant of grace, and they plainly showed it.                      It might be well at this jmldure to see some of
   & ask you ;. what is the core of the blessed Csven-      the  @OOfS` Of  the  aOVe  Qf  the  HOlJ' ~hOi&


                                               _  I 'H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R   _                                             387  '

        First, general proof. The ,Church showed a little                This is the love  of. God.                     I'
c
     bit of heaven: they sold their possessions and gave                 And now the Holy Ghost comes to you, and after
     to the poor. No, it did not last long.  Not because             regenerating and converting you, He shows you a
     it was wrong, but because they- lost the erstwhile               picture of that. love of  ,God,  .that is, He shows you
     quantity of grace and love and the Holy  Ghost! It              Jesus the Lord as He goes to hell for you. He shows
     is left, but it is small, very small.                           Jesus to you in all, His loveliness and attractive
        You see, in heaven, no one dare say anymore:                  beauty.
     that is mine ; keep away from my possessions. fiv-                   And then that same Holy Ghost of Jesus Christ
     erything is of everyone; and everyone and every-                 gives you an appreciation of such love and beauty
     thing is of God through Christ and in the Holy `as it is in Jesus Christ.                               -
     Ghost. Of course, that is true today, but we cannot                  And then you cry out in extasy : Oh, Lord Jesus!
     live it, since we are still so evil and sinful.                      You really find the same thing in the Old Testa-
         But the Pentecostal church exhibited for a little ,ment when the Bride of Christ says:  "He is  alto-
     while the heavenly life.              Did you note  .how soon .gether  lovely  !"
     the devil interfered?                Shades of Ananias and           When you say, through the Holy  <Ghost:  Lord
     Sapphira !  \                                                    Jesus! then you cry out because of the great admira-
        They exhibited the life. of the Covenant `of love.            tion for the wonders of grace  and. salvation which
        And now proof that is particular. I think  i.t is             God has wrought through Him.
     the most beautiful proof- of the whole Bible. Of                     It really is the same thing as the eternal blessed;
     course,' excluding the love of  ,God in Christ. Look ness of heaven in the new kingdom.
     upon that fallen man. His name is Stephen. He is                     Why did God determine in His counsel to have
     being stoned to death..  -No, not for anything evil              this Kingdom 1        In order to show how wonderful
     that he has done. He is stoned for the fact that he              He is. That is the answer. And that is the won-
     has too much of the Holy  #Ghost of love.  \ And he              der of  -our  `God: that He gave us Jesus. And that
     shall prove it, just before the last stone breaks his            this Jesus took our curse and damnation away. For
     skull.     Once more he raises himself and looks on              that you will sing unto all-eternity.
     his tormentors ; and then he looks toward the hea- '                 For you are filled with the Holy Ghost.
     vens. Be still, he prays: "Lord, lay not this sin to                 They were all filled.
     their charge !" And when he had said this, he fell
     asleep.     Oh, you may be sure that the Holy Ghost                                        Jk     a     *     a
     was  brooding, brooding  upon the work of `God's sal-
     vation in Stephen.                                                   But  .not the  whole  multitude.
         Stephen was filled with the Holy Ghost of Christ.                Some said, when they looked upon the wonders
         And his reaction, proved it.                                 of God : they are drunk !
         Pentecostal reaction.                                            Note the folly of the world: when they see some-
         How beautiful !                                              thing which they do not understand, they become
                                                                      unreasonable. Drunk? It was only the `third  .hour
                                *  *  *  *                            of the day. You might see one man in a drunken  I
                                                                      stupor at that hour, but surely not  oae hundred  ancl
         And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost.                t w e n t y .
         And they proved it.                                            j They show their wickedness.
         F o r   t h e y   l o v e d .                                , I pity them.
         But how  can I know?                                             Rut we will sing., For the Holy Spirit still broods
         Paul says that no one can cry out: "Lord Jesus"!             upon the waters of grace. You sing: Thy Spirit,
but by the Holy Ghost. That is the way `you must                      o God, makes life to abound! Yes, He does that ev-
     read. the text.                                                  ery spring when He kisses the earth. And the grass
         What does that mean-?                                        a n d   f l o w e r s   ,blossom..                '
         It means this: when the Holy Ghost broods with-                  Thy Spirit, o Lord, makes life to abound !
     in you, He shows you the most wonderful work the                     He does that still in the church. He kisses the
     Father ever did.          And that most wonderful work           church, and the flowers of grace blossom in the
     of #God is to go to hell for His church who were sin-            zhurch. And God delights Himself in His beautiful
     ners like the others.  And'God went to hell for the              work of redemption.
     church  in the Person of  the. Son, united with  our                  Reactions of Pentecost ! 0 God ! give them !
i. flesh and blood,                               .                                                                           G, Vos.


                                                            .


388                                                                                              T H E   ST.AND.ARD  B E A R E R   -
                            . .
.--
                            -THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                                                                                       EDITORIA-LS  -                                      -
          Semi-m&thly,  except monthly in July and August
       Published by  th&  .Reformed  Free Publishing Association                                                                                                     .-
               Box 124, Station C., Grand Rapids 6, Michiga,n                                                                                                                                        Very aear -
                          EDITOR  .L Rev. Herman Hoeksema
       Communications relative ts contents should be. addressed                                                                                                                  -The articles that appeared in the Refomutie  by Dr:
       to Rev. H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S. E., Grand                                                                                                                Lc
                                                                                                                                                                           6    llder
                                                                                                                                                                                 h'       against the Declaration of Principles are
       Rapids 7, Michigan.                                                                                                                                                 now published in . brochure form under the title
       All matter relative to subscription  +hould be  address&                                                                                                            "Bovenschriftuurlijke Binding  - Een Nieuw  ,Ge-
       to  Mr, J.  Bbuwman,   1350- Giddings Ave., S. E., Grand
       Rapids 7, Michigan. Announcements and Obituaries tiust                                                                                                              vaar " that is, "Super-scriptural Binding-A New
       be mailed to the above address and will be published at a                                                                                                           Danier."             I
       fee of  $1.00  for each notice.                                                                                                                                           eon page $2 of this brochure Dr. Schilder writes :
       Renewals:--- Unless a definite request for discontinuance
       is received, it is assumed that the  su@criber  wjshes  the                                                                                                                "ILately I received many letters from- America,
       subscription to continue without  tine formality of a  re-                                                                                                          also concerning the question of the well-kno%wn "Dec-
  newal  order.                                                                                                                                                            laration" ; it was intentional,  th"at I did not answer
                            Subscription Price: $3.00 per  year-                                                                                                           these epistles (although they did me much good) :
       Entered as Second Class mail at Grand Rapids, `Michigan                                                                                                             one must never be able to say that I have tried to
                                                                                                                                                                     drive a wedge between  colleague Hoeksema and his
                                                                                                                                                                           own .peoljle.  which were always united with him in
                                                                                                                                                                           hearty `love.       My opinion about the Declaration I
                                                 -----:-                                                                                                                   openly expressed when, it `was deemed publicly- nec-
                                                                                                                                                                           essary.        But for the rest I await tranquilly. what
                                                                                                                                                                           will. be developed or be destroyed yonder."
                                                                                                                                                                                  I can well  b_zlieve  these words of Dr.  6childer (I
                                                                                                                                                                           write `about him riow as a past author, and therefore
                                              C O N T E N T S                                                                                                              it is not necessary for me to say always "the  la&
                                                                                                                                                                           Dr. Schilder"),  as long as the Declaration was not
MEDITATION-  .
          Pentecostal           Reactions              .  ,.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  385                                     officially and synodically adopted. At that time I
               Rev.   G.  Vos                                                                                                                                              could look `upon the articles of Dr. Schilder in the
                                                                                                                                                                           Refoymatie   as advice to our churches. And those
EDITORIALS-                                                                     r
          Very Clear ..:......................................:...  388                                                                                                    articles and that advice were carefully considered
               Rev.   H.  I~oeksema                                                                                                                                        and studied, and by them we have benefited, al- ,
                                                                                                                                                                           though  mostly negatively. But now, after  the Dec-
THE  TRIPLE   KNOWLEDGE-
          &  Exposition   of  the   Heidelberg   Catechism .  . . . .  . . . .  . . . .  . . . .  . 391                                                                    laration has been officially adapted by our last synod,
               Rev.   H.  Hoeksema                                                          I                                                                              and Schilder publishes those same articles in bro-
                                                                                                                                                                           chure form, I cannot help but doubt that his inten-
IN  HIS  FEAR-                                                                                                                                                             tion was not to drive a wedge into our churches. But
       Looking   to  the  Future                             .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  ...>`....   396
               Rev.   H.  C.  Hoeksema
,,       .,                                                                                                                                                                I& that be: we cannot judge motives.
                                                                                                                                                                                  When I read again what Dr. Schilder wrote about
SION'S   ZANGEN-                                                                                                                                                           the Declaration of  .Principles as it now appears  in,
          De  Lofzang  der   Liefde                          ..-...............................d  398
               Rev.   G.  Vos                                                                                                                                              brochure form, I find it rather difficult to criticize
                                                                                                                                                                           him, for the very reason that there is `no logical line
FROM   HOLY   WRIT-                                                                                                                                                        in his writings what.4oevei.  ' Dr, Schilder always had
          Exposition   of  Philippians   2  :  1-4 ..,..........................                                                                         400
               Rev.   G.  C.  Lubbers                                                                                                                                      many words, and he wrote evidently very easily, just
                                                                                                                                                                           as also, in his lectures he spoke very readily, with-
CONTRIBUTIONS-                                                                                                                                                             out  much preparation, and  the&fore  frequently  with-
         Women             Suffrage           .  .  .  :.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  402
               Miss  Dorothy  De  Vries                                                                                                                                    .out much of a logical line in his speech.' _ Iii my opin-
           The   Must  of  Faith .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  _.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  405                                ion. he. was rather an analytical  mind than a syn-
               Rev.   J.  Blakespoor
          Letter--MYs.  F.  Harbin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I.. . . . . . . . . i .`. . . 406                                                                   thetic. He could sift words and terms, and criticise
                                                                                                                                                                           them, and say, "If I may understand the term in
          Arminianism-A                     Subtle Heresy.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .`.  .  ,  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  407                            this  sense, I can agree with it; but if in this sense,
               Rec.  G.  M.  Ophoff                                                                                                                                        or another sense, I cannot agree with it." This he
                                                                                                                                                           -_.             do& also in his brochure. Besides,.  he.-.jti.mps from


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D ' B E A R E R                                        3       8         9

      one subject to anothe?. and returns to the same sub- we speak of a conditional promise, we mean a prom-
      j.ect in different' parts of his brochure.        All this    ise that depends on a prerequisite which the one to
      certainly makes not for clarity, and makes it some-           whom the promise  is' made must fulfill in order to
      what difficult to criti-cize the contents of his pamph-       receive the promise. This is .by no means ambiguous,
      let.                    -                                     but is very clear, is language which everyone can un-
              All the more amazing it is, to find that at the       derstand. And it is in~this sense that the Declaration
      very beginning of his criticism of the Declaration of         speaks of an unconditional promise.
      Principles he makes the remark that the Declaration            This is. the meaning of the  term in our confes-
      is not clear, and that because of that fact it can nev-       sions.
      er be a binding declaration. Writes he on pages 9                When we read in Canons I, B, 2 that the Arminians
      aqd 10, that the immigrants in Canada cannot and              teach that there are various kinds of election of God
      may not let themselves be bourid to .the Declaration          unto eternal life, the one general. and indefinite, the
      of Principles, because :                                      other particular. and definite, and that the definite
              &They  `cannot do this  because the thing is not      election is either "incomplete, revocable, non-decisive,
 clear; and we believe therefore that they may not do               and conditional, or complete, irrevocable, decisive,
      it either . . . ,One can contradict what is proposed as       and absolute," it is .very evident that they mean by                .
 a binding formula  oraccepted declaration on two                   `the' term  conditional   something that is previously
 grounds. The first may be: this declaration is faefu-              required' of man in order to be chosen unto eternal
 ally untrue. For  `no one may bind  himelf or  ano-                salvation.    And that something is faith, foreseen
 they to what is untrue. `The second ground can b&. :               faith, or at least the will to believe.  Condition  here
 this `declaration is  unclear, confusing, the choice of simply means a prerequisite.
 words is not lucid."                                                  This is sti,ll mote  clear in Canons I, B, 3, where
              Now I maintain that the Declaration is very clear,    we read that  &the Arminians teach: "That the good
 so clear in fact that in our churches all understood it,           pleasure and purpose of God, of which Scripture
 whether they were opposed to .adopting  it or whether              makes mention in the doctrine of' election, does not
 they were heartily in favor of it. I never heard any consist in this,  ,that God chose certain persons ra-
 complaint in our churches that the Declaration was                 ther than .others,  but in this, that he <chose out of all
 not clear.                                                         possible conditions. (among which are also the works
              But it is Dr. Schilder who in his brochure muddles    of the  law), or out of the whole order of things,
matters, and is not only very confused, but also niis-              the act of faith, which from its  very nature is un-                          :
.represents  our conception of the promise as well. as              c-c-:erving,' as well as. its complete obedience, as a con-
that of the Liberated.-                                             dition of salvation." Also in this article it is very
                                                                    plain that the term  condition  simply means a pre-
              Of this I wish to give a few examples.                requisite which man must fulfill in order to be saved.
      ..  ,011  pp. 13 ff, Dr. Schilder  wri.tes about  condi-         And this is still more lucid in. Article 4 of the same
tions,and about the conditional promise of *God. There              chapter Of the  Canqns, where we read that the Ar-
he first of all warns us against the use of diction- minians teach : "That in the ele&ion unto ,Yaith this
aries to determine the meaning. of a word.                 With     condition is beforehand demanded, viz., that man
this, of course, I cannot possibly' agree. .And by tak-
I.                                                                  should use -the light of nature  aright, be  pi&s',
~ng the stand that we must not consult dictionaries                 humble, meek and fit for eternal life, as if1 on `these
to determjne  the significance of a' term, D&: Schilder             things election were in any way dependent." You
of course makes room for the possibility ,of making                 must understand that it is not the question now whe-
his  o,wn  defihitions.  But he also says that  it'is bet-          ther or not anyone believes in those so-called Armin-
ter to  search in theological works of the fathers                  ian conditions; but only whether  the term  comiition
that have composed the Confessions. And he writes:                  means prerequisite, and nothing else. And that this                           '
"The question is : how must we understand that term. . is. indeed the meaning of  t&e term is evident from
`Con,dition' (condition) can signify a. ruling, a state             the fact that the Arminians here teach "that this
 (toestand) , ordinance (ordening) , institution  (in-              condition  ,is beforehand demanded.`? Literally, there-
ricliiing) . It can also signify sundry other mean-                 fore, the term ,cordtion  here means prerequisite.
ings."                                                                 Once  more, this  is also evident  fro& the same
         Now I have repeatedly said that the only mean-             chapter of the Canons in Article 5, where we read
`ing the word .condition can possibly -have and does                ihat the Arminians, teach : "That faith, the obedience
have; both in theological works and in the minds of                 of faith, holiness, godlines's  and perseverance are not
the Reformed people,  iS that of  prere&site,  When                 fruits of the unchangeable election to' glory, but are

