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. .    . .





        VOLUME   XXVIII                           JULY   1,  1952  -  GRAND   RAPIDS,   MICHIGAN                          NI,TMBER   19

                                                                             Don't let me see the semblance of idolatry in your
              M  E  `D  I  T,  `A  -T  I  0  N                              midst !" Would it not work much better to whip them
                                                                             into shape like a dict,ator ?
                                                         ~~~~~                   IOh, but Joshua is not ,the leader of a political party
                           J o s h u a 's   R e s o l v e                   which must be kept intact by hook or by crook. He
                   "        ,but as for me  land.-my house, we will         is no dictator who Will stand or fall,  all according
                 ser;e'  thk Lord." -Jo&ua   24:15ib.                       to the size of following he may muster for his schemes
         Joshua was old and strickeh in years, but before                   and plans. Joshua is the great. servant of Jehovah
 he died he called for all Israel, f2 their elders and                      and the type of Jesus Christ the Lord!
for their judg.es and for their officers, and he made a                          And the theme of his discourse is religion, the ser-
 long speech to them, reheaysing in their ears all the                      vice `of the <God of the heavens and of the earth. And
-deeds of  wonde?  apd  !ovingkindness  which the Lord                      I assure you thai this makes a tremendous diffe%nc&.
had wrought, giving thei the land flowing with milk                              Religion, the' service. 6f God, is entirely a matter
 a n d   h o n e y .                                                        of freedom, of liberty, of spontaneous endeavour.
        Moreover, he warned the-m sternly' about -ever leav-                There is not an inkling `of compulsion in religion. On
 ing the Lord and going awhoring after other gods,                          the great day of the Lord God of Hosts, `He will have,
 after the gods of the heathen who still dwelled in their                   a people that. are very willing and very eager to do
mid& -' He rebuked them sternly and witnessed unto                          His sovereign will. Religion is this: we submerge
then?  `of the righteous judgment of (God that should                       our will entirely into the will of God. And that will
o&r-take  them if. they would turn to other gods and                        of IGod -is this, namely, that we love Him, know- Him
forsake  Jehovah-IG-od  of Israel.                                          and obe$Him  from the motive of purest. love in the
 1      And toward the, end, he exclaims within their ears :                heart.-
But for me and my house,-.we will serve the Lord!                                And  Israel must learn this. `Therefore, Joshua
        It sounds like a challenge! `Do what ye will, ,I ?m                 casts the ball their way: Choose ye this day whom ye
going to heaven, and my house is going with me !. At                        will serve: either. heathen- gods and their idols or the
f&t flush it does no5 sound like 3 man who had been                         living ~God who brought YOU from the cruel bondage of
commiss`ioned  to bring ,God's people to the Holy Land.                     Egypt into this blessed land of Canaan.
It seer& as though he is using tb.e wring kind of pe,                            $0 serve `the Lord !
da@xy.                                                                           That-is very seemly, that is entirely proper, it is
       Listen to him, who is called to, be a leader, a.-spi-                an holy obligation for everjr man, woman, child, spirit,
ritual leade?,  of God's chosen Israel: "And if it seem .be he ~angel or devil. Even the devil has no business
evil unto you to serve the Lord, ,chqose  ye this, day to  pe what he is. All ought to praise the Lord and
whom you will serve ; whether the gods which your                           serve Him in loving fear.
fathers served that were on the &her side of the flood,                          I assure you that we are so' hard-hearted by na-
or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell:                       ture, so foolish and indigerent to the truth,. that we
but as for mi! arid my house, we will serve the `Lord !!' are getting used to the most profoun'd  trizths, and to
       Does iti not seem very pooY' leadership to leave the                 such an extent -that the tremendousness of these truths
people,  &s it were, to the inclination of their own                        does not to&h us anymore. I have in mind the grou$
heart? Would it not sound much wiser to say to                              for the propositidn I m&%tioned, the proposition, ria??e-
i&em : "Don't you ever dare to serve other gods!                            ly, that it is &&rely proper, that it is wholly obliga-

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

         tory to serve the Lord `God in all our lives, with all       that the thought of the heart and the answer of the
         our heart, and- mind and soul and strength, all the          tongue is of the Lord.
     d a y s   o f   o u r   l i v e s .         0                        All that is and breathes is (God's own property,
                That ground is this: He i: our Creator.               and His gocid-pleasure. That is a truth worth pon-
                When we hear  this- we are inclined to say: We        dering.                 '
         kilow that IGod is the Creator oi all meti and that we           Do you now see that -it is entirely obligatory and
         therefore must serve Him. And then we are inclined           and proper to serve God?       .
         to let the matter rest. But that is exactly otir failing.                           i?  *`
                                                                                                     a  *
         We let the matter rest, and, hasten to serve ourselves,          But there is more.
      . the lusts of our flesh, the inclinations of our hearts,        We ought to serve  l&m because He is the Ruler,
         the cause of humanity, etc.  -And I assure you that the Judge and End of all things. Whether  ,you are
         they  all are the  ido!s of this horrible age in which       a heathen or a churchman, a man! woman or child,
         we live.                                                     whether we are good or evil spirits, we all ought to
             We must serve  IGod for He has made us, He is            serve `Gpd, for we are created `for kis glory.
         our Creator.                                                     The definite, determinate, absolute purpose of this
             We think of this truth, if we think of it at ail, as     .whole Universe and its fullness is that it all should
        if [God made us even as a carpenter makes a house.            be unto the praise of His glory.
        When the man is ready with his work, he walks away.               That truth is revealed.
         And so also we think often of,lGod who made us. We              Even the brute creation teaches this. `God has re-
         are all practical deists. Deism, as you may know, is .vealed these things through the things that are made.
        the theory that  IGod is infinitely  exaited   above His      They `all shout aioud of this glorious purpose. They
         creation, but denying the truth of Holy  ,Scriptures         tell, nay, they sing a beautiful song regarding the in-
        that ,God is in His creation, that He is perv&ng the          visible virtues of God. And singing of them th&y.re-
        whole Universe with His almighty presence  and- that          veal His eternal power and Gdd-head.  Paul has told
-        His glorious Being touches all things at all mom.ents        us these things in the first chapter to the Romans.
        in history.                                                   And you find the same truths in the 19th Psalm of
             For remember, God did not walk away aft& He              David.      There also we hear that the created things
        had made the Universe. He niade us, and we are, as            sing aloud of the glory of the Lord. And the purpose
        it were, in the very hollow of His hand.  `..He has           of the' song of brute creation is that we should serve
        made us and He sustains us every moment. Suppose              Him and thank Him. We shall have no excuse in the
        the impossible: if God would take away His almighty           day of Judgme:-.(;  if we have not served and thanked'
        and provident Hand from yen at any moment, that               Him all our lives. Paul tells us that'too. `The Lord
        very moment you would cease to exist. You would has revealed the invisible virtues of Himself, so that
        simply disappear, fall into nothingness, otit of which        they will be without excuse in the d&y of Judgment.
        you are. taken. He preserves our being, and He it is             Think of that when you  see the whole world of
     - that gives us our being now and forever, whether we            color, of sound, of form and of the beauties of crea-
        will arrive in the .heavens, and be gloriously happy          tion. Think on it when you hear the sounds that per-
        forever, or whether we will weep and gnash our teeth irade the-day and the night. It is the song of created
        in eternal desolation. IGod's  Dmnipotent  and  omni-         things which do sing unconsciously of His praises.
        prese&t power is around us and will be around us and          And at such times, think on it, that they are the' mes-
        within us  for&vei.. In the whole Universe there is           sengers of the Alm-ighty ,God, telling you, calling un-
        not an atom that is not touched by Him. He is so              to you that you should serve `Him with all your heart,
                                                                                                             -
        great and glorious that Paul bids us to fear and trem-        with all your mind,. with all your soul and with all
        ,ble before Him. He is so close to us every day and all       your strength. `That is the purpose of creation.
        the dajT that we ought to be filled with awe and re-             Moreover, He is the Lord! '
        verence forever and ever.                                        And that means that He is the God of His ever-
             We belong to Him, whether we be good or bad.             lasting covenant. The Name Jehovah means that He
        He made us and keel% us in the hollow of His hand.            has thoughts, eternal thoughts, of everlasting peace,
             We belong to Him for He made us for Himself.             harmony  anl-l unutterable lovingkindness toward the
        The very devil is God's own property. Satan will find         men of His good pleasure and they are the elect.
        that out at the end of time when IGod shall cast him             He has beautifully revealed Himself as such.- He
        into the lake of fire. Nobody even owns himself. We           reGealed Himself as the ,Cov'enant  *God first -of all in
     all are His. You cannot even call a mere thought of              Paradise. And whei man broke that covenant from
        mind `or of the heart your otin.       The Bible tells us     his side, and fell away from all righteousness, becom-


                                                    ?HE  STA,~DARD.  E+~~~ER                                        435
                                                                                              j
ing a friend of the devil, .God revealed that He was               Shall we then not say with Joshua : but as for me
the Lord in going to Paradise and calling out to Adam           and my house we -will serve the Lord?
and Eve who had hia themselves from the face of the                I ask you, in the face of such wonderful revela-
Lord, by saying : Adam, where. art thou? That call              tion of  pow&, eternal (Godhead, love  and mercy in
 in the morning ,of history is the second revelation of IChrist, where shail the man ,and woman appear that
the .Covenant Jehovah. Fdr at the same time He killed turn their evil and stiff neck against the Almighty and
an animal so that He might clothe tee nakedness and             taunt Him to His face, saying: Depart from me, 0
 shame of  iin of His first children, Adam and Eve. <God ! I have no pleasure in  `Thy ways? Yes, and
 T.his killing of the innocent animal which suffered for        they say this while they  receive  life, health, and
the sin of .man, was a clear type of the great Lamb of          strength, bread and water, the verjr air they breathe
AGod who. was to come, Christ Jesus the Lord.                   in, their nostrils, from this -same God. Can  yen not
    Yes, the ILord has revealed Himself as the C&e-             justify the Almighty in eternal damnation of the
 nant Jehovah in that He gave our fathers the sacri-            evil and unthankful ?
 ficial animals, the altar and the priest of -the.NOld Test-       0 yes,  (God is just when He judges. Even Satan
 ament. Moreover, He spoke time and again to `our               will presently admit this.
 fathers by' the prophets and that speech of ,God `re-                                   *  a,*  a
 garding His eternal covenant of love and friendship               I think that I  h&e proven to you, that we all
 ii saved for us in the Holy Bible.                             ought to serve Him and thank Him and glorify Him
    Oh yes, you should serve Him for all such Iaye. and         forever.
 lovingkindness.                          .                        But here is the sad sequel: we are unable to serve
    As the years rolled by in the Old Testament times,          Him as we are by nature. Here is the indictment of
the speech of the Covenant God became ever clearer,             human nature-and I will quote~from  Godls own mouth :
 ever more glorious. Later they saw the tabernacle              And ,God saw that the wickedness of man was great
 and the temple of IGod, telling us that. God promised          in the earth, and that' every imagination of the
 to dwell with us under one roof. They told us of the           thoughts of his heart. was only evil continually. That
 eternal peace and joy in His communion. Oh yes, God            is the Biblical evaluation of the heart of man, of every
 is the Coyenant ,G_od. And Joshua knew of it. `When            man. Such is the ease whet&r you are born in Japan
 the people of His choice' groaned in bondage in cruel          and India, or in America or Europe.
- Egypt, the Lord remembered His coverizmt  and bowed              How then could Joshua say: but as for me and -my
 down to them in sweetest mercy and gave them M&es              house-we will serve the Lord !?
`so that they might be delivered and go to the lands of            Here is the answer: God has ,made him willing by
,Canaan which they received for an inheritance.                 the operation of His Holy Spirit in his heart and mind,
    Shall we then not serve Him?                                transforming him into a willing child of God. With-
                        *     *     *               *-.--       out that operation, we remain obstinate and rebellious
    But there is more. And remember that Joshua                 to  `God, fill up the measure of wickedness and are
 did not have as much of the revel&tin of this (Cove-           lost forever.
 nant .*God as you and I have.                                     But Christ Jesus poured out His Holy Spirit on
    He did send His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh.        Pentecost and sirice then that Spirit is working, labor-
 The Lord God caused all the sin of His elect Israel            ing in order to bring the el,ect children of ,Gdd to His
 to. come upon the head of this s&xifieial  Lamb, and           eternal Home.
 He bore it away, never to return. You sing; Though                And if you are drawn you will know it. Your
 your sins be as scarlet.1 I will make them white as            name is written in His Word. If you are hungry and
 wool. And it is well. But remember, the sins of                thirsty for righteousness, if. you are weary and heavy
 (God's  people become like Wool and freshly fallen snow,       laden, if you are a lover of that which is good and
 only because Jesus went to hell for us. And as a re-           comely, such as ,God's  own virtues of goodness, loving-
 velation of the eternal `covenant love of  IGod. So            kindness, power and wisdom, then it is a sign that He
 that He might b.e praised and thanked forever.                 is calling you Home. Then you will also find within
    Note the greater glory of this second revelation,           you the resolve of Joshua. Then you will say: What-
 rather than the first one in Paradise. Adam and Eve            ever the world may offer, I choose for ,God and His
 glorified ,God because of His lovingkindness to them           Kingdom. The fathers that died for their faith in
 in the `gift of created things. But we thank Him and past ages'have proved it in blood and tears. But now
 serve Him for the sake of His wondrous love in Je-             they sing in glory! They served Him in ,misery on
 sus, who suffered o& hell, damnation and the curse,            earth, but now they serve in great happiness above.
 so that we might be Do IGod's praises forever.                     Serve Him with fear!                       G. Vos
                                               e


                     .



