              VOLUME           XXIX                              JULY   -1,  .1953   -  GRAND   RAPIDS,   MICHIGAN-
                                                                                            /

        .a ,H,r~,re-,,-`,r~,r,,-,,-,~-,~-~,-,~-,~-~~-~~-,~-~~~~-,~-~~-,.:.                       life. Saul hated David rnoye than any of his enemies;
                          M-E D I T'A.T.1 0 N-                                         i  A.d
                                                                                                   n  h
                                                                                                          w en we pursue the story of David's life we not.e
                                                                                       8
        .:.,-,,rc,r,,-,,r,,-,,-~,-,,-,-,,-,,-,,-~,-~i-,,-~;-,,-~,-,,-~~~l*~.                     that this hunting went, on from month. to month; from
                          :                                                                      year to  year. When David  f.ound rest for a spell in
                          .'  :I::`.  Anguish In Darkness                              `. some.mtiuntain,  .glen or cave, an enemy would come by
                                                                                                 stealth to Saul and spit out his poisonous inf,ormation:
. .                              My God, my God, why  hast  thou forsaken me?                    Doth~ not David  hide himself in our hills? And the
                               why art tmhou so far from helping me, land from the               army of Saul would gather for the hunt. David, t.he
                               words of my roaring? 0  my:God,  I cry in the day                 hind of the morning.
                               time, but thou hearest not; and in the-night season,
                               .and am not silent." etc.                   -Psalm  22                And all the while David was not really darigerous
                                                                    I                            to  ISaul.    He never did him any wrong.  Moye, he
                There' are many difficulties confronting us when                                 would even dIefend him when Saul's life was' givkn to
             w`e set ourselves to write something about this Psalm,                              him a6 on two occasions. He held up the slip of his
             difficulties of a. various- nature, exegetical, ,historical,                        mantle and cried : My father, see and behold ! ,I do"not
             theological. A man could-write a rather long treatise                               seek  your  hurt! And fdr a moment  Saul,`%hat devil,
        about the difficulties alone.                                                            I--?s purstiaded:  he wept a few salty tears on David's
               Try  to  Write.  something about this  Psalm;  restrict- neck ! Beware, David  !  ,That  embrace is  as slimy as
             ing yourself  to this  thetie:  What- did  .David suffer the  embiace  of  a  se$pent.  It reminds  me  ,of  the  ,em-
             when he  Wrote  here  as  he did? For  hlStanCe,  .what                             brace  of  Judas  kissing   ~~~~~  :  Rabbi,  Rabbi!
             ever could have happened  to' David when he  corn,                                  : But we see much  &ore in  Psalm  22 than Saul,
             plains : "Thy' have pierced  my  hands and feet"? Or Sau:l's cohorts on  thk hunt, Filistia and the other
             this : "they part: my garments among them, and cast heathens surrounding God's anointed.
             lots upon `my vesture"?
                Yes; we must meet all kindi of difficulties here.                                    You can see all that'and fail to receive your answer
                The Psalm is  superscrilbed  as "Aijeleth-  Shahar". to the questiop:  What means this crying about God's
             Its author is David. Aijeleth Shahar means   "hind of                               forsaking- of David?
        the morning". David, in,a,measure,  and Christ, fully,                                       David's agony because .of the bulls, lions, dogs ;
             ar,e considered fair game for eve*y wild~and foul beast                             the wicked, the mockers, the enemies is aggravated
             to hunt Him on the mountains if  haply they may by a consciousness of the -lack of Gocl's communion.
       ilend. Him. to pieces.                                                                    Judging froni the wocds  of athis cry he sought for sal-
             j ljavid certainly must have been ifi terrible straits                              vation, IGod's nearness,. quietness in the soul because
             at `the time of this Psa.lm. We can tell this by the im-                            bf ,Gqd's. communion, and answer and peaceful silence.
             passioned.  plea  c~f*  the. `Psalm itself, by the opening
        Verse that ,sl%aks of utter forsakenness, by .the repeat-                                                         I%  72  7%  6
             ed, My God, My `God!                  C,       I
                We are left in the, dark as,to"the  exact, reason for                                -
        this state.                                                          L                       But ~Gbd seemed far, 0 so fap away.
       ,.       Do we say too'tiuch  when we pPesume it to have                                      In tile daytime- he- cried and roared in the night
 beeli- occasioned by Saul? Saul certainly has been season. All to no avail. G,od held Himself away from
        the arch - enemy among aB those that would seek his                                      David.

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 410           '                           TIiE  STANDARi.`kE.ARER

        And the enemy  noiecl this deplorable situation.             Besides having all these warriors to contend with,
 Listen: They laughed him to scorn, they shoot out the         Thou gavest me.no,  answer.
 lip, they say: Did not David trust in God? Well, let                            This cannot continue long, 0 my Gbd!
 IGod help him, that is to sap,-if` ii is true that God has                      Even now, I am poured out like water. There is
 delight in David! But it is ..plain t&t `Fe ,has not !        no strength cleft in me. A person should be able to
 D'avid, where is .Jehovah noti?                   :-
                          _j                                   sleep nights. When I rise from my couch in the morn'-
      And they  rejoic&l  in David's agony.              "     ing I present a  sorry spectacle for the beholder. I
        And while sobs  a.re racking  -D&d's tortured may tell all my bones : they look and stare upon. me.
 breast, he meditates, on  -the, past. Jacob, -his father,                       And it is a good thing they cannot see any farther
 also was in agony.  `--And he cried in  Peniel. -- Yes,       than my outward appearance. -Within j: am like wax.
 muses David,~ Jacob and on occasion Abraham also,             My heart is melted within me. My bones feel out of
 they  trusbed in the  same Jehovah.  But here is the joint. There is Co strength left in me.
difference;         Since last week when I started by roaring And all I hear around me is sneering, mocking,
 and crying agony to IGod, I have been without ?n a&-          derision, contempt.
 wer. They trusted, and in the case of Jacob an angel                            And I could bear all that, my Lord. Only, be Thou
 of God came down and blessed him in- the morning.             not far from me, haste Thou to my help!
 He was strengthened to meet Esau.                              Abraham was helped when he trusted and hoped,
        But I? I am no longer a man. I-am a  work. I           and Jacob found his God. Israel  .did not remain in
 crawl in the dust and there is no soothing- silence for       Egypt. -Moses was the strong arm of Jehovah. There-
 me. IGod hears me not.                                        fore, my Father, ride upon~ the: clouds to my help !
        And who  am. I? Am I not David, the beloved of                           And David did find his God again.
 the Lor'd? Was not my mother that swe& Moabitish                                He prophesies of it from verse 22 on. It is the
 maiden who always charmed my heart when I read                b r e a k   i n   t h i s   P s a l m .
 of her?. A sweetness that wab inherited by my grand-                            He visualizes himself delivered from all his sor-
 mother  ,and mother? Did  nbt my  moth& go to Je-             rows. There will come a time when he shall tell all
 hovah when she perceived that her. arms were filled           his Ibrethren -that God finally came. And such time
 with me, the future King of Israel? And how did my he will find all his praises concentrated on one thing:
 mother act toward Thee, 0 Jehovah? She began to               Hallelujah !~ the praises of God! Well, it could hardly
 pray and she cast me into Thy loving arms.                    be anything else. That is the  ,Omega  of all life and
        And Thou hast heard. Because when. I was but a living.
 sm'all lad I was made to -trust in Thee and ,hope in           Yes, in the midst  o$ the congregation of Israel
 Thee, `even as the Fathers.                                   David will St&d.  He visualizes them even to the end
        I took Thee with me in the fields when stiil young     of, the world.
 and tender. And while the wooly shkep grazed I would          Righteousness, glory and utter redemption will
 meditate on Thy greatness and begin to sing. Pre-             come. Even through him as  ati instrument. All the
 sently the melody, the correct meter, came to me, waf-        ends ,of the world will at first shudder w.hen they hear
 ted on the winds of Bethlehem-Judah, and I began to           David's story of Psalm 22. But the end of the song
 play and sing! 0 God, dost Thou not remember how              will be: that  `God finished the agony. Incidentally,
 I used to sing, surrounded by unbroken silence: `t Hij-       the last phrase of this Psalm is the same as Jesus'
 gend hert der jacht ontkomen; schreeuwt niet sterker          final cry: It is finished!
 naar `t genot  van de frissche  waterstroomen   ;- dan         -- Yes, it is finished for David. He grew calm ; could
 mijn ziel verlangt naar ,God !                                even smile again. His part in the present, heavenly,
        And I know that ~1 have never hoped ;(and that         glorious concert is not small. I can even imagine that
 means that  i possessed the yearning for Thy com-             David will sing some solo parts.. But His great Son
 munion) in vain. Because  etien'.bef,ore  my. thirsting would later quote him. And such quotations.
 heart came to the last stanzas ~of my song, I knew al-                          -Throughout the  worlds   a.nd the planets and the
 ready that I would presently close with: Ik zal ,God,         suns there resoun,ded much later that agonizing cry
-mijn  ,God nog loven ! And happy, divinely happy, I !o God: 0 why, why hast Thou forsaken Me?. In utter
 would grow silent and go home with the sheep..                darkness.
                                                                                 They tell me that from the sound of airplanes
                                                               overhead they can by delicate instruments compute
                                * a  *,  -it                   the exact distance from the airplane to the batteries
                                                               on the ground.
~_      But now I am a worm and no n&n,            i I  :                        I would implore you not to try and compute the


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                                                                                                                                                                                          41i