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

conditions, which, `being required beforehand, tieye              I ask the reader : is this a cleai definition of -con-
foreseen as being met by those who will be fully elec-         dition?
ted, and are causes without which the unchangeable                ,On  the contrary,  J claim that this is a very am-
election to glory does not occur.`! Agai? I want to            biguous and vague and utterly meaningless definition.
emphasize that it is not a question whether anyone                This is evident already  from the fact that Dr.
believes in these Arminian conditions, but the sole            Schilder does not even' state, at least does not state
question is whether in the Canons the terin con&$i-tion        definitely, the genus of the definition, the majn term,
means prerequisite., And here the Canons speak of              that which must be defined. And this certainly is a
conditions. which are required beforehand and which            prerequisite. in all proper definitions. The  genps.
are met by those who will, be fully elected. Literally,        in Dr. Schilder's definition is "SOMETHING". And
therefore, in the Canons the term condition means no- the term something certainly denotes that we do not
thing else than prerequisite.                                  know what it is': it `may be anything. It may be. a
   `The same is true of Canoxs II, B, 3, where we' Teacl       tree br a house or a cow or a clog `or a mountain or an
that  -the Arminians  teaeli: "That Christ by his  sat-        ocean or .an abstract concept, like independence or.
isf action inedited  neither saliation itself f,or anyone,     love or mercy, or anything whatsoever.
nor faith,  whereby this satisfaction of Christ unto              But this sbmething, then, Dr,. Schilder defines as
salvation is effectually appropriated; but that he             that which IGod has connected with something else.
merited for the Fathe?  only the authority or the per-         This, therefore, is the species of the definition. Also
fect till to deal again with man,. and to prescribe            this species may denote all kinds of concepts. It cer-
new conditions as he .might  desire, obedience to which,       taiqly may denote that God has connected the means
hewever, depepded'on  the free will, of man, so that it        with the end, such as the. means of faith with the
therefore might have come to pdss that either none             final salvation. And to this, of course, we can sub-
or all should fulfill these conditions.". To prescribe scribe: God certainly has connected the final salva-
conditions in order to receive something is certain-           tion with the means of faith. .It may also mean tile
ly the same as a prerequisite.                                 connection between cause and effect. `God has -con-
  And finally, the same meaning of the term is evi-            nected the shower of' rain with the dark cloud, a
dent fro& Chapter V, B of the same Canons, where               connection of cause and effect.       But *no Reformed
we read that the` Arminians teach: "That the perse-            man would make the statement that faith is the cause
verance of the true believers is  not a  f&it of elec-         of our salvation. So God has connected the sprout-
tion, or a gift of God, gained by the death of Christ,         ing of the seed `T,vith the cause of rain and sunshine,
but a condition of the new covenan$, which (as they            the end of dea?: with the cause of cancer or tubercu-
declare) man ~before  his decisive election -and justi- losis.            But it is nonsense to speak of. these causes *
fication must fulfill  th:ough  his free will." Here           as conditions.  `Cancer is no `condition of death, but
too, the term  concliti.on  meatis nothing else than a         simply the cause. In fact, in this definttion  we may
prerequisite which man  .mu& fulfill.                          even find the Arminian conception of condition. God
       It is evident therefore, that i-n the terminology of    according to the Arminian has connected faith, or
our Confessions the `term condition means a prerequi- will to believe, 02 the good use of the natural light,
site which man must `fulfill in order to obtain salva-         with the end of salvation: and  in that sense, of
tion.            -        _                                    course, condition is simply .a  preyequisite  which man
       Now let us see how Dr. Schilder defines th'e term       must fulfill in order to obtain salvation.
eo;:&ition..                                                      But the definition continues, and tells us that God
       I find this definition on page 14 of his brochure.      has connected the one thing with the okher,  ix make
       After  he. has repudiated various definitions of        clear to us that the one thing cannot come without
conditions, such as, that a condition is  something            the other. Also this is  -nbt clear whatsoever. An
that could bind ,Gocl,  or that a condition is something       effect  canriot come without a cause. A conditional
for which God must wait before He can go further,              promise of ma'n cannot come without the .prerequis-
or that a condition is something which we-must ful-            ite  .being fulfilled.  Ancl  .the end cannot come with-
fill in  ordh   to. merit anything, he himself defines         out the means. What does Dr. Schilder mean? Clear?
condition as follows i                                         To me it is all very confusing and ambiguous.
       "A condition is so&tething which God` has` connec-         And finally, Dr. Schilder states in this definition
ted with something.else,  to make clear to us, that the        that God has connected the one thing with the other
one.thing cannot come iyithout the other, and that v;e         in order to make ys know that we cannot ,be sure of
cannot be sure of the one thing, unless we are at the          the one thing unless we are also sure of the other.
same time assured of the other,"                               In itself, this may be true: we cannot be sure of fi-


     -.                                                          I



                                                        THE           STANDARD-                  ~MAR.ER                  .,     _               391

 nal glory unless we are sure of our justification. And
     we cannot be  Sure of justification, except by faith.
     And we cannot have faith, except  `.when  we are re-                              `THE, TRIPLE Ik.NOWLED
 generated by the Spirit of God. Does' that mean that
     regeneration is a condition of faith,  and faith is. a An Exposition Qf The Heidebes
     condition of justification, and justification is a con-
     dition' of our entering into final glory? I should                                           .              Catechism                      "
say not! Regeneration is not a condition,  b.ut is the                                            ~'
     God-wrought source in us of all the subjective bles-                                                     P A R T   I I I
     sings of salvation. And faith is not a condition un-                                       .   O F   THANKFULNE.SS
     to justification, but is the means whereby God  in-                                                    Lord's Day 32.
     grafts us into Christ by Whom we are justified. And
     justification is not a condition unto eternal life, but                                                        1.
     is the legal ground of  our  everlasting glory.                                         The Idea ,of This Third Part (cont.) +
                                                            r               H.H.     ~ The thirty-second Lord's Day is introduced by
                                   Jsl                                              the question : "Since then we are delivered from our
                                                                                    misery, merely of grace, through Christ, without any
              Our grateful tongues; immortal King,                                  merit of ours, why must we still do good works?"
              `Thy glory shall forever sing;
              Our hymns, to time's remotest day,                                        The question is: how must we understand the aux-
              Thy truth, in sacred notes display.                                   iliary verb "must" ?
                                                                                        The question can be understood in the sense of
              What piw,r, 0 Lord, shall vie with thine?                             an objection by opponents of the doctrine of  fr&e
              What name among the saints who shine,                                 grace and free justification. In this sense the bppo-
              Of equal excellence possess'd,                                        nents of the truth frequently presented this question,
              Thy sov'reignty will dare .contesti                                   even  alreadjr in the time of the apostle Paul. Thus
              Thee, Lord, heav'n's hosts, their maker own,                          we read in Rom. 3 :`7,8 : "For if the truth of God hath
             -Thin? is the kingdom, thine alone;                                    more  abounded through my. lie unto his glory; why
              Thee, endless -majesty has crown'd,                                   yet. am- I also judged as a  sinnei*? And not rather,
     -        And glory ever vests thee round.                                      (as we $be slanderously reported, and as some affirm
                                                                                    that we say,) -Let  us  do evil that good may come?
              Thrones and domin4ons  round thee fall;                               whose damnation is just." -And again, in Rom. 6 :l:
              Thy presence shakes this lower ball:                                  "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin,
              From change to change ihe creatures -run ;                            that  grace may abound?"  The argument in this
              But all thy.vast designs are one.                                     question `appears to be very logical and stringent. We
              0 wise in. all, thy works ! thy name                    --            are delivered from our misery, from hell and damna-
              `Let all the earth aloud proclaim;                                    tion. We  are completely justified in the sight of
              And grateful thru thk length of days,                                 God, so that there is no condemnation for them that
              In ceaseless songs repeat thy praise.                                 are in Christ Jesus. We shall surely go to- heaven
                                                                                    and  enter eternal life. And, these blessings of sal-
                                                                                    vation, of righteousness and everlasting glory, are
                                                                                    ours only for the sake of the merits of Jesus Christ
                                 ANNIVERSARY                                        our Lord. They are ours by mere grace. And grace
           IOn  June 5, 1952, our beloved pare.n.ts,                                certainly. is opposed to works. We are saved, there-
                    MR. AND MRS.  H.ERBERT   VAN HARN
 hope to celebrate their 50th Wedding Anniverslary.                         .       fore, without any merit of ours, as the Catechism also
           It is our earnest prayer, as their children,  that the Lord              emphasizes in Qu. 86.          Good works, therefore,. can
 Who has graciously spared them for  u,s this far, may be with                      never merit anything at all with God.  All- that is
 `them,  an,d bless them for the future.                                            necessary unto our salvation `has been -perfectly a&
                                          Their children: .                         complished  by Christ. It cannot make any difference,
                                             Mrs. F.  Nouse                         therefore, whether or not we do good works: for good
                                             Mr. and Mrs. P.  Schippers
                                             Mr. and Mrs. S. Van Ham' works can never add anything to our righteousness
                                             Catherine
                                             Jean                                   *' The similarity  oi4'the  title of this article with that of the
                                             Johanna                                  Rev. Blanksspoor in the same issue of the S. B. is purely
                                               13 grandchildreri                      coincidental. My article was written two weeks before I re-
-                                              1  great,  gsandchiMres   `)           ceived  bin.-H.H,'


392                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                - -
before,God.  Why, `then, must we do good works? Is           of the quotations made from their works that are sup-
it not rather derogatory to the truth of free grace and      posed to reflect antinomian errors are thoroughly
free justification even to speak of good works and           sound and Scriptural, while others may appear to be
to attempt to perform them? Let us rather sin, that          erronous when considered by themselves, but may be
grace may abound. Or, let us do evil, that good may interpreted in a sound sense when taken in their pro-
come of it.                                                  per connection. Thus, for instance, quotations like the
    Thus the `question, "Why must we still do good           following, taken from the sermons of Dr. Crisp, who
work~?~  is often presented by.opponents, in order to        died in 1642: "The law is cruel and tyrannical, re-
show the folly of the doctrine of free grace and frke        quiring  v&at is naturally impossible." And again:
justification.                                               "The sins of the elect were so imputed to Christ, as
    It seems, hpwever, that the same question is also        that, though He did not commit them, yet they became
asked in all seriousness by those that are called an- actually His transgressions, and ceased to be theirs."
tinomians.                                                   And again: `Vhrist's righteousness is so imputed to
    The term antiinornians is derived from the <Greek the elect, that they, ceasing to be sinners, are as right-
preposition anti, meaning "against", and the -Greek eous as He vas, and all th,at He was." The following
noun nonzos,  meaning  "law". Literally, therefore, the.     qbotation, however, is rather confusing: "An elect
term denotes those that are opposed to the law.              person is not in a condemned state while an  unbe-
   Now who are- the antinomians; and what do they            liever ; and should he happen to die before God calls
really teach?                                                him to believe, he would not be lost." And again:
    There appear tp have been some antinomians in            ` Repentance and confession of `sin are not necessary
a very early age of the history of the New Testament         to forgiveness. A believer may cert$inly  conclude be-
ch_urch,  perhaps even already at the time of the apos-      fore confession, yea, as soon as he hath committed sin,
tles. It would seem, at-least, that the epistle of James     the interest he.hath in Christ, and the love of Christ
is largely directed against a ,class of Christians whom &bracing  him." .On the other hand, however, that
we in our day would call antinomians,, or, against           Dr. Crisp does not deny the calling to live in a new
those that emphasized faith without works. And in            and holy life may be ,evident  from the.following: "In -
the fourth century Augustine suggests in one of his          respect  to the rules of righteousness or the matter
works that zthere were antinomians even before his           of obedience, we are under the law still, or else, we are
day. But one of  ihe fathers of more  recent  anti-          lawless, to live every man as seems good in, his own
nomians is Agricola, who lived at the time of the Re-        eyes, which no true Christian dares as much as thiqk
formation and was a supporter and ,colaborer  of .Lu-        Of." As I said before, it  makes  a tremendous dif-
ther. He, died in 1566. Luther himself, in his de-           ference whether one who writes about those so-called
fense of justification by faith over against Roman Ca-       antinomians is himself in sympathy with the truth
tholicism, solnetimes gave the impression of .being in-      of sovereign grace and absolutely free justification,
clined to antinomianism; but this is probably to be          or opposed to it; whethe.r he is in an Arminian or a
attributed rather to his strong opaosition  to the Rom-      Calvinist. The Arminian Dr.  Orme, in `his "Life of
is11 doctrine of good  works&  When, hdwever, Luther         Baxter", II, 243, certainly shows no'sympathy fdr the
and Melanchton enjoined all the pastors that they            doctrines of antinomians, nor, for that matter, of
should diligently teach and ,exhort their flocks to keep     Calvinists in general. He writes that this doctrine
the commandments, Agricola accused them of back-             "withers and destroys. the consciousness' of human
sliding and of, denying the truth of free grace and          responsibility. It confounds moral with natural  in,.-
justification by faith. He wrote a number of treatises       potency, forgetting that the former is a crime, the
on faith and repentance, in which he declared himself        latter  otily a misfortune; and thus treats  tl:?e man
strongly opposed to those who teach that .believers  have    dead in trespasses and sins as if he were already in
anything to do @with the law. He was attacked by his grave. It prophecies smooth things to th.e sinner
l$ther, and retracted his doctrines, although he was         going'on in his  transgressipns,  and soothes to  slum-
never Quite convinced of their erroneous impli@ations.       b& and the repose of ,death  the souls of such as are
After .his death' some others, like Amsdorf and Otto         at ease in Zion. It `assumes that, because men can
of Nordhausen, propagated the antinomian errors.             neither believe, repent, nor pray acceptably, unless
   There are other theologians  rbputed  to- be  anti-       aided by the grace of God, it is useless to ca!! upon
nomians, especially among  the Eng$ish Calvinists of         them to .do so. It maintains that the gospel is only .
the 17th century. But it m&t not be forgotten that intended for elect- sinners, and therefore it ought to
it makes considerable  ,difference  who writes about be preached to none but such. In defiance, therefore, of
them and  characterizes`them  ati  aritinomiajn&  Many thi command of  God,,  it refuses to preach the glad