4%                                                  `i           -  T H E   $TA-N-DA&$  B E A R E R                                             --
                                        ._
-
                          THESTANDARD  BEARER                                                                          ED-ITORIALS
        Semi-monthly, except monthly in July and August
     Published by the Reformed Free  qublishing  `Association
            Box 124, Station C., Grand Rapids 6, Michigan                                                            The Promise According to the  ConFessions
               EDITOR  -  Re; Herman Hoeksema
     Communications relative to contents should be addressed                                                          In our discussion of the brochure of Dr. Schilder
     to Rev. H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S. E., Grand                                                          we  .already touched upon the subject of `the term
     Rapids 7, Michigan.                                                                                           promise as it occurs frequently in our Confessions.
     All matter relative to subscription should be addressed
     to Mr. J.  Bouwman,  1350 Giddings Ave., S. E., Grand                                                            This discussion we &ill now contiliue.
     Rapids `7, Michigan. Announcements  an.d  Obituaries must                                                        Qu. 74 of the Heidelberg Catechism speaks of in-
 be mailed to the above address and will be published at a
     fee of $1.00 for each noti%ce.                                                                                fant `baptism. -It instructs us that infants are to be
     Renewals:- Unless a definite request for discontinuance                                                       baptized, "since they, as well as the adult, are in-
     is received, it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the                                                     cluded in the c0venan.t  and church hf -God ; and since
     subscription to' continue  wjtho'ut the formality of a re-                                                    redemption from sin 6y the blood of Christ, and the
     newal order.                                                                                                  Holy IGhost,  the author of faith, is promised to them
                          Subscription Price.:  $3.00-  per year                                                   no less than to the adult." The promise, therefore, m-
     Entered as Second Class mail at Grand Rapids, Michigan                                                        eludes  Jhe remission of sin by the blood of Christy
                                                                                             :  .                  But what is more important,, it  .also includes,  ac-
                                                                                                                   c.ording  to the  74.th. question of the Catechism, the
                                                                                                                   Holy  Ghost as the author of faith. This indeed is
                                                                                                                   very impontant for the subject under discussion at
                                       y:-                                                                         present. FOP it certainly makes the promise of God
                                                                                                                   unconditional and for the elect alone. As has been
                                                                                                                   state&,before,  it is the conception of the Liberated that
                                                                                                                   ?he promise is for all the children that are baptized,
                                                                                                                   h&ad for head and soul for soul.  But that this is
                                    CON-TENTS                                                                      not the teaching of %he Heidelberg Catechism ought to
                                                                                                                   be,verjr plain from this (question on infant baptism.
MEDITATION-
        Joshua's Resolve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432       For, in ,t.he first place, according to this answer the
            Rev. G. Vos                                                                                            Holy Ghost is promised to the infants no less than
                                                                                                                   lx. the adult. And certainly, the promise of the Holy
EDITORIALS-
        The Promise According to the Confessions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , . . . 436                           zGh&t  cannot depend on any condition which we must
            Rev.  H. Hoeksema                                                                                      fulfill. The Holy Ghost must operate within us before
                                                                                                                   we are  able to fulfill any conditions whatsoever.
O      U       R            DOCTRINS-
        The  Hexaemeron  or Creation-Week . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 438                            This is the Reformed conception. Arminians may
            Rev.  `H.  .Veldman                                                                                    teach that the gift of the Holy Spirit is  pr_oniised
                                                                                                                   to all tha,t will receive it,, or that will use the light
IN  HIS  FEAR-
        Looking to,  theFuture                . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .._..........  442         of nature aright. .But this certainly is not Reformed.
            Rev. H. C. Hoeksema                                                                                    Besides, according to this answer of the Heidelberg
                                                                                                                   Catechism, the Holy #Ghost is promised to infants, that
CONTRIBUTIONS-                                                                               .
        Letter from R. Visser,  ~~11, Jmva . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 444                 are not able to fqlfill,apy conditions whatsoever, Be-
        An Apology-Rev. B.  Kok . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 444                    sides, the answer-stresses the fact that the Holy Gho:st
        De  Kliene  Zonde . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445    is promised, to the infants as  *the author of faith,
FROM   HOLY   WRIT-                                                                                                which means, of course,. that God promises to the ir.-
        Exposition of  Remans  8:18-30                    . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 446                  far& that He certainly will work faith in their hearts.
            Rev. G. C. Lubbers                                                                                     Faith, therefore, is included in the promise. And it
        Impressions of Synod . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448           nonsense to say that ,God prgmises faith to those that
        The Condition Debate in our Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449                                   believe. And it is equally  n&sensical to state that
            Rev. Geo. C. Lubbers                                                                                   `God promises faith to those that will not reject the
        Seeking the Lord without the Camp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450                        promise of faith. From all this it  f,ollows  that ac-
        The Significance of Exegesis for the Preaching of the Gospel. . . . 453                                    cording to the 74th question and answer of the Hei-
            Rev. G. M. Ophoff                                                                                      delberg Catechism, the- promise iS unconditional and
                                                                                                          .-       is meant for the elect alone. It is certainly not Re-


                                         THE  S T A N D A R D   BEARER                                                 437

  f&rued to appeal exclusively to Canons II, 5. in order         land Confession, we read: "We believe, that, to at-
 _ to obtain a Reformed definition of the promise of             tain the  trde knowledge of this great mystery, the
  God, even though in that passage of the confessions            Holy Ghbst kindleth in our hearts an upright faith,
  the promise is not for all,, but for the believers, that$s,    which embraces Jesus Christ, with all his merits, ap-
 `therefore, for  the elect.                                     propriates him, and seeks nothing more besides him."
      Lord's .Day 28 deals with the sacrament of the             If we read this in connection with <the rest of our Con-
  Lqrd's  Supper. In the answer to Qu. `75 we read:              fessions, it is evident that the Hbly Ghost, the author
"That Christ has commanded me and all believers, to              of faith, is included in the promise. He,  t.he Holy
  eat of this broken bread, and to drink of this cup,            Ghost, "kindleth in our hearts an upright faith, which
  in remembrance of him, adding these promises: first,           embraces .Jesus- Christ, with all hi's merits." And
 . that his body was offered and broken on the cross-for         once more I wish to point out that it is impossible,
 .me,, and his blood shed for me,- as certainly as I see         and it is nonsense, to maintain that the Holy ,Ghost  so
  with my eyes, the bread of the Lord broken for me,             operates in our hearts that we receive the saving faith
  and the cup cqmmunicated to me ; and further, &hat             on condition of faith. The gift of faith, and there-
he feeds  and' nourishes my soul to everlasting life,            fore,. the promise, cannot be conditioned~by  faith on
  with his crucified body and shed blood, as assuredly           our part, for the simple reason that faith is included
  as l?receive  from the hands of the minister, and taste        in the promise. God promises faith. Besides, in the
  with my mouth  ,the bread and  cup  of the Lord, as            Fame article it is stated literally that faith is noth-
  certain signs of the body and blood of Christ." Also           ing bat a means or instrument, and, therefore, cer-
  here mention is made of the promise, oa of promises,           t.ainly not a condition. Dr. Schilder may say that a
  in the plural. And also' in this answer it is evident          condition is merely something that precedes something
  that the promise is qnly for the believers, that is,           else. But although means may precede the end, means
  therefore, for the elect. This is evident from the very        and conditions are  ,two entirely different concepts.
  first clause in this answer : "Christ has dommanded  me        This is plain from the words of the article: "How-
  and all believers." It is -evident also from the personal      ever,, to speak more clearly, we do not  mean, that
  pronoun rr~ in the rest of the answer. Besid+s, it is          faith itself justifies us, for it is only an. instrument
  evident that the promise here includes much more than          with which we embrace Christ our righteousness.
  future salvation. It includes all the blessings implied        But Jesus Christ, imputing to us all his merits, and
  in the atonement of Christ. The body of Christ was             so many holy works which he has done for us, and in
  br,oken  for me, and His blood was shed for me. Such           our stead, is dur righteousness. And faith is an in-
  is the promise. Further, it is iricluded  in the promise       strument that keeps us ,in communion with him in all
  that God will strengthen and nourish my soul to ever-          his. bonefits, which,. when become ours, are more than
  lasting life. This is also further explained in Qu. and        sufficient to acquit us of our sins." Faith, therefore,
  A. 76, where we ,read: "What is it then to eat  the            is not a condition, but an instrument whereby we em- _
  crucified body and drink the shed blood of IChrist?"           brace Christ and stand in communion with Him.
  And the answer: "It is not only to embrace with a be-             In Art. 33 of the same Confession we are told that
  lievitig heart all the sufferings and heath of Christ,         God seals to us His promises through (i.ht;he means of the
  and thereby to obtain. the pardon of sin, and life eter-       sacraments : "We believe, that our gracious `God, on
  nal ; but also,. besides that, to become more and more         account  of- oui weakness and -infirmities hath ordained
  united to his sacred body, by the Holy Ghost who               the  s&cr$ments  f&r us, thereby to seal unto us his
  dwells both in Christ and in us." Note hbw much, ae-           promises, and to be pledges of <the good will and grace
  cording to this answer, is included in the promise of          of `God toward us, and also to- nourish and streng-
  `God. It implies the pardon of sin, life eternal, the          then our faith ; `which he hath joined to the word of
  Holy Ghost, and union with Christ. And also in                 the gospel, tehe better to present to our senses, both
Qu.  and A. 84,. the question about the preaching of             that which he signifies to us by his word, and that
  !&he gospel as a key of  t&e kingdom of heaven, the            which he works inwardly in our hearts, thereby as-
  forgiveness of sins for the sake o? Christ's merits is         suring us and confirming us in the salvation which
  implied in the promise of  the. gospel. .And surely,           he impanbs to us. For they are visible signs and seals
  that this promise is presented here as meant only for          of an inward .and invisible thing,. by means whereof
  the believers does not mean that faith is a condi*tion  to     :God worketh in us by the power of the Holy ,Ghost."
  receive the promise. For as we have said repeatedly,           Again, this article speaks of the promises of  ,God.
  accordilig to our Confessions the Holy (Ghost and              What are these promises? As $0 their contents they
 faith are included in the promise i,tself.                      are further described in Art. 34, which speaks of holy
     In  ,Art. 22 of our Confessio  Belgica or  Nethey-          baptism. It is not necessary for mB to quote the en-


          r


 438:                                 T H E   ST~CNDARD'I~E~ARER

 tire article, for it is rather lengthy. But as to the con-
 tehts of the. promise of `God, it informs LIS that it in-           OUR  DOCTRINE   --
 includes that "we are received into the church of
 ,God, and' separated from all other people and strange
 religions,  ithat we may wholly belong to him whose             The, Hexaemeron
                                                                                       .          or Creation-Week
 ensign and banner we bear." It includes further the
 promise that .God will "forever be our gracious God                                           XIV
 and Father." Further,, it implies the washing away                              .
                                                                          :,
 of our sins through the blood and Spirit of Christ:                                  THE CREATION  OF MAN (7)
 "So doth the blood of Christ,. by  lthe power of the               Continuing our discussion of the creation of man,
 Holy' Ghost, iniernally sprinkle the soul, cleanse it           we would remind the reader that we made the ob-
 from its sins, `and regenerate  us  from children of            servation toward .the close of our preceding' arti& . .
 wrath unto children of God." It therefore include:              that Adam's relationship to ,God was a covenant rela-
 the gift of grace that is called regeneration and the           tion. We do not purpose to enter' once more into a
 assurance of adoption unto sons of God. Further,                detailed discussion of the -idea of the covenant.  Alt
 the contents of the promise of God in this article are          this time we merely. wish to emphasize the fact that
 described as follows : "the gifts  and invisible grace;         our covenant conception is &lso based upon the &ea- '
 w&.hing, cleansing and purging- of our souls of all             tion of Adam and (the resulting relation in- which he
 Alth and unrighteousness ; renewing our heal-its, and           stood to the living God. .That Adam was the friend
 filling them with all &omfort; giving unto us a true            servant of the Lord was because of his creation by
 assurance of his fatherly goodness ; putting on us the          the Lord. It is simbly a fact that Adam did not enter
 ?ew man, aild putting off the ol,d man with-his deeds," into this friendship ; he was- created the friend-ser-
 In other words, all the riches and blessings of grace           vant of Jehovah. We can now continue where we left
 are included in the promise of #God.                            off in our preceding article.
    And as to the baptisni of infants, `the article-states :$       `That Adam's relation to the Lord is a covenant re-
 "And indeed  ;Christ shed his blood no -less for the            lation is Reformed truth and perfectly in harmony
 washing of &he chilclr,en of the faithful, than for adult       with our Confessions. We disagree, .as we noted in
 persons; and therefore they ought to receive the sign           a previous article, with the Roman Catholic concep-
 and sacrament of that, which Christ hath done for               tion which views the image of <God  in man, not as be-
 them." fibw mark you well, that' the Reformed Con-              longing  ,to his  .essence, but as added to Adam, an
 fessions over against all Arminians maintain the doc-           add,ed gift.         lccording  to Rome, man is complete
 trine of particular atonement. IChrist did not die for          withbut the image. He can lose the image and still
all men,, but only for the elect.- -Nor are all the chil-        remain man,, yea, and what is more, a good man.
_ dren tha4t are born in the- historical dispensation of         However, viewing the covenant as a relationship of
 the covenant elect children, as we well know from               living friendship and proceeding from the truth that
 Scripture and experience. It follows, therefore, when           this spiritual relationship belongs to our very being
 we read in this article'that "Christ shed his blood no          and essence,  th& this relationship of friendship is
 less for the washing of the children of the faithful th+n       certainly i$entical with Adam's true knowledge, right-
 for the adult persons," not all the c&ildren of the faith-      eousness, and holiness, we may certainly believe that
 ful are meant, ,but only the elect chil'dren. For Christ        our covenant conception is fundamentally the teach-
 shed His blood only for the elect, according td `all the        ing of our Reformed  Confessiolis  and based  four-
 Reformed Confessions. And since the  .sacrament  of             squarely upon them. It is true that !the definition of
 baptism is one of the seals of the promise,, it follQxs         the covenant as such is-not found in our Confessions.
 too that the promise is not for allj but f,or the elect         Nowhere is the concept "covena&' defined. But this
 only.                                                           does not mean that our covenant conception is not
                                                     H.H:,,`.    based upon our Reformed Standards. For, our cope-
                                                                 nant conception recognizes and is based upon the
                     -:-:-                                       doctriee of election  and reprobation. We say this,,
                                                                 of course, without hesitation and without reservation.
                                                                 And that we must proceed from the -doctrine of elec-
 G'LtASSIS  EA,ST of the Protestant Reformed  Churl tion,, that this doctrine is the heart and core of the
 ches will meet in regular session,- D.V.; Wednesday ,Church and must determine our belief, is surely based
 morriing, Jtily 9. at 9 o'clock, in the Creston <Church.        upon the ,Confessions. Moreover, our covenant cen-
                               -D.  Jotiker,   State&   Clerk    ception recognizes the thoroughly Scriptural and Con-