 distances around Golgotha.  Thit cry came from a                                                                                                                                                   7
 great abyss. It sounded from a sphere that  some-                                                 THE   STANDARD   BEARER
 tim& is called hell. Y,our- reckoning will be a mock-
 ery anyhow. The instruments will break. The roar-                                       Semi-monthly,   except  monthly  during   July  and   Augrrst
 ing is -too intensive.                                                           Published by the  REFORMED   FREE  PUBLISHING   ASSOCIATION
                                                                                              Box  124,   Station C, Grand Rapids 6, Michigan
     A good han has said- some years. ago: When that                                                  Editor  - REV.   HERMAN   HOEKSEMA-
 cry resounded on the place of a skull,. a hand from                           Com&mications  relative to contents should  be addressed  to  Rev. H.
                                                                               Hoqksema,  1139 Franklin St., S.E. Grand Rapids 7, Michigan.
 hell was extended to. the heavens, and it laid itself on                      All matters relative to subscriptions should be addressed to Mr. J.
 the steps of God'% temple. Ancl. here is' the miracle.                        Bouwman,  1350 Giddings Ave., S.E., Grand Rapids 6, Michigan.
 That hand from hell did not besmirch the steps.                               Announcements and  .Obituaries  must be mailed to. the above address
                                                                               and will be published at a fee of $1.00 for each notice.
     Much later, much later, (theologically we speak                           RENEWALS:.  Unless a definite request for discontinuance is received,
 of eternal death of whic'h the cry is the echb) the gold-                     it is assumed that- the subscriber wishes the subscription to continue
 en gates opened and--a beckoning hand asked Jesus of                          without the formality of a renewal order.                                                                       1
`Galilee : Come up hither, My Son !                                                                     Subscription price: $4.00 per year
    The greater David, no  longer a  w&m,  - ascended                             Entered  as  Second   Class   matter   at  Grand  Rapids,  Michigan                                         .
the steps.
     Psalm 22 finds Him at last in the niidst of the
 congregation.  And  ;David will  stop.  `his  solo's.   And
heaven `experiences a hush. David, God's beloved Son,
.iyill make an announcement' in- singing such. as no
 eapthly  choir ever could render :-T #wilJ proclaim Thy
 blessed Name tinto ~$1 the brethren.          ` .
     -Instructions in singing will -follow. -They  ,have
 waited until all the members of `God's symphony h&e
 arrired. I-                                          .    '
  John at Patmos was -given the pre-audition., And
 he has -to&l you. "And after these things I heard a                                                              C O N T E N T S
 great .-voice of much people in heaven, saying : Alle-                 MEDITATION-
 luia !"-                                                                         Anguish in Darkness .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   . . * . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409
                                                                                         Rev. G. Vos
     !: am syow in -ieaving this spectacle. The heavenly
 version of Golgotha, the heavenly rendering of Psalm                   EDITOFUALS-
 22 is so  engr.ossing,  so surpassing in beauty.                                 Our Candidates . . . . . . _. . . . . . . . . . . . . , , _ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412
    Slowly on I begin to understand' why' the Holy                       _'       M&x's Freedom and Responsibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412
                                                                                         Rev. H.             Hoeksema             8
 ,Ghost  calls David. the sweet  singer of Israel.
                                         -      -4.             vos.    OUR   DOCTRINE-
                                                                                  The Triple Knowledge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                 417
                                                                                         Rev.  Hi Hoeksema
                                       - .
                   -:;-:-.                                              11~  HIS  FBAR-
                                                                                  Purified in His Fear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423
                                                                                         Rev. J. A. Heys
     I can zompare some' ranting Arminian preachers,
 who represent. salvation as a matter of chance, and                    THE  VOICE   OF  OUR  FATHERS-
 press men to help forward their own-conversion, upon                             The Canons of Dordrecht . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  .,. . . 425
                                                                                         Rev. H. C. Hoeksema
 pain of `damnation,- to none so well, as to auctioneers ;
 who, with the hammer in their hand, are always bawl- CONTENDING  FOR  THE  FAITH-
 ing out, "~0~ is your time ; now is your time : agoing,                          The Church and the Sacraments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427
 agoing,  agoing." Such a method is equ&y inconsis-                                      Rev. H. Veldman
 tent with the analogy of faith, and subversive of ,`the                DECENCY   AND  ORDER-
 majesty of the  ,gospel.  Shall I order a  ,dead soul to                         The Order of Assemblies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429
 awake, and rajse itself to life? [Let me rather address                               .Rev.  G.  Vanden  Berg
 the living  ,G,od, and say,  ."Awake, and put on thy ALL  AROUND  Us-
 strength, 0 arti of the Lord ! Breathe on these. slain,                          Dr.  Daane  and Common Grace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431
 that they may live!"                                                                    Rev.  MC  Schipper
                                               -Toplady                 m-mQD------I-<----


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       412                                           T H E   S T - A N D A R D   .BEARER                                    -
                                                                                 Berg, partly also through the reading of .literature,
`r                EDITORIA'ES                                                   they came to love our truth, and. with the financial aid
                                                                                 of our ~,people were <enabled. to enter our. seminatiy.
                                                                           i
       . ..l-l-.-I-
       5          `
                       ,~l-~,-~,-,,-`
                                    -,,-~-`
                                           ,-,,-`
                                               ,-`
                                                     -,`
                                                       ,-,-~-,-,,-~,.:.                  We ear-nestly hope and pray. that, before long, all
                                                                                 these brethren may be called to .a place in Christ's
                          _ Our Candidates                                      vineyard.                                        .'
                                                                                         A suitable program was &Tanged for the occasion.
             The evening of .Juhe the ninth was for me, as well                          Mrs. Anne Vandenberg.  wae at the organ. The
       as for all that have a heart for our Theological School                   Rev. G. M. Ophoff read a  portion of Scripture and
       and still love our specific Protestant Reformed truth,                    opened  `with prayer.- An  ad.&ress  was delivered by
       ,a joyous occasion.                                                       Candidate George Lanting on the subject, ,"The Word
            .:On that evening, fiye students graduated from our                  of ,God'Y in which he also. criticised  the B+rthian con-
       seminary after previously having been examined and                        ception of  the  Word.   The  "Trumpetqs",  R.  Griffioen
       declared candidat,es -for the ministry of the Word in                     and B. Klaver, treated us on a musical selection.
       our churches.                                         .,                  Thereupon the rector delivered a speech. on. "Man's
             -In a way, I felt that this oacasion  was like an oasis             Freedom and Responsibility" and at the close of this
       in the wilderness.                                                        speech he briefly addressed the candidates and hand-
             By "the wilderness" in this familiar  ,figure of                    ed them their diploma's. Then, -after a few closing
       speech, I refer to the unrest, the disharmony and dis-                    remarks by the Rev. George Lubb.ers, the.Rev. G. Vos,
agreement, the strife and contention that are  ev'ery-                           presiden,t of the theological school cornmitt+, closed
       where rampant in our churches,  fundamental!y,  no                        the meeting with prayer.
doubt, because  many are not satisfied anymore with                                      May `God's `blessing rest upon OUI" canciidat@  and
       the pure Protestant-Reformed truth. They seek a new                       may they. ever r,emain  faithf$ to the truth that .was
       emphasis, the emphasis on MAN, man's responsibility,                      taught,..them.
       man's moral choice, man's activity of faith. Hence,                               And may the blessing of Jehovah, our covenant
       this entire `strife concentrates around the matter of                     God, continue;,to  .rest:pp$q  qur school, that, for years
       `.`conditions." And the matter was brought to a head                      to co$.c, ;jt,-qFy  be i@ru,mental for' the maintenance
       by the .adoption,  in 1950 and 1951, of the well-known                    and  disseminatjpn of the. Reformed  truth, the  truth
       Declaration  of Principles,  which sharply maintains                      of God's unconditional and sovereign grace.
       that the promise of ,God is unconditional and only for                            Bless, 0 Lord, our churches!                                  H.H.
       the elect, and that faith is not a condition zbut a God;                  ,.
                                                                                 ,.:
       given means unto salvation..                                                                  G---e
                                                                                                                     +.                                1
             The iesult is much wranglrng, not only -the con-                                                                                          4
       gregations, but also in the ecclesiastical gatherings,                                 Man's Freedom and Res.,mn&bik~f+
       cotisistory,  classis,   syfiod.                                                                                                      *.-c 2
             In the midst of this' wilderness I felt th& the `oc-                      Esteemed Members of the Curatorium, Candidates,
       casion of the graduation of our five candidates was,                      and Beloved in the Lorcl Jesus Christ:
       ind,eed, an oasis, at which I might refresh myself. '                             I  haie taken my lecture along; so maybe I will
            Even during the entire school year; the, seminaiy                    read parts of it. I do this, not because I like to read,
       was as it were a haven of rest. There the atmos-                          but because, in the first place, I don't want to speak
       phere was pleasant and peaceful, even though also                         too long; and in the second place, I don't want to say
       there problems naturally arose and were discussed.                        anything .in this evening hour that is probably not
             There was something special about our graduation                    true.
       exercises this year.                                                             My introduction, which is, nevertheless, a proper
             ,Only one of the candidates, George Lanting, `came                  intrdduction to my ;%i.bjecti! is, perhaps, in your esti-
       originally from our churches.                 He was from our             mation, somewhat pessi.mistic.  But it is nevertheless
       church in South Holland.                                                  very reali&%. It is~%hri&lr~There is, as is well .known
             As for the Pest, one, Marvin Koere$$.hailed  f&m                    td' you all, a general runi6r"in our churches that there
       ihe  CGerman Reformed Church -of classis Eureka, in                       is going to be a split.            :.c'
- South .Dak&a, while three, Emanue~,.`ErnanLlel.,  Robert                               `With ,regard  to this `Z-wish td say, first of all, that
       .Harbach  and James MoCollam were. ministeri in the                       my personal atti2;ud.B~ and my personal feeling towards
       Reformed Episcopal Church in this country.  partly                        that rumor, which is very .rea.l, is that I think a split
       through the radio broadcasts of Oak L,awn and South
       Holland, partly through the  instrume<t&lity   bf the                            (*)  A.ddrkss  delivered by  (the Rector,  R&v. H.  Hoeksema;  at
                                                                                  the commencement exercises of our Theological School,  Jnne
       Rev. Schippkr  and, I think, alsd of the Rev. Vanden                      9; 1953.


                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEAR-ER                                                413
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  ceitainly must be- regarded as  v6ry  de&rable;`~~:-f             and  l$ical  `~&jr, so that I would divide the subject
  ought to.know better than any of `you, because I tient            somewhat as follows: I. Its Idea; II. Its Implication;
  through a split of the church in 1924; And I assuqe               III. Its Manifestation. But for practical reasons, ancl
  you Ithat it is not a pleasure, but a very real and pro- Ibecause  I think it is more understandable,-and the
  found suffering to go `through a- split of th& chilrc&            subject somewhat difficult,-1 finally decided to follow
  And I- think it would cause me more suffering to ex-              the hi&orical and analytical scheme. And, ther,efore,
  perience a split in our Protestant Reformed Churches when I speak on "Man's Freedom and His Responsi-
  than t&e suffering I tierit through when the Christian            bility," I will follow this line: I. In the State of Rec-
  Reformed- Churches cast me out in 1924. `.                        titude ; II. In His Fallen State ; and, III. In the State
    Neverthelless,  I  ,must say more. And that is this.            of Perfection.
  If `there is a split, it must come, and no one can ever           I. In the State of R.ectitude.
 ~prevent it. If there is no split, we certainly should                   What is responsibility? I think that this is a ques-
  not make one. But.if there is in reality and-essenti-             tion that ought to be answered, and that is answered
  ally in Ou% midst, as Protestant Reformed ,Churches,              very seldom by those that speak of responsibility most
  a .split; that split should not only come, but should             often. Responsibility is the ability and obligation of
  &me  as soon as pijssible,  lest the corruption eat in -our       the rational, moral creature to respond to #God. That
  churches like a canker.. That i6 my conviction.                   is responsibility: his ability, as well as his obligation,
   And, if you ask me whether, then, there are- signs               to respond to God.
  OS phenomena' which indicate that a split actually ex-                  Man is, in distinction from, God, always under the
  ists, I answer that I ai &fraid sometitieb  that whati            law. And und,er the law he always hears, whether he
  Professor Holwerda wrote' % `$he (churches in ICanada             answers positively  br negatively, the Word of God:
  was after all probably true, namely that there is quite           "Love Me. Love Me- with all thy heart, with all thy
  a different sound in our churches.                                mind, with all thy soul, and with all thy strength.
     *his is connected with my lecture,                             And, love me With all thy needs, and in all the world
     That different sound is `expressed in:many, ~many              and with all creation." And, I say, no matter wheth-
  ways, but principally concentrates around a new em-               er you talk of responsibility or do not talk of respon-
  phasis in our churches  o'n  Man, instead `of on God.             si.bility, you can never deny it. Responsibility is no
  -There are those who claim that after all the Christian           problem: It cannot- be a problem for the simple rea-
  Rkfoimed Churches in  1924  were probably correct                 son that man can never ignore it, and can never avoid
  w&n they said that I `and the Retii&end -Danhof, who t.n apswer, to respond to ,God under the law. He must
  were both cast out at that time, w&Ve one-sided. And              say either Yes or No, and`he can never avoid it.
  th@ the one-sidedness consisted in' tl&, that they laid                 Now then, in  corinection with this  respotisibility
t%b,  &ch emphasis on  ,God, and not  stifficient empha-            stands, of  course+ man's  syeedom.       And there are
  sis on &an. In other words, we refused,-and  we still             those that h,ave the idea that t.hose of the Calvinistic
  refuse, by the Way,-tie subscrib&' to a double track              or Reformed faith cannot speak of man's freedom' and
  theology: Man atid God, each r&-n&g his own track.                of his responsibility because they emphasize the coun-
  I am afraid that there are si&`i of a real split in our           sel of God. They are, of course, the Pelagians and
  churches,-and -tGpd -forbid'%$af  it be true, and- that the  ,Arminians.  Thebe are others; however, who  calI
  it be &&lized,-beea&@  dr@Xvery determined oppo-                  themselves Reformed, and think that they belong to
-  sition against `such  a  thorou&ly Reformed and Pro-             the Reformed tihurches, that conceive of ,God and the
  testant Ref,ormed  document as `the Declarafion of Prin-          respons$bility'and  mopal freedom of man as two para-
  &pEes. I am afraid that there is a split in our church-           lel lilies,-a double track, two parallel lines that never
  es $hen I hear' sounds that speak of and emphasize                meet as far as ejre can see.. I say they are the double
  wsponsibility of mnn, atid a moral choice; which claim            track theologians. And that double track theology'we
  (hat our preaching .has been too passive,. and that we            ai Protestant Reformed  Chu&hes have rejected in
must be active, and that our  prea&ng must stimu-                   1924,.  and still we must have nothing of it. The real
  late activity.                                                    and Scriptural  conceptiofi  of the relation between
     When I listeti to all these &oun$s,  I tremble, and            man's responsibility and man's freedom, on the one
  I'm afraid. But I say we certainly must not have a                hand, and the `sovereign counsel of <God,  on the other
  split if no split exists.' Ori the other hand,.if the split       hand, is t,his, that the freedom and the responsibility
  exists, we must have it!                                          of man are hemmed in from every side by the counsel
     That is connected with my subject.. My subject is:             of `God. Have before your mind a circle, representing
  "The Freedom of Man and  His  Respotisibility."  I                the  cbunsel of God. In that counsel of God stands
  first thought of treating this subject in a synthetic             the morally free and r,esponsible  creature that is called