                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                      - 393

ti,dings  of mercy to every sinner. In opposition to          a wrong ecphasis on justification- at the expense of
Zdripture, and tq every rational consideration, it con-       sanctification. They place all  the emphasis on the
tendi that it is not man's duty to believe the truth          work of Christ for us, in our behalf and in our stead,
of God-justifying the  obvious inference that  i", is         at the- expense of the work of Christ in us and through
not a sin to reject it. In short, its whole tendency .Ss      us by His Holy Spirit. Their motive is, no doubt to
to produce an impression on the sinner's mind that,           f,ear to derogate the work of free, grace, the fear to
if he is not saved, it is not his fault, but God's J that,    give any credit to man, and the desire to let ,God in -
if he is condemned, it is more for the glory of the           Christ `be all and let the sinner be nothing. .Never-
divine sovereignty  thag as the punishment of his             theless,  they do not understand that by failing to give
guilt. So far from regarding the moral cure of .hu-           due  eemphasis to  the work of Christ in the believer
maq,nature  as the great objeet and design of the gos-        and through  him, and therefore, by failing  to- un-
pel, antinotiianism #does not, take it in at* all, but as     derstand that it is inevitable that those that are jus-
it exists in Christ, and becomes ours by a figure of          tified in Christ and therefore are by faith ingrafted
speech. It regards the grace and the pardon of ev-            into Him walk in a new and holy life, they detract
erything, the spiritual  desia or effect as nothing.          from the glory of Christ as a complete Savior.
Hence its opposition to progressive, and its zeal for            The "mu&" ?f the. eighty-sixth question of the
imputed sanctification: the former is intelligible and        Catechism, therefore, must not be understood in the
tangible, but thi3 latter a mere figment of the imagi-        sense of the opponents of free grace and free justifica-
nation. Hence its delight in expatiating on the eter-         tion, nor in the sense of those that are called antino-
nity of the divine decrees, which it does. not under-         mians, but rather in the sense of keeping the law of
stand, but which serve to amuse and to deceive, `and          perfect liberty, w,hich is mentioned in the epistle of 1
its dislike to all the sober realities of God's present       James.
dealings. and commands. It exalts in the contempla-              This is evident frqm the fir@ part of' the- answer
tion of a Christ Who  Is :a kind of concretion of all         to $. 86: "Because Christ, having redeemed and deliv-
the moral attributes .of His people; to the overlooking .ered us by his blood, also renews us by his Holy Spir-
of that Christ Who is the head of all that in heaven          it, after his own image."                   0
and on earth bear His likeness, and while unconsci-              What, according, to the  instruct&n  of the Heidel-
ous of possessing` it.. It boasts in the doctrine of the berg Catechism, is our real misery? Is it  that we
perseverance of the saints, while it believes in no           inust suffer tb.e punishment of death, and go to eter-
saint btit one, that is, Jesus, and neglects ,to perse-       nal desolation? This certainly is true in itself, and
vere.`?  IOn the other  halid, see what Dr.  Kuyper .i: 1s unspeakably wretched; but it is not the real es-
writes in E Voto, III, 335, IX,, although also he con-        sence ; the red, essentfal  character and the cause of
demns the erroneous tendencies of the. antinomians,           our misery. It is rather  the effect: And  befoie the
nevertheless, over against moderns,- ethicals,  and Ar-       effect ,ean be removed, the cause must be taken .away.
minians he is much mo?e sympathetic to them, and              That cause is our sin in all its implications; That is
speaks of Dr. Kohlbrugge as his lifelong friend. Cf.          why the ,Catechism  taughi us in Lord's Day 2 that we
also the work by Dr. van Lonkhuyzen  on, Kohlbrugge.          learn to know our misery out of the liw of *God. And
Nevertheless, if by antinomians are meant those that thus becoming acquainted from that source of the law
teach that Christ has so fulfilled the moral law, con-        of God with our mi?ery,  we discover that it consists
sidered as the law'of love, that beljevers  have nothing      in this, that we are prone by nature to hate `God and
to do with it any more, if we may -indeed believe that our neighbor. Qur misery consists, further, in this,
they deny sanctification and the calling to put off the       that we are guilty in Adam, so that his sin is impu-
oId man and put on the new man, and to walk in a              ted to us and the whole human race lies under con-
hew and holy` life, who,. moreover, m&k@  sukh a sep-         demnation  .through him as our head. It moreover
aration between the old and the new man of the                consists in this, that because  df the fall and diso-
Christian that  .the believer is no longer  responsiblg       bedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve, in para-
for the sins committed in the flesh and does not have         dise, we are all conceived and born in sin, and that
to be sincerely sorry for  them&f,  all this is sup-          we have become so corrupt that we cannot `do any
posed to be -implied in antinomianism, it must be             good and are inclined to all  e$il unless we are re-
condemned as a very serious error. But at the sa&e            generated by the  Sljirit of God.  `Our  misery,  there-
time it is safe to say that in this sense no; true. believ- fore, consists in our sin, in <the fact that we trampled
er can be an antinomian, either ,doctrinally or in prac- and still .trainple under foot .God's covenant, that we
tice.                                                         b,ecame  and still are separated from Him, the Fount
    I rather-think that some sincere anti&mian's  place bf all good, and th& therefore we are enemies of God,
         _     '


 39.4  _                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   BE.ARER
            .
increase our.,guilt  daily, so that by nature we are chil-    tion : "What is thy only comfort in life and death?
dren of wrath and  seek our own destruction.  SueI+           `That I with ,body and soul, both in life and death, am
according to the Heidelberg <Catechism,. is *the es-          not my own, but belong,pnto my faithful Savior Jesus
sence- of our misery.                                         Christ; who, with his ,precious blood hath fully satis-
    On the other hand, we may also ask the question:          fied for all my sins,, and delivered me from all the
what, according to the Heidelberg Catechism, and ac-          power  of the devil ; and so preserves me that without
cording to the whole of Scripture, is the essence o-f         the will of my heavenly- Father, .not a,- hair can fall
our salvation? And the answer is, negatively,, that from my head ; yea, that all things must be subser-
it certainly does not consist in this, that we are ex-        vient to my salvation, and. therefore, by his Holy
cused from going to hell, and are considered .worthy Spirit, he also assures me of. eternal life, and makes
to become citizens ,of an external state `of `glory in        me sincerely willing. and. ready, .henceforth,  to live
heaven. Certainly it is true that salvation is :deliv-        unto him." That indeed is the whole of  salyation.
erance from hell and the being made partakers of              Christ not only redeems  and  .delivers  us by.  His
heaven. But the essence of heaven .is not an external         blood, but He also renews us .bjr His Hbly Spirit .af:.
state of glory, but it  tionsistS rather of a glory that      ter His own image.
shall be revealed incus. Its essence consists in per-            The Christian therefore stands in principle in
fect  f,ellowship,  of friendship with the iiving God .in     the law of perfect- liberty. The "must", the  f`mqy",
Jesus  Christ our Lord. It consists in eternal life:          the  "can':, and the "will"* in him are in perfect har-
"And this is life eternal, that they-might know thee,         mony.    In other words,-`the  .obligation   .to do  gobd
the only true (God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast          works,  *he privilege of  ,doing  geod  works, the  abil-
sent." It is to be like God in a creaturely sense, -to        ity to do good works, and the free, wiliipg choice to
be mide like unto the image of .His Son. It is to be          do good -works are all "one in him  through Jesus
righteous as God is righteous; it is to be made per-          Christ our Lord,, Who .renews us by His Spirit aucl
fect,ly holy, without spot or blemish  ; it  .is to know makes us like unto His own image.
Him as we are known, and  to love Him as we are                  To be sure, the "must", `the obligation  to' keep
loved. It is to glorify and praise Him as prophets,           the law of love is universal, and every `sinner &s re-
to serve Him as priests, walking forever in good              sponsible for the keeping of that law. We must love
works, and to reign in perfect freedom with Him in &he  lord our God with all our  he&t and mind and
Christ  .Jesus our Lord over all the works of  His            soul and strength. This was the law',of love in, para-
hands. It is etetilally to dwell in the everlasting tab-      dise, and Adam in the state of rectitude lived and
ernacle of `God that shall be with men.                       walked  a&ordi;.z  to that  .law of love. This obliga-
   rSuch is the essence of salvation.                         tion, however, still rests  upon every sinner, although
   When the Heidelberg Catechism therefore asks,              by nature he cannot and will not and .;cannot will to
"Why must we still do good works?" it means that he           perform that law.  IGod never relinquishes the  de-
that is in Christ Jesus' is already partaker i,n prin-        inand of the law of love. But this  same law of love
ciple of that essence of `salvation even in this life. He     i's still valid in the state of grace. It is true that ac-
feels the begin&g of eternal glory in his heart, and          cording to Rom. 6:14 we- are not under the law, but
therefore he  conceiyes  of the "must'. of good  works        under grace. But do not forget that it is exactly be-
not as an  oblig&ion to an external law, but as  a?           cause we are not under. the external obligation to an
obligation  of perfect love, as the inevitable fruit of       external code  of law, but under grace, that siil shall
grace,- as the keeping. of the law of perfect liberty.        not have dominion over us. For the apostle continues
Such is evidently the meaning of the answer of tile           in the same chapter: "What then? Shall we sin, be-
Heidelberg Catechism. Christ indeed redeemed and              cause we are not under the law but under grace? God
delivered  us  by His blood, and by  .that  .redemption       forbid. Know ye not, that  tq whom  ye yield  .yourG
and deliverance which we have in the blood of Cl;rist         selves servants to obey, his servants ye. are to whom
we are made perfectly righteous before aGod, SQ ,that         ye obey; whether of ,sin unto death,. ,or of obedience
tllere  is no condemnation for them that are in Chris;t       unto righteousness ? But God `be. thanked, that ye
Jesus. .Before God we are perfectly righteous by an           were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the
imputed  righteousnesti  in Christ that can never be heart that form of doctrine which-was delivered you.
changed or undone. Our sins are blotted out,  an$             Being then made free _from  sin, *ye became servants
they can never be. imputed unto us anymore. But               of righteousness." The question and answer of the
this justificatioti is not the whole of salvation. Christ     Heidelberg Catechism, therefore is perfectly correct :
is a complete Savior. As  the  Cat,echism expressed           "Why must we do good works? Because Chris; hath
it in the very first question and answer of its instruc-      not only-  recleemed  and delivered us by his: blood,


                                       :`pj-J&j   sTANf>.AR.D.   Bj-&iAR%B                                                   895  I'