                                            ffgpJ  STAr;fjj~izD  -.B~E:-ARER                                                439
      _~..                                                                             .~
      fessional  truth that the  grace of God is sovereignly          race in this judicial, representative sense of the word;
      particular. It is particular, only for the  el,ect. And,        w.e mean that he occupied  that position wherein the
      mind you, it is particular sovereignly. This means              Lord  viewed  him as representing before the bar of
      that the grace of God is particular be+use God has              Divine- justice all of mankind,, so )that the guilt of the
      sovereignly willed it so. And this truth is purely Re-          fi&t man would be Divinely reckoned, charged against
      formed. `Finally,  .-our  cbvenant conception presents          the whole human race. Adam would thereby involve
      the.truth that the Lord bestows this grace and salva-           all of -mankind in guilt before the Lord. `God's Sivine
      tion upon His elect sovereignly and in the line of gen-         sentence of: `Guilty, would be charged against evel;y-
      erations, and that He generally bestows His grace up- one. of his descendants. All  men were thus legally
      on the el.ect and realizes in them His promise during ~reckoned  in  Adam:
      their infancy. And this means that the promise is                  This conception of Adam's judicial  headship is
      parl;icular and purely unconditional. J                         `surely in harmony `with the Divine Scriptures. We
       This presentation of the  truth is surely according            quote Romans 5 :12-19 : "Wherefore, as by one man sib
      to our Confessions and, e.g., our Baptism Form. We              entered into the world, and death by sin; and so de&h
      will not again quote the various passages`. This has `passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (For
      been done time and again. May it' suffice at this time          until ,the law sin, was in the world : but sin is not im-
      ,to call attention to the truths as confessed by our            ptited when  .there  is no law. Nevertheless death
      F'athers. The beauty of our Baptism Fqrm lies ex-               reigned from  Adam..to  Moses, even over them that
      actly in  its positive nature. It stresses the eternal          had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's trans-
      love of  ,God and the vicarious character of Christ's           gression,. who is the figure of Him that was to come.
      atonement, and applies this not only to the adults but          But not as the  offence, so also the free gift. For if
      also to the children .of &he covenant. And the same             ,through the off.ence  of one many be dead, much more
     truth is emphasized in our Reformed Standards. Un-               the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by
      conditional election and reprobation, man's hopeless            on&  .man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.
      and utter depravity,, ,Christ's !icarious and therefore         And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift:
      particular atonement, the, irresistable character of Di-        Eor the judgment was by one to condemnation, bit the
      vine grace, and the certain -perseverance  of the saints        free  gif;t is of. many offences unto justification.. For
      are beautifully set forth for us in the Canons of bar-          if by one man's offence death reigned by one ; much
      drecht. In addition to this the children are compre-            more they which deceive  abundance of grace and of
      hended in the covenant of grace, share with the believ-         the gift of righteousness shall reign. in life by one,
      ing adults in all the blessings of salvation, are objects       Jesus Christ.) Therefore  .as by the  offence  of one
      of ,the eternal love of God, have been washed upon the          judginent came upon-, all men ;to condemnation ; .even
      cross of &lvaPy and presented righteous before God,             so by the righteousness  of one ;the free gift came upon
      and have ithe Spirit of .proinise  for .unto them as well       ail men unto justification of life."
      as unto the adults has the Spirit been promised as                  In c.onnection  with this passage we should note &he
     the' Author pf faith. All this, we understand, is tho-           following. It is true that the apostle Paul refers l<ot
     poughly .i,h harmony with the Scriptures, as, e.g., ac-          only to ,&he guilt of sin but also to the power and pol-
      cording to I John 2 :12-14 and Acts  239, etc. Be-              lution of sin, wh& ,we read in verse 12 that by one
      sides, Adam was created ip true kriowledge,  righteous-         man sin entered into the world  I  atid death by sin.
      ness, and holiness (Adam's covenant relation of liv-            However, it should be perfectly plain that all the em-
      ing friendship), lost this completely (did not retain phasis in this passage falls upon the one man, Adam.
      remnants thereo?)  , and we are restored into the bless-        Through the offence of ,the one man many are dead,
      ed friendship with the alone blessed ,God only through          according to verse 15. By the one man, we read in
      the sovereign and irr.esistable  grace of the living God.       verse 16, th`e judgment was to condemnation. By one
.     And all this is worked only in the elect  in the line of        man's  offence death reigned by one, according to
      succeeding generations.                                         verse  17.. Verse 18 informs us that  .by  .the of-
                                                                      ferice   of  on& judgment     c&me upon all men  to
      &lards relcttion to the huwmn race.                             condemnation. Hence, because of the sin of .the one
              First, Adam was created as our judicial,  repre-        man all men are  now- under Divine  condem&tion.
      sentative head.`The fundamental.,idea here is judicial.         And very strong and clear is the apostle's skatement
      Sin appears here upon the fqregeound from the `view- _ in verse 19 that by one man's disobedience many were
      poiat of guilt. Sin is guilt `because it invoJ+es us`iti        made sinners,' i+, inafiy were reckoned ai sinners be-
      the obligation to pay.       Guilt is  oblig&i@  "tjo  pajr.    fore the-hap dfDivi& justice. This judicial emphasis
      when we say- -that `Ad&m w&s-the  heaa .tif `the human          in the passige we are `now ctinsidering receives -added

                                                  .


     440                                    THE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R .                   -
                                                                    0
     emphasis because of w.hat tie read of the Lord Jesus                power, whereby all men shall be made alive, is in
     Christ. He is drawing a parallel between Adam and                   jesus  ,Christ, our Head. Hence, when Adam  died,
     Christ Jesus. Even as because of the one man Adam,                  we all died, inasmuch as in Him the human nature,
     we are all under cond,emnation,. so also because of the             which is passed on to all men, became corrupt and
     righteousness of Christ Jesus we are` made righteotis.              completely subject to spiritual deaith and corruption.
     And the emphasis once more fall? upon this righteous-                   Finally, Adam is also our head in the sense that he
     ness in the legal sense of tlie word. ChriBt's work has             stood at the root of the entire human race. What we
     rendered all men !(a11 the men who are in Christ Jesus,             mean `by this as such is nolt difficult to understand.
     and therefore  the elect) righteous,  j&t before the                Adam `simply stood at the root, the beginning of the
     Lord. In the same manner, as all men are. condemn-. development of the human race. `Out of him the entire
     able because of the din of Adam, we are now justified _ human race will presently develop in all the riches of
     before God because of Christ Jesus. It is rather strik-             gifts and talents, works and acts- which will char-
     ing to observe that man has throughout. the ages re-                acterize mankind throughout the development of the
     gisiered  his protest before Gpd against the ltruth that            human race. Adam is as the acorn in its relation to
     Adam's sin should bring all ,mankind under condemna-                the great oak. W.e will have more to say about rthis,
     tion. They claim that it is not fair to hold all men ac-            the Lord willing, when we discuss the reality of sin.
     countable for a transgression which-Adam committed.                 This truth is of the greatest significance also when
     To this we answer, in !the first place, that all these pro-         we discuss the teachings of Common Grace relative rthe
     tests are surely in vain. All man's reasoning and ob-               entrance of sin into the world and its subsequent
     jections surely--do not alter the situation.. It is simply          development. Adam sinned, of course, as only Adam
     a fact that we.are all c&ceived  and born dead in sin.              could sin. We sin according to our place in the or-
     All men are accounted guilty before the Lord.. This                 ganism of the human race. ,Out of Adam, as the root,
     is simply an indispultable fact. Secondly, man Bnows                all mankind develops, also in connection with the or-
     no objection against the same presentation wh?F ap-                 ganic deyelopment of all things. But we repeat: we
     plied  tb Christ Jesus. . The reason, of  course,.(why              will have mor.e to say about this when we discuss the
     man protesis  is not because he is interested in a mat,             reality o'f sin.
     ter of justice, but only because of  `the principle of
     self-interest  an'd self-concern. For, in the meantime              Adam's relation to the world  row& about  him,-h,e
     no man objects to the reality ,of sin.itself. With sin                was king.
     itself he is in perfect agreement.                                      This truth,  :too, is founded upon Holy Writ. We
        Secondly, Adam is our ,head in an organic sense of               read in `Genesis 1:28-30 : "And SGod'blessed them, and
     /the word. This means, not only that Adam  r,epre-                  God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and re-
     sented  us,. but also that we are out of him. This must             plenish the` earth, and subdue it: and have dominion
     not be understood as if we were personally in him                   over the fish of the sea, and over the `fowl of the air,
     (all our persons, then, were in him, and in that sense              and over  every living thing  lthat  moveth- upon the
     we all sinned in him) ; neither does it mean that all               earth. And God said, Behold, I have given you every
     our various human natures were present in hiin. . But               herb bear&g  seed, which is upon the face of all the
     it does mean that we all possess the same human na-                 earth, and every tree, in the which is thG fruit of a
     ture, that the one human nature of Adam is passed                   tree yielding seed; -to you it shall be for meat. And
     on to all mankind, that this human nature was cor-                  to every beast of lthe earth, and to every fowl of the
     rupted in him and as such is itransmitted  to all. This             air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth,
     is surely the idea of Holy Writ, e.g., in I Cor. 15:                wherein there is life, I have given every g'reen herb
     21-22: "For since by man-came death, by man came                    for meat: and it was so." .And in IGen. 2 :15 and 19-
     also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all               20 we read: "And the Lord God took the man, and puit
     die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.". By                him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep
     man, we read, came death, and also by man c&me  the                 it . . . And out of the ground the Lord God formed
     resurrection of the dead;, For in Adam all. die, i.e.,              every be`ast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and
     the power of death is in Adani, and in Adam reigned                 broughlt them unto Adam to see what he would ,.call
     over the' e&ire human nature." For we read that even                them:  arnd whatsoever Adam called every living crea-
     so in Christ shall mall men be made- alive.         N&ice           ture, that was the name  ther,eof. And Adam gave
     that the text speaks of all men (all men in Christ;                 names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to
     who are in Christ, and who therefore are the elect)                 every beast of ithe field ; but for Adam there was not
     that rthey shall be made alive. And that in Christ all found an helpmeet for him."
     men shall be made alive  evid&ently means that the                      This, however, does not mean that Adam was kipg



L


                                      THE  STAI$DARD.  @AR;ER                                                     441
                                -                                                                                      -
 of the entire creation of <God. Such he surely was not.       rounds him also in connection with the earthy), but
 And also this is clearly taught in the holy Scriptures.       he ruled over the earth. That he ruled over the liv-
 He was made, we read, a lititle lower than the angels.        ing creatures  aipears from the fact  (that the Lord
 Beautifully this truth is held btfore us in Ps. 8 :5-9        brought them to him, and he, as their king, gave them
 an.d* again in Heb.. 2 :$9, and .we quote : "For' Thou        their names. He ruled over the garden and was called
 hast made him a lit.tle lower than tile angels, and hast      by `the Lord to dress it and to keep it. And this let-
 crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest                ter word implies a struggle, the antithesis, that it
 him to have dominion over the works of Thy hands;             was Adam's calling to keep, preserve, defend the
 Thou ha& put all things under his feet : All sheep and        garden also when presently the father of lies would
 and oxe& yea, and the beasts of the field: The fowl           make his appearance. This antithetical thought, that
 of the air, and th6 fish of the sea,. and whatsoever          Adam must fight the battle of th6 Lord, and defend
passeth . through the  paths of the seas,  $0 Lord our         the.glory of His Name, would be revealed more sharp-
 Lord, how excellent is Thy Name `in all the earth!" ly presently in connection with the two trees and ,God's
 ". . .But one in, a certain place testi%ied,  saying, What    commandment relative the tree of knowledge, good and
 is man, that Thou are mindf;ul of him? or the son of          evil and the tree of life. With respect-to this we expect
 man:that  Thou visited him? Thou madest him a little          to say more when we discuss the entrance of sin into
 lower than the angels; Thou crownest  him with glory          the  world.  And, all things were completely subject
 and honour, and didst set him over thit works of Thy          to Adam, including every living creature. Everything
 hands: Thou hast put all things in subje&ion under            obeyed the king of the earthly creation. IOn the.other
 his feet. For in that he put all in -subjection under         hand, however, Adam was the king of the earthly
 him, he left nothing that is not `pub under him. But          creation as under  `God. He did not rule in his own
 now we see not yet all things put under him." From            name and for his own sake and interest.  He ruled
 this pa.:sage  it appears that the things of heaven were      over the earth because ,God had given him that au-
 not made subjec<unto Adam. To be sure, to rule over           thority and also because the Lord had laid the fear
 the heavenly is surely the destiny of man, as is evi-         of  tian in every living creature (this is also rela-
 dent from Heb. 2:8-9: "Thou hast put all things in            tively true *today ; that man has been created king of
 subjection under his feet. -For in that He put all in         the earthy creation is evident from the fact that all
 subjection under him, he left no$hing. khat is not put        animals are naturally afraid of him).           And A-
 under him. But now we see not yet all things put              dam ,ruled with the intention of laying all things at
 under him. Bui we see Jesus, Who was made a little            the feet of the Divine Creator, and usirig all things
 lower than the angels for the suffering  of. death,           to glorify and extol the Name of his God.
 crowned with glory and honour ; that He by the grace             Indeed, Adam, as he was created by the Lord, was
 of God should taste death for every man." Hence, it           highly gifted by his Maker. He is a far cry from
 is man's destiny to rule also over the heavenly, but          Evolution's presentation of the early and primitive
 this destiny was not reached ,for man in the first A-         man. We need not at this time again.enter  into a dis-
 dam. Adam was indeed created in the image of God,             cussion of this wicked and thoroughly anti-Scriptural
 but he is not the Lord out of heaven, Whose human             presentation of the origin of man. This conception
 nature he does carry in his loins, according to I Car.        identifies man, in his origin, with the animal world.
 15 :45-49 : "And so it is written, The first man Adam         Holy Writ, however, places him upon an exceedingly
 was %made  a living soul ; the last Adam was made a high plane. -B&sides, history's record of the wonder-.
 quickening spirit. Kowbeit that was not first which           ful achievements of man thousands of years ago sure-
 is spiritual,, but :that which is natural; and afterward      ly verifies the Scriptural narrative of ihe Divine crea-
 that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth,       tion of man.1 Upon this high plane, however, Adam
 earthy: the second man is the -Lord from heaven. As           did not remain.' Neither was it the Lord's intention
 is the earthy, such are they also'that are earthy : and       that he should remain upon that., high plane. For it
 as is the heavenly, such are t$ey also that are hea-          is the mystery-bf ,God's will t&at in Christ all things
 venly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy,          shall be gathered together in one, the things Ithat are
 we. shall also bear the image of _ the heavenly."             in he&en and the things that are upon the earth,. and
     Hence, Adam was king of the creation from ;the            that this should occur upon and out of the ruins of sin
 earthly point of view. This implies, on the one hand,         and guilt. However, before we call attention to the
 that the earthly was created as completely subject un-        entrance of sin into the world, we must, first of all,
 to  ,&dam.  He- was its king. He was  liot dominated          call tittention  to the truth of God's Providencei  which
_ by ithe earthly (as is man today because of the Divine       is generally considered at this time. .
 curse upon sin,. so  th;hat this curse of the Lord  sur-                                              I-I. Veldman