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 -                                                                                            I     -
man ; and that counsel of God hems him in on .every           delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknow-
side. It is not so, therefore, that there are two paral-      ledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands
lel lines, but so that man in his moral `relation to God      crucified and slain." .God's counsel determined ,, the
is dependent. even as a moral creature.. `Even in his         crucifixion. God's counsel determined every thought
moral thoughts he is depend.ent  upon God. He is not          and every act of the men that crucified Him. Yet,
sovereignly free. Man can n,ever be sovereignly free.         they took him by wicked hands, and slew Him. That's
God only is sovereignly free! And  man'. is forever- Scripture.
more dependent, even as a moral creature, upon (God!              Adam's freedom was more than that in the state ,ofi
Further, man is not only dependent upon God in His            rectitude.
counsel ; but he is dependent upon God; as a moral                Adam's freedom was not only a formal freedom,
creature he is dependent upon God in His almighty             so that he was a conscious and willing subject of all
providence. It is not only so that aGod abstractly de-        his actions. But he was also materially fr'ee:  materi-
termines the moral freedom and responsibility  .of man,       ally free in the. relative sense. By material freedom
while in actuality man stands independent. --God in           I mean that state of the moral, r'ational creature in-.
His  pr.ovidence  rules and governs man's every act,          which he is- also able to love God with all his heart and
his every thought, his every desire. The king's heart         mind and soul and strength. Adam  .was not. only
is in the hand of God as the ri.ver of waters.: He turn-      created a moral, rational creature,. so that in all his
eth it whithersoever  He- wills.                              actions he was consciously and willingly before God;
Man is morally free.  10 yes! Free?  ' In what                but Adam was also endowed with the image of `God.
sense ?                                    -.                 He stood in true knowledge of God, so that he did
      In a formal sense, beloved, moral -freedom means        actually love God. He stood in, positive righteousness,
that whatever God's counsel and whatever `God's al-           so that it was really his inmost desire to keep the law,
mighty providence determines wit,h regard to man,             of God. He stood in perfect holiness, so that in all
that man is nevertheless always the conscious  and. his desires and in .a11 his actions .and in all his emo-
moral and willing subject of all his actions. That.is,        tions and in all his inclinations he was consecrated
in the formal sense freedom is the state of the crea-         to #God.                                               .
ture in-which he is willing and conscious subject of             IOnly,  Adam's..freedom was not the highest free-
all his actions without compulsior+  from without. God        dom. As it is expressed in a Latin phrase, his free-
never touches that moral freedom. That this is Scrip-         dom was posse. non peccare,  to be able not to sin;! ,$
tural is evident from every part of the Bible. Let me peccure, and also to sin. Mind you,.that  Latin phrase.
quote just one or two passages if I may. First of all         is not quite correct. The freedom of Adam did. not
I wish to refer you to Isaiah 10 :15: "Shall the <axe         consist in the.fact. that he could simply choose, so that
boast itself against him that heweth  therewjthJ!l            he was in. a sort of neutral position and so that he
That's the king of Assyria.  -`The king  of, Assyria could choose to serve God and. not to serve God. No,
.boasted.  He didn't know anything about it, did not his freedom in `as far as he did possess freedom con-
feel at all that he was the tool of  Godj felt himself        sisted in the fact that he- did love ,God, that he could
ljerfectly-  free in all his actions.. Yet listen: `Shall     keep the law of God, that he could serve Him.. And
the axe. boast itself against him that heweth. there-         the limitation upon his freedom was exactly this, that
with? or shall the saw magnify -itself against.. him          that. freedom was not rooted in the Son, of God, but
that shaketh it?  ,as if  the. rod should shake itself        was rooted in his own will. That was his limitation.
against them that lift -it up,' or as if, the staff should     .`.: That was also Adam's responsibility. Adam's -re-.
lift up itself, as if it were no wood." That's #God with      sponsibility was,-0, certainly, as a moral, rational
His counsel and..with His almighty providence hem-            creatme he could respond to God, and did respond to
ming in and limiting'fromz every side- the moral crea-        ,God; he had to respond to God. But his responsibility
ture that is called the king of, Assyria.. And although was higher. than that; It .was also this, that he did
God in His almighty Jprov.idence  and -eternal counsel        love God with all his heart and mind and soul and
determines,-as if it were the saw that is drawn, and          strength in the state of rectitude. Adam was not re-
the axe wherewith the Lord hews,-determines ,ever,y           sponsible for what .God made him. We ar,e never re-
man, nevertheless he stands there ~ ,consciously ,-and        sponsible for what God does! God is responsible for
willingly lifting himself up against the Lord of hosts.       what he does! We are never! Adam was not respon-
The same is true, by the way, as you well know, in the        sible for what God made him, though He did not im-
words of Acts 2, verse 23, the well known words               mediately make him free in the highest sense of the
where the apostle speaks of the eternal counsel of God        word.. Adam could not say to sGod,-and,  in fact, he
and:. the wicked crucifixion as follows: `Him, being never had it in his mind to say to God,-"Why hast


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                                                         i':;`~.$,,     :.,: _-


  Thou made me thus?" That was God's business. But                     will salvation! `That's Arminianism ! That's not ,Re-
  Adam's responsibility was,-and that responsibility                   formed !
  he could fulfil as a free moral creature, f.ormally  and              _ Reformed is this : 1) That man, fallen  man,. is
 materially,-to love the  [Lord  his  ,God `with all his               responsible for his own corruption. That's Reformed!
  heart and mind and soul and strength, and with all                   Man is responsible that he is corrupt. That is Re-
                                                                                                                    0
  the works over which God had placed him. That was. formed, and that is Biblical!                                          .,
  responsibility in the state of rectitude.                                     2) That in that state of corruption he neverthe-
                                                                       less acts as a moral, rational, conscious, willing creat-
  II. In His Fallen State. `-                                          ure.
     But man fell. Man fell !                                                   3) That in that state of corruption he is bound to
                                                                       evil,, so that his state is expressed from of old,- and
     We must not imagine that we are through with the                  again, I want to criticize that a little bit ; but neverthe-
  problem of responsibility when we have talked about                  less it will stand,-by the La&i$l~rase:  non posse non
  the relation between the moral creature and God's                    peccar.e, not to be able ndt~.to$$;l You must remem-
                                                                         .-.
  counsel, or between the moral creature and God's pro-                ber that when you talk about the moral choice of man
  vidence. We must not imagine' that the problem' of                   to your audience.. When' `you address man  individl
 `man's responsibility ends there. The problem becomes                 ually you do not address an audience that is willing
much more serious  and. becomes much' more profound                    and able to hear and to receive the gospel of salvation.
  when we begin to speak of man's responsibility in the                You cannot! Remember that!
  state of sin.                                                                 Let me explain.
     Man fell! That's the problem. Of course, the                               -Adam  f,ell. That means that he became guilty.
  Pelagian, ,the most superficial Pelagian, who is always              Guilt means liability to death. <God  said to man : "The
  individualistic, and at the same time is the most mod-               day thou eat&% thereof thou shalt surely die." That
  ernistic of all theologians,-the Pelagi.an denies (and               Word of  `God was fulfilled. Adam died. He died!
  that's why he tries to save the responsibility of the                Wsherein  did .he die? He didn't live.. He doesn't live
  fallen man), he denies that man's fall was *really  such anymore. IHe. has no life. He is in death. He is in
  that he,becam,e dead in sin and trespasses. He-denies                death with the whole creation. The whole  cr,eation
  that.  M,an, he says, still has a free  w.ill.  IOf course,          that fell with% him lies in-the bondage of corruption.
  if you attribute to man a free will, or :any degree of               And man, at the head of the creation, lies in utter
  free will, it seems as if you have no problem in regard              death.        That death includes the corruption of his
  to man's responsibility. I say: it saems. It isn't true.             moral nature.             .' 5 `..
  But, nevertheless; according to the Pelagian, man is                          But w,e -must emphasize .a little more. When .we
  not dead. He is probably weakened. He is probably                    say that m,an fell, we-must. understand this : .mcoz fell.
  sick. But he is not .dead. in sin and trespasses. That               That's Reformed. That -is also denied.`.by the Pela-
.  is why, according to him, man is still a responsible                gians. That .isaccording to the Word .of God, as you
  being, who can choose-either-or, ,yea or no, against or              all know: -"In -Adam' the whole. hu.man race fell : not
  for `God ; and ther,efore,  he is responsible.                       Adam alone, but the whole human race fell in Adam.
      The Arminian does not go quite so far; I say this                That is, the whole human race became guilty, and
  *all simply because I want to put before you the real                the whole human .race `became corrupt because of its
  problem, so that you do not skirmish with $erms that                 guilt.  ~Once more  > I say: that is also denied by the
  you don't know  anything~about..   10, it is so easy to              Pelagian;. the .very superficial, the individualistic, the
talk about responsibility. And I am afraid that most                   amodernistic  Pelagian, that always emphasizes _ m.an
  people that talk about- responsibility don't know what rather than God. I always say, beloved:  Give me
  they are talking about.' The Arminian  says&  `%&I,                  <God, if I must  .make a choice. If I must make a
  man is .dead in. sin and trespasses; but he can still                choice to lose <God  or man, give me God. `Let me lose
 ,:will to be saved. That is why you have some contact                 man. It's all right to me: no danger there.  (Give
  with him. You can address him in the gospel as a' me  ,God ! That's  Ref.ormed ! And that's especially
  moral creature, with moral responsibility, and moral                 Protestant Reformed ! Give me God : there is no sal-
  freedom." Don't you see? You can present to him a vation in man !. But the Pelagian `says, beloved, SU-
  general offer of salvation. That was also 1924,-                     perficially : man is still free. IIe did not sin in Adam.
? something which we rejected as churches.  You  can                   IIe did not become guilty in -Adam.  Fe  did@ be-
  offer him a general promise. He can take -it, or..he                 come corrupt in Adam:- :., He is still free. `Q, he is
  can refuse it. But you address him! You,address all weak ; and, what is more, he is liable to imitate in his
  men as rational and moral creatures 3hat we able to                  freedom a bad exam,ple..  There are bad examples all
                                                                                         r `l