 but` also by- his Holy' Spirit renews us ,aEd makes us         also the Ywill', to do good works and to keep the law
 like unto His own image." The obligatibn  $0 love              of love is in harmony with the "must". With the
 the Lord our God ctin never; .be relinquished.                 natural  ,man'  this is differ&t: he not only is incap-
     HoweSer, although the keeping of the law of love           able of ,doing good works, but he hates the law of .love.
 is obligatory upon the  sinner, although  the "must,,          He cannot and he will not and he cannot will,\to keep
 is thel;efore  -uiive&al, -this is not' the case with the that law and to walk in all good works. But with the
 "may". We ,must never; forget that we may look tip-            Christian  %hiS i,& radically different. He longs, to do
 on the %eepifig 6f the law of.,God,  and therefore upon        good- works. He has a delight in the law` of God ac-
 His service, ai a great privilege. It is a great delight       cording to the inner man. And it is his inmost de-
 and it makes man unspeakably blessed and happy to              sire to be pleasing to the God of His salvation. _ 0,
 walk in the love of God and to' ser.ve Him with hi8            it is ,true,  all this is realized only in principle, and as
 whole heart. That privilege +he sinner foifeited:  he          the Catechism confesses in a later chapter, even the
`has no more the right to that privilege, because he            holiest of the' believers have only a small beginning
is a  slave of sin. ;The `l&w; can,' no longer make him         of the new obedience. Neyertheless,  in principle this
 free because of t& weakness sf `the flesh;' Rom. 8 :3.         is perfectly true, The Christian stands, in the law of
 And he that  committeth  sin  is a slave of sin.' John         perfect liberty,  b,ecause  he is delivered from all sin
8.:34.   But Christ redeem&d us  frog the slavery of            and guilt as he is redeemed in the blood of Jesus
 sin. He purchased us free. Through Him  cod con-               Christ, and because he is renewed in his inmost heart
 demned siti in, the flesh: "For  ,what the law `could          and made like unto the image of the Son of God. And
 nbt do, in, th& it was weak throtigh the flesh, God            it is inevitable that the Christian, thus redeemed and
 sellding his  owti  Son in  Qie likeness of sinful flesh,      deliv&ed  and renewed by -the Spirit of Christ, shall
 and for sin,  condemned`sin in  l&e flesh.,, Sin there-        fight against all sin within and without, and walk
 fore has `no more the right' to rule over us. .We are. in a new and holy life, loving the Lord his God with
 entirely,. free from `its dominion by' the death of            all<his heart and mind and soul and strength. ~Goocl
 Ch_r:ist.,   Legal@ we  are.,delivered   from the prison of    works, therefore, are not a condition unto salvation,
 sin and death." T&e "may" iB in perfect harmony but they are the inevitable -fruit- of the realization of
 with the "must" : the:  priyilege and obligation are           God's cdvenant with and in the believer through Je-
 all one. l&r&~gti `Jesus Christ our `L&d.                      sus Christ our Lord.
    Still  niore.  N&  .Ortiy  $.oes the Christian  have the                                                         H.H.
 privilege  to serve  bcod,, but he  .is also, principally
 able, to do good &x%s through the same Christ Jesus
 dur Lord. Th:& sinner by nature' is dead.in  trespasses
 and sins. He is so corrupt that he is incapable of. do-                      ____--  pJ
 ing `atiy good and inclined to all evil. But this is no
 longe?  the case with  th,e Christian. He is not only
 rkdeemed   and-  d.elive?ed by the  blood of Christ from
 the gililt of sin, bdt he is `also renewed `by. the ,Spirit
 of Christ and' `made like' unto the image of the Son I                Thou reign'st, 0 Lord, thy throne is high,
of. God: "For whom he did foreknow, he also did pre-
 destinate to be conformed to .the image of his Son,                   Thy robes are light and majesty;                 .
 that he might  be. the firstborn among many breth-                    Thy pow'r is sov'reign to fulfill
 ren." And on the basis of this fact the apostle Paul                  The holy counsels of thy will.
 can admonish the church: "But ye have not so learn-
 ed Christ; .If so be that ye have heard him, and have               Thy will be done on earth below,
 been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: That ye
 put off  concernifig  the former conversation the old                At `tis in heav'n: thy grace bestow
 man,, which is corrupt according to the deceitful                     0~ us and all ; may we alid they
 lusts; And  be  reneged in,  $e spirit of your `mind ;                Renounce our wills, and thine _ obey.,
 And that ye put on the new .tian, which after God is
 created in righteousness and true holiness." The- can                While  ail  t.he hosts of  he'av'n rejoice
 and  the "may" and the "must", the `ability and  .ihe                To yield obedience to thy voice;
 privilege-~ and the obligation, therefore, are all  -in
 perftiet  harmony  in.  the. Christian.  '                           In constancy, and zeal, and love,
 _  " And finally,  it stands  to:- reason,' that  -ther&ore          May we resemble those above.              ,


`.>        396                                  I'HE  STANDA-RD   -BEilr,R-ER                      -           -    -
                                                                        and is necessarily colored .by t.he spiritual principles
                                                                        of the particular school by which he is trained. Thus
                                                                        f,or example, the modernists' training in the prin-
                                                                        ciples of discipline is fundamentally different from
                                       ne Futarct                       training in discipline based upon Holy Writ:  t.he
                                                                        one b?s& his instruction upon the lie that man is in-
                                 Chapter_3#  ,           _              herently good, .while Holy Writ gives us the principle
                         ON TEACHER TRAINING                            that a man is incapable of doing any good and in-
                                                                        clined to all evil, unless he is regenerated by the Spi-
        Introductory                                                    rit  of  .God.
           "It is already rather evident from our previous "                4. Hence, it follois that we must have facilities
        chapter, concerning the teacher problem,  t&at the for Protestant Reformed teacher-training.
        matter of teacher training is a second major problem                Several  important questions present themselves in
        for the movement for Prot&tant Reformed education.              bhis connection, however, questions of both a prin-
         I mean, of course, Protestant Reformed  teacher train- cipal and a practical nature. `There is the question:
            Upon the necessity of such Protestant Reformed              who' is responsible for the establishment of such tea-
        teacher training :we have touched previously. How-              cher training institutions? Is it the calling of the
         ever, it will do no harm, by way of introduction, to           churches, of synod, to develop such a normal school,, *
        call a$tention  to that matter once more. And we may perhaps, as a branch of our Theological School? Or
         do so very succinctly in  ,the  followirig  proptisitions-:    must such a school be established officially independent
            1. We believe, as Protestant Reformed people, that          of the church- institute? In the latter case, who must
         our  schools must not merely be' separate  f,rom  the          organize such an institution? A second question re-
         existing ;Christian schools and from the public schools `quiring attention, and which standi in close Connec-
         in externals, in name, organization, facilities,' etc.,        tion with the practical aspect of the possibility of
         but that they must be schools in which the instruction         establishing such a school, is: what are the requi-re-
         from th,e beginning to end. is founded upon and p.er-          ments in the.  cur&ulum of such a school? What,
         meated  by our Protestant Reformed principles, which           ideally, should be offered ? What are. the minimum
         to us is the same as saying Reformed principles,-. rqquireinents, the absolutely necessary subjects, which
         which, in turn, is the same as saying the truth of             would have to be taught from the outset? A third,
                                                    -
         Holy Scripture.                                                %nd purely practical, question that might be asked is:
            2. It follows from this fundamental proposition how- could we go about obtaining our own normal
         that a Protestant Reformed'school  is a school that is school ?
         staffed by Protestant Reformed teachers, men and                   Unclerstand  well, at present we are merely asking
         women who are equipped to bring Protestant Reform- questions, not answcring.them. Nor do we guarantee
         ed instruction.-                                               to answer all questions. But ,certainly, a little study
            3. It iS also self-evident that a, Protestant Reform-       of  th,e matter should bring us some answers, and
         ed teacher is not a person  who, though he be  PrD-            should at -least bring us to some conclusioris as to the
         testant  Reformed in confession and church affiliation,        feasability of establishing our own facilities for` the
         has had some teacher training in any of a number of            training of our  Probestant  Reformed teachers. The
         different t,eacher-training institutions,---Xhristian  Re- undersigned, for one, does not deem it nearly so much
         formed, Reformed, Methodist, Lutheran, Baptist or of a dream as it is sometimes presented to be, that in
         even so-called non-religious schools, which are in real- the not-too-distant future we could have otir own nor-
         ity modern or pagah,-bat  that a Protestant Reform- mal scho.ol,-provided  we go tibsut it with a will.
         ed teacher is a Protestant Ref,ormed man or woman
        who has been  traine& in Protestant Reformed prin- History                                       ,'
         ciples of  edu&tion, positively and  compl$ely,  so
         that he enters. upon  .his teaching career  w+th the               Did you know that in the pastcfew  years we have
        equipment necessary to bring Protestant Reformed mad,e history in this regard already? Well, we have.
         instruction.     (Un$erlying this proposition are, of              And we will now devote some space to presenting
         course, two fajs which we can all see readily: a)              that history, first of all, in order that we may have a
         The fact that a teacher must be trained. And, b)               complete view of the problem.
         the fact that his training is not merely formal, but             That history begins sometime in 1948, at ieast :as
        that all his training has doctrinal or ethical content far as- aur.*churches  officially are concerned, In the
                                                                             .


                                    ,THE       STAND&&b               ]Bg~kaa..               ;                                 3%

Acts of Synod, 1948, p. 63, we read the following item       1950. We realize that our greatest need is for teach-
in t.he report of the Theological School Committee:          ers, able  and equipped, to teach our children the
    "12. We received a letter from the Society for           required subjects permeated by the Protestant Re-
-Protestant Reformed Education asking us to what ex-         formed life view., For  ,these  teachers to do this we  -
tent the facilities of- the  T,heological  School can be     feel that they should. receive a specific course of                        ,
made available to prepare persons interested in the          instruction above and beyond that which they re-
teaching profession to qualify them for teaching in          ceive at Calving College.
schools of our own. This society is planning to build           "As you know, some work has been done along this
a ten-room  .grade  s&ho01 in a year or two. We in-          line by our Teachers' Club. The Board, however,
formed them that at present we have no facilities and        deems it necessary that we should have a regular
that we are forwarding their request to Synod. Their         normal course where our prospective teachers would
`letter is herewith attached."                               receive their final training. This we feel is very es-
    Sorry to say, although the lette? mentioned may          sential in order that our  schodl may indeed reflect
have been attached to the report of ,t.he Theological        the truth as we know and love it.
School Committee, it was not published in the Acts.             `-This is not only of local importance, for we also.
However, Synod did  give attention to this matter,           have other Pr.ot,estant  Reformed Schools and plans are
for we read first of all, in the report of the committee.    being made to open more.                                              ,
of pre-advice, p. 65:                                           "We come, therefore, to  your body with  *the
    "11. In connection with the letter of the Society        request that, if at all feasable,. a normal course be add-
for Protestant Reformed  EducBtion,  .which  tht com-        ed to the  currictilum of our Theological School this
mittee refers to Synod, we advise:                           coming year. If for various reasons you do not see
      That Synod advise the Society for Protestant Re-       your way clear to do this, kindly forward this request
formed Education that we have no facilities for a com-       to Synod with or without your recommendation.
plete normal course. However,. that we can supply,                     "Board of Society for Prot. Ref. Education
we hope, the very necessary Protestant Reformed point                  "Sincerely yours,:
of view by havini  prospective teachers take Reformed                  "  (W.S.)  D. Jonker, Sec'y.                                1
doctrine `and read specified outside literature upon                   "Per the Education Cbmmittee.,,
                                                                                         ,
educational subjects, as ~ produced by our men' and
o t h e r s . "                                                 At the same Synod there was an instruction from'
    And -on page 68 of the same pacts, we find that          Randolph's lC,onsistory,  via Classis East, `which came
Synod itself adopted a slightly different decision in        to Synod`without Classical recommendation, pp. 67,68.
this matter, Arti 80:                                           "Instruction of Randolph:  '  '
    "Motion madean,d  supported to adopt the advice             "The Consistory of Randolph advises  Classis to
of Committee under No. 11 dealing with the request           over$ure  Synod to consider ways and means of estab-
of the Society- for Protestant Reformed Education            lishing our own Normal-  Training School to train pro-
for the institution. of a Normal Course in our School.       spective' teachers to teach in our own Christian Schools.
      "Amendment is made, supported and carried that            " G r o u n d s   :
we change the term `Reformed Doctrine' to `Princi-
ples of Education'.                                             "1. It is `simply a fact, thaf shall- our Protgstant
    "The Amended motion is adopted."                         Reformed Schools be distinctive, that the teachers
    The Acts of Synod, 1949, record tiore,action  al&g       mu&t be able to teach distinctively. The school is not
this same line. Turning to page 64, we find this item        bett.r than the teache?.              .
in the report of the Theological School ,Committ@e  for         "2 It is a fact that thk need of `our own schools is
that. year :                                                 being felt more and more, as is attested by our own
    "`lo. The foliowing letter was `received by our          School Society and the erection- of buildings. It would
committee, and it was decided to submit this letter to       be short-sightedness not to prepare Our own teachers.
you for your disposal of the matter as you see fit. '                                 "By order of the Consistory,
                                                                                      "(signed) Geo. C. Lubbers, Pres.
                   `<Grand Rapids, Mich., May 7, 1949                                                        "W.  Huizeng?,  Clerk."
"Theological School `Committee,
`<Grand Rapids, Michigan,                                       More belongs to this history, but for that, ai well
` Esteemed Brethren :                                        as for our evaluation of it, we shall ha@ to wait until
 "As you perhaps know; it is our intention, the              the next issue, ,D.V.                      -
Lord willing, to open our own achqol in September,                                                               H. q, Hoeksema


  39i3                                                   TflE           S.f=i.A~`j-jAQP.`D;         BEAR&R'
             -.--..-     -      .       _     _    --