   442                                    THti  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                    -
                                                               made in the past? What seenis to be the direction in
              IN  HIS  FE.AR                                   which all .these  attempts have moved?
                                                                    The history seems to establish, first of all, that
                                                               there has been a degree of interest in and concern
                Lookins  .To The Future                        over this problem. As far back as 1948 the Society
                                                               for  Prot. Ref. Education (,Grand Rapids) showed its
                             Chapter 3                         interest in the form of a request as to the .availability
                                                               of the facilities of our Theological School for the pre-
                ON TEACHER TRAINING                            paration of prospective teachers in our own schools.
                                                               Notice, that this was only an investigatory moye.
  Evaluation  of  History                                          In 1949. two much bolder moves were made. The
      The reader &ill recall that in our two previous in-      above-mentioned society made an outright request
  s+allments we gleaned from the Acts of Synod,  `48;          that a normalcourse be added to the curriculum of the
  `49, and `50, the available material concerning various      Theological ,School. And the Consistory of Randolph
 attempts to establish our own Protestant Reformed. -made  a somewhat milder. request, that Synod mwkler
  teacher: training facilities, together with the material     ways  anc2 means of establishing our own Normal
  concefning the synodical reaction to these attempts.         Training School.
      This is all the `data which the undersigned could            Atid finally, we must -not forget that according lto
  gather, although it is mldoubtedly~incomplete.    It con-    t.he  .Acts of Synod, 1950, there seems even to have
  cerns the record of the attempts toward establishing         been ,a more or less concerted interest, if not action,
  our own teacher training :facili~ties  only in so far as     on the part b-E no less than five school boards in this
  such action has reached into official ecclesiastical cir-    regard.  ..
  cles. And Jhere have been other moves made. Sorry                Now this I deem commendable. It shows a recog-
  to say, although the undersigned at one time cooper-         nition of the need  for, ,our own teacher training fa-
  ated in that work, I have no record of' a very notable       cilities. And this is certainly the first step.  When-
  attempt in this regard,  made by the Teachers' Club>. once we see the need, we have come a long way. Let
  I do not even know whether that group is still in ex-        us by all means not allow the size of the problem and
  istence. I believe that data concerning it would be          the obstacles along the way bedim our vision of this
  valuable in connection with the subject we are treat-        need. But let our vision of this need be the occasion
  ing now. Besides, while vis?ting the sessions of our         of continued effort, unflagging interest, and greater
  synod at South Holland recently, I heard (in a recess        understanding of the matter.
  period) talk of more action or proposed action about             In the second place, I believe we may say with-
  this same subject. To my regret, I cannot furnish out fear of contradiction that both on the part of the
  the keader with any of this material. And I would at `Grand Rapids Society for Prot. Ref. Education and
  {the same time repeat the appeal which I made some. the Consistory of Randolph,. the realization of this
  tiTe ago: if any person, persons, or official body have      need was based on principle. They saw clearly the
  ide'as, questions, or data pertinent to the subject un-- same principle which we- briefly outlined in khe be-
  der discussion, please do not hesitate to send them in.      ginning of this chapter, namely that a Protestant Re-
  We certainly can all understand that these &re mat-          formed teacher` must have Protestant Reformed (train-
  ters not merely of local interest, nor at &ll of interest    ing if we are to maintain distinctively Protestant Re-
  merely to teachers and school boards, but matters of         formed schools.     This is very clear from  .the com-
  interest to us all. I think that especially the aspect munications which appear in the Acts of Synod, 1949.
  of our subject now under discussion is an extremely And this too is commendable. We must by all means
  vital one,-certainly a subject `in which all our pre-        establish our own teacher. training facilities out of
  sent and future Protestant Reformed schools are deep-        principlei and upon principle.
  ly concerned.  ILets  he& from you: it can only be of            fn the third place, it appears from the history re-
  benefit.                                                     corded ithat the tendency was to lean upon others in
      At present, however, we shall have ito be satisfied      the establishment. of such facilities. There seems to
  with the data at hand. And this time, in order to            have been a feeling that the school.boards  or societies
  get our bearings,. let us try to .&aluate  the history       could not themselves furnish the necessary faciliities
_ which we have  $reviously. recorded. What does it            for the training of teachers. It is clear from the Acts
  tell us about the problem of teacher training facili-        of Synod that the schools looked ,to the `denomination
  ties? How much interest has  .been  evinced? What            (represented in the Synod) for help in this respect.
  has been the synodical atiitude  toward the attempts' Now it is plain that a local school society could not


                                        I'HE  STA-NDARD   B E A R E R                                                                                                                 449

 shoulder  Ithis burden alone. But it is  not clear to          but also the power of possible execution. Again, the
 the  present writer why the school  movemen   as a             Synod took something for  gran,ted, namely, that it
 whole should look to outside sources not merely for            was possible and prop& for the church institute thru
 help, but for the actual responsibility of establishing        its Theological School Committee and Theological Fa-
 teacher training facilities. And a` closely allied ques-       culty to furnish normal training for our prospective
 tion is whether it is at all the responsibiliity  of the       Protestant Reformed teachers. And it appears fur-
 church' institute or whether it even lies in the right-        ther from the report of said committee in the Acts
 ful domain of Ithe church institute to ,establish  a nor-      of 1950 that no study of the principle involved. was
 mal school. These are important questions, to which            made whatsoever, but that the committee simply stu-
 we hope to- give full attention somewhat later.          ' died `ways and means of adding a no?mal course of
    In the fourth place, it appears that the S.P.R.E.,          some kind to our theological curriculum. Further-
 at least, as late as 1949 did not look for the establish-      more, for .a11 the decisions which the Synod took in
 ment of full normal school training, but,wanted  merely        this  regard  absolutely no grounds were  burnished.
 to augment the college training of our prospective             The only contrary note to be fpund on this score is
 teachers with a course in our seminary. We quote               the fact that in, 1949 the Synod decided to elide from
 from their letter to the Theological School Committee          its full decision the statement "to accept these pro-
 (May 7, `49) : "We realized that our greatest need is          posals in principle". This would seem to show that
 for teachers, able and equipped, to teach our children         there was at least  some  hesitation in the matter.
 the required subjects permeated by. the Protestant             Nevertheless, the Synod'of 1948 and 1949 tqok definite
 Reformed life view. F,or these teachers to do this ?ve         and positive action in the direction of church-spon-
feel  khat they should receive a  spel&ic  course  of  i/n.-    sored and chtirch~cor~tr.olled  normal training. To this
 struction above md beyod that which they receive at            principle, ,as we said, careful` attention must be given
 Calvin College." (italics mine,  H.C.H.). From this            somewhat later.  ,,
quotation  it- appears that the idea of the Board at                In the second place, it is evident, apart from the
' ithat time (and'1 do not know whether it has changed)         right," and wrong of the synodical  decisions, that our
 was to continue to have our teachers receive their             synod `certainly did recogfiize  the need of Protestant
 training at Calvin College, as most of them do at              Reformed teachers. That principle it certainly ap-
 present, and afterwards to give them, so to speak, a           proved by implication when it moved ,to comply with.
 dose of -Protestant Reformed instruction. Also this            the requests made -by the S.P.R.E. *and by the #Con-
matter will demand our attention later.          But even       sistory of Randolph.
 now I would ask the question: would such a course be               In the third place, also our synods in the, past
 sufficient to equip teachers to "teach our children the        seemed to move in the ldire>tion  of furnishing what I
 required subjects permeated by the Protestant Re-              would call a "patch-work" normal course. Circum-
 formed life view?" I don't believe it.                         stances may h&e prevented anything better.                                                                            The
    The record of the various actions of Synod is of            fact remains that no move was ever made up to 1951
vita1 importance in this respect, because it reveals a          toward  f;urnishing, complete teacher-training facili-
 very definite'tendency on- the part of our churches to         ties. Randolph asked Synod to consider ways and"
 comply with the requests made to it in 1948 and 1949.          means of establishing our own Normal SC~OOI,, it is
And, concomitant with this tendency, it reveals a ten-          true. But this was never done. Instead, a single
 dency to adopt the principle of a synodically main-            course wlas suggested in 1948. In 195.0 a six weeks'
tained and controlled nor&d  school.                            summer course was planned. And to date we have
    Id the first place, one iooks in vain in #the Acts of       nothing !
&mod for any bas'ic study of this whole matter. This                                                                                 *                        H.. C. Hoeksema
is a serious failure on the. part of -past synods.                                                            -;- :"
                                                         In
 194K;Synod received a request for information about                                                FINANCIAL REPORT
normal training fadlities, and without any study- of              The treasurer of the Ministers-Study Fund 8ociety'
the piinicples involved, it decideh  that while it could        gave the following report of all contributions and ex-
not furnish a complete normal cdurse,  it could supply          penditures at their meeting of June 2, 1952:
the necessary Refortied  ,vie%$int by having prospec-                 Contributions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  $12;968.98
tive  teach&s  itake "Principles of" Edu&ion" in our              _ -Expenditures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12,222.35
seminary. In 1949 the Synod .itself  took no action on                Balance . . . . . . . . . . . . . ,. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .    746.63
the tw.o propo&a$  before it, but instead granted the             Our final drive for this worthy cause will take place
Theological School Committee, in cofijunctionewith  the         this coming August with a goal set at $6,.500.00.
faculty the power not merely to study the proposals,                                                                                                          G,  Pipe,  Secretary


        444                                 J-HE  S T A N D A R D   BEAR*ER                     _I~-

                                                                                          AN  APO;LIOGY-
                CONTRIBUTiONS
       Esteemed Editor :-                                              Whereas it was my intention to eliminate all names
                                                                    from the quotation which I quoted in the May 22
          In your last Editorial, of the Standard .Bearer of        issue of Coneor&,  I somewhat paraphrased the first
       May  15th, in which you again write so disparaging           few  se&en&s. In doing so I did  no.t mean to mis-
       (which you, of  cburse,  will again deny) about Rev.         interpret the author, but I now realize that it was un-
  Kok which to me seems as if you accuse him in an un-              ethical to change even a single word which was placed
       brotherly way.                                               b.etween  quotation marks. For this I apologize to-
          Did you  speak to him personally about these              the author, and beg his forgiveness. Whether or not
.- things?. In the Bible (which is the word of (God, not            I  a& deserving of all the charges brought against me
       man) it tells mei if a man does wrong tell him about         because of this act of indiscretion, I will leave to the
       it,.and if he does not listen to you take with you one       judgment of the readers. Here follows the literal
       or more  witjlesses and if he does not still walk in         quotation, together  with my paraphrasing of it:
       the right .way -take him to the elders of the AChurch.
       Matt. 18 :15-17. Is this what you did before you wrote              "You will notice", so De Haan continues,
       this editorial Rev. Hoeksema? If you didn't you                   "that these three covenants ((Gen.  9 :ll, GelL         `;
       should have.                                                    .I7  :l, Hebrews 8  :lO-i3, B.K.) are  uncondi-      '
          In the last paragraph of your editorial it seems as            tional, that they depend for their fulfilment,
       if we may not write br talk against the Declaration ;             not upon man's obedience, but upon God's
       and if we do we may be disciplined. If th& Declara-               faithfulness.
       tion then is no fourth  form then, what is it? Let's                    "We see then that there are two cove-
       not hide behind a bush, let's come out with it!                  nants, Grace  and  Wor&s.  The one is never
          What is the difference between your two state-                 broken,  the other is  always broken.  ,Grace
       ments concerning the Declaration  ,.that  it is not a             is uncondi,tional; Works are conditioned by
       fourth form, binding as s&h upon our ministers or                man's obedience. A study of all covenants
       other officebearers, so that they could be disciplined on        in Scripture will show that the uncondition-
,. the basis of it, nevertheless, the decision of synod ,to             al covenants of grace are irrevocable, and
       declare the Declaration the expr'ession  of the Confes-          that all the covenants of works have been
  si'ons and to use it as an instrument for organization                broken and always will be." So far De
 -of Churches. That decision is settled and binding.                  Haan.
 .To me you are contiadicting yourself, as you are us-                         "Dr. De Haan, then, discovers in Scrip-
  ing this a8 a fourth form by trying to discipline our                 ture covenants of works: the Adamic cove-
  ministers and office bearers.                                         nant and the covenant of Sinai. In distinc-
         May we as churches be led by the Spirit of God.                tion from the covenant of grace, these cove- ~
  n                                Your brother in Christ,              nants, according to De  Haan,  repose' upon
                                        R. Visser                       the condition that man keep its  rQluire-
                                        Hull, Iowa                      ments.
  Reply to brother  Visser:-  -                                                "What is De Haan's proof that the Lord
          Yes, yes; Matthew 18! You mean; of course, that               instituted with His people of old a covenant
  only  Concordin  ought to make propaganda in our                      of this kind?, And the answer is ready; the
  chur,ches, and that, thereupon, I must treat that' pub-               command with which this covenant was in-
  lic propaganda privately. '                                           terwoven, to wit, the command to obey and
          This is tantamount to telling me to keep still and            to keep covenant fidelity; further, such con-
  ,to fight nd longer for.the truth.                                    ditional clauses as : "If  #thou shalt hearken
          Listen, brother: you are knocking at the wrong              _ unto the voice of the Lord thy God to keep
  do& !                                                                 his covenant .  .' ."; "If thou turn unto the
          And listen again,. brother : ,did you treat me accord-        Lord thy God with all thy heart . .  ."; "If
  ing to Matthew 18, before you publicly wrote the                      ye will obey my voice indeed."
  above accusation against me,? Would not Matthew                              "De Baan should know, however, that to
  7 : 5 apply to you?                                                   the covenant of grace as well the Lord at-
          Finally,  bl;other,  does not Art. 31 of the Church           tached a command to obey His voice, to
  order mean anything to you?                                           keep  ais.  cdvenant,  to hearken unto His
  `7                                                  H. H.             voice , .  ."