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         over, so you -must really take him out of his environ-              found guilty in Adam's sin, in that corrupt nature he
        ment. Modernism !                 Through and through modern-        still,  nevert.heless,  stands with a moral choice. As a
         ism ! All because of a `wrong conception of responsi-               <rational, moral being, who can only do sin, never will'
      bility.                  '           `.                                desire anything but sin! Non posse  non`  peccare,-
             What is  t,he responsibility of fallen man?  :                 -. that's his state and that's his `responsibility. Not to
             Beloved, I would say in this connection,-and you                be. able not to- sin, because .from an inward impulse,
     . can work it out if you want to. It's worth while. But                 and not from any outward compulsion, he loves the
        please don't speak in a superficial way any more of                  darkness rather than the light. And God holds him
        responsibility. Work it  out.-1 can speak of the  re-                responsible..
I       sponsibility of .-the fallen man-m three ways.
             In the first place; there is corpomte responsibility.           III. In the State of Perfection.
        By that I mean, beloved, that. we are all responsible                      Nor, beloved, is the problem- solved when you sim-
        for the sin which-Adam committed in-paradise. That                   ply speak of the counsel of God and the providence
        is our sin, and we are responsible for that sin. That's              of God in relation to man's freedom' and responsibil-
       `-the Word of ;God. I really don't have to read it to you.            ity, or when you speak simply of man's total deprav-
        Read Roman,s ~5 : "By one man sin -entered into the                  ity  .and corruption. There is still'another  fact.' The
        world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon                    problem still remains when you speak of sovereign
        all men, for that all have sinned." ~A11 have sinned                 grace. You have responsibility and moral freedom.
      ' when? In paradise.. That -is where we sinned. That                   Also that problem remains. Don't you see in all Scrip-
        is where we became guilty. Or, if `you please,. read                 ture that against all Scripture has been raised the ob-
t h e   1 8 t h   v e r s e : "By one man judgment. came upon -jection that God by sovereign grace justifies theiun-
        all men to condemnation." That's judicial.                That's     g6dZi? That is salvation: God justifies the ungodly.
     legal. So there is corporate responsibility.- You may                   And He gives no account ! 0, I look forward, I look
        deny it, of course. In the proud--Pelagianism of your forward in  ,faith to the time of the complete  Theo-
       wicked -heart you may say : I have nothing to do with                 dicy !    !Cheo(dicy  means justification of  `God in the
        the sin of Adam.. But you can never escape it.. God                  moral consciousness-of the moral-creature. And when
        judges you and me- guilty by nature of the sin Adam                  I speak of the Theodicy, I make God the subject, and
        committed, because He created the human race `a cor-                 the predicate righteous justification, th'e act of God.
        poration with Adam as its Head.. Corporate respon-                   In -other words, we do not justify God. IGod justifies
        s i b i l i t y   !                                                  Himself! That's sufficient; I do not have to solve
             In the second place, there is org.anic responsibility.          the problem of. Scripture concerning God's righteous-
        By that I mean that even as `Adam became guilty, and .- ness with regard to evil and sin and man and damna-
        therefore, corrupt, so we become guilty. in him, and                 tion and salvation. 0, how could I attempt even to
        corrupt in him. `The corrupt tree brings forth corrupt               approach that problem. All we have to do is to preach
     fruit; and the corrupt stock brings forth corrupt the Scripture. But I take Scripture in the hope, the
        branches. And yet we are responsible for our cor-                    sure hope, that God will justify Himself. also in my
        rupt nature. That'shard, isn't it? That's hard. Yes,                 consciousness by His Spirit, so that I may then see
        -but we are talking about responsibility in the- light of           face to face.
        Scripture, aren't we.? - We don't -talk about responsi-                    But that is a problem, don't you see? Don't you
        bility in the superficial, philosophical `sense. We're               see that justi,fication  means emphatically t.hat the just
        talking about- responsibility in the' light of the' Bible.          tified ones are not responsible for their sins? That
        That's Scripture.: We  are. responsible for our own                 is justification! I am not responsible.fpr my sins b.e-
      corrupt nature which we nevertheless have received                    fore. God. I am not! Christ is! Christ is respon-
        from Adam because from him and in him we also re-                    sible for my sins. I cast all my guilt on Him by faith.
        ceived his guilt. You  say. to God: "Why hast Thou                  And don't you ever tell your congregation that they
_ made me thus?" God  .doesn't answer. He is God!                           are responsible for their own sins. ,God forbid ! You
        You are a creature! But that's'the truth!                           are ~a bad shepherd if you do. You -must tell the con-
             And, thirdly, there is, of course, in&iviclual respon-         gregation- to cast their sins upon Christ. Tell them
        sibibity. By that I mean the responsibility of man for              that they are no more responsible for their sins. Tell
        his own moral'actions. For- in that corrupt nature he               them that, by all means! You say that this is a, dan-
        stil1 stands . .+ That's th'e trouble:~. No, that's not the         gerous doctrine? `Of -course it isn't: It seems that
      trouble.' But that's, the relation nevertheless.1 In that             way, but it isn't.  It. seems that way.  ~That was al-
      corrupt nature, which he received from Adam, and- ways the objection.  .That was always the  obje.ction
        which .he received on the basis of-the fact that-he is              against the Biblical conception. of justification. Al:
                                     .


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                                         r  fi  E    s  $IA  g;j$eA,R.D  .-&  A  Lti  R                                                 417

 ways! Don't forget that: That was already the ob-                         .:..,I,,HI-IIH,-,I-,-~~-,,-,~-,~-,,-,,-,,-`,-,,-`,-,,-,-`,-,-,.:.
 jection in the Scriptures, when Paul, according to the
 inspiration of the Spirit, had developed the -doctrine                    f  O U R   D O C T R I N E   1
                                                                           i
 of justification.     They finally came then and- said : .:.-,-,-,,-,,-,-,,-~,-,,-~-,,-,,-,,-~,-,,-,,-,,-~,-"-~-,,-8~*
 "What, shall we say then? what shall we say then?
 Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound ?"                                   THE TRIPLE KNOWLEDGE
 That is` where the objection is raised in the Heidelberg                       A
 Catechism :- not-.against  the counsel of God, but exact-                       N EXPOSITION  OF T& HEIDELBERG CATECHISM
 ly against and in connection with the doctrine of jus-                                 PART  III  - OF THANKFULNESS
 tification. T.l& objection is -raised : "Does not this doc-
 trine make men careless and profane?" What will                                                  LORD'S  DAY 36
you tell your  congregati,on?  Would you tell them:
 Y,es, yes, yes . . . . But, but, but? God forbid! Will                                                    1.
 you tell your congregation : 0, you're not responsible                                              God is Holy
 f,or your sins; ,Christ is responsible, but . . . but. :. but
you must do something too? God forbid! You kill                                 Meekness and humility is the only proper attitude
 them ! You kill- the people of (God by such preaching !                   that dare to be assumed toward the Holy One, Who
 That's not true. That's not Scripture. That's not the                     as the sole good seeks His own glory. And while the
 Confessions.       That's not the Heidelberg `Catechism. wicked, that love darkness rather than light, must
 The Heidelberg Catechism says : No, sir : just.this doc- needs say to the prophet'of Jehovah, `<Get you out of
 trine of absolutely free justification, that casts all the the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One
 responsibility of my individual sins upon `Christ, does                   o,f Israel to cease from before us," God's children, the
 not make me careless and. profane. It answers: That works of His own hands, shall sanctify Jehovah's name
 is impossible! Why is it impossible? Because he that and sanctify'the Holy O,ne of Jacob and fear the God
is justified by faith is also sanctified by faith, and,                    of Israel. Isaiah 29 :23.             This Holy  ,One of Israel,
 therefore, says spontaneously when you tell him that and that too emphatically as the Holy One, is the Re-
 now he can sin as he pleases : "God forbid !              How deemer of Jacob. Isaiah  41:14. And when the Lord
 shall I who am dead to sin live any longer therein?" shall have redeemed His people and shall have de-
 That is the answer, the only answer.                                      stroyed all their enemies, they shall rejoice and glo-
    That is the Christian's responsibility. The Chris- rv in the Holy One of Israel. Isaiah  41:16. Against
 tian is free in the highest sense of the word.                            the pride of Babylon, that shall be brought low, God's
   Formally free ; 0 yes. But also materially free in people shall say: "As for our Redeemer, the Lord of
 the highest possible sense of the word, because his                       hosts is his name, the Holy  Oee of Israel." Isaiah
 freedom-is rooted no longer in his own free will, but                     47:4. And this Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel,
 is rooted in-the Son- of aGod. And if the Son `of G,od shall be called the God of the whole earth. Isaiah
 shall make you free, t,hen you. are free indeed. That is 54 :5. Jehovah is the Holy One, and as the Holy One
 freedom. And that at the same time is the highest He is'the high and lofty One, that inhabiteth eternity.
 responsibility.                                                           But for that very treason, while He Himself dwells in
    Don't you ever give. the congregation a moral les- the high and holy place, He also dwells with him that
 son ! What you must have is the gospel of the free- is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit
 dom in Jesus Christ our Lord! When you preach that of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite
 gospel, the ,gospel of. the cross in all its fruits, there ones. Isaiah 57:17. Throughout the Old Testament,
 is no danger of leading the congregation in ways of and emphatically so in the prophecy of Isaiah, the
 laxity and passivity. On the contrary, that congrega- holiness of God stands out as His ethical virtue pnr
 tion, standing in the freedom of Christ, will be strong excellence. It is the divine perfection in which He is
and fight the good fight of faith even unto the end,                       the Incomparable One that distinguishes Him from all
 looking forward to the hope-  eternal, when all that is                   creatures and according to which He is wholly conse-
 of .sin shall have been destroyed and when freedom crated to Himself as the sole good.
 shall have been -perfected.                                                    However, not only in the Old Testament, but also
    Freedom and responsibility ! And-in that everlast- in the New the holiness. of God' is emphasized as the
 ing freedom man, the redeemed man, shall forever                          implication of His ethical virtues. Also here the term
 thank God for His sovereign grace, and respond and                        holirzess   is used absolutely of God. He is called the
 say : "0 God, I love Thee."-                                              holy Father in John 17:X1:  "And now I am no more
    I have said.                                        -H.H. in the world, but these are in the world, and I come