                                                                                     maakte immers de.' opgeploegde voren dronken, en
                  -SIQN'S                             ZANGEN                         Zijne voetstappen zijn nog steeds vettigheid? Hij ver-
                                                                                     blijdt Uw hart met spijze en vroolijkheid,' Driemalen
     '       ,                                                                       daags komt  ,God aangeloopen en  verzadigt en  ver-*
                               De Lofiang Der Liefde               '                 kwikt U. Vooraleer Uwe oogen  bet' daglicht  zagen,
                                      (  Pslam 116;  Sick)  1                        was  ,God, d' Algoede God dicht, zeer dicht bij U in
                                                                                     Uw moeders ingewand, en Hij bewerkte Uw hart
   . We zijn nu toegekomen aan een uitroep van blijd-                               zoodat het begon te kloppen, en het klopt nog steeds,
  schap, van verrukking. Denkt aan zijn groote smar-                                want Hij verliet  U nooit; En het zal blijven kloppen
  ten van de eerste verzen. Maar hij was verlost. De                                totdat alle de uren en-stonden die Hij voor U bestemde
  Heere had aan hem welgedaan. - Hij was gered van                                  vervlogen zijn. -En als dan Uw hart voor .de laatste
  den dood, zijne oogen van tranen, en zijnen voet van                              maal  klo.pte, dan nam  Hij. U lieflijk in Zijne  armen'
  a a n s t o o t .                                                                 en clan droeg Hij U opwaarts  naar Zijn hemel,  en zette
           En zoo breekt hij uit in een jubel van roel~en.                          U neer om Uw` eeuwig `deel in ontvangenis te nemen.
           "Wat zal ik den Heere vergelden voor alle Zijne                          en terwijl Hij  U naar den  hemel  bracht veegde.  Hij
  weldaden aan mij bewezen?"                                                        U het doodszweet van Uw aangezicht, en veegde de
   Dat, mijne vrienden, is de verlegenheid van den                                  tranen weg.
  . .
  WlJze.                                                                                Ik zou het bovenstaande hebben kunnen vertien-
           Alle Zijne weldaden. Och, lieve,. waar zal hij be-                       voudigen, verdubbeld in getale. En zelfs dan zou ik
  ginnen en waar zal hij eindigen  in- het opsommen van                             met  hebben kunnen zeggen al de weldaden die Hij
  alle de weldaden des Heeren? - Er wordt .soms gezegd,                             U' op aarde schonk. Ik had kunnen spreken .van Zijn
  dat de eeuwigheid te kort zal zijn om op- te sommen                               bewarende hand te midden  van duren tijd en honger-
  al .de. weldaden IGods. Ik weet wel, dat dit ,niet waar snood; te midden van oorlogen en geruchten van' oor-
  is, niet waar kan zijn, want God heeft die eeuwig-                                log: Ik had kunnen spreken van Zijn bewarende hand;
 heid gesteld tot het "vergelden" van- zoo groote zalig-                            toen  duivelen en kwade menschen hunne listen  be-
'  heid. En  IGod  we& wat Hij doet, en al wat Hij doet                             raamden om U sehielijk- te vernietigen. Denkt aan
 is gaaf, af, goed en recht. Ook de zangen, de nieuwe                               onze vaderen  toen zij zeiden: (dat Hij) van alle goed
 zangen van ,die groote schare., Ma&r tech, er zit een                              (ons) verzorgen,.en  alle kwaad van ons weren, of ten
 schoone gedachte in dat zeggen.  H&t geeft  uitdruk-                               onzen beste keeren wil.
 king aan de grootheid, de overweldigende grodtheid                                     Ik zeide zooeven, ,dat ik de geheele  som niet noemen
 van des Heeren weldaden aan ons bewezen. Hier in kon van alle aardsche weldaden. En dat moet U dui-
 Amerika heeft men een gezang, waaraan ik in dit ver-                               delijk zijn. We  weten zoo weinig van,. de aardsche
 band moet denken. Het luidt, vrij ver,taald,  als volgt:                           dingen. ,Er  ,komen steeds meer verrassende uitvin-
 Tel Uw vele zegeningen, tel ze 6Bn voor ken; en het                                digen, die ten baat vanden  Christen aangewend wor-
 zal U verbazen wat de Heere aan U gedaan heeft.`- En                               den. Denkt  aan de zoogenaamde "wonder-drugs".
 dat is waar. Dat is eeuwig waar.                                                   We weten zoo weinig van -ens lichaam, van onze. ziel
           0, we zullen Hem danken, maar we komen er nob& ,,en van onze geest. We weten zoo weinig van beesten
 mee klaar. Het danken  begint bij de eerste gave van                               en planten en gassen en stoffen. Er is een oceaan van
 genade, maar de laatste klank van lof, en prijs zal                                geschapen  dingen, en alle die  worden  door. God  ge-
nooit gehoord  worden.                             R&n zal doorgaan, immer          bruikt' om Zijn kind te zegenen. In de ,duizelingwek-
doorgaan met het zingen, dat al jubelende zegt : "Hem                               kende hoogten van den .hemel is God die op den hemel
 die op den troon zit, en het Lam, zij de dankzegging                               vaart tot onze hulpe, en in de diepten dan? Wel, daar
 en de eer en de heerlijkheid en de kracht in alle eeu-                             zegt God: van  onderee zijn de eeuwige  armen. En
 wigheid. En de vier dieren zeideii: Amen. En de                                    van den vijand zegt Hij : Verdelg hem! 0, God is zoo
 vier en ,twintig  Ouderlingen vielen neder en aanbaden goed !                                   En dat.waren  nog maar de aardsche, tijde-
 Dengene die leeft in alle eeuwigheid;"                                             lijke zegeningen; Wat zal ik zeggen van  "alle Zijne
      Alle Zijne weldaden?                                                          weldaden" die, geestelijk; hemelsch, eeuwig zijn? Waar,
         Vraagt het  aan de zon, de  maan en de sterren.                            zal ik beginnen? -IXn het antwoord is: in de nooit be-'
 Onderzoekt de diepten der zee die geeft en al maar` gonnen'eeuwigheidl  Daar moet ik beginnen, want in
 geeft  aan Zijn gunstgenoten.  Merkt op `de  rijkdom-                              die stille eeuwigheid is het liefhebbend hart .van God,
 men die  ,de ingewanden der aarde U schenkt. Luistert                              dat Zich tot mij wendde in Zijn eeuwigen raad. Daar
 naar de lieflijke klanken en kleurenpracht die Uw oar                              had Hij ons lief, mijn broeder. Daar. zag Hij ons in
 en oog bekoren.  IGe  hebt honger en de Heere komt                                 Zijne handpalmen en  `daar beminde Hij  ens:  " Ge
 aandragen  met vleesch en spijxe in overvloed. Hij                                 nioogt het x&5 zeggen ; iou cud als ,God is zoo .oud -is.


                                                                                                  0
                                              T H E   STAN-DARD   B E A R E R                                             399
                                .
Zijn liefde tot Zijn volk. En vergeet het nimmer : `die        de aandacht had, toen hij zong: !Och of nu al, wat in
 eeuwige liefde is . ..het substraat voor alle andere wel-     mij is Hem preez'! Er komt weinig van terecht, want
 daden.    In die liefde dacht de  Goddelijke   -Wijsheid      het beginsel der nieuwe gehoo.rzaamheid is bij den al-                  .
 een weg uit om ens tot de hodgst mogelijke hoogte             lerheiligste zoo gering !
 van prijs en .lof van #God te brengen. (God Wilde ons            En tech:. dat beginsel is er. We roepen  den naam.
 een zeer gelukkig volk maken,  dat al zijn blijdschap         des Heeren  aan. Dat is geschied van den beginne aan. t
 zou-  yinden in het loven van  ,God. En zoo  dacht de         We lezen ervan in den aanvang der historie, en we
 Wijsheid een weg uit. En die Nveg is de weg van zon-          doen het ten huidigen dage nog. En we zullen het blij-
 de en genade. In die twee woorden hebt `ge den weg            vene doen, totdat de volmaaktheid komt. Bn dan zal
 van het beminde kind `Gods naar den hemel  heen.              niemand den naaste meer aansporen en zeggen : Komt  '
     En op den weg van zonde en genade vindt ge de             ga met ,ons en doe als- wij ! Want ze zullen Hem al-
 uitstortingen van den beker van ,Gods zegeningen.             len volmaakt kennen en daarom volmaakt loven en
     11s. kon mijn weg niet vinden tot een opsomming p r i j z e n .                              `.
 van alle aardsche zegeningen. Welnu-wait  zal ik hier            De  dichter nam :zich voor om er ook mee  te be,
                                      _I                  -
 v&den  ? :'                                     >             g i n n e n .
    Ik `vind oceanen van genade en genade voor genade.             Hij voegt- er .aan toe, ter verklaring van dit opne-
 En al die zegeningen zijiz besloten in Jezus Christus,        men van den beker der verlossingen: Mijne gelofter
 den Heere; En' als Hij ens. dien Zoon schonk, zal Hij         zal ik den Heere betalen, nu, in de tegenwoordigheid
 ons ,dan niet met Hem alle dingen schenken? En het            van al Zijn volk.  -.
 antwoord is: Ja, dat zal Hij doen tot in der eeuwen           _ Mijne geloften, zegt hij.
 e e u w i g h e i d ;                                            Ik denk-dat dit ziet op  iijn  geloften die hij den
     Het einde .zal zijn, dat ge naar lichaam.en ziel vol      Heere beloofd had toen het hem zoo. bang en bedroefd
 zult zijn van `God. Ge zult tot in .der eeuwigheid ver-       was. Want dat doet  (Gods volk. We lezen er  overal
 zadigd worden  met Zijn Goddelijk Beeld. Ge zult aan- van in Gods Woord,  en onze eigen ervaring is er vol
 zitten met,  lGod,aan  Zijn tafel.  .En dronken  worden       van. `Ge hoort het  overal getuigen in  de. kerk van
 ,uit de beken Zijner wellusten. En dat is de uiteinde-        Christus. Men was zeer bang te-moede ; men riep den
 lijke genieting van Zijn trouwverbond.                        Heere aan ; en men belqofde  den Heere, dat we Hem
     Al die wkldaden ziet de dichter van mijn psalm.           zouden loven en prijzen indien Hij ons  genadiglijk
     En daarom roept  hij uit in de verlegenheid van den       uitredden  Wilde.  '                                a         D
 begenadigde: Wat zal ik'nu den Heere vergelden voor               Zoo ook hier.
- alle Zijne weldaden mij bewezen?                                 Het  ,is  dqidelijk,  dat  deze  dichter  in  ' groote  be-
     Eigenlijk is er maar Ben antwoord mogelijk.               nauwdheden geweest is, want hij spreekt van verlos-
     En dat &ne antwoord is dit : Ik ial het hemelleven        singen in het meervoud. Ik denk in dit verband  aan
 bier `op aarde aanvangen ! In. .de woorden van, den           den twee-en-veertiger : Menigwerf heeft Hij uw druk
  tekst: Ik zal den beker der verlossingen opnemen en          doen  veranderen   .in geluk ! En: vele zijn de  tegen-
 .den naam des Heeren, aanroepen!                -             rspoeden des rechtvaardigen,  ma& uit die alle redt hem
     De beker der verlossingen !                               c1.e Heere.
     Dat is figuurlijke  taal voor  ens deel, hetgeen ons          En clan is bet einde van die verlossingen. het loven
 bier op aarde geschonken  werd aan verlossing in het          van God.  Er is een  Schriftuur   waar  clit  proces,  als
 bloed van .JezuB  Christus.                                   in  &n  adem  geleerd wordt: Roept Mij  aan in den
     Het bee@ van den beker wordt ook gebruikt `voor           dag der benauwheid : Ik zal er LI uit helpen,  en gij zult
 smart en ellende.                                             Mij eeren. Ps. 50:15.
     Doch hier'is het ons deel aan- Christus.                      .Dat was bier ook geschied, want immers de tekst
     En het opnemen van dien beker ziet op bet loven           zegt :     Ik zal mijne  geloften  den Heere  betalen,  nu,
  en prijzen van God over zooveel genade aan ons be-           in de tegenwoordigheid van al Zijn volk.                           *
 wezen.                              .1'5"                      In dat laatste zit  iets zeer  schoons.
     Nu  begint dat loven en prijzen van God  bier  op           We  betalen onze  geloften   ,te  midden van vele  ge-
  aarde, en wordt.. straks.  voortgezet in den hemel, met      tuigen.
  dit verschil, dat we er.op  aarde bitter weinig van zien,        We komen te  iamen,:  vooral op  ,den rustdag,  om
  doch dat het straks in, .den hemel volmaaktelijk ge-         den Heere onze geloften  te  betalen, Het mag gezien.
  schieden zal door geheel die menigte die uit de, groote      En het mag gehoord.
..verdrukking  zullen komen.                                       Er is een psalm waar we hiervan  zingen: De lof-
     Er wordt bitter  we&g van gezien. Ik  denk, dat           zang klimt uit Sions zalen tot U met diepst ontzag;
  de dichter van den berijmden 103den psalm dit..voor          daar zal men U, .o, God ! betalen,  geloften  dag aan dag !


                                                                              I




                                                  m

I
I                400                                             - T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                                       1                            -                                  -7
                    Eigenlijk is dit de laatste klank van dit lied der                   a&itrekkifig  in het Huis des Heeren, in de voorhoven
                 liefde. Want het overige van den zang herhaalt ,de ge-                  van het 19de vers. We hebben die pleats hartstochte-
                 dachte van het bet&len  van die geloften  in de vergade-                lijk  l i e f .   W e   wonen:  e r .
                 ring van al Gods volk.                                                      En waardm?
                        Kostelijk is in de oogen cles Heereli de dood Zijner                 Die plaatsen zijn ons NieuwSTestam&ntische  Jeru-
                 &n+genoten.                                                             ztilem !
            *           W a t   mai  d i t   beduiden?   -                                  .De stad des grooten Konings. We beminnen haar
                        Dit ziet op het feit, dat .de' Heere Zijn  volk niet             I ot i.n der `eeuwigheid.
                 slaat en tot -den dood toe brengt, zonder gewichtige                                                                      <G. Vos
                 redenen .te hebben. -De Heere -perheugt  Zich in bet
                 leven Zijner gunstgenoten, doch als zij weenen moeten                                                       pJ--
                 en klagen in banden des cloods,  dan is dat Hem kos-
                 telijk, dan gaat het Hem  aan Zijn hart. En God
                 geeft Zijn. volk sIechts adan over aan bleed tranen;:  lij-
     .a          den en den dood als het moet, als het Zijn grootsch                     PROdKHOLY  W R I T .
                 plan der verlossing dienen moet. Doch 001~ dan zingen
                 we : Hun bloed, bun tranen en hun lijden zijn dierbaur
                 in.Zijn oog! En heeft de Heere groot .genoegen  in                                  Exposition  of  Pr?&ppians   2:1-4
                 hunne bevrijding als het uur van hunne verlossing                                                           II.
                 slaat in Zijn raad.                                    ,
                        Dat "gunstgenoten" `brengt de  dichter in  herin-                    There are two proverbial flies in the apothecary's
                 n&in&  zijn eigen  heerlijke  staat.  Hij-is des Heeren                 ointment of God's Church, that are a -very pestilent
                 knecht,  een zoon van Gods  dignstmaagd. De zanger                      evil. They are indeed the Devil's tools to disrupt the
                 stamt van een godvruchtig geslacht.' Neen, genade is                    unity in God's church. For, let us not forget, that
                 geen erfgoed, en tech is het o zoo lieflijk als `men een                Satan is our Arch-Foe, who .uses sin and our evil lusts
                 godvruchtige moedkr mag hebben, en als onze Vader. as tools for our destruction!
                 den Heere  vrees$. Want dan wordt ons de  kennisse                          Which two evils do we have in minds?
            ,Gods van der j'eugd  aan ingeprent. Als dan de                                  The text calls them : party-strife and vain-glory. I
                 Heilige  IGeest  van Christus ons vindt in het uur der                  Literally the Greek reads: Nothing (be done) accord-
                 minne, zijn we anderen per vooruit, die niet mochten                    ing to party-strife nor according to vain-glory !
                 deelen in zoq grooten zegen. Want dan is er alreede                         We recall that we are all to walk in the likeminded-
                 `een groote schat van ~Godskennisse  aanwezig in zulk                   ness in the !Llord. This is the unity that\ is wrought
                 een kind.                                                               in our hearts through the operation of the Holy Spirit.
                        Gij hebt mijne banden losgemaakt  S                              It always and-only proceeds from the love of IGod shed
                        Hoe vaak zal dat alreede gezongen zijn in de eeu-                abroad in our hearts. It:is not simply a likeminded-
                 wen  ,die  achter ons liggen.  En-hoevele  malen zal dit                ness of  -feeling,  but it is a subjection of  .our whole
                 ndg gezongen worden  tot in der eeuwen eeuwigheid?                      mind and soul  and strength to the pure and  soullcl
                        En dan gaat hij  aan `t  offeren van de  dankzeg-                doctrine of Christ our Lord.
            gingen.                                                                          In this sound doctrine, which contains precepts of
                        Neen, we hebben geen letterlijke  offeranden meer.               the Gospel (not` to be confused with commandments
                 Nadat Jezus Zichzelf Gode onstraffelijk opofferde aan of the Law) we never, read ,that party-strife or vain-
           bet,  kruis van Golgotha, heeft alle  offeren uit. Dat -glory is ~a walking .in the Spirit, in the imity of faith
                 wil zeggen, van dieren. `Want er zijn nog we1 geeste-                   and heaven's likemindedness. `This all must be cru-
            - lijke offeranden.  Romeinel!  spreekt ervan: "Ik bid                       cified; it belongs to the mortification_of  our members..
            ' u dan, broeders, door de ontfermingen Gods, dat. gij                           Party-strife: what iS it? The term in the original
                 uwe lichamen stelt tot een levende, heilige en Gode                     Greek is quite common in the New Testament Scrip-
                 welbehaaglijke offerande, welke is uwe redelijke gods-                  tures from the hand of Paul. It is a term which re-
            - dienst."Ram. 12 :`l.                          ~                            ceived a new content in the Bible, the term itself was
                 Watishet?                   1                                           also already employed by the Greeks, who lived before
                    Zeer eenvoudig, en  tech zoo onbegrijpelijk diep:                    the birth of Christ. It is the term to designate the
                 We roepen den Naam -aan. Dit is zeer diep, want de -politician in his activities of gaining the favo? of- the
                 He?lige GTest zegt : Niemand kan zeggen : Heere Jezus !                 people for his cause and his person. Such a politician
                 .d&n ,door den Heiligen Geest.                                          has a political axe to grind. And so he champions
                        E n   wa&?  `Overal. Maar  tech is  er een groote                his cause at the expense of another. His strife  be-