  ,                                      T H E   STA&DARD  B E A R E R                                                                       445

       Instead of quoting &he last two or three sentences                   De zaden, tot niemand een korrel meer vindt.
 literally, as I should have done, but did not, because                     En als ge gedaan hebt zoo als ik beveel,
  I attempted .to eonv.ey  the -thought, without disclosing                 Kom morgen, dan zeg ik U `t andere deel
  the names, I paraphrased them as follows:                                 D.er boete."
       "Also So the Covenant of Grace God has attached                      De vrouw met een opgeruimd .hart,
  the following conditional clauses: `If thou shalt hear-                   Liep dadelijk heen ; want het vie1 haar &et hard
  ken unto the voice of the Lord thy `God to keep. his                      IOm distels te vindeq, of distelen zaad
  covenant . . .' ; `If thou turn unto the Lord thy God                     Te strooien met blijdschap : 0 ! `t deed `haar geen
  with all khy heart . . .' ; `If ye will obey my voice in-                     kwaad.
  deed . . . ..' ".             a                                           "Ik heb, waarde Pater ! alreede verricht
       All the rest of the quotation was literally taken.                   De helft mijner  boete.,Wat  is verder mijn  plicht?"
  I also offer my humble apology for  *not having  in-                      Zoo sprak zij, verwachtende spoedig ontslag.
 formed the readers that I underscored th_e, ,word `co?-
                                                          ..1               Van schuld, toen zij kwam op den anderen dag.                           .
Ci%iOnd"  all the rest of the underscoring were by the                      ,De  Pater   zag  ern,ctig,  en hoorde, haar  aan.  ,:
  a u t h o r .                                                           En zeide: "Wel, vrouw ! zoo ver welgedaan ;
                                                   B. Kok                  `Ofschoon gij  @et wist waarom gij het  deed!,
                           2                                                Noch dacht of het blijdschap zou wekken 6f leed,
                                                                            Naamt gij deze boete gewilliglijk aan;
                                                                            IGij hebt aan den eisch van de kerk nu voldaan. - i.`.
                                ISI                                         Maar de andere helft der boete herstelt               .r. ._..
                                                                                                                                      .`.
                                                                           . Het kwaad, dat zoo menigeen `t hart heeft gekweld.
                                                                            Ga heen, en vergaar weer, ,met vlijt -en geduld,
                                                                            Die zaden--=Kom weer-dan, en `k vergeef U de schuld."
                       ,DE KLEINE ZONDE                                     De vrouw zag, verbaasd, haren biechtvader aan ;
  Een -vrouw ging ter biecht, want haar hart was be-                        Enxprak, onder snikken `en menigen traan :
        zwaard ;                                                           ,"Maar Pater ! Elk zaadje dreef heen op den wind ;
  Zij beleed hare zonden, veelsoortig van aard:                             Hoe is het dan moog'lijk dat ik ze-weer vind?
  Zij wenschte de rekening eens heel opgeruimd.                             Niet &&-hoe dan allen zoo wijd nu ve?stro@d.
  Veel groote-die wogen zoo zwaar als een Steen ;                           Is dit mijne boet6, dan kan ik ze nooit
  EBn kleine was kwaadspreken van menigeen.                                 Vervullen naar eisch.-Och, Pater ! verzoen
  Doch spoedig vergeten  was `t wondende woord                              Mijn schuld maar om niet,
  Zoodra `t door een buur, of een vriend, was gghoord.                      Want ik kan die niet doen."
  Want `t kwaad was zoo groot niet, en `t- gerucht was                      De Pater sprak deftig, met dreigende hand:
        tdch wear,                                                          "Gij hebt zooveel zaden lichtzinning geplant,
  En zulks te vertelled  was we1 schuld, tech n&t zwaar.                    Dat velden en akkers er mee zijn vervuld.
  De waardige Pater, met  goedheid  vervuld,                               -Een volgende zomer getuigt van Uw schuld.
  Verleende  gewillig vergiff enis van schuld.                              Hei kwaadsprekers werk wordt lichtzinnig gedaan,
  Maar cdie Q&e zonde-schoon niet zoo'n groot kwaad                        Al brengt het in `t oog der belasterde  een traan ;
  Voor die wist ,de Pater geen weg,. of geen raid.                        Al breekt bet de banden van vriendschap vaneen ;                     =
 ,Om .die te vergeven; de schat van de kerk:                               Al weegt het op `t teedere  hart ?ls een Steen;
  Het "meer dan genoeg" van der heiligen werk.                             Al stoort het den gang van de lief,de  in- haar. werk ;
 `Was te arm ter betaling van kwaadsprekers schuld. ' Al schaadt het de wereld, al smaadt het.de  kerk.
  Hij weegt, en bedenkt deze zaak met geduld ;                             Ja, vrouwe! het strooien van distelen zaad: .
  En eindelijk vindt hij een weg voor de vrouw,                            o1 `t gaat zoo gemakk'lijk. Ik hoop gij verstaat
  Ijie stilzwijgend, wachtte met angst en be+uw.                           En neemt nu ter harte de les die `k U gaf:
  `(Ga", zegt hij, "doe boete ! wees niet al te bang ;                     Nooit wascht ge de schuld van het kwaadspreken af
  Maar zonden der tong, zij leven zoo lang,                                Door geld of door 6oete.i't `Gesprokene  woord?
 Zijn niet te vergeven voor geld of berouw:                                Nooit kunt gij herstellen den vree dien gij braal+:
 ,Gij moet voor die boeten, da&r helpt niet aan, vrouw !                   Des kwaadsprekers tong is een vuurylam, zeer fel;
  Uw boete is tweeledig :-eerst ga naar een hoek                           Is een wereld vol zonde, is .een vuurgloed der he]."
  Waar distelen groeien en bloeien ; en zoek                               `IGa, vrouw ! Zonder boete-maar ga met Uw schuld ;
 Waar de grootste eri rij.pste  der zaadbollen, pluk                       Vraag #God om,vergeving, en draag met- geduld
 Die gretig, en houdt ze in de windzijde, en druk                           Gods boete. Volbreng die: Houd, dit is Gods wil,
  De zaadkol. in stukkelzI en sttrooi ze in de wind              .;.-:     Uw lippen gesloten, en Uw tong voortaan  stil!"


 4 4 6                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                    - -
                                                                    Such is the fr'eedom given by the Spirit; it is the
 FROM  HOLY.WRIT freedom that walks in the--establishment of the law
                                                                in our hearts. It is the New Testament in Christ's
                                                                blood. It is the new Covenant enacted upon better
                   Exposition  of.Romans  s:~s-~o               promises !
                                                                    But we must proceed.
      It is not our intention in this article to give an ex-        This newness- of life also makes for a wholly dif-
 position of any particular portion of these  verses  ;         ferent kind of suffering. The suffering of hih in whom
 rather we will give a general survey of this section,          the Holy  ,Spirit dwells is  a&ogether  different in na-
 a bird's eye view of the whole. We trust that. this will       ture from the sufferng of natural man. The man is
 on the one hand stimulate us to~the proper interest in         not simply "old man". The natural man does not
the  cornSorting  message here revealed, and on the             have  a "new  man" and, therefore' strictly speaking
 other hand it will enable us to see the details of this        neither does he have an "old man". All the suffering
 passage in the light of the over-all pattern. We will. of Him who is in Christ becomes a suffering for Christ,
 thus not fail to see the woods because of the trees.           a being accounted a sheep for the slaughter! It is a
      Let each read this `passage from his. own Bible.          suffering for righteousness sake.      And, therefore,
      Let us then attend ,to, the setting and the general       those who thus suffer are blessed. The natural man
 implic&on  of  ,this section of Paul's Epistle to the          does not understand  .the things of the Spirit; it is
 Romans.                                                        foolishness to him. But IGod's children are blessed ;
      In general we may notice, that Paul in this chap-         suffering with Christ is inseparably connected with
 ter places very forcibly on the foreground that "those' being glorified toget,her with him ! Rom. 8 :17.
 in Christ Jesus" have come to stand in an all-tb-gether            It, is concerning this being glorified tagother with
 new legal relationship to God. -They, who were by              Christ that Paul has a few very pertinent things to
 nature children of wrath and subject to  comde&a-              say in the verses 18-30.
 tion, now stand in the. new legal relationship of sons             This final glory of God in the saints is the  fo,cu.s
 o      f          <God.
                   And  .&i' this freedom from condemnation     point of all of history as the unfolding of the plan of
 those in Christ Jesus walk not after the flesh. but after redemption in Christ Jesus.
 the Spirit.                                                        And it is brought concretely into consideration in
      Because of this new relationship in Christ the            every step of the way of the children of #God as they
 justified are not said. to walk according to the law,          must suffer  &th Christ.     The glory is always one
 but they walk accor$ing to the Spirit of Christ. 411           of the points of the believing consideration of the
thyngs have thus become new in our lives. We do not             Christian's comfort. Without this glory all life is
walk according to the olldness of tke letter.but  accord-       simply the vanity of vanities ; there is no profit for'
 ing to the newness of the Spirit. Rom. 6 :2, 4; 7 :6;          those wh0 live under the sun. Hence, the considera-
 8 :l, 2. We ,are not under the law but under grace;            tion of this glory is all-important for our Christian
 Now grace indeed does not abolish the law but  es-             comfort. It is highly doctrinal and at once intensely
.tablishes it. Rom.  3:31. It  is good to see this  Bibli-      practical ! The practical and the doctrinal are not
,.cal emphasis that we are not under law; that we have          antipoles. To have the practical without the doctrinal
died unto law iti order that we might be saved from             is like unto a ship without rudderand  compass ; it sim-
dead works unto the service of the living God. For. ply means th& we go and a& but we know not whi-
such is the, emphasis of Paul throughout this eighth. ther we are bound. Hence, all talk about the practical
chapter of Romans.                                              in distinction from the doctrinal is a very subtle iie
      Unless we have_ the Spirit df Christ we are none          of Satan. We need sound doctrine lest we become sick
of His. And when this Spirit of Jesus dwells in us              with sin. We need the pure teaching concerning the
we may be assured that this same Spirit shall also              "glory with Christ". lest we despair because of "suf-
quicken our mortal bodies. For the Spirit maketh                fering of this present age", sometimes called "this
alive arid leads to the final glory. In this Spirit we          life".
are not under the bondage of the law, but we are in                 Well, if such be the case, then let us pick up. the
the liberty that is real and wonderful, and we cry              loins of our mind and be sober. Let us by the Spirit
in this Spirit : Abba, Father ! For this Spirit testfies        that dwells in us give heed to the focus-point of all
with our ;Spirit  that we are the children of <God. Rom.        history, the Spirit's own goal in. all things. For the
8 :12-16.                                                       Spirit always seals unto that day, and leads all of the
      8&ch  ib  tly2  neWAess  of  ,ue,                         redeemed creation to the fmal glory to be revealed in


                                       TH.E  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                         0 447

the children of (God. Or to say it more exactly: to the       sent time shall be over and all things be made perfect-
final glory to `be fevealed  in us.                           ly new ; then shall God say : it is "very good" !
   Ah, we do not really stand in death and the grave             Now we know something very definite` concerning
with a stark and horrible future before us. There is          all things. It is-: that all things in this present time
condemnation in nothing. Nay, not even in death. and          of "sin and grace" work together for good to them
the grave. We stand together with the whole of crea- that love ,God !                   .
tion as we break forth from the Womb of God's ,Coun-             And what a knowledge this is!
se1 some. First-fruits of God's creation.        Our pains       It is the knowledge that  takes believing  cogni-
are the travail of the birth by water and the ,Spirit.        Dance of all the fasts of'life and death, things present
Birthpains our groanings are. Life breaking forth  and things future, sickness, peril and sword. It
,and conquering death. `The dawn of the new day is _- closes its eyes to nothing. All of these things work
in all of creation.                                           together for the final glory of the saints, to the glory,
   There is a threefold groaning spoken of in this            the "good" of those who love `God.
section.                                                         Who are ,they who love God?
   First there is the groaning of "the creature it-              By nature there is no one that loves God. By
self". `Of this we shall write more in later articles.        nature we are prone to hate IGod and our neighbor.
    Secondly there is the groaning of us who have             And, therefore, it is `so very true what John says :
the "first-fruits of the Spirit". This is the groan of        "Herein is love,,,not that we love God, but that he loved
waiting for the' redemption of our bodies, the final          us and sent his Son to be a propitiation for our sins."
manifestaton  of' our adoption to sons.                       He  *ho loves  ;God is one who is  Cal&led efficaciously
    Thirdly, there is the groaning of the  .Spirit of         by the Word and Spirit from darkness into God's mar-
Christ,  our High-priest as He  inter,cedes for us, the       velous light.
Church. This is a groaning which cannot be uttered.              But all things do not work together for our good
And yet it is a prayer which the searcher of the              bwuuse  we love God.  ,Our love is not the reason, it
hearts knows and answers.                                     is that which constitutes us the objects (sovereignly
  . In all of these three distinct groanings, in. creation    constituted) for the  good of whom all things work.
in us who have the First-fruits of the Spirit, an-d of        It is an indication that we have been called accord-
the HoLy ,Spirit Himself there is the panting, longing        ing to the purpose.. It is in no sense a condition that
expectation of the  fin&l glory of God's grace in us          we fulfil, but rather it is the .mercy of (God to us in-
the redeemed Church.                                          dicating that we are the called according to his eternal
   Hence, this glory is constantly taken up in all be-        purpose in Christ Jesus. Not they who, love God are
lieving reckoning of the meatiing and purpose of the          in the ultimate sense the' called according to the pur-
suffering of this present time ; of the meaning of the        pose, but the called according to the purpose are those
suffering of  IGod's children.                                who love. That is the text, and such is the Reformed
   And the result: it, sufferingi is not worthy to be         position.
compared. It does not even fall in the same class with           ,Such called according to God's purpose, lovers of
it. It really sinks away into nothing as soon as the          IGod, are also the justifiecl  ones from sin and death.
comparison, is made. And, 0 glory, thus it registers          Theirs is the right to the future glory. And by faith
too in the believing consciousness of the saints.             we press our claim for it. And we know that being
    Such is the general implication of the verses $3-2'7.     justified we shall also be glorified.
   `All things look toward the f ecus-point ; the glory of       The focus-point  df all history is woven into the
the saints !                                                  very. warp and woof of' the soteriological dealings of
   But there is more!                       e                 God with His children.
  We too know that all things work together for good             Every eye in hope is directed upon it!
to those who love #God !    . .                                                                             G; Lubbers
   This "good" is certainly the "glory of  IGod to be
revealed in us". It`is the "good" as it has been  es-
ablished by God Himself in His .eternal Decree and
Purpose in the Counsel of Peace and Redemption.
When that point of time comes ;, when the glory shall
be revealed. in us then God will be once more resting                      Rest in the Lord with quiet trust,
from His labors and saying: it is good. Thus God                             Wait patiently for Hilm,;
spoke in the end of the creation-week. And thus God                        Though wickedness triumphant seem,
shall speak when the end of the weary toil of this pre-
                            0                                                Let not thy faith grow dim.
                                       >