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 418                                  rHE..ST'ANDAl?`D                     BSARER

 to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name,            devil that cried out, "Let us` alone ; what have we to
 those whom thou hast givsen me, that they may be. one         do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? Art thos come
 as we are." #God. is the absolutely holy One, and as          to destroy us? I know thee who thou art ; the Holy
 such is separated from the common and uncleanj. from.. Oqe of God.". Profoundly the unclean spirit realizes
 the kosmos, the world, in its ethical corruption. The         that tl-+eye is nothing common between him and the
 world as such-is not consecrated to God; it `is unholy.       Lord.::.  And the antithesis is rooted in the fact that
 In this world, however, are the elect, the sqi$s,. that       Jesus is  the-  Holy-  One of  IGod, that  .isj that He is
 are called to be holy and to walk in holiness, even in        wholly and perf,ectly  consecrated to God and His cause
 the midst of the unholy world. Therefore, they must           and therefore inust needs destroy the house of Satan.
 be kept in the name of the holy Father, that is, in           And even as the unclean. spirit apprehends the holi-
 the sphere of the revelation of the Holy One,' that to        ness of Christ by way of the antithesis; so the dis-
 Him they may be consecrated, separated' from the ciples discern through the Spirit that He is the Holy
 vrjorld, and in this conse&titin may be one. Thus al-         Ope of God. Thus they call Him, according to a well-
 so in I John 2 :2Q ,God is called the Holy One absolute-      established reading of John 6:6;9. They are attract-
 ly: "But ye have an unction from the Holy `One, and           ed to Him because they discern that He speaks the
 ye know all things." The idea is that IGod is absolute-       words of eternal Me. For to know the Holy One, that
 ly holy, the One that is cons&rated to Himself. Hence,        is, Godi.is  eternal life. Hence,  He that is the Holy One
 only when we are anointed by Him with the spirit-             of God speaks words of eternal life, and the disciples
 ual ointment that -&uses  our hearts and minds to be          a,cknowledge  this. Christ is the Holy One of God be-
 consecrated to Him, can we know all things, that is,          cause the Father sanctified Him, separated Him from
are we rightly able to discern the truth of God. With- the common sinful world, that He  miiht be wholly
 out this unction from the Holy One we love the lie            consecrated to IGod. Even from and through His very
 and are incapable of knowing the t`rutli. This is also        conception He was so sanctified. FOY "the Holy Ghost
 the thought in I Peter  1:15, 16: "But as he which            shall come  upon thee, and the power of the Highest
 hath called you is holy, so be ye hdly in all m&nnelr  of     shall overshadow thee ; therefore, &so that holy thing
 conversation: Because it is written, Be ye holy, for          which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son
 I' am holy." Here too the fundamental idea is that            of ,God." Lnke 1135,  Acts 3 :14, Acts 4 :27.
 God is the absolutely holy One, that He is consecrated               This holiness of God lies at the basis of the third
 to. Himself as the only good. When He calls, there-           commandment. `Because God is holy, His name is
 fore, that calling is nesessarily  a calling unto Himself,    holy. And  because His name is holy, it must be re-
 and therefore unto holiness, that is, to consecration         vered.
 to God. For even as holiness in God is `the virtue
 according to which He seeks and finds Himself, is con-               Let us therefore briefly recapitulate what we have
 secrated to Himself,  and according to which He de-           found to be the teaching of Holy Writ in regard to
 sires and wills all things for His own name's sake,           the virtue of God's holiness: 1) God is holy in the
 so holiness in the creature must necessarily consist          absolute sense of the word. And holiness is the div-
 in this, that he seeks and is consecrated to God alone        ine attribute of God par excellence. 2) Especially in
 in his whole being and nature and walk.  B'ecause             His holiness God is the Incomparable One, the One
 God is holy, that is, consecrated to Himself, His people      that is of and by Himself and that is distinct from
 must be holy, that is,  consecrated  to Him.  Because         all creatures. The reason for this is that holiness de-
 He is self-centered, the creature must be  ,God-cen-          notes that He is the stile good, the implication of all
 tered.  Hence, also the Spir-it of God, the Third Per-        perfections, and that & such He seeks Himself, is con-
 son in the Holy Trinity, is called the Holy Spirit: for       secrated to Himself, is the absolutely Self-centered
 He is spirated forth, and proceeds from the Father            `One. 3) Especially the revelation of His holiness as
 to the Son, and again prdceeds` from the Son to the           the divine virtue par Excellence is at the same time His
 Father, and as such He is the very principle of div-          glory.     In this respect the third commandment is
 ine Self-consecration.    ,Of the Father, through the         closely related to the s`econd,  as is evident from the
`Son, and in the Spirit the Triune ,God is consecrated         threat that -is added to both of them. To the second
to Himself, is  kbsolutely Self-centered, as the only          commandment it is added that God is a jealous God,
good.                                                          Who will visit the iniquity of the fathers updn the
                                                               children in the third and fourth generation of them
    Hence, Christ as the Servant of Jehovah is the that hate Him. And to the third commtindment the
 Holy One of God in the highest and perfect sense of           warning is added that God will .not hold him guiltless
the word. It is remarkable that according to Luke .4:          that taketh His holy name in vain:' The holiness of
 34 it ,was the man that had the spirit of an unclean          God is His glory,       4)  Because  ,God's holiness  con-


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                                                                            7

 sists in His being Self-centered and Self-consecrated,       dress one another,and  speak about one another as per-
 the holiness of man can only consist in being  God-          sons. In someone's name, such as John, Williain, Hen-
 centered and consecrated with all his heart and mind         ry, and the like, there is always a reference to his per-
 and soul and strength to the living ,God.                    son. Person and name are inseparable: When a per-
     Briefly, therefore, we may describe th'e `holiness of    son signs his name to a certain document, he thereby
 God as that wonder of the divine nature according to         expresses tha.t he is personally responsible for its con-
 which God is absolute, infinite, eternal, and ultimate       tents. When a person's  namie is passed by, he feels
 ethical perfection, Himself  being the standard, motive      that his person is slighted. When his name is slan-
 and purpose of all the activity of His persorlal  nature,    dered or reproached, it is his person upon which con-
 so that He is eternally consecrated to H&self alone as       tempt is heaped. The name in this last sense'has  re-
 the only good.                                               ference to the person. It may be said, however, that
  Such is the holiness -of  Go& And because He is             names among men have lost their real significance.
- holy, His name, by which  He  stands  r,eveal,ed  to us     They do not expre`ss anything about the being or na-
 and through-which He personally' comes down to us,           turerpf a p&son or thing whatever, but they are mere
 that we might have fellowship with Him,  Ispeak  a;          marks of distinction.  -
 bout Him,' and address Him, is likewise charact&ized            In Scripture, however, this is quite different. A
 by holiness. His name is separated from and infinitely       name, according to the Bible, has profound meaning.
 above all other names. It is not a class name. .It is        Olriginally- a name was a sign of the nature or being
 not common. God's name is unique, as (God is unique,         of anything. This is evident from the fect-`that Adam
 and stands all by itself. This holiness of the name bf       in the state of righteousness was able to give. the ani-
 God is, the has+ principle of the third commandment.         mals their real names. Thus w,e read in Gen. 2 :19, 20 :
 In this commandment God, as it were, speaks to His           "Out of the `ground the Lord God formed every beast
 people and says: "I am Jehovah thy ,God, thy R,econ-         of the field, and every fowl of the air ; and brougl?
 tiler and thy Redeemer. I make known unto thee my            them unto Adam to see' what he would call ?hem : ancl
 name, that thou mayest know me and speak about               whatsoever  A.clam  Cal&d  * every living  creature that
 me and to me, and that thou mayest glorify and sanc-         iyas the name %he&of: And Adam gave names to all
 tify me in thy heart and in thy life. . Beware, lest thou    cattle, and to thb fo+l of the' air, and to every beast
 take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. For I will        of the field." From this account it is evident, in the
 not hold him guiltless that taketh My name in vain." first place, that the real nature or being of the animal,
                                                              and therefore, of any creature, is its sense, its mean-
                            2.  `:                            ing iii itself and in relation to all the rest of creation.
                    G o d ' s   H o l y   Name                And this sense or meaning of the creature is expressed
                                      .:                      in the name. ,God had created all things through the
     The thi$ commandment prohibits that we use the           Word. All are a reflection of the eternal Wisdom of
 name of God in vain, which positively implies that we        God of which we read in Prov. 8  :22-31; "The  iLord
 always speak of that name with fear and reverence.           possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his
 The question is :, what is. meant by the-name of God?        works of old.. I was set up from everlasting, from the
 Can the incomparable God have names at all? And              beginning, or ever the earth was. When t.here were
 if so, are they names of our invention, or are they          no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no
 `given to us by God Himself?                                 fountains abounding `ivith water. Before the moun-
     Among men the word name is u$ed in more than             tains were settled, `before the hills was I brought
 one sense. Thus, for instan,ce,  it is used in the sense     forth: While as yet he had not made the earth, X&r the
 of reputation. When we  spea;k of the good or bad            fields, nor the high&t part .of the dust of. the' $vorld.
 name of a person, we mean his reputation, that which         When he prefiared the heavetis, I was there: when he
 is known of hi& character, his dealings with men, and        set a compass uponi the face of the depth: When he
 his  genefal walk of  Ue. In this sense it is  use4 in       established the clditds above: when he strengthened
 Prov..  22 : 1: "A good name is rather to be chosen:than     the fountains of the deep: When he gave to the se2
 great riches, and lqving favor r&her than silver :and        his decree, &at the waters should not pass his -corn-
 gold." Secondly, we have our class names, by-which           mandment : when. he appointed the foundations of the
 we denote certain species of creatures and things fin        earth : Then I was by him, as one brd@ht ul$' with
 distinction from others, such as horses, sheep,, tree,       him: and I was daily his d,eliglit, rej%$ii& &+ays be-
 flower, river, mountain, table, chair, and the like.         fore him ; Rejoicing in the habit'able part'%f"`his  earth; ;
 And finally, we have our personal, our proper names.         and my delights were with the s6ns of men." Hence,
 By these last names we ?ef@r to one another and ad-          every individual creature has in- it the individuajjqed