                                              `THl3   STANDARD  BEAti%-&                                                        401

comes  that of a party. over against another party.                           Everything in the church and in the world, in hea-
And since man is a sinner, who is vain in self-love ven and h&I, comes to stand in its proper perspective.
and personal ambition, this party-strife always .,in-                      The mirages  bf sin dispel. Our neighbor we see in
volves vain-glory. It is a glory that brings one-  no-                     in a  riew light. All  things become new;  old. things
wher"e except to ruin. 1 It never is constructive ; it                     flee away. We see all in the light of the glory of
never build,s. Destruction and misery are in its way,                      `God in  the face of Jesus Christ as preached in the
and the way of pea& it does not know. It never comes glorious Gosp4. Here in the wondrous grace of fore-
to peaceful contentment. Its  ideal is nothing but a giveness we learn new lessons. They are the lessons
dec'eptive  and illusionary mirage. It promises much wliich only Jesus teaches; unto which only the ffrace
seemingly, but it .gives nothiizg.                    `., .                of the Holy Spirit can bend us.
   It is one of the vanity of vanities odseryed  by the                       What iS it?
Preacher.                                                                      It is to "esteem the other better than ourselves".
   Such it is in this world.'                                              Truly, that' is a new thing under the sun. It is
   Such it is also when it dwells as a foreign pak:asite                   dlso as real in  God'.s church as it is new. For the
ill `God's Church.  -                                                      Son of ,God is come t@ break the works of the Devil.
   Nothing  must thus be done. It saps. our life's                         And the work of the Devil is that we are instigated
strength, it robs us of our joys and it dulls the sense                    by our lusts to self-exalting pride ; we always and a-
of glorious victory over death and hell. For in God's                      gain by nature look with contempt upon the other.
Church none is Lord ; all' are to be brethren each be-                     We must learn -by the mercies of Jesus not thus to
ing an exa.mple  to the other of willingness to bow be-                    .thir&. We must bethink other things. Says the Apo-
fore the Word, the sound doctrine as the Rule of                           stle elsewhere in, this Epistle : whatsoever thirigs' are
Faith. They, who do `nothing from party-st?ife, bow                        true, whatsoever things are honorable, whatsoever
only before the Lord Jesus. They have learned the Nthirigs are just, ,whatsoever things. are lovely, what-
lesson of Jesus, and taste the "blessedness' of washing soever things are of good report, take account of these
their neighbor's feet.                                                     things ; if there' be any virtue, if there be any praise,
   .Such we must become more and more:                               .     think on these things.
   Wherefore the .Apostle adds.: "B& in lowliness let                          One of the loveliest things under the sun is to think
each esteem the other better than themselves. Look more highly of your neighbor than of yourself! Let
not every man on his own things, but every man also                        this truth sink into your hearts. Put this among the
on the things of others".                                                  cherished "gems" of your Scrap-Book. Keep this be-
   Lowlitiess is the virtue of grace whereby we .place fore your mind's eye. It is. your life. It is the wis-
ourselves bef,ore the face of ,God and our.neighbor and                    dom that crieth in the streets of Jerusalem and that
in our whole thought' and purpose think of ourselves                       is -justified. in her belieping children.
according to the actual facts; iri this lowliness we face
reality. We are hon& with'ourselv&  and also before                         But is it' r'eally possible to thus think of all of your
God. In the world such a man is often called a brave                       neighibors  ? All do not have the same excellency from
man. Also here is an element of  .boastin,g. Nay, in IGod, do they? Some are ,more  hbnorable members than
                                                                           others, are they  not?, This is still the rule of the
God's church such a man has received mercy. He                             "great" and the "small" in  IGod's  Kingdom, is it,
grasps  t.hat by which he has been apprehended of
Christ.      He simply works out in  th& details of his                    not? Not all have received an equally exalted place
life what God energizes in him from moment to mo-                          in God's church in this world, have they? Not all
ment. And then he appears before  ,God and lives!                          have received  equal,ly talents from  IGod. How then
He lives and does nqt die. Yes,, he is brave, but with                     can each esteem the other grk&er than self? Is this
t,he courage qf a Jacob who is given fhe victory while                     not a false humility?
he supplicates God for His blessing. That is lowli-                         -We  t h i n k   n o t .
n e s s .                                                                      In the first ,plac& because the Word of Gdd teabhes
 All vain-glory is gone at Peniel. Before the face                         that such we should be.        And we believe that the
of God none boast. God alone is great. And, there-                         Word of (God will not foster in us that which is false
fore, it is a great boon to be clothedwith this humility                   and unnatural. Here too we simply bow our neck
of mind. It is wisdom, rooted in the fear of the Lord;                     under the good yoke'of Christ and believe the sound
And the Lord ex?lts the lowly-minded to see His glory                      q o r d s   o f   G o d .
in the Sanctuary. For there is the high-way of our                          Secondsly,  because the Scriptures certainly make it
(God.      Here we tremble in beauty of holiness and cl&ar that this is a glorious reality, and thus it also
worship        the     Lord.     i           -2~.       i      .     .,    registers in  our heart and conscience.
                                      . .


                        -
     4qi                                  92-m       STANDARD                  .B~AR%R'          <     .,'

            It should not  b,e overlooked, that in Christ all              If the joy of the  Hdly Spirit whereby you have
     things come to stand in their proper relati&ship to           tasted life in fellowship with the saints is a rea! and
     ,God, our Father. Legally we are again redeemed from          Qving entity in your. life above all things precious,
     sin. We have been set in the Family of God, brethren          far more precious than rubies-then fulfil my joy that
     and sisiers  in the Ztord in which Christ is the First-       ye be likeminded, and-~a11 esteem the other greater
     born Son among many brethren. Spritually we have              than yourselves.
     been renewed according to His Spirit.so  that more and                If you know that bowels of compassion are for
     more we  becorn renewed according to His image,               your neighbor since by the Spirit you have been filled
     from `glory unto glory as by the Spirit of-the Lord.          with's  heai-t of mercy-then fulfil ye my joy, that ye
     And thus all things are made new principally.                 -be likeminded.
            Now here in the newness of my relationship to                  And what more shall I write?
     lGod it is that I learn that He alone is' great, and that
     things and people are all great to me as t,hey are great            I have come to the end of my expository observa
     in the sight of God.. Th.us they are also to the angels.      tions.
     The "little ones" 8re very great before the angels and              Looking back upon them .I a-m reminded of the
     before the redeemed saints because God thinks so              song: What more can He say than to you He  bath
     highly of them. Since we too have the life of God,            said. Could the Apostle have brought to bear stronger
     since we are no longer  enstranged  from this life of         incentives for us to walk in godliness? Nay, those,
     God, we too begin to look.at  this brother and sister as      who see, need no more light, and they, who hear, need
     `  great" in the  &yes of  `God. Here the high and  the       no more instruction. It is enough.
     low, the humble and- the exalted meet. Here ii the                    #Only we pray: Gracious F&her, make our hearts
     hakmony of humility. Here is life and joy and peace.          filled evermore and ever anew with this Spirit of like-
            Is this not the lofty Mountain top of. `Zion? Who      mindedness, till we akrive at the perfection in the age
     does not feel :- it is too high, I cannot attain unto it      to come w,hen Thou shalt be all in all!
     in my own strength?                                                                   .                  G. ,C. Lubbers
            But we need not do so in ou> strength. Paul does
     not appeal to our ingenuity and power. Wherefore he
     says : "if there be any ground of exhortation in Christ,
     if any comfor.t  of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit,
     if ani bowels of. mercy".       9                             -.           CON~TRIB.lJTPONS~
      * We  htive here four conditional sentences. They
     are conditions of, fact, determined reality. Whether
     this reality wag true in the church is not determined                             WOMEN SUFFRAGE
     by this conditional sentence. `That cannot be dete?:                  When we say that a woman should have the right
     mined by the grammar. ' But from the view-point of            to vote in the church, then some' men quickly raise a-
     the writer it is stated, as being .a fact. It could al-       few strange objections. They say, that the women
     most be translated by: since there is consolation, etc.       are not allowed to .speak  in the church. The woman
     But that .tiould take. out of this text the eiement of        sinned first,  the&fore  she must be silent. If they
     this being a @ecepb of. tlie Gospel together with t,he        want to know anything, they must ask their hus-
     warning and constraining note. Here is tender and             bands, for he is their head and they must submit to
     wise pedagogy of love. It calls .to self-examination ; it     him.  T.he women are organically in the men, there-
     brings us to our qui &ue, alerting us to spiritual at-        fore the Scriptures only speak of "brethren." And
     ,tention. .             .                                     they hold fast on  %this, that if you give the women
            If there' be in  .you the possibility of being con-    the right to vot&, they have the right to rule.
     tacted by this admonition eo be likeminded in the Lord                Now it .is not my desire to start a "battle of the
     then it is that you understand the first principles- in       sexes." But I have seriously thought about these
     Christ's teaching according to godliness. If there be         thingg for some years, and I cannot come to any
     any ground of appeal for you in Christ . . .                  other conclusion than to. think that there is some-
         If the love of ;God in His salvation whereby your         thing wrong in our congregational meetings. And
     sins are all forgiven means ought to you. If you know that the men must be wrong in forbidding the women
     what it means to be lifted. out ,of .the miry clay and        to vote in the church. `Their objections are not at
     have your feet set upon the way of God and your  - all fair.
     .w&y   ,established-then` fulfil my joy in being  like-               And  *the  apbstle also would contradict himself,
     minded.            "                                          far he writes in the same chapter: "Wherefore breth-