  448  0                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

                                                               patient with the other, and that there was an evident
                    Impressions
                               O f   S y n o d                 purpose to profit #by the best gifts of God in the bre-
      It was on Tuesday afternoon that the undersigned thren. `That recognition of the best gifts in the church
  rode with three other delegates from Classis East to         is also a wonderful gift of grace to us, and a blessed
  attend the Synod of 1952 to be held at South Holland,        experience.
  Illinois.                                                        `The third impression that I would here call atten-
                                                               tion to was that Synod was conscious of the fact that
      In the evening of that day we arrived in South Hol-      it requires time to perform the Lord's work, and al-
  land shortly before the Pre-Synodical service would be       so that much patience  .is necessary.  ,&mod did not
  held at `7:30 o'clock. The entire scene in South Hol-        hurry with their work to the extent that decisions
  land, a small village on the outskirts of the .great Chi-    were made without due and proper ,discussion.. Our
  cago Metropolis,  suggests the quiet and peace of the        President, Rev. Hanko was very patient. Yet, when
  co&try-side, while at the same time there is the un-         possible, all business was performed with dispatch.
easy undertone of the great and restless life of a world       The discussions on the floor of Synod were honest
 city.         i                                               and forthright. The mutual trust that makes for a.
      Here we are to meet  at Synod, although Synod did        lively debate was nearly always in evidence. That
 not here finish all of its  -work. And here we-are  tp        made'for  a happy gathering. It made us feel that we
 meet together as delegates to Synod together with the         were free in the Lord ; that the shackles of sin are
 calling (Consistory  and the- Congregation of [South Hol-
                          .                                    broken.
l a n d .                                                          A fourth impression, that I could not escapk was
      Now my first impress?on of this Synod was the im-        the, fact, that gradually our churches are growing a.
 pression that the Word of IGod made on niy soul as it         b i t   o l d e r .
                                                                               I mean that time marches on also in our
 was preached ,by the Rev. ;G. Vos, president of the 1951      churches carrying us on to the end of our life's Ijil-
 Synod. .I told the Rev. Vos, and expressed it to others       grimage. Meeting one of the elder delegates I asked
 also, that his Sermon on Hebrews 6 :16-20 was like cold       him how he was faring. He said: "very well, only
 vSrater on -a thirsty soul. The Congregation of South         I'm getting older." aOur ministers present at Synod,
  Holland and:the~.Delegates to Synod felt the great com-      who. have labored longest in our midst, have grown
 fort of the Word of Promise to all those "taking refuge       grey in the ministry  ,in our Churches. The Rev. H.
 to God"; we were comforted -by the fact, that ~God in         Hoeksema did not attend all the meetings of Synod.
  order to make this promise more sure to our c&scious-        He had a busy schedule, but had this been 15 years
 ness underscores this with an oaili, as the end of all        ago he would, no doubt, have attended. ;Our.Rev.  Op-
  contradiction. The delegates went to their respective        hoff too is crowned with-the "glory of the aged", not
 .lodgin& places.impressed  by the truth that truly in all     to forget our Rev. Vos. And the men who were  in.
  of. our work as workmen of God we could count on             the early twenties not too long ago are now `in the
  His help. That was refreshing..                              middle of life. We- are growing older. May we re-
      My second impression, which I would here record,         main  yoithful  and vigorous in the Lord in the midst
  is, that anyone who goes to Synod as a delegate is over-     of this world. . We were ~reminded  of this matter too
 whelmed by the sense of the littleness of our human           since the entire matter of emer'itbation of ministers is
 might and strength. `To be a delegate to Synod is a           being placed in the hands of a study-committee. It is
 great honor. And it will not be denied that it is an          true this committee will study the matter of emerita-
 h&or that is sometimes coveted in a sinful way due            tion to our ministers in the present. "abnormal emerit-
 to the motive of human pride. But this does not re-           ation". But the impression that the matter of an
 move the element of it.. being an honor to be counted         Emeritous  Fund is ever more a coming necessity, I
 worthy by the mind of the Church to perform such              could not escape.  -
 tasks. But this honor  enttiils also a grave  duty'and            The final impression, that I wish to record is, that
 responsibility. I looked about me in Synod. I count           it was indeed refreshing to have met together as dele-
sixteen brethren, delegates. Upon these shoulders God          gates of the churches of  Classis West and  `Classis
 places the responsibility of conducting the affairs of        East. There was throughout an evident attempt that
 our -entire denomination in as far tis these matters          the work on the Synod as well as the work of stand-
  come rightfully before this body. And nearly all of          ing  !Committees  be divided among members of both
-us are men of little learning, and some with not too          Classes. That was refreshing. And it was with a
 much experience. .Still I, could not but feel that all        feeling of satisfaction, together with a tinge of pain
 knew, deep in their souls, their own limitations. On          that we bade each other farewell, ,wishing each other
 the meetings of :Synod it was evident that each was           the Lord's indispensible blessings for the future. In
                                                                                              0
                                                                                      I


                                                                            T H E   STANDARP  BEARER                                                               4       4         9
                                                                   -
      God's Church it is not true th@ "east is east and west
      is west and ne'er the twain do meet". For we met in                                                      The' Condition Debate  in our Churches
      the love of Christ and under His injunction.                                                            It is with some hestitation that we undertake to
          And I would close  with the remark, that certainly
      all ,our labors are vain except in the Lord. And we be-                                              write -our l&oughts on the subject which captians this
                                                                                                           arkicle. And the reason for this is that every man
      lieve that labors were performed in the,Lord. It may who undertakes to write must beeare lest he stumble
  be  thart corrections must be made. But in the Lord                                                      in words: he that does not stumble in words is a per-
  that too is possible as stipulated in the `Order of His                                                  fect man.
      Church.                                  _
                                                                                    G. Lobbers                However, there are also reasons why it is entirely
                                                                                                           proper that the undersigned also expresses his thots
                                                                                                           on the so-called matter of debate in-`our churches.
                                                                                                           (I write advisedly "So-called debate". For properly
                                                      El  El El  El  El                                    speaking it is h& a debate as I hope to show present-
                                                                                                           ly) - The reason why it is proper for me to write is
                                                                                                           +hat I too have a calling to help give proper leader-
                                                       IN  MEMQRIAM                                        ship land guidance to the members of our churches.
        114 pleased the Lord to take unto Himsdlf, Tuesday,. June 24,                                      `Our periodicals are an open forum where we can, and
our beloved Mother and  ,Grandmother,                                                                      where we should speak our convictions subject to the
                 MRS.  LAMBERT   BOLSTEIGE,  nee  VanderMeulen                                             Word of ,God and the Reformed Confessions.
      at the age of  .almost  6'7  yea.rs.                                                                    W.hat  I shall write in this article are some of the              _
        The  #assurance   that all the  sufferilnzg  of this present time is                               impressions that have ~gradually but surely crystalized
      tiot  .worthy  to be compared with the glory which shall  ,be re-                                    into convi&ions during the past three or four years.,
      vealed comforts us in our deenp bereavement.                                                         During this period of "Sturm  und  Drang" the un-
                                                    Mr. ,and Mrs. Steven Holstege                          dersigned has not entered the debate ,to any degree.
                                                    Mr. and Mrs. Henry John  Holstiege                     #Only one article appeared from my hand dealing with
                                                    Mr. axid Mrs. Johannes Bosch-Holstege
                                                    Mr.  am3  8%. Andrew  Hol.stege                        the matter  mdirecitly.         It was entitled "Promise and
                 -,.-                       ' Mr. and Mrs. Arnold  Haveman-Holstege                        Promises". However, the rubric "From Holy Writ"
          --.                                       Mr.  [and Mrs. Gerrit Holstege         0               has remained true to its intention. But now I feel
 -                                                  Mr. and Mrs. Marvin Haveman-Holstege                   that the time has come to also express my convictions
                                                    .M.r. and Mrs. Benjamin. Holstege                      in regard to the matter of- the "condition debate".
                                                    Mr.  ,and Mrs.. Melvin Brink-Holsetge                                             .
                                                      and 29 grandchildren.                                My first  observation  concerning this ,&tire de-
      Hudson&le,   Michi:gan                                                                               bate of the term "condition" is that those who wrote
                                                                                                           did for a good -part of the time-not clearly state what
                                                                                                           they meant with the term, and still less in what con-
                                                    -- :-::                                                ted they would, if t,hey did, employ it. That lack of
                                                                                                           clarity was tragic.        It simply multiplied  misunder-
                                                                                                           standing' (s) . The effect upon the readers was that
                                                                                                           they simply were confused in mind:
                                                       IN MEMORIAM                                   .'       Let me elucidate upon this point.`,
        On  `J,une   ;1'7, 1952 it pleased God, in  gis  infinite  wisdom,  to,                               It is true that the debate of "conditions" was oc-
      take unto Hi.mself the soul of our dear wife and mother,                                             casioned by the teaching of the "Liberated Theology"
                              MRS.  TILLIE  VAN  OVERLOOP                                                  rthat the f`promise is for all upon condition of faith".
      at  lthe age of 51 years.                                                                            Instead of debating the question for whom is the
        Her testimony that she was prepared for the mansions above                                         Promise and the assurances of the Gospel, the debate
      is our consolation in hours of loneliness aund we trust that the
Lords  thru  the.comforting  Spirit, will ever be our source of                                            was  stranded on the rather abstract and scholastic
 hope for the  .day when we shall be reunited, never to  sosrow                                            construction: ts it possible to emply tee term "condi-
      again.                                                                                               tion" in a good Reformed sense?  NOW  obviously this
                                                               The bereaved f amilyf                       is fatal for a  heaLthy  discussion. It became a ques-
                    -.--A.;>.  _...  _.  ._.  -                J o h n   V.an  Overloop                    tion  of  conteiztion   over a term rather than over the
                                                                 Mr. and Mrs. Jack Vti Overloop            place of this term as used by the "Liberated Theo-
                                                                 Larry
                    .-.  .,-"  _                                                                           logy".
                    `:>a-             :              '  ;is      Ann           _
                   >-I- . .                                                                                    To ask can the term  "condiition" ever be used
                         L                                       Audrey
                   .p                      . . .        .:.' Loraims                                       in a Reformed sen,se is \one thing. To state that the
                   I  d
                 /gy..y<            -".       ;;y;>                                                        Promise  is for all upon condition of faith is so unre-
            -Tc - ,_                       _.  ,.L               Ma&m  _  I                     "


     450                                       T H E   STAN.DARD   B E A R E R

     formed, that in this connection no one with a Re-
     formed hair on his head will wish to co&end for it.                                  Seek& the  Lid Without the Camp
     But since this latter is true, I am certain, that for our
     very life's sake we should not teach it as sound words                                  And Moses Dook the tabernacle, and pitch-
     of  ,doetrine. For the Canons teach: this promise to-                                ed it without the camp, and called it the ta-
     gether with the command `to repent must be preached                                  bernacle of the congregation. And it came  .'
     to a&Z. The Promise preached to all is not at all the                                to pass that every one which sought the
     same as the Promise for all                                                          Lord went out unto the tabernacle of the con-
                                          upon condition of faith.
         Now it is true that the question whether the term                                gregation, which was without the camp.
     "condition" can ever be used in a Reformed, Bibli-                                                                   -Ex. 33 :17
     cal sense- might be suggested when we see how it                               "If thou,  M,oses, intercede not for them . .  ." as I
     is evidently employed in the theological con.struction  :                   stated, we must not make of this "if" a condition, and
     promise to all  upon  condition of faith, And what is                       accordingly read: on the comiition, Moses, that thou
     still more evidently true is that one instinctively be-                     intercede for them." For then we corrupt the word
     comes careful with the use of, the term when we are in                      of God here.
     the neighborhood of such theological constructions,                                 But neither must this "if" clause be eliminated
     whi,ch in their formal formulations an out and out                          from Moses' intercession. The Holy Spirit has put
     Arminian cannot improve upon. But it remains  in-                           these "if" clauses in the Scriptures and with a pur-
     controvertilbly true, that the propositions : promise to                    pose certainly. As a sentence element in Moses (and
     all upon condition of faith is not to be indentified with                   in Christ's) intercession, the particle "if" brings out
     the question: Is it possible to use the term in a Re-                       a great truth, namely that (God, being righteous and
     formed sense?
0                                                                                holy IGod, could choose and love His people, by nature
         That was fatal to good discussion..                                     illdeserving and condemnable on account of their sins,
            It beclouded the issue in two directions.                            only in Christ, -and accordingly could save and for-
            In the first place, the real issue: fog whom is- the                 give them only in the way of Ghrist's atonement and
     promise, adid not come  to the foreground.                        '         intercession.      (Certainly without the  ,Christ there
         And again; those contending for conditions came in                      could be no election unto life eternal, no pardon and
     a position where their arguments `were vague, and                           salvation and glory for  ,God's people by nature as
     had no seeming direct bearing upon the actual point                         stiffnecked as the others. Without the Christ,  (God
     of controversy.                                                             would have  ,been under the constraint of His own
         Why this lack of clarity?                                               holiness and righteousness to consume also His peo-
         I cannot and will not answer that, for -God is the                      ple.
     Judge. But I do bemoan this lack' of clarity and the                                But however vile and guilty in themselves this
     subsequent confusion in the minds of many of our                            people may be, in Christ they were holy and blameless
     people.                                                                     in love before Him in His counsel eternally. And
                                 -I-to be continued, (G. Lubbers                 therefore the thought of His consuming this people,
                         ---E-E-                                                 was `so utterly repulsive to Him, that He gave His
                       WDIDING' ANNIVERSARY                                      (Only Begotten. In the language of the text of the
       On  July 10, 1952!  the Lord  willing our beloved .paients,               -Scriptures .(Ex, 32 :14) : "And the Lord repented of
                   MR. AND MRS. REINDER TIMMER                                   the evil which he said that he would do to his people,'
     hope to celebrate their 40th Wedding Anniversary.                           `if %!o.ses had not prayed for them,' that is, what the
       It is our eanneslt  prayer that ihe Lqrd may bless them along             Lord said He would do to His people-consume them-
     the rest of life's pathway and that His grace may ever  SUS-                if-He had not raised up Moses to pray for them, griev-
     tain them.                                                                  ed him. For that people was the object of His etern-
       "For  he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee             al love in Christ. For such is the repentance of God,
     in all thy  ways."7Psalm   91:ll.                                           as we have seen. It is not also remorse and change
                          Thankful for their loving care,                   :
                              Itheiy  grateful children:                         of mind and plan, as the repentance of man. But it
                                Mr. and Mrs. George  Vink                        is grief, .here  His sovereign detemination  to be grieved
                              Mr. and Mrs. John Hoekzema                         by the idea of His consuming His people, and, thus to
                                Mr. land Mrs. Henry.Timmer                       be delighted by the idea of .His saving them in Christ.
                                Mr. and MXS.  Seiger Heys                                Let us now proceed with this sacred story to its
                                                -Manhattan Montana               climax.
                                Mr. and Mrs. Elton -Piersma
                                   1      5           grandchildy~.                      Moses had concluded his intercession. "Remem-
     Grand Rsvpids, Mi&@n                                                        ber Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom
                                                       ()