                                                 ..:          .:-i .--.    :
                                    .eT+.ti      8TAND.,Az;z'~                  jyARkk
;ain                                                                                                                   .i
                            - - - -                                                                        _.
 Word of `God. .It is, the emboditient  of God's eternal      the kingdom of the house of Israel. Hos.  1:4.  :The
 idea. This idea, this .W@rd  of God,. is its real being.      second, Loruhamah, signifies that. God will no more
 And this being as it is revealed is manifested in its        have mercy upon the house of Israel, but will utterly
 name. The name, .therefore,  is the expression. of -the      take them away. Hos. 1:6. And the third; Loammi,
being of anything. Secondly, this nam,e df each crea-          signifies. that Israel will no longer ,be the people of God
ture is known to .God. He reads and calls all .th$gs          and that-God will not be their God anymore. From all
by theiF names, and glorifies Himself .in the rev&a- -these passages, and many mor,e, -it is evident that the
tion of His wisdom. But in the midst of this creation         name in Scripture has a profound significance. It is
he had formed a creature that was adapted to bear             not a mere inark of differentiation, but denotes the
His own image, and was originally endowed with that .being or nature of anything.
image, in true knowledge of God, righteousn,ess,  an                 And this is especially tree of the name of God.
holiness. Td this creature,. in whose h&art was to be          God's name is God -Himself. It is the revelation of
the union of all creation with .God,"He had given pow-        His Being. It is Jehovah Himself as He reveals Him-
ei intuitively to know the meaning of crkatien &bout          self to us, is known unto- us, and is near us. ,God is
him, `as well as within himself, and of `each creature        God. H,e is the infinite and eternal One, Who is in-
in relation-to all the rest and to (God. In other words,      visible. But He made Himself a name. He revealed
Adam could read the words `of' God in the things that         Himself, and by this name He Himself came down to
are made and discern their real meaning. -He looked           us, is known by us, is near us, and surrounds us on
-into their- being and knew th,eir n&&es.  land, in the       all sides. This name of the Lord is in all the works
third place, this name of the creature Adam was able          of His hands  ; as the Psalmist sings :  `10 Lord our
to expr&s in huma-li language. And-whatever he call-          Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the .earth !" Ps.
ed the animals, that was their name, that is, the ex-         8-:l, 9. For all creation is his handiwork. Brute crea-
pression of their inner nature or being in a human            tion, sun and moon and stars, mountains and valleys,
word symbol. This intuitive knowledge we have lost            oceans and seas, streams and lakes, forests and fields,
through sin. Hence, our names are mere distinguish-           as w,ell as the living-creature, man a$d beast, ar,e call-
ing signs. No longer do we see. the real meaning or           ed forth by His Word. And they are, as it were, so
essence of things. W@ may see the difference betwe.&          `many letters spelling. the name of the Most High. And
orie' creature and another,, because we observe some ex-      not only did He call them into being, but He is in them
ternal attributes of the, creature ; atid this difference     and upholds them by His almighty and omnipresent
`. we denote in the different names  we give to the things    pdwer.       He sustains .and governs them all in their
that are perceived. But names among us are no. long-          existence and operation. It is He that causes the sun
er the expression of the e_ssence or real meaning of .a       to rise every morning-and to set every evening: that
creature. In Scripture, however, the original mean-           causes the clouds to gather and the rain to fall on the
ing of a name is often. preserved, particularly in those      thirsty land ;, He makes the seed to sprout in the earth,
instances in which God Himself appoints the. ntime of         and prepares food for man and beast; and He governs
a person or object. !I'his isevident +rom names such          the life of man and beast, of individuals and nations ;
as Melchizedec, of whom we read in Hebrews 7 : 1, 2 :         and He directs the whole creation to-the end which He
"For this Melchizedek, king of  .Salem, priest of the         determined from before the foundation of the world,
Most High God, who met Abrahati  returning from.the           the glory of his everlasting kingdom. Hence, in all
slaughter of the kings, `and blessed -him ; To whqm al-       that occprs  in creation and in the history of the world;
so Abraham gave a tenth part of -all; fir& being by           we may see the name of the Lord, the revelation of the
interpretation king of righteousness, and after ihat          living God, Who is always near, so that the psalmist
also king of SaTem, which is king of peace." ~This is         may sing: "Unto thee, 0 ,God, do we give thanks, unto
evident too froni,the tihange of Abram into Abraham,          thee do we give thanks: for.that  thy name is near thy
that is, father of many ; and of Joshua into Jehoshua.        wondrous works declare." Ps. 75 :l.
Jacob, heel-holder, is changed to Israel, a name which              And thus it is throughout Scripture. The name
is  interIjreted  iti Scripture as follows:  "For as a        is God. It is His repelation to LX. To love the name
prince.,hast thou power. with ,God and With men, and          of  the Lord is to love Him, Is.  56:6: "And the sons
hast prevailed." Hosea is insbructed.  by the Lord to .of the stranger that join themselves to the Lord to
call the three children which ,Goqer,  the daughter of        serve him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be his
Diblaim, bare unto him : Jezreel, Loruhamgh,  and .Lo-.       servants, everyone that keepeth the sabbath from pol-
$timi,  repsectively. The  fir& of these  names  expr`es-     luting- it, and taketh hold of my covenant." To cause
ses that- presently the Lord will avenge the blood of         iris `tieople to forget the name of the Lord is the same
Jezreel upon the house of Jehu and will cause to cease        as to forget Him,. Jer. 23 :2'7. To call upon the name


                                       +i+IfE  silii#k4~~,   BEAheR                                                         421
                                                             :..
                                                 .    . . *L AC-.    . .    .:  _    _ ..-.I.. :        --
   of the- Lord is- to -call upon Him, as He has revealed Salvation. In that name He makes- Himself known
   Himself to His people, Ps.  iO5 :1, "0 give thanks                to us, and enters into personal fellowship with us, as
   unto the Lord ; and call upon his name ; make known               the `God of grace and mercy,  Who blotted out all- our
   his deeds  .among the people. Sing unto him, sing                 sins and  f,orgives all our iniquities, Who clothes  LXS
   psaltis unto him: talk ye of all his wondrous works.              with an everlasting righteousness and makes us wor-
   Glory ye in his holy name: lets the heart of them re-             thy to dwell in His tabernacle, Who d,elivers  us from
   joice that  .seek the Lord." Very often that name of              sin and death, and makes us heirs of eternal life and
   God is identified with Gocl Himself, Deut. 28 i58: -"If           glory.
   thou wilt noi observe to do all the words of this law                    That name of God, and all that is connected with
   that are -written in this book, that thou maiest fear             that name, is holy, even as Gocl is'holy. For even a's
   this glorious and fearful nanie, the Lord thy God." God is the Incomparable One, that cannot be com-
   That name of. God is said to be neat; Ps. 75 :l. It -is           pared with .any creature, so the name of -God is not
   holy, Ezek. 36 :20; It is great, Ezek.  36:23. The                common, but is afbsolutely unique. It stands alone. It
   name of the Lord is a strong tower, unto which the                is infinitely exalted ab-ove all othe-r  names. And this
   righteous runneth ,and is safe, Prov. 18 :lO. And the             also means that the hbiy name of ,God stands antithe-
   name of the God of jacob defends those that -trust -in            tically opposed to &I that is of siri and darkness in
   Him, PS. 20 :l. It is in lthe name .of the Triune God             t h i s   w o r l d .
   that we are baptized, Matt. 28 : 19, 20; All these, and                  When, therefore, standing bn Mount Zion, in the
   ,many other passages of Holy Writ plainly reveal that             New Jerusalem, as the redeemed and sanctified people
   the- name of God is ,God Himself, as He has revealed              of God, we hear the name of Jehovah our God, a holy
   to His people.                                                    fear and reverence fills hour hearts and niinds. It is
      But there is -mare.                                            in that name that He has- covenant fellowship with us.
      Scripture not only speaks  iti general about the `It is in the name of Jehovah Salvation, revealed unto
   name of the Lord, but also gives. us names of ,God that           us in Jesus Christ, our Lord and Redeeme?,  that we
   correspond to what we call proper, or personal, names,. approach Him, enter into His sanctuary, pour out
   -names by which we may speak` .abotit Him and ad-                 our hearts before Him in prayer and supplication,
   dress Him, and -through which He enters into per-                 praise and adore Him, trust. in Him, seek our refuge
   sonal  contaCt and fellowship with. us. These  names              in Him, and hope for His salvation. What&er  other
   of  ~God,' such as Jehovah, Lord (Adonai) , `Almighty             names of God we may use, we can take them upon
   (El Shaddai) ; Most High (Elj,on-)  , God, Father, in-            our lips only in and because of His revelation in Jesus
   deed also express who and what God is, because they               Christ our Lord. .And it is also in that name Jesus
   all  denote   one. or more of His glorious virtues. But that we hear  &he third  commandm.ent:  "Thou shalt
   they are nevertheless names by which iYe may refer `not take-the name of the Lord thy God in vain."
   to Him, speak about Him, and address Him in prayer
   and ad.oratio&  `-These names of #God, you understand,                                                3.
   are not of our own invention, but they are given `us                                        With Fear and Reverence
  by revelation. They are a gift of God to His people.
   And how marvelotisly gracious an -act of condescend-                     The Heidelberg Catechism in Lord's Day 36 teach-
   i$g love .and friendship on the -part of God it is, that          es us that the third commandment implies, negatively,
   He who is  infiliitely glorious, and Who  dnly knows              that we. refrain from cursing, from `perjury, and from
   His own name, was pleased to reveal Himself to us                 rash swearing, and also that we do not become par-
   in such names as we can understand and use. to speak              takers of these sins by connivance or silence when we
   of Him and to Him. How unfathomable is the -coven- -know that others violate this third commandment;
   ant mercy of our ,God,- revealed in `this, that He, Who           and positively, that we use the holy name ofr God with
   iS the Holy One of Israel, introduced Himself to us by            fear an'd reverence, so that He may be rightly confes-
   name,-tq us, who are not only creatures -of the dust,             sed and worshipped by us, and glorified in all our
 but  .alsp sinners, unworthy; and incapable of using words and works. Moreover, it teaches us that there
the name of God  aright: You will understand that .is no sin more provoking to ,God than the profaning
   this covenant act of boundless grace is possible only             of His holy name, and that therefore God has `corn-
   because it pleased God to -reveal  Himself to us in a             nianded that this  sin be punished with death.
   name in and through. which He made it possible for                       in the narrowest and most direct sense of the
   sinners such as we to ~approach  Him, to enter into               word, therefore, this commandment has reference to
   His ssnctuary,  and to address Him as our Gqd. That               the  use of  ,God's  holy name in vain by cursing. An
   name is the name Jesus. -That name means Jehovah                  illustration of this  we have in  Levitilcus 24  :lO, ff. :