\


                                           THE-  STANDARD  Bl?+RER                                                     4 0 3
                      i-             -.
ren, covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with            right should be given her. And that does not at all
  tongues." 1  Car.  14:39. `Is he  .speaking  to the  m&       give `her the right to rule.
 only? That cannot be, for he writes about women                    In Nehemiah 8.:2 and 10 :28, we also read of con-
that were helpers, and "Phebe our sister,  tihich is a          gregational meetings where men and women had to
servant of the church which is at Cenchrea." Rom.               answer yes or no to *God in all things pertaining to
16. And also the daughters .of the evangelist, "And             i-he &urch.    "And  the rulers of the people dwelt at
  the  -same   m&n had four  d?ughters,  virgins, which         Jerusalem: the rest of the people. also. cast lots, to
 did prophesy." Acts  21:9.  And  a(So the prophetess           bring one of ten to dwell at Jerusalem the holy city
 Anna. Luke  2:36.                                              and  &ne parts to dwell in other cities.      And the
     And in the ,Olcl  Testament -time, at,here  we?e pro-      people blessed all the men, that willingly offered
  phetesses, like  Debora, who -also was a judge and            themselves to dwell at .Jerusalem."' Neh. 11 :l, 2.
 leader of Israel, because the men had become lax                   And in Jeremiah 44 :I5 to 28, "Then all the men,
 in their dutjr to fight for the cause of God. And the          and all the women that stood ,by, a great multitude,-
 Lord gave the honour of victory to the women and               answered Jeremiah saying: as for the word that thou
 not tq the men, even thou&h they had to do the fight- .hast spoken unto us in. the name of the Lord, we will
 ing.  Judges 4. Please do 1105 call that an exception,         hot hearken unto thee." .etc.
 because -everything is not written and repeated, what
  has  happefied  in all the `history of the church. We             You see, even if the.women  have the right to vote,
 all know that.                                                 that does not give them the right tg rule, unless it
                                                                is given unto them by the consistory. ,But if it would
     Are the women organically in the men, and is th;at         be necessary for the- Lord to use them as rulers in `b'
 `the cause why the  &zripture speaks of "brethren"?            some cases, because the men had become lax in
 But does not the apostle say that even if the woman            their duty, that would be another thing. But if pos-
is' of the  .man, even so is the man by the woman?              sible they shBuld unite to a true church, where men
  "Nevertheless neither, is tlie man dwithout  the woman,       are still in the ruiing body. `A woman  should  not
 neither the woman without the man, in the Lord." strive for such a position in the church. In the
  1 Cor. ll:ll, 12. Therefore should-there be no sepa-          Holland Bible we do read, that a widow be chosen
 ,rations and divisions in the church, "but  Fhat the           of not less than sixty years. 1 Tim., 5  :9. And the  0
  members should have the ~&me care one for the oth-            references refer us to 1 Tim. 3 :2, meaning a bishop
  er." 1  Car. 12: 25. And the head cannot say to the           or overseer. I would like to see that new BiBle about
  foot, "I have no need of you," fey are they  .not of          this,  t,hat suppose to be  more true than the King
  the same body?                                                James Virsion. .
     And the apostle writes, not to every man, but to
  the inner spiritual man in Christ, who is our head:               The right to- rule, can be given the women now
  "From whom the whole body fitly joined together               too, if the consistory tiould place some names of wom-
  and colfipacted by that which -every joint supplieth,         e!l on the list fok nomination of elders and deacons.
  according to the effectual working in the measure of          Then I would not be surprised at all, that some wom-
  every part, maketh increase of the  ,body  unto the           en would be chosen, without even one vote from the
  edifying of itself in love." Eph. 4  :16.  `fFor we are       women. For we hear more and more men that would
  members of his  `body, and of his flesh, and of his           want some women as deaconesses.         But  then- the
  bcnes." Eph. 5.                                               women would be in the consistory and that is a ruling
                                                                body.    That is not a  wqman's place. It would be
     Not dll the men, ilor all the women in the church,         inelegent and a shame, as the apostle would say.
  are true regenerated childpen  of God. And therefore,
  a woman who is a true regenerated child of God,                   The- reason the Bible uses the word "brethren" is
  thru the Holy Spirit, cannot submit to every man,             becaL?se  God created the -woman as the weaker ves-
  but only w,hen the man submits to his Head Christ,            sel, she is more quickly to fall, and therefore the
  can the woman submit to $uch a man.                           man as the head, mu& be the leaders and protectors
     How then can such -a woman be-organically in               of the woman. That is their duty.
  the man, if he must vote for ~her, or speak for her in            In the whole letter of Jude, you do riot once read
 the church?  Each must answer for himself.                     the word "brethren." And John writes to a woman:
     Th.e womell today have all the right in our church         "Lo& to yourselves, that we lose not those things
 ,)hat,~ she should have, except the right to say yes .or no    which we have wrought, but that we receive a full
 to God  in the things pertaining to the church, and            reward.". 2 John 8.
 the welfare, or  c&demna$ion  of her own  soul.  That              We should remember, not  tb look at the things
                       ,_


    I 404                                   TH'E  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

  which are seen, they are temporal, but to the things               ity. 2) Unconditional election, which of course in-
  which are not seen, for they are eternal. 2 C&. 4:X                cludes unconditional reprobation. 3) Limited atone-
       Yours in the Lord,                                            ment.    4) Irresistible  gr,ace.  5) Perseverance  -of
                                        Dorothy De Vries.            the  saints.    They can easily be remembered when
                                                                J
                      - - : - - `: - - -                             we bear in mind that the first letters of each point
                                                                     spell  TIJLIP. This is Calvinism in a nutshell. From
                                                                     these points it is plain that God receives al! the- em-
                7%~  mwr  6~  F A I T H                              phasis. The work of salvation is His and His alone
      This title, which may seem to be somewhat vague,               and man in no way does anything of himself. As
  I will immediately try to explain. First of all I am               soon as we lose these -points  or even one ,of them (if
  referring strictly~  to the.christian, hence one who has           it is possible to lose one and not the others) we have
  been regenerated by the Holy Spirit and has the life               surely drifted into Arminian waters. And- the dan-
  of Christ in his heart. In this work of regeneration               ger of doing  this is always great. History teaches
  God implants an, entire new life in the heart of His               thi.s very plainly. Therefore these truths must cer-
  child, on the basis of. Christ's sacrifice, which prin-            tainly be emphasized in our preaching. Neither must
  cipally includes faith, justification, sanctfication,  etc.        people say that we know these things and the?efore
  By the  terlti faith I am referring to the activity of             don't have to be told these things time and again.
  faith, an active. living faith, wlii?h on the one, hand            The hopelessly lost sinner who is depraved, worthy
  means a constant, living. and seeking out of Christ                of hell, unfaithful even after he has received God's
. , and .on the other hand a manifestation of this power             grace, must be  ,told time  and again that his only
  of Christ in a sancti;fied  walk. . Now the question is            salvation is Gdd's faithfulness and everlasting mercy.
  sometjmes  asked whether such .a person must be told               Only because Jehovah changes not  :are the  son% of
to live in faith.     That the unbeliever is also called             Jacob never consumed.       Isn't it our only comfort
  upon to serve the Lord, though he be a reprobate, is               that we are not OUT own, .but belong to our faithful
  certainly  also. very Scriptural. But at this  time I'm            Saviour  .Jesus Christ? And learning this  IGod will
  referring to God's people.       Must the  chri&ial!, in           certainly receive all the. glory.
  other words, be warned, exhorted and admonished                       But if God sd saves us, mu& we then yet be told
 ' and that not only a -few times, but constantly? Must              to live in faith? If -faith is a gift of  (God must we
this also be  ,given in the preaching of the Word?                   then still be told and admonished to live in that faith
  Must he also be told that if and when he does not                  and in the Way of repentance and gratitude? Does
  live in faith the Lord does not bless him?  O.r, to                not the one exclude the other? Isn't it true that the
  use a termi&logy commonly` discussed in our day, is                Christian wants to do good works in faith? And yet
  such a living in faith a condition to the enjoyment                the Bible is full of such admonitions. One finds them
  of the blessings of the Lord? _ Finally, ,is this what             in every book of Scripture. In  th& epistles of Paul
  is meant by the responsibility of the Christian?         ;         we usually first find what may be called the .doctrinal
     In discussing the truth of salvation by sovereign               part and then  thi! admonitions to live according to
  g.:aace 2nd the &i!d .of God's responsibility one finds this doctrine. In them the Christian is exhorted to be
  various opinioils. To me it is certain that both must              diligent, to choose the good, to fight the good fight of
  receive the proper emphasis: It is very well possible              faith, to constantly fight against sin, seek the things
  that this i,sn't done. Possible it `is that when.' you             above, etc.`, etc. However, to me our best guide in all
  ask someone acquainted with Reformed truth whe-                    these things is the Heidelberg Catechism, which, is a
  ther `he believes in sovereign predestination he will              complete compendium of the truth. Most of us are
  almost be insulted by the very question and yet not                acquainted with its three parts, that of misery, re-
  give it its proper emphasis. On the other hatid it is              demption and gratitude. Our misery is not only that
  possible that when you ask sqmeone  whether he be- we by nature are lost and depraved ,but that we are
  lieves in the responsibility of man he will answer                 hopelessly lost. No  tian or any other creature can
  with an emphatic yes, but whether he gives it the                  possibly save us. We are doomed to die the death of
  proper place and emphasis is another question. Of- hell. But God saves His own through Christ, through
  t& many of these things are no more  that1  a mere                 faith, which of course is a gift of God. Thereupon
  t,heory.                                                           the Catechism goes into detail to explain this ,Gospel
      1; Reformed doctrine, which of course is also                  of Jesus Christ, God's Son, as the object of our faith.
  Fret. Ref. doctrine, iye have the precious heritage of             And it emphasizes that it is Christ who gives us this
  Calvinism. In catechism we teach our children that faith; Lord's Day 7 and 25. This faith is defined. to
  this consists mainly il?. five points:, 1) Total deprav-           be a certain knowledge and a hearty- confidence in


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                                        THE  S T A N D A R D   BEARER                                                4 0 5

 the Christ of the Scriptures. The idea is that                is the same law as treated in Lord's Day 2, only here
 through this knowledge and trusting (which- implies           it is given as the guide to those children of ,God who
 a constant struggle on the part of the children  of           have been redeemed from that terrible misery by
 God) we receive these things.                                 Cod's grace in Christ. Now it is a law of love to
   In  Other words in the Catechism we find many               them. But in the questions of the Catechism with
 musts of faith.      In the entire discussion of the the explanation of-the law it is asked time and again :
 Apostles' Creed these truths- are explained as  the           What' does  <God  @@q&e  of us, etc. Hence, another
 object of the faith of the Christians.  T,hese  are the       must, one of the law of love, but a must nevertheless.
 truths they  spiritually  know and trust in. But the          In Lord's Day 45 you find the beginning of the dis-
 idea surely is that it is only through knowing and            cussion of the subject of prayer.         And the first
 trusting that they can appropriate these things un-           question is: Why is pray& necessary for a Christian?
 to themselves. In, the discussion of the Sacraments           In other words, why should we or must we as Chris-
 the followihg `question is asked several ..times  : How       tians pray? In the answer we are told that ,God will
 art thou  admonished  and assured, etc. `This is the be  ~ckno~ledgecl  in gratitude and that He will give
 way in which the Lord works salvation in the hearts           His grace and Holy Spirit only to those, who with
 or" his people. The blessings of salvation are never          sincere desires continually ask them of Him, and are
 poured in through a funnel, but given only through            thankful for them. Now  tihat does this mean,? Is
 admonitions' and exhortations, being appropriated by this a conditi.on?  I shave no objections to the word if
 a living faith. The Lord doesn't feed us like a doc-          only it is understood, properly; -The same is true of
 tor may feed a patient with an intravenous injection.         other words such as accept (which we also find in
 No, He wants us to open our- mouths and eat. I re- the Bible according to the original, as for example in
 peat, in t&s zuay the !Lor&gives  grace and faith unto        John 1.:12  trapslated in the Holland language .by the
 His children. It is  His- Word of Christ that is              word  aangenomen)  or the word embrace, found in               '
 brought to us, His calling whereby we are confron- the Netherlands Confession, Art.  22. Now I ddn't
 ted and called to live out of Christ, and it is His grace     care about the tise of a word, but this concept we must
 working through. dur mind and `will whereby we give keep, namely, that God will-give His grace and Holy
 heed to the admonitions and open our mouths and eat.          Spirit only to those who with sincere desires continu-
   --But then comes the third @art of the .Catechism,          ally ask them. of <God. In this word the Lord says
 which incidentally is also the largest one of the three;      to the individual Christian that if he doesn't ask for
 The idea of this part is that'that faith,which  btilieves     these spiritual things he will not receive them. Does
 that we are saved only through the riches of God's            this Then imply that God is dependent on us ? Never !
 grace in Jesus Christ must- reveal itself in- fruits. A       But it is through this means of confrontation and ped-
 good tree must bring forth good fruits. However,              agogy that the Lord makes His people as  rational-
 fruits grow on a tree only when it is active and liv-         moral creatures a praying people, a people that liye
 ing; so the pedeemed  child of `God brings fortti fruits      in complete dependency upon Him.
 only through a liying and active faith. In this third            Finally we can ask the' question why the Lord
 part of the Catechism we .find all kinds of admoni-           works in this way. What is the Divine purpose of
tions or  -musts `of faith. Notice question 86 : Why           all these things, the musts of faith? The answer to
 m~$ we still do good works? In Lord's Day 33 the              this question is, to my mind, three-fold.
 subject of conversion is discussed and the idea surely           1)  God" will have His  childyen bring forth fruits
 is that we must w&k in the way of conversion. Per-            gratitude, which are good works. And good works
 haps, with all these musts, someone may ask whether           they are when we do not merely-glorify Him in theory,
 we as children. of .God must really do something then?        but in our living. The redeerJled  church must be zea-
 Or, can we do something?. Doesn? Christ, do it all?           lous in good works. H-e will have a people saved by
 We surely must do something, we must do much. We              sovereign grace from  ' a totally depraved condition
 must even work out ou?. &ly salvation, Phil. 2. The           live unto, Him, a people that -is willing and able. to
 Canons teach that it can rightly be said that man re-         forsake all and seek Him only. The first two parts
 pents and believes. We also  re+d of the Christians           of the catechism serve the third part.
 embracing Ghrist. ,These  things they do as conscious            2) We must be admonished to do this,. even with
 will'ing creatures. The point of Reformed doctrine is         the law of love, because of our  sinful nature. One
 not that man must or can do nothing but that he can may ask whether it just naturally isn't the desire of
 do n&hing of himsdlf, nothing bf `his own free will. the redeemed child of God to do good works. Can one
 To come back tb the Catechism, ip this thisd part we who has tasted of this marvelous grace in Jesus Christ
 also: find a detailed~ explanation of the lath of `Ged. It    da  any  differeyt ? Na, of  caurse not,  .not  according