                                     THE  S T A N D A R D   B.EARER                                             451
                ,y
thou swearest  Iby  thine own self . . . had been his      when he saw it, built an altar before it, and made a
final wlol:ds. And the L&d repented . . . But He re- -proclamation, saying : "Tomorrow is a feast to the
frained from telling Moses. The statement: `I have re-     Lord." ?
pented. I will spare  an,d forgive,' does not occur at        But Moses was of a different mind. The people
this juncture in the text. So the prayer went un-          had committed a great sin. In the words of the psalm-
answered. With a burdened soul Moses turned and            ist, "They made a &If in Horeb, and worshipped the
went. down from the mount. The Lord could not con-         molten image. Thus they changed their .glory into the
s.ume His people. Of that he was confident. But why        similitude of an. ox that eateth grass. They forgot
had He not answered? As he pondered the thing, his         God their Saviour, which had done great things in
attention was arrested by what Joshua, who was again       Egypt"- (Ps. 160  :19-21).
at his side, was telling him: "there is a -noise of war       ,So standing' in the gate of the camp, Moses is-
in the camp." Moses, too, listened. "That is not the       sued-a call: "Who iS on the Lord's side,,' said he, "let
voice of them that shout for mystery." said he to          him come unto me." If they had only come, one and
Joshua, `"neither is it the voice of them that cry for     all !, If, in a word, they had only repudiated their idol
,being overcome ; :but I do hear the noise of them that    and returned  ai  .penitents  to the Lord! But, as it
sing.,'                                                    was, only the sons of Levi responded. Moses now is-
   ,Though the Lord had told him that the people had       sues a fearful command. In the name of the Lord he
made a molten calf and were worshipping it, Moses          ordered every man among them to put his sword by
was not braced for the sight that now met his gaze         his side, and to go in and out from gate to gate
as he drew near the -camp.' He saw the calf and the        throughout the camp, and slay every-man his brother,
people dancing. In a pau:oxysm of wrath, he cast the       and, every man' his companion, and every man his
tables out of his hands with such force that they broke    neighbor." And the Levites did so, and there fell of
beneath the mount. And they were the tables of testi-      the people three thousand men.
mony on both sides of which ,God with His own fin-            As every man had been against his son, and a-
ger had engraven the law of the ten commandments.          gainst his brother, the people were commanded to con-
What mattered any longer these tables? The people          secrate themselves, that the iLord might bestow upon
had broken in pieces the covenant, trampled it with        them a blessing.
their feet. Taking'the calf, Moses burnt it, ground it        .As was stated, Moses had besought the Lord to
to powder, and straw&d it upon the water, so that the      turn from His fierce wrath. But there had been no
people now had to drink of it. The Sanity of their         answer. Why this silence? -To be forgiven sin must
prostrating themselves before gods whom they could         be atoned. Moses well understood. For it was the
thus drink !                                               one lesson driven home to every believer's' heart by
   Moses demanded an explanation of -Aaron. What           the sacrifices by blood. But For the sin that the peo-
had the people done unto him to get him to bring so        `pie had committed these  sacrifices did not avail. The
great a sin upon them? Aaron implored M,oses to be         id.olater had to die. And so &seemed that the nation
patient with him and he would tell him all. Moses          was doomed to extinction after all. But the Lord
ktiew this people as well ,as he, how that they were       could not consume His people. Yet there was  tie a-
set on mischief. $30 they had come to Aaron demand-, tonement.                       c
ing that he make them gods, which should go  bei'             So on the morrow Moses said to the people: "Ye
fore them. For as for this Moses, the man that had         have sinned a great sin: and now I will go up unto the
brought them out of the land of Egypt,.who had any         Lord; peradventure I will make an  atonemeht for
idea of what had cbecome of him? -He may have per-         you." "Peradventure . . ." He realized that he was
ished. And so Aaron had cast the gold that they had        but a sinful man. But he could at the least offer him-
brought him into the fire, and lo! out had come that       self. Returning to the Lord he said: "Oh the peo-
calf. Aaron had yielded to popular demand, not hav-        ple have sinned a great sin, and have mad& them gods
ing had the courage- to resist. Yet he was a saint ,of gold. Yet, now if thou wilt forgive them, it is
-but how weak a saint. I%. 106 116. And doubtless there    well. And if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of the
w&e many such saints in the camp; men gyieved in           book, which thou hast written," if that will procure
their hearts by the innovation but too afraid to raise     for them forgiveness, he meant to say. But the Lord
their voice in protest or perhaps even qpndoning the       returned answer : "w.hoever  hath sinned against me,
idoltary on the ground that after all it `w&s still Je-    him will I blot out of my book." The irinocent might
hovah that was being worshipped. Had not Aaron             not die for the guilty. The soul that sinneth shall
said : "These be thy gods,  ~0 Israel,  whi&h brought      die. But if so, what `hope could there be fey this Ijeo-
thee up out of the land of`Egypt."?  And had he not,       pie!? The Lord gave no answer except to say to


 452                               T H E   .ST-ANDA&D B&-ARE-R
                          - - -
 Moses : "Theiefore now go, l&d' the .people  unto the                 tabe?nacle, that all the. people rose up, and stood:every
 place of wh-ch f have spoken unto thee: behold mine- man at his tent dqor,- and lodked. after Moses, until
 angel shall go before thee: nevertheless -in the day                  he was gone i&p the tabernacle.
 when I visit, I will visit their sins,up& them."                          And it came to pass, as Moses enter&d  (he taber-
        He would  visirt their sins upon them? What                    nacle, the cloudy pillar ,desceided,' and stood at the
 could this mean  b;t that He would-destroy them? Yet                  door of the tabernacle, and the Lord talked with Moses.
 Moses must lead them to the `place of which the Lord                      ;clnd all the people saw the cloudy pillar stana at
 had spoken? And he would send an angel before                         the tabernacle door; and all the pkople  rose up and
 him ? H&w inexplicable !                                              worshipped, every man  tit his tent door.  339-10.
    `The aspect of the Lord's doirigs continued ominous..                  `T,hat the Lord and -the Pillar of cloud were essen-
 First He plagued the people, because they made the                    tially one is especially evident from this ninth verse.
 calf (32 :35). And, though He next commanded Moses Let us take notice of `the statement occuring in *his
 to depart, and go up hence, he' and his people, which                 verge  : "the cloudy pillar descended . `.. . and the .Lord
 he had brought up out of the land of Egypt,  unto                     talked  with M&es," talked with him from out of the:
 the land `which He, the Lord, had sworn unto Abra-                    cloudy -pillar. `It was the Triune Jehovah speaking
 ham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying Unto thy seed                     through  the voice that came to tioses from the cloud.
 will- I. give it; and though He promised to send an                   An< this voice Was the voice of  ,Christ. And the
 angel before MO&S `(the angel of the Loyd, of whom                    cloud that  could, be seen was .the preindication of
the cloud was the visible manifestation) and promised                  Christ's human nature, the man Jesus.
 further that He, the Lord (the amgel of the Lotid and                     So had the Lord. taken up His abode outside the
the Lord were essentially one ; the angel was C]hrist) ,               camp. And from there He was treatening  to come up
would drive out the Canaanite, the Amo?ite,  and the                   in the midst of the people in a moment to consume
 Hittite and the  Perizzite the Hevite,  alid the  Jebul               them. So l%e had said. So the whole congregation was
site: r&to geland flowing with milk and honey; Lyet                    living in mortal `dread of God, thinking that they
.He at dnce. l&t it be known that He w.6uld not go ?fp in              might be consumed -at any moment.
t?ne midst of them, as he had been doing (the taberna-                  But there was one ray of `hope. Every penitent Is-
 cle had been given a place in the very midst of the en-               raelite still had excess to the Lord without the camp to
eampment)  btit a$ a distance from them,  -He and the                  appear there before His face to confess his great sin
 angel;and giving as the reason that "thou art a stiff-                and to receive  the- Lord's pardon in his heart. For
necked seople: lest I consume thee in the way". (Ex.                   we read: "And it came to pass, t&t every one which
33 :l-3). What evil tidings ! When the people heard                    sought the Lord went out unto the tabernacle of the
they mourned ; and no man did put on him his orna-                     congregation, which  was without the camp.                  They
- merits, 33 :4.,,. And this was not a wonder, considering             seeking the Lord without the camp were the Israel
what the Lord had said. This is. iyhat -He had said :                  according to the election. This Israel the Lord could
 "Ye are a stiffnetked people: I will  come up  ifi the                not. destroy. And to allay their fears and- to reas-
midst of thee in a moment, and consume thee; there-                    sure them He called them $0" Himself without the camp
fore now put  off they ornaments from thee, that I                     and spoke in their hearts peace.             But without the
may know tiKat to do unto thee." "And the children                     camp, that is, in separation from-the apostate church..
 of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments- by                  So it always must be.
mount Horeb."                                               -_             .But we have not yet reached the climax  6f this
    But had not the Lord kepented?  Hk had, but He ,story. So we close' here with a: to be continued.
had not yet let it be known. As a result Moses and                                                                T  1G.  -M.  lOphoff
the people were still in ithe dark. And the Lord, as is
plain, continued to speak in enigmas in order to in-
cite Moses to continue -his intercession %n response to                                        I N   M E M O R I A M
which the Lor;d would finally give him a great' new                      ae  Hudsonville  Protestant Reformed Ladies, Society  hwe-
revelation concerning His way with this people.                        w&h  extpresses  its sympathy with their fellow-members, Mrs.
    The Lord now did what He had threatened. `.He                      Steven Holstege, Mrs. Henry John Hoistege,  Mrs. An@rew  Hbl-
and His angel took up their `residence in a place far                  stege, and Mrs. Gerr;it  Holstege in the death of their Mother,
                                                                                       MRS.  LAMiBE,Rl'  HrOLSTE?GE
removed from the camp. Moses, as mandated by ihe                         May the God of  -ali comfort  cons&e  their  hearts in the glor-
Lord, took the tabernacle, and pitched it- tiithdut  the               ious thought that "Blessed ,are the dead that die in the Lord."
 ca.mp, afar off froth the camp, and called it the Taber-                               The  Hudsonville   Prot. Ref. Ladies' Society:
-nacle  of the Congregation. 33 5.     '                                                          Rev.  Ge&kt Vos,  Pres.
    And it came to pass, when, Moses went out unto'the                                           Mrs. Peter  Z. Lubbers, Sec'y.
                                                     . .                                  -
                                                                  _


                      --



                               :     .     :    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                     453.

                                                                     scho+&n  g word, what the  mGdspei  preacher sets
        T h e   Si+&an~e~  o f   Exeg&s  f o r   the  i-.-i; forth- .f$ .the*&onsumption  of his hearers is his very
                Preach;ng  o f   t h e   Gos,xl                      own creed.  For that is a creed. In her  credds,  the
                                                                     ,Christian church sets forth what she conceives and
     Implied in my s&ject is the statement that exe-                 believes to b.e the Word of God.
 gesis has significance for the preaching of the Gospel.                Some .people are so much opposed to creeds. More
 However this is not the point that I am going to ar-                then once I have had people `say. to me : why preach
gue.      My purpose is to concentrate on  this-signifi-             on the Catechism. Why not. give us the Scriptures.
 cance as such as showing  what it is and how great it               These people do  .not understand what they say.
 is. It is that great that without it there can be no                Should their minister  *do as they desire, he would
 preaching of the Gospel.                                            simply read.the Scriptures on'the meetings for public
     My subject is important. And the reason is that                 worship without adding as much as. a word of  ex-
 is calls for the treatment of the signficance of exege- Planation.              Beware of the man who has as his. slo-
 sis for the preaching of the Gospel. What difference                gan: no creeds but the Scriptures, or no creeds but
 would it make, that there could be no preaching of the              Ghrist. That person does not say what he means.
 IGospel without exegesis, if _ the Gospel were the in- - What he means is that he does not like the creed that
- significant`word of some insignificant man. But the                is binding in his churches and therefqre wants it re-
 (Gospel is not man's word. The IGospel is IGod's Gos-               placed by his own creed.
 pel in the sense that He is the sole author of it. The                 We see now what preaching. of the Gospel really
Gospel is the Gospel of Christ in the sense that it                  is. And just because preaching of the #Gospel is what
 sets forth the Christ in all,His significance in relation           it is, preaching of the Gospel is. such.a grave business.
 to  IGod, in relation to His people, and in relatipn to             For mark you well, it is not through the mere ?ea:cL
 all thitigs. The Gospel as officially, proclaimed 1s the            ing of the Scriptures but through the official preaeh-
 keys of the kingdom of heaven by which this king-                   ing of the-Scriptures, of the Gospel, that the church
 dom is opened and closed, open to the penitent and is gathered, the saints perfected, -the body of Christ
 closed to the impenitent. The .Gospel  is the power of -. built, `and the man of God thoroughly furnished unto
                                                                                                     _
 God unto salvation to every  on& that  .believeth.  By              every good work.
 the preaching of the IGospel the church is gathered,                   We  see. then,  w&at it. necessarily means if the
 the. saints perfected, the body of Christ built, and                preacher- of ttie Word has not the right cgnception  of
 the man of God thoroughly furnished unto every good                 the truth. It means that he is preaching a  corrupt
 work.                                            .~                 (Gospel. And this in turn must meant that the' church
                                                                     is not b@ing gathered and the saints perfected, at least
     So we see. how important my subject really is.                  not through that preaching. And the reason is obvious:
     Now if we are going to appreciate the significanck. You have an artist paint your picture. ,But it, is not
 of exegesis for the preaching of the IGospel, we must               a good picture. It does not look like you at all. And
 have a clear understanding of what preaching of the. therefore men cannot see you in that picture. So it
 IGospel really is. Preaching of the IG'oSpel iS not mere            is with a  corrupt  preaching.   Men  cannot  see  Christ
 reading of the Scriptures.  Xhould the minister on                  in it. And th&fore by such. preaching the church is
 the meetings for public worshjp fill the hour alloted               snot being gathered. For,. certainly, the church can-
 `for the sermon with mere reading of the &2riptUreS,                not be .gathered by the lie.
 he would not  have preached the Gospel. Preaching                      How therefore the human preacher of the word
 of `the Gospel' is explanation, exposition of the <Scrip-           should exert himself to get hold of and to hdld fast
 tures. Therefore-,preaching  of the  Gosp,el is such a the right conception' of the truth of the Scriptures.
 serious business. For that exposition is not the Word of            How eager he should be to preach that conception.
 God O,S such but what the hulman preacher of ihe word               How he should rejoice if the communion of churches
 conceives and believes to be the word of God, the                   in which he has a name and a place as a gospel prea-
 truth of the S&ipt&-passage' that he has selected for               ch&, does have the right conception. Ho,w eager he
his sermon. That expositi,on  is no more ,the word of                should be that his churches supply themselves with
 (God as such than. yQur photograph of your child is                 the instrument that is needed for keeping that con-
 that child as `such. `That photograph occupies+ some                ception pure and for shutting the door to all such
 conspicuous place in your home, while your child is                 who would enter to corrupt that conception.
 elsewhere.      During the daytime your child is in                  - Now all this raises an important- question. It is
 .** Address delivered on the occasion of the graduation of  stu-    this : how dqes the human preasher  Gome i@% the right
    dent Herman Mensch in Hope PKotestant. Reformed Church,
   May 26, 1952.                                                     possessions  of  t4e truth of the  Scrjptures?  Before I
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   4 5 4                                THE'  STAN'DAR.~  BE~AR.ER .