 422                                 q+ g % s $ A h D;,A g;fi,. & jj A g), a',R
             -A
 "And the son of an Israelitish woman, whose father          ?ore their cbnsdiousness  He stood out as the omnipo-
 was an Egyptian,  werit  out  among the children of tent ,God, to- the children of Israel in bondage He be-
 Israel: and this son of the- Israelitish woman and ti       came especially known as the covenant Jehovah, Who
 man of Israel strove `together in the camp ; And the        is faithful and true, the unchangeable God, Who nev-
 Isr&litish woman's son blasphemed the name of the           er `forsakes His people or breaks His covenant with
 Lord, and .cursed. And they brought him unto Moses :        them. Such indeed. is the meaning of the name J#e-
 (and his mother"s  n&m& was _ Shelomith, the daughter       hovah. It reveals God as the I AM THAT I AM, or
 of  Dibr.i,  of the tribe of Dan). And they put him in the I  WILL BE AS I WILL BE. He is the eternal
 ward, that the mind  -of the Lord might be showed           God, Who lojes His people from everlasting, and Who
.-them.' And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Bring        keeps .covenant and truth tiith them forever. He is
forth him that  bath cursed without the camp; and the absolutely independent One, Who has the ground
.let all that heard him lay their hands upon his head,       of His Being in `Himself, and Who is not d,ependent
 and  let all the congregation stone him. And thou           for His existence on any being  outsi?le of Himself.
 shalt speak unto the children of Iqael, saying, Who-        He is, therefore, the Immutable  .One, with Whom
 soever curseth  his God shall bear his sip, And he that     there is no change or shadow of turning. In fact,
 b@phemeth .the name of the Lord, he shall surely be         Crtuslly ,a11 the divine attributes are implied in -and
 put to death, and all the CongrQgatiori  shall certainly may be d.educed  froni' the name Jehovah. And in the
 stone him: a,4 well the stranger, as-he that is bdrn in     narrow& sense of the word it is directly-to this name
 the land, when he blasphemeth the name of the Lord,         that the third cdmniandment has reference'gwhefi  it
 shall be put to d.eath."                                    prohibits to use the name of `God in vain. <Iit .is that
    From these verses it is evident that the name Je-        name that was especially considered to l&.-the holy
 hovah is  the  name of God par  exce&nce. Twice  in         name,.of  God among Israel. In fact, it was consider-
 these verses we read in the original "the name." In         ed too holy- to be pronounced by them ; and therefore,
 verse 11 we read that the son of the Israelitish woman      instead of pronouncing the name, which originally
 blasphemed "the name", and cursed. And again, in            was most .probably  pronounced as Yahweh, they in-
 verse 16, in the last part of that verse, we read that      serted the vowels of the name Adon& into the name,
 he that blasphemeth "the name," shall be put to death.      and so pronounced it Jehovah.                     . i
 Our version has correctly inserted the words "of the           Now what does .it mean to use the name &C God in
 Lord", th,at- is, of Jehovah, because it is, @ident that    vain, or, as we .read in the original, to ra-ise,r  or lift
 the reference in the entire passage is to that pame.        up, .that name into vanity? It is any rash ;csq-profane
 It is emphatically by that name that God revealed           use ~of the- holy' name of God. The sinner, the natural
 Himself to Israel through Moses when He was about           man, is by nature profane. And therefore, profanity
 to deliver them from Egypt; the house. of bondage.          ,is a very' general thing in the world. Profanity is to
 Thus we read iti Ex. 3 :13, 14 : "Andy Moses said -unto     make cotimon that. which is uncommon. It is the act
IGod, Behold, when I come imto the children of Israel,       of obliterating the distinction, all and any distinction,
 and shall say unto them, The God o$ y.Tur fathers hath      between that which is, holy and that which is com-
 sent me unto you ; and they shall say to me, What is        tion ; in fact,  .between  that which is pure and that
`his name? what shall I say- unto them?`!And'God  said which is impure., Profanity, with a view to the name
 unto M&es, I AM THAT .I AM : and he said, Thus              of God, therefore, is .a11 such use of G.od!s name, and
 shalt thou say tinto the children of Israel, I AM hath      all such a%titudes .wbich .we assume over against the
 sent me unto you." In Ex. 6 we read th& to the fa-          name `of God, that tend to obliterate all distinction be-
 thers, ,God `had revealed Himself und,er the name of        tween His name and other names, between the name
 ElBhaddai, or God Almighty.: "Alid <God spake unto          of Jehovah and the name of the creature. Moreover,
 Moses and said unto, him, I a,m the Lord: and .I ap-        profanity is the act whereby we use. the name of God
 peared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and.unto  Jacob, by        iri the service. of sin and corruption. ,The sinner not
 the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHO-              only drags the name of God down to the common level
 VAH was I not-known to them." It is evid&t :from            of the creature, but he also drags it into the mud qf
 the bo.ok of Genesis that this cannot mean that: the        the defilement of sin.                          .., :.
 name Jehovah as .such t;vas not known to the patri-                                                              . . ,&H.
 archs.  Fork not only  .do we read repeatedly  of, that          .'                                              I.. S) "
                                                                                                                       ..:-
                                                                                -,I---:-
 name in the first book of Scripture, but the patritirchs .:
 `even addressed God as Jehovah. The meaning ,must
therefore be that while God revealed Himgelf empha- .: The weight of  opposit.ion  will always fall heav-
 tically to the patriarchs as God Almighty, So .that .be-    iest on those who sound the gospel trumpet loudest.


                                                    ..,        _I      .          ,,      _  :  -1





                                                THE.  .S.TAND.A,RD   B E A R E R                                                     423
                                     - -
 .~,II,IIII-I)-IIII,-,,-,,-~,-~,-,,-`,-,,-,,-,;-,,-~,-~,-~,-,,-,,-,.~         we penned down the above title,  "Pulrifiecl in His
 f                                                                            Fear", .we borrowed from what Jeremiah wrote in re-
 i  `. I N H I S F  E A  R                                             .;I
r:r,-llrro.esclr~,-~,-,,-~,-,,-,,-,,~~,-,,-,,-,-,,-~,-,,-,,-,,-~,.~. gard- to the- ungodly world as it was represented by
                                                                              wicked. Moab in contrast to Israel which represented
                                                                              the Church of ~God. In Jeremiah 48 :ll you have -the
                    Lified In His fear                                        truth in a very beautiful figure of speech. We read
                                                                              there "Moab hath been at ease from his youth, and he
       Rest.                                                                  hath settled on his lees, and hath not been emptied
      What a sweet sounding word when- you are weary                          from vessel to vessel, neither hath he gone into capti-
 and worn ! `0, to be left alone, to be free from any vity: therefore his taste remained in him, and his
 disturbance, to relax and .be with yqur thoughts ! HOT+                      scelit is not changed." The force of this statement is
 disturbing when  $0~  hav,e prepared yourself for a                          that this cannot and must not be said of Israel. Is-
 night's `sleep to be called to answer the. insistent and                     rael has been emptied from vessel to vessel, its taste
 merciless clamor of the telephone bel~,~,~, 0, to be `left                   has not remained and its scent was changed. Israel
 alone, to have no troubles, no cares &l anxieties !                          did go into ,Captivity  and God in I$ti grace did n&t al-
       Peace.                                               ..q,.,'           low Israel to settle on its lees. Neither @iould we de-
       Another sweet sounding word. 0, to -have `peace,                       sire it.
 th.& wars might $&$se, that strife be: o'er! Then we                             The  figu:e, as you well understand, is borrowed
 can rest. Then we can live quiet peaceful lives. Fear                        from the procedure followed in producing wine. The
 is all gone. Danger is not imminent..' You can gather                        Eees are the sediment or dregs of the wine. In it is
 your children about you and sing. You can"look for-                          the bitterness which would spoil the wine. It is the
 ward with them, plan with th&m and for them. Peace                           worthless element that is thrown away after the wine
 and rest. Relaxation and contentment. Of these man                           is properly fermented. The bitterness of these  lees,
 dreams.                                                                      and the fact that it is given not in favor but as
       But do not draw the conclusion that it is good for                     punishment, is evident from Psalm  75:8 where we
 you and me to have peace and `rest in this life. And                         read, "For in the hand of the Lord, there is a cup, and
 if we would `attain to- it for a few. brief moments in                       the wine is red ; it is full of mixture ; and He poureth
 this Xfe, we would have nothing `$et of which to sing.                       out of the same: but the dregs ther'efore,  all the wick-
 Yea, rather would we live in great dan.ger  even then,                       ed of the ea&h shall wring them out, and drink them."
when we think that all danger is for the moment past.                            ~H~~$:n&~&&ry  then that we collectively and indi-
 We could quote you horn the Word of God many' pas-                           vidually b@~em$tied  from vessel to vessel from time
 sages that, exactly teach  us  that. If our rest and                         to t&e tb b& purified in His fear. Each time the wine
 peace  ia not the rest and peace of the Kingdom of                           is potired- from.  one vessel to another' the lees cling to
 Christ, `the Prince of Peace, if it is not the peace ,of                     the sides and the bottom. The. bittmness  is left be-
the Nezu Jerusalem, the p,ea&  of the new heavens and                         hind and the wine is purified. But the longer the wine
the new earth; there is great danger for us  dur!ing                          remains on its lees, the stronger its taste and color
these "spells" ,of earthly quiet and rest.                                    become. And Moab, who ha.d been at ease, had never
      .`David confess&d in Ps. 30 :6 of his own experiences                   been emptied from vessel to- vessel, had never been
 in times of peace and re&",%- my prosperity I said,                          taken into captivity, grew stronger and strohger in its
 I shall never be moved." The Word of God as we                               bitterness and hatred towards Israel. By her pros-
receive it through James declares the same thing'from                         perity .and peace she became hardened into more and
the opposite viewpoint. James declares in  +a&?                               more rebellion against the livi'ng God and the Church
 1:2-4, "My brethren, count it all j,oy when ye fall into                     which represents Him.
divers temptations; knowing this that ,the trying of                              God forbid that we be left at our ease! But pray
your faith  worketh   .patience.  But let patience have                       that He may purify us so that we may live even more
her perfect work, ,that ye'may be perfect and entire,                         in His fear. And when He sends calamities (if indeed
wanting nothing." And times of diverse temptations we may call them_ such when they work together for
are not times of quietness arid rest. They are times                          our good and when through them He delivers us from
when the workers of iniquity, and the' devil -through the .bitter dregs) to our country, disturbs the peace of
them, exactly. gives you jno `rest but ,throws at you                         our church life, -troubles our family life with sore and
temptation, times when pu have to stand wide awakei                           painful trials and touches us personally with things
alert, sober,  realizing that evil is all about you seeking                   hard for the flesh-to bear let us not quickly question
to ensnare you in. its .wiles and guijt.                                      His love and grac>e, His unsearchable wisdom and per-
      But the thought we had particularly in mind when                        fect jitdgment. Nay, let us remember that it is Moab,