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

to his new principle of life. But we are still ,in this       for His grace. In short, the musts of faith'teach us
body of sin, that old  na!ure that always seeks the           that salvation is only of the Lord.
things below. Therefore we must be admonished and-.              Last .of all, in the  ineasure that the children of
inst&t&d to battle against sin, and. the world. And           God give heed to these admonitions and live in faith,
so it is through these musts of fai\th, through constant in that measure they learn that though they niay have
battling with the old man of sin, through tensions and        done some good works -(the best still being polluted
struggle& prayers and supplications as wrought in             Fith sin) by this .grace of God that these works can
our hearts by the Holy Spirit that the child of Gqd           never be the ground of their salvation.                *The only
brings forth fruits of gratititde.                            ground forever remains the &e complete sacrifice of
                                                              Jesus on the cross, the gift of God's love for His cho-
   3) The final purpose of these  musts of faith' is that     sen people. This we Zenyn in this way throughout our
we may learn throughout our lives in God's school that        lives. This to me is Calvinism, Reformed and Protes-
salvation is only of Him. In the- beginning of this           tant Reformed.
article I mentioned the five points of Calvinism, stat:                                                  J. Blankespoor
ing that all things must serve this truth. This is also
true of the musts of faith. Through this way the                Note. If the Must, the May, `the Can, and the Will
doctrine of salvation by God's grace becomes a living         are presented in the right light and in perfect har-
truth, and doesn't remain a tierely objective doctrine.       mony, there is no danger of going a&tray. But what
The Lord gives US a life span of sixty or seventy years       is the motive and reason for the above article?-Ed.
to learn by experience that He is faithful and that His
promises are sure. How does the Lord teach this?
With the musts of faith the Lord as it were sets before                          -:--:-..-.--
t&e  christialls a high mountain.  To do good works,
i.e., to ke&p the law out of love and live lives of prayer
is for the children of God  iiz this world with sinful Dear Editor:-                '     '
natures like ascending a steep mountain. 80 how dif-             I was very glad that you published the questions
ficult this is! And, yet the Lord requires this of us.        and answers of the Ladies' League meeting.
We must live and pray perfectly. Experiencing this               You dsk. why you were cut off in the middle of
,God's people do not only say that this is .difficult, no     your. speech? I ask why did the collection for  Mrs.
this is impossible. We realize the must but also that IGrundy exceed the collection. for our own schools when'
we can't do it. Then  we come to the knowledge of             the number of ladies was larger when the latter col-
what in the Holland language is sometimes called: "he%        lection was taken?
moeten maar niet kunnen." The result is' that the                Majrbe --`the' answer to %e one is also the answer
children of God flee to God, pY'ay that much more fer-        to the other.
vently and seek their all  h Christ. In  fihis way we
are driven anew to `Christ. This is also the thought                                A sister in Christ,
of the last question and answer of Lord's Day 44 df                                                  Mrs. Fred Harbin,
the Catechism.    There, after the law has been ex-                                            `757 Butterput Dr.,
plained to the redeemed child of <God, the question is                                               Holland, Michigan.
asked why God will have t&e ten commandments so
strictly preached (musts of faith) since no man in              Note : Mrs.  4Harbin seems  50 suggest that I was
this life can keep them. The answer  first of all is          delibertitely cut off to prevent the League from hear-
that through this way we learn  moFe and more to              ipg my answers on the questions concerning the Cfiow-
know our sinful nature&  and thus become the more             patta Mission so-callGd.
earnest in seeking the remission of sin. In other                `Certain it is that some of the Board had listened to
words, thrbugh these exhortations we come ever more           my questions on the wire on the Sunday evening be-
                                                              fore the meeting of the League.                   _
to the knowledge that we are saved only and forever              But I protested to the Delegate Board, and most
through the grace of God in  ,Jesus' blood. The se-           likely the matter will be brought up at the next meet-
cond purpose of this strict preaching of the law is           ing of,.the  League. I cannot let this go.
that we may constantly endeavor and pray to God for              The sister writes me: "The .Lord have mercy on
the grace ,of the Holy SSpirit, so that we may become         us."
more confoymable  to His image. The strict preaching             And I say: Amen, if this can happen ip our Pro-
of th`e law (the musts of faitih) cause the Christian to      testant Reformed Churches. .  _
ever more bow before `God-in prayer b-eseeching Him                                                      -The Editor,


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                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R ,                     .-                407 .

            A                                                 have done -all that tie can clo, we are unprofitable
                 rminianism  -  A  ~Subtle  Heresy             servants.' "
    Arminianism is a subtle heresy`. This is what `I              I` (4) The work of salvatiBn, in all its stages, can
 am trying to make plain in these articles.                    be performed, either in whole or in  part,. by none
    Let us now posit this question: what is the dif-           buk God; and this is entirely a work of grace, for
 ference between Calvin&m atid Arminianism on the             none can claixn it ah the hand of God as a matter of
 subject of salvation ?                                       right, and-it ,is of his mere grace that God has pro-
    Let the, Arminian Ralston tell us (Thomas N. .Ral-        mised to save the sinner, according t,o the plan of his
 ston, D. D., already introduced to the readers of The        own devising.
 Standard Bearer).          F$om Ralston's "Element's of          Can it be, my dear reader, that I quote here an
 Divinity" I quote the following statement: "The plain -Arminian! Well, I do. Can it be that if an  Armin-
 difference between  ,Calvinism  and  Artiinianism, on        ian-any Arminian-were asked to supply us with
 this subject (the subject of salvation) is this: Cal- -a stateme&  of his faith on such subjects as total de-
vinists cannot see how salvation can be entirely of           pravity and salvation he would recite the doctrine
grace, if it has any respect to fjith, or anything else,      contained in the total of these  p%opositions? He
as a con&ion; whereas Arminians, whil'e they under- would  cert$inly.
stand that `repentance toward God, and faith toward               You say: this is amazing. Yet it is not so amaz-.
our Lord Jesus Christ,' are  indispensible   conx%tions       ing. For the fact is that  the doctrine. of these four
of salvation with all to whom the Gospel is addressed,        propositions; however reformed in some of its parts,
understand, at the same time, that salvation is entire-       is *also vitiated by the Arminian lie. This lie' is plain-
ly, from beginning to end, a  work  <of God through           ly discernable especially in the first of the four pro-
gra,ce."                                                      positions. But in order to recognize~it we must know
    So then, according to Ralston, the Calvinists say:        ihat  Arminian lie in the  Various  forms that it as-
Ealvation is entirely out of grace and therefore it can       sumes and in all its ramifications.
not be suspended on faith or anything else as CL con&           ' One of the forms it assumes is the contention of
&ion.                                                         Ralston with which we aye now occupied-the conten-
  But the Arminians say:  though salvation is en- tion that salvation, though entirely *of grace, is never-
tirely of grace, it nevertheless is suspended on faith theless sus$encled  on faith as cc condition, that, in .oth-
as a condition.  _                                            er words,  ,God saves  men on  the conclition of  their
    we see then the .difference bet,ween  the Calvillism ,faith,  &~cl  thnt  ,tlze~efore   man,  nncl not  Go.&  deter-
of the day in which Ralston wrote (circa  1875,) and mines man's eternal destiny. This is Ralston's doc-
the Arminianism of that day. And of course, such trine literally. Attend to the following from his pen:
is still the difference between arminianism and Cal-          "F6r nothing can be plainer than that Goh has pro-
;vinism  of this OUT day-that is, of Calvinism -worthy mised to save the believer <upon  the c&m?ition  of faith
of the name.                                                  and threatened `to punish the unbeliever in cons&
    Mark you well, the Arminian, too, .& well as the          qusnce of his unbelief and voluntary rejection of the
Calvini& maintains with  : just as much vigor that            Gospel.  Noth'withstanding  salvatipn is thus suspen-
salvation itself is entirely, froni beginning to end, a       ded on conditions, and in a certain sense, man, by his
work of. God through grace. That is what Ralston owl1 age&y,  must  detemmine  his  etemnl  destiny, yet
says.    The above quotation from his book contains           it may easily be shown that salvation itself is all the
this statement in it, namely: "Arminians . . . under-         work of God through grace."
stand . . . that salvation itself is entirely, from begin-       Notice how our author, after stating that  snZzx+
;pling to end, a work of God through grace."                  tion is suspended on faith as a condition, goes  on to
   `This is what Ralston and with him all Arminians           conclude  -from this  that  man determines his  etel-nal
say, namely. that the entire salvation' is a work of          destiny. This is correct. For  if  salvation is suspen-
God through grace. And  he basis  his teaching on ded on faith as a condition -(which it is not, of cou.rse)
grounds that read as follows, and I quote:                    then certainly man does indeed determine his eternal
   " (1) Man is by nature utterly helpless; incapable         destiny. For to  .,say that salvation is suspended  on
of any good whatever, only as he is visited and               fnitlz (LS a, conclition, is to ,say that faith, man's deci-
strengthened by divine grace.                                 sion to believe, is the determining cause of his sal-
   `"(2) It is attributable to grace alone that a plaxi va.tion,  of God's persistantly sanctifying him by his
of mercy' has been devised aild proposed to man.              grace,' and  persistantly  strengthening him for the
   " (3) Nothing that man can do can avail anything good fight of faith, and -of His finally taking tlie man
t'oward purchasing salvation by merit; for .`when we          up into His heaven, For such ,indced is the proper


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___-    ~~~--~~~         .~  -~/I                T H E   STAN!E%:RD   B E A R E R                                    -

        meaning of the word condition (determining cause)                 as a condition. The Calvinists insisted thaf the teach-
        in- the slatemsnt, "s&&ion  is suspended on faith as .ing was  coritradictory   ; that, in other  words,  if  sal-
        a condition," so that Ralston deserves credit for one             i ation is tuspended  on faith as a condition, il- camlot
        thin&  natiely that he used the term  condition in its            ii1 its eiltirety be a work of IGad throztgh grace ; and
        proper sense, according to its  I uses loquendi (the              that , on th.h:. other hand, if salvation in its entirety be
        .meaning that it has in the dictionary) and was thus `a svolk of God through grace, it cannot be suspended
        not monkeying with words.                                         on  jai.th  a3 ,a condition. An;long the Calvinists of that
            We see then how that according to  Ra&ton                     day calling Ralston to account was also one Dr. Hill.
        and all Arminians the salvation of mafi is suspended' Ralston states all Hill's objections. H.e (in his book) j
        ovz faith.  as  h  con&ion   and that therefore man  an,d         aclmits  tha: the difficulties that Hill has with the
        not God determines man's eternal destiny - deter-                 Arminian doctrine  are of a grave character. And
        mines whether he  goes to heaven or  perish& in his               indeed they are, so much so, in fact, that Ralston's
        sins.    It cannot well be otherwise but that man d&              attempt to surmount them ends in dismal failure. He
        `termines his  owls destiny, if salvation  is suspended           does not, in his counter-argument, reconcile the prop-
        o'n faith as a  conldition.   For then man's decision to          ositions that though salvation in its entirety is a work
        believe has not ,God's counsel as its sovereign cause,            of. God through grace, it at once is suspended upon
        but'man believes because man wills and not because faith  as a condition. And this is not a wonder. `The
        `God sovereignly so determined. Thus if the salvation two propositions cannot be reconciled. Of this Rals-
        of man is suspended upon faith. as a .condition,  the             ton, of  course, was fully aware. In his despair he
        teaching of Paul is a lie, the ,teaching, narriely, that threw himself finally on the Scriptuies `(but of course
        God has merc.y Upon who-m H,e will have mercy and                 without right)  ,by  the following statement, and I
        that He hardens whom  He will.                                    quote : "If it still be insisted .that salvation cannot be
            Man then (according to our author) believes be-               ascribecl  to. grace, if it be' suspended upon a condi-
        cause  Ize,  m/an,  ,wills, and if he persists  of himself  in    tion, then the charge of inconsistancy  or heterodoxy
        his good decision to believe, God continues to assist             must be made upon the Bible itself; for nothing can
        him by His grace.on the way to heaven and thus .the               be plainer (fyom the Scriptures, he means) than that
        man is finally saved `through his cooperating with ,God has promised to save the believer upon the con-
        Cod and God with him.                                             dition of faith."
            This is the horrible heresy concealed in the first-              Ralston means to say: the Bible is full of  condi-
        o$  th? four propositions cited above. Ma& it states,             tions, and that settles the matter; why argue.
        is utterly .helpless, incapable of any good whatever.                But ,the fact is that the term, con&iti.on  doesn't ap-
        Yet, according to Ralston, however incapable of any. pear in the whole of. th,e Scriptures, much less such
        good, man can, nevertheless, as. strengthened by God's            statements as "Salvation is suspended  on faith as a.
        grace,  alId even before  ,his regeneration,  of. himself         condition. The trouble with Ralston was that he saw
        clec%cl.e  to be saved. This decision is  ,$rictly out  .of       "conditicns" in all those places in the Scriptures
        man. _ It does not have God's counsel as it sovereign             where the particle `iif" appears. He refused to ad-
        cauee  nor.-Gdd's grace as its fountain. Thus on the              mit that this particle "if" may have a half  doze;1
        Afniini&i  posit&,  salvation is only partly out  :of             meanings besides the meaning  condition,  and that
        Grace,  that is, out of God. Partly it is out of man.             therefore  the meaning of that "if" in all the places
        This  goocl  clecision. to believe is  out` of man. Thus,         where it  occurs,  kmust certainly be determined by
        Ralston lied when he told his readers that, accord-               painstaking exegesis  cf the text. But the trouble
        ing to Arminian doctrine, man is incapable of any                 with Ralston .was that he refused to do two things,
        good whatever and that salvation itself. is entirely              1) Come with exegesis; 2)  repIy to the exegesis of
        ou: of ,Gad. Actually it is not their teaching, however           his assailants.. As we saw, according to Ralstan, see-
        Bound they may appear .to be in the official state-               ing that salv&ion is suspended on faith as a condi-
        ments of their beliefs. Arminianism is a subtle her-              tion, man cl&ermines his -own destiny, , which means
        esy, amazingly  ,so:  Well may we, as Protestant Re-              of course -that man's decision to believe has not the
        formed people, watch and pray that by it we be not                counsel of God as its sovereign cause and fountain.
        deceived and destroyed.                                           Ralston devoted a whole chapter to arguing this point,
            Ralston, of course, was taken to task by the Cal-             --the point that man's decision  to believe  does not
        vinists of his day for  s affirming that though  salva-           have the counsel of God as its sovereign cause. and
        && is entirely, from beginning to end', a work of God             fountain.      _
        through grace, it nevertheless is suspended  0x1 faith                                  (to be continued) -, G, M. Ophoff
                                                           i