  go into this question, I must; .explain it. My question        ideas but that they are the' one Word of  IGod, im-
   contains the' expression "The truth". By  Uz,e  trath         plying that what in their totallity-.  they set forth is
   I mean not the heavenly us me&the  heairenly Fa-              one logically integrated truth-structtire,  the one Word
   ther, the heavenly Christ, the heavenly redemption,           of [God. From-lthis  principle it follows that there are
   and the heavenly earth etc., but what I mean is the           no contradictions in the Bible.
   r~~.t&ztiorn  of the heavenly through the earthly langu-         ,The -third principle is that the Scriptures are the
   age of the Scriptures, thus the heavenly as a con-            infallible w&d of IG-od, which means that they cannot
   ception, idea. Now the truth` taken in this sense and         be in error. Were this not true, there  woul,d  be no
   the holy  Scriljtures  are  one. The two can be  dis-         point to exegeting the Scriptures,
   tinquished but not separated.. And therefore my ques-            This exegetical apparatus of which I just spoke
   tiori: how does the minister come into the right pos-         contains two laws or rules so essential that without
   session of &he truth of the-Holy Scriptures, definitely their observance their can be no exegesis worthy of
   of the Scriptures-passage that he means to explain to         .the name.
   his flock.                                                       The first of these is that the Scriptures, like any
        H,ow do we come.into the possession of the right         human writing, must be explained grammatically.
   conception of any object, what ever that object may              This implies two things.
   be,-a stone, a flower, a landscape, or a tree? Only              First that the exegete must acquaint himself with
   by looking at that object attentively, that is, by ex-        the meanings that the words of the text have by them-
   amining- that object as all the while receiving into          selves :' (and .I now have reference to the Greek and
   our consciousness what that ,object  reveals to us about      the Hebrew Bible), and second, that he must explain
   .itself.    .It  -is no different certainly regarding the     the words of the passage with which he is occupied in
   right way by which the minister comes into tlie pos-          their connection.  '  _
   session of the right conception of the Scriptures, of the        Now these are simply common sense rules.. No one
   truth of the Scripture-passage with which-he is oc-           invented them, They were given of God with the
,  cupied. It is by his -studying the passage, meditating        creation of language. How can I understand your
   on it and pondering it as all ,the while receiving into _ `discourse unless I know the meaning of its words?
   his consciousness what the-passage has ito say to .him.       And how can I understand your discourse unless I
   This action is what is- called exegesis. Exegesis is          interpret its words in their connection, that is un- .
   from a Greek word that means to &raw out, here to             less I  hear-the  words of your  discourse'as a logically
   draw out of the Scriptures the truth embodied in them.        connected  whqle? It is no different, certainly with
   Exegesis is that activity by which the minister comes         the discoursks  of the Scriptures.
   intto the possession of the right conception of the Scrip-       The second basic rule contained in this exegetical
   tures, of the truth incorporated in them, through his         apparatus is that the Scriptures must be interpreted
   interpreting  &he text of the Bible according to the          with the  :Scriptures.  We must look -a  lit&le closer
   principles and laws or rules created by (God for that         at. this rule. What it means is that each Scripture
   purpose. It is *these  principles and laws that consti-       passage must be explained in its context which in the
   tute what niay be called the right exegetical appara- final instance is the ,whole of the Scriptures.
   tus. This apparatus is of great importance. If, let              What this really rmeans  is that before the minister
   us say, the -farmer wants erdps, he must cultivate the ' of the `Gospel ventures to preach on any one Scripture
   soil of his land according to the principles and laws         passage he must know his whole Bible. And I now
   created by `God for that purpose. So, too, the exegete,       again have reference to this one truth structure of the
   if he wants to come into the right possession of the          &zript,ures,.  formed, as it is, of the principal doctrines
   word of God, of the truth of the Scriptures.                  of  Holy-Writ; The minister of .the Gospel must know
        Bear with me while I name the essential principles       this .truth structure. For the Scriptures must be in-
   and laws included in this exegetical apparatus.               terpreted with the Scriptures. This, of  course,  would
      First that God communicated to the church the              mean that the minister of the .GoBpel would never get
   truth concerning the things heavenly through langu-           to preaching, that is, if he entered upon his minister-
   age, earthly, huniap and strictly logical according to        ial Career  6,s ignorant of the Bible as a heathen who
   the laws of thought by which God also thinks. From            never heard of the Gospel. But the minister does not
   this principle it follows that the Scriptures can be          enter upon his ministerial career as ignorant of the
   exegeted and that through exegesis of the Scriptures          Bible as a heathen, but he enters upori his career as a
   we ktiow  the mind of #God.                                   son of the Holy Catholic church, that we all profess
        The second principle is that the Scriptures are,not a    to believe,, And _ the church has been studying the
   cancatenation of unrelated ,and even . contrad&ory            $c@turea'through  all the-ages of the past, and many


                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                          455

 years ago already in the second century of our Chris- is the'lie. And in the latter case, this precisely is what
 tian era the Holy Spirit caused' &be church through he then reads into  t.he Scriptures, namely the lie.
. her study of the Scriptures to behold in the Scrip-        For it has the iove  ,of his heart. Any  comtientary
 tures this one truth structupe,  the one Word of ,Gocl,     written  by any errorist -under_ tile sun bears out the
 and what the church was made to behold-this truth truth of this ststement.
 structure-she laid down in the symbol known as the           And this brings us to the question of the. right
 Nicene #Creed of 325, 381' and 451, but known more          use and true value of this compend of faith. The
 particularly under  t,he honored name of Apostle's          minister, as exegete, may not allow his compend of
 Creed, our Twelve Art. of faith of which our Three faith, any element of doctrine in it, to dominate his
 Forms #of Unity are the expansion- our Three Forms          exegesis. But this is but another way of saying that
 of Unity- the Belgic Confessions, the Heidelberg the minister may not read one Scripture passage into
 Catechism and the Canons of Dort. And the church Another.  For then he does not allow  the Scripture
 trained the minister of the Gospel first through his        passage  wi'th  which he is occupied to speak to him
[God-fearing .parents an,d other agencies in the church its own peculiar message, but imposes upon the text
 co-operating with the church and  offic+ally  through       an idea foreign to it. .This may never be done, though
 the teaching ministry in the eliureh as operative in        the idea as such ,be ever so scriptural. On the other
 rthe pulpit and in  the seminary of the church. The         hand, neither will the minister  pit the Scripture pas-
 church through her teachers took the minister of the        sage with which ,he is occupied as exegete against his
 Gospel and led him to the ,Scriptures. She went with        compend of faith. This he may not do. And this he
. him through the Scriptures, exegeting with him the also cannot do, as according to his firm belief he
 Scriptures, and the result was that he, too, beheld         then would be pitting the Scriptures against the very
 what the church beheld; namely this truth-structure S c r i p t u r e s .
 of the ,@riptures, this conipend of faith of the church.       The great value of this compend of faith for the
 And Christ gut it into his heart an# thereby adequate-      minister as exkgete can best be brought out by an il-
 ly furnished him for the work of .the ministry.             lustr$ion. You have a son who is far from home
     And so the minister of the ,Gospel  enters upon his     in some distant land in the service of his country.
 ministerial career as one who in this senee has exe-        He unexpectedly returns. He walks into your pre-
:  geted  the total of the  S&iptures,  thus as one who      sence and you recognize him instantly. For you have
 knows his wh'ole Bible and is thus prepared to inter-       in your mind and heart an image of his fiace Gvhich
 pret the Scriptures with the Scriptures. For  .this         you love.  So the minister of the Gospel. He recog-
 truth structure, this compend of faith, i's the Scrip-      nizes instantly the truth, the Christ, contained in the
 tures, not, of course, the Scriptures as such, b$ a' Scripture passage with which as  exegete he is oc-
 correct image, replica of the Scriptures, of this truth     cupied. For he.has in his heart and mind an image of
 structure of the ,Scriptures and in this s&me, the very     the truth, of the Christ; which he loves. And that
 Scriptures. IOne will ask: can this be proved? It can       image is his compend of faith. Wzhat. would the min-
 certainly. Christ by. His Spirit witnesses with the         ister of the IGospel.  do with a text like John 3 :16, "For
 spirits of God's children that  they are  tGod!s  sons.     God so loved the world. . . .", if he were as ignorant
  Meow does Christ do that? By speaking this truth           of the Scriptures as a heathen. As it is, he approaches
 structure, this compend of faith, in the hearts of His      this Scripture passage with his  competid  of faith,
people. This is the proof.  _  ,.                            th& is, with a definite conception-of God, and of His
     And now one may still ask :. approaching the Scrip-     love, and of the world, .and of faith and of life ever-
 tures  with this compend of  faith? with this  t.ruth       lasting. For he approaches the text as a son of the
 structure as `the object of his love, dpes not the .min-    church., And therefore he can deal with the text, as
 ister approach-Holy Writ with a bias? And if so,            exegete, in comparatively short time.
 can he produce exegesis worthy of the name? Cer-               With these observations before  us I think that
 tainly the minister approaches the Scrip&es with a          we are now able to perceive the significance of exege-
 bias, but it is a good and necessary bias, being, as it     sis for the preaching of the Gospel.
 is, the bias of the very Scriptures gendered in him by.        `a. The Scriptures, as tie all know, have been ex-
 IChrist's Spirit.                                           plained and are still being explained in many ways.
     No man approaches the Scriptures without a bia's,       But of all these explana`tions  only one can be correct,
 least of all those who say that it must be done. ..A man    and this of necessity as any Scripture passage can have
 occupied with the Scriptures as exegete.  approaches        but one meaning.. This one meaning may be twofold
 the Scriptures either with the bias of the ScriptuT@        ,as when the text is typical or parabolical.  But this
 or with the bias of\ the vain philosophy of men, which      is then the one meaning of the text. Likewise there is


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                     ,              .             T H E   `S-TAND'AR.D  B E A R E R
                                         - - . -                                                                 -
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     but one right exegetical apparatus, namely the one             pel and for (God's people. How does Christ thus ;XP:
     just descrilbcd -as to its principles and essehtial  rules;    par& him? By speaking the-fruits of his exegesis in
     Now as armed with this right exegetical -apparatus             his  heart and thereby furnishing  Jaim  foY' his task,
     and as operating with it correctly, the minister, oc-          And as- thhus furnirjhecl the minister will long for liia
     cupied with the Script&es as exegete, must ancl will gulpit. He will ,be eager fd? the next- sabbath tu come
     cpme into the possession of the right conception of. the- round to face his flock wit& a message straight from
     truth of'the Scriptu'res,  of the particular passage with      the thione into his heart through the Holy Scriptures.
     which he deals, even `though he be an out and out &-                Exegesis is difficult. It is `not `so that the truth em-
     believer. Therefore the @rorist is so filled with dread        bo,died  in the text suddenly flashes on the mind of the
     for exegesis. He `refuses to explain the Scriptures            exegete as a resul,t of `just a littie. effor,t.    It is only
     with the Script.ures  and thereby he violates one of the       through  persistiant and sustained effort as exegete
     basic ml&  included in the right exegetical apparatus.         that the minister comes into the possession of theright
     And as he progresses in his heresy atid gets farther           conception o$ tile truth embodied in the text ~on'i;rihicti
     and fart.her  away from the truth, he stops exegeting          he concentrates. Arid e'ven when ,he is confident that
     .alt,ogether,  and takes to what is known as topic preach,-    the text has yiel'ded to him its right me&ning,.,he al-
     ing. The minister  ad&ted to. topic  preaching sim-            w.ays.  feels that there are depths remaining that he
     ply &es the text as a lead to his own vain.philosophy.         has not  fsathomed.  And it c&not well be otherwise
     ,Our only effective weapon against heresy is right ex-         since what he deals with is the revelation in earthy,
     egesis. As armed with this right tixegetical  apparatus        human, language of the infinite God.
     and- as operating with it correctly, we can compel any
     heretic under the &un to admit that his e?pla&ion                   But this is not his-only difficulty. The minister is
     .of the Scriptures is a `lie. Nolt that' be will. admit it     not in the possession of his metal faculties as upim-
     .in so many words. Yet he admits  ;it, first by refus-         paired by sin. His  memory is not perfect. It  ye-
     ing to come with exegesis, and second by.his,,pefusal          quires effort on -his part to perceive the logic of the
     to.reply to the exegesis of .his ,assaiiatits.                 text of the Scriptures. ,Second,  the minister is a sin-
                                                                    ful man, though rege?erated. His spiritual perception
        `b. But this does not exhaust  ,the significance of         is so likely to be blurred-by the sinful biases of his
     exegesis for the preaching oft the Gospel. Let us con-         sinful flesh, so that he must be always at it.keeping
     sider that in this  one Word of God each Scripture             his sinful flesh under subjection in order that he may
     passage has its own place and therefore its own indi-          be able to see the kingdom-the kingdom of God.
     vidual instruction, mess,age, comf or,t. And it is the
     duty of the minister  as exegete to `apprehend this mes-            But the minister, if a t?ue servant of God keeps in-
     sage, instruction, comf&t, which he does through arm-          cessantly at itl-exegeting  the Scriptures, ,doing so un-
     ing himself with this right exegetical apparatus and `der the constraint of his faith,  .which is living,  and
     through oper,ating  with `it correctly. Failing `in this,      under the impulse of the love.&f ;God shed ,abroad in his
     his sermons wili be characterized by a wearisome same-         heart and with the prayer in his soul: Lord lead me
     ness. They.will.inspire  neither himself nor his hear-         into the truth of thy-scriptures in order that more and
     `ers. And the  complai@  of his  hear'ers will  ,be'  that     more I may  behold thy glory.  1
     :th&y are not being edified and refreshed  in God's                 And  Ikt this prayer be living in his soul always
     house under: his preaching. Preaching the  ,Gospel             by ,a11 means. &et him not say, `when he attains to the
     will become for him more and more of a chore. And              right conception of the text with which-he deals: By
    the time will come when he will wish that  he never             my wisdom. For certainly, the  exeg&e does not by
     became a minister `of the Gospel. The only preventive          his own effort .jn the way of -exegesis. originate the
     of these calamaties is sound exegesis of the text. The         right conception of the. text. This view of the matter
     minister of the Gospel must Study his text. He must .must be condemned as rank rationalism. The right
     live with  -tihe  Scriptures   d&y and night, His only         conception of  &he  teti was given him by  +he spirit
    salvation as a preacher of the Gospel is soutid exege-          .of Christ leading him into the truth of the Scriptures
     s i s .   `.                                                   bg his exegetical  effort.  .Ltet him then give all  cr'e-
         c. Finally; through  exegesis of the Scriptures,, dit to Christ and to, Christ's God to whom al&e all
     ,Chri& prepares the minister f,or the preaching of the         credit  is due. For what has the minister +hat he has
     #Gospel in `such' a way ~that his message leaves his lips      not received.  Nothitig  at all.
     as -a  livilig testimony-a testimony  lqden with  the                                                      G.  $4.  (>phdff
     cofiviction   that he speaks the Word of `God; and a           .
     testiniony'aglow with the love of .his heart for the Gas-                     ._           -:::-.
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