                                                        .     .         _-..(

424                                 T H E ti T:&IN D A k.c;.; B $4 R E R
                                 .-
the world that He leaves  at ease f,or its own condem-             thank Him for them. We may not receive sons and
nation. He is interested in His Church. And He will                daughters from Him and bring them up as though
therefore empty His church and His people  frqm +es-               they are ours to do with as we please. &z all we must
se1 to vessel until He has attained the glory and. salva-          f,ear  Him. With all we must be thankful to Him. For
tion which He has promised to  His Church  alid  to                all we must look up to Him. And that we may re-
His people.                                                        member Him Whom we so easily forget; that we may
P e a c e .                                                        be reminded to thank Him Who is the overflowing
                                                                   fountain of all good ; that we may rededicate all that
       It is ti sweet sounding w&d. But think, then, of            we have and receive to Him ; He in His infinite grace
the peace God has in mind. Think of the peace in                   and mercy reaches down and touches'us,  our families,
that New Jerusalem. Consider that  for that real,                  our nation and country and our church life. . He lays
true, lasting peace  His church must go through many
trials and through much strife- herle belqti. A church .Qs  or our loved ones lo& with serious ailments. He
                                                                   sends our sons to bldody battlefields and leaves aching
that is at ease, that never suffers the reproach of man,           hearts. The peace and quietness of our home life is
that is left alone by t&e world, is untroubled by the              gone. We have been emptied of that vessel. We have
false prophets and the world is settled on its dregs.              not been allowed to remain undisturbed in our cdm-
It  beconies more and more corrupt. Its- members                   fortable position of forgetting Him. We have sud-
become more and more bitter against the truth and
against God.                                                       denly been ~alerted.  to our dependency upon Him, our
                                                                   need of Him, our calling before Him.
       R e s t .                                                        It is a blessed disturbance, then !
       It is a sweet. sounding word. But then you must
have in mind the rest that remaineth for .the children             .             Our rest and our peace were taken away in order
of God. The  church that finds rest here below, the                that we might consciously  ent,er  into that true and
church that does not feel the enmity between the ser- lasting peace and rest of trust and confidence in the
pent and the woman, between his seeci and her seed,                promises  of  ,God in  Chlrist. But then, the -very fact
is undoubtedly o~the side of the serpent and his seed.             that our rest and peace could be disturbed and were
.The church that is never -troubled by the. unrest of              disturbed reveals, does it not?.-that  they really were
controversy, that in its craving for  .rest  .from the             not true peace and rest. True peace and rest are en-
battle covers up all heresy and tries to make the dis:
                                         . ..j*                    joyed  in the way of faith. True peace and rest  aTe
cordant  notes sound as though they 8b+`n"g to the sym-            peace-and rest which the ungodly cannot enjoy. There
phony, that tries to show the value of thi?m, really h&s           is no rest for the wicked, the Scriptures declare. If
no rest. And these dregs, this sediment that collects your- only rest- and-peace is the rest and peace you
over a period of titie will soon give the wine its no-             enjoy with the wicked, be sllre that it will come to a
ticeably strong taste. and scent whereby you. Will be              sudden and violent end. Be surer that you are going
able to brand it as the false church.              -               to  b,e disturbed! What an awful disturbance it will
       nlloab never went into captivity. Israel did. Why be in the days -of Gog- and IvXagog, to say nothing of
the one- and not the ,other  ?. The- answer is : .*God'S           the awful distur.bance  in that eternal lake of torment!
grace ! Israel is preciotis. in God's +ight, and all that                        But if the Almighty Covenant.Father  disturbs you
emptying. from vessel to -vessel which she experienced             in His grace to purify Font faith, to strengthen you
only emphatiizes that fact.; Surely it does not deny it.' in His fear, complain not. There IS a rest that  re-
Indeed, we say .again that if your rest and peace is               maineth for the people of God. It  remnineth to  all
vain, temporary and deceiving peace of this -present               eternity. And God's people shall remain in it to all
world, then God sur6ly is.not gracious to Israel. Then,            eternity.
surely, He is gracious to the world, and His people                              To be pleasing in God's sight, to be "tasteful" in
miss out on His favok and loving kindness. But< it                 His mouth, to be acceptable to  .Him, that is  worth
is not so! He works. with an eye to that true rest                 more than all the earthly rest and peace this world
and peac,e which IIe has prepared for His Church in                can produce. And our present afflictions, which serve
Christ. And to prepare them for that rest and peace,               the purpose by God's grace of purifying us in His
to purify-unto Himself a people that delights in that              fear, are not worthy to be compared with the glory
peace and rest, He does disturb our earthly peace and              to-be revealed in those who are pleasing in His sight
quietness.                                                         and are tasteful in His discerning mouth.
   I We may not forget Him. We may not live as                                                                   - J .   A .   Hew
though we are independent of Him. We may not take
to ourselves the  bountiles of  His earth and fail to


                                           _tiB-ti  -$!i?AN-DAi$D'.  B%!ARER                                         425
                                                                                         -      -
.~-e~mlHlro-~,Hl.e-~-,~~~-,~-,-,-~-,~-,-~-,~-,,-,*:.              ,Our Nethedancl Co?zfession is comprised of thirty-
                                                               seven articles which set forth the chief doctrines of
 1             The Voice of  Our  Fat&k  1 the Reformed churches, following what is usually call-
                                                               ed the objective,. dogmatic order, treating successively
                                                               the doctrines concerning <God, Man, Christ, Salvation,
      t.:..       -The Canm of Dordrecht           _           the Church, and the `Last Things. And it is because
       :: PART I - HISTORP&L  BACKGROUND -- i-.                in thi.4 creed we. have a systematic formulation of the
                                                               whole of Reformed doctrine that the Confessio  Bek
      Chapter S-The Confes&&al Status of the Canons            gicu is often simply called the Confession. The Heicl-
                             `(Contt'd)                        elberg C&tech&m also is designed to cover the whole
         Turning  ndw to the subject of our ow-n Three rank of Reformed doctrine, .but its form and method
Forms of Unity, and in part&la? to the subject of the          are  differefit. It employs the subjective-experiential
Canons, we discover that from every point of vie+ the appr'oach,  following the order of the knowledge of sin,
Canons occupy,a very peculiar position among our Qe-           redemption, -and -gratitude, all from the point df view
f o r m e d   confessiotis;  A   cbmparison   o f   t h e   Three of the- very question : "What is thy only comfort in
Forms a&to their histdrical position, their form; and          life and death?" `It is, theSefore, an extremely prac-
their content will at once reveal this.                        tical book of instruction at the same  `time that it
      ~.The Heidelberg Catechism and the Netherland dr         serves as one of our standards.
Belgic Colzfession belong to the period of the infancy            Even a hasty inspection of our Canons will reveal
of the  R,eformed  movement  iti the Lowlands.          The    some verjr important differences between it and our
Catechism; compl&ed  in the year 1563, though Ger-             other symbols. The Canons are divided into five chap-
man in origin, soon found its way into the  Nether-            ters, -each divided into a positive and a negaJ,ive  part,
.lands. And  w.hile it  is~ true that  the-  Catechism  wag    each of which, in turn, is comprised of' `several ar-
not finally ratified atid oficially included among our         ticles. This form of the Canons arises f$oti`&&e  fact
standards until the time of the Synod,of Dordt, never-         that the church found- itself compelled to formulate
theless long befop@ this time it was hleld in high es-         and defend the true doctrine over against -the Five
teem in the churches,  was generally recognized by ArtideS of the Remorktyants. In passing we may ?e-'
Reformed men, and had. been adopted by several. par-           mark that this also accounts -for the rather peculiar
ticular-synods. An indication pf this you have in the          phenomenon that IChapters III and IV of our -Canons
fact that the very Synod of Dordt refused to be mis-, have been combined: Taken all by itself, there is no-
led  bjr the Arminians into reviewing  atid revising           thing objectionable in- the third article of the.Armin-
either the Catec.hism or the Confessio Belgica. Like-          ians; any Reformed man would subscribe to it. Our
wise does the Netherland Confession belong histopic-           fathers, therefore, could not very well compose a sep-
ally to the period of `the infancy of the Reformed             arate formulation of the doctrine of human depravity
movem.ent.          The first  Dutch edition is dated 1562.    over against this article of the Remonstrants. How-
However, in distinction  fro& both of these creeds,            ever, when the Armitiians' fourth article, which teach-
composed at a time when the battle of the Ref,ormed            es a resistible grace, is added to their third pronounce-
-chu&h&  "was as yet. mainly against Roman Catholi-            ment, the,result is .not only a denial of the sover,eign
cis&i `btik Canons may be said to- mark the date when          operation of God's grace but also a contradiction of
the RGfor&d churches arrived at .majority of years.            the Scriptural doctrine of man's corruption. The
They were here to stay; and now that they had estab-           Synod saw exactly this point, and they therefore treat-
lished themselves over against Roman  !Catholicism,            ed the third- and fourth articles of the Remonstrants
they did not intend to be destroyed by the enemy from          in combination, the result being that the Third and
within. Instead, having been cast into the crucible            Fourth Heads of Doctrine in our Canons are coupled,
of this new affliction, arid having come. to grips prin-- and together treat "Of the  ,Corruption of Man, His
cipally with the same old enemy of Pelagianism (only ,Conversion  to God, and the Manner Thereof."
this time it was an enemy within the gate), the church            Special attention must be paid to that very distinc-
asserted its faith, maintained its Reformed convic-            tive seature of our Ctinons, namely, the addition of a
tions, emerged victorious from the fray, and after             negative part, the "Rejection of Errors," to each
Dordrecht appears a,% indeed Reformed, -united in the          chapter. Upon occasion our other confessions also
faith, and strong for -the battle.           -                 very articulately reject certain errors. Thus, for ex-
        The form and the content of the' Canons, and that, ample, our Catechism, in Lord's Day XVIII very no-
too in comparison viiith and in: relation to our other         t-iceably combats the Lutheran conception of Christ's
confessione,  are closely related matters.                     ascension; and in Lord's Day XXX it expressly con-


                                      ,p`#g-      Sf~:N~Afi;8-;E~Ait~B
4%                                                                                         - ._ -

demns the popish mass as a "denial- of the one sacri-           condemn the errors of the Remonstrants? Above all,
fice and sufferings of Jesus Christ; and an'accursed            this negative part of the Canons was necessitated by
idolatry." Thus too, the Confession rejects and ab- the very nature of the  etiemjr which assailed the
hors the error of the iS&dducecs  and of the ,M&che,es,         church  at' that time.  Arminizmism, more than  any
Art. XII; rejects "that damnable error-`of the l@i.cu-          other error, I dare say,, is deceptive. Heretics are
reans," Art. XIII ; rejects "all that is taught r&pug- -usually d&e'pti%$  but ..the A&&ian$ were especially
nant to this, concerning the free will of man," Art.            so.       2&y'  &$p;;lrently  had their mouth full: of Re-
XIV ; rej,ects  "the error of the Pelagiatis,  `who assert      formed truth.;, they. 1 spqke freely of ,$ivine .elle@ion ;
that sin proceeds only from imitation," Art; XV f `de-          they were seethingly ReSqirned  (cf. their third'%&l&)
tests "the erroi of the Anabapti&s," Art: XXXIV, &.             on the doctrine of human. depravity ; they expressly
It cannot be said, therefore, that either the C%,techis&        announced. that the grace of `God : is "the. begitining,
or the  Confession  are purely positive.  .Besides,  the        contintlance, and  acc.omplishment  of all good.".. Be-
confession of the truth necessarily implies the rejec-          sides, they very freely,.appealed- to the Scriptures in
tion of the lie. To cite but- one example, the truth            order to defend their errors. .$3ecause,  therefore, the
concerning the Trinity necessarily excludes the error           enemy had arisen from within, `and:. because he .em-
of Unitarianism. However, it cannbt be gainsaid that ployed deception, and subterfuge and camouflage in an
the Catechism and .the Netherland  Confession do `not           attempt to sway and confuse, the- si.pp]e. people of aGod,
always pointedly and expressly reject errors when               it was necessary that all the errors.,be exposed ruth-
they furnish a positive formulation of the truth. And           lessly in the light of  Scriptvre,  as well as that the
in this respect our Canons are different: they not only true doctrine Ibe espounded.
.reject  certain errors in passing, but they devote a            -But we need not attempt to: excuse the. Synod of
sepa&e section in each chapter to a rejection .of er-           Dbrdrecht on this  .score.  For after all,  .js not a ye-
rors. ,Still more. The Canons very specifically define -jec.tion `of. errors .thQ,roughly  Scriptural.? Do not the
the err&s, point out their danger in many cases, ,and           Scriptures. r;epeatedJy  and emphatically c,ondemn false
expressly oppose them with the Scriptures in hand.              teachers, and their .errors ? And is it not highly pre-
      IObjections  are  somletimes  raised against this as-     sulmptuous, `yea,  contrad-ictory of the Word of :God,
pect of our C&nons. In fact, there are some who.ac-             .fdr &ng-:man,- to S8yj then :. "Let us ,b.e positive; let us
cept only the positive part of ~the Canons. There, are not. offend pedple! $y..calling  attention to the lie ; we
those @ho say that to ;be positive is sufficient, and 4&at      should be -toleralit:  and should love one another in
to specifically mention and condemn certain errors  is          spite  df  odr differences?", Are we wiser than God,
unnecessary. They are usually the same people who               Whc,.  gavb us His Word in which He Himself warns
never care to hear any rejection of errors  in.  .&he           a@inst.tid condemns both the lie and the liar? Shall
preaching of the Word. And especially  when,jour                uie:kt'.th<;shetip;.&  iChrist go .unprotected  in ,a world
Canons reject the errors of the Arminians at length, `thati iS&ill.:.of  false do.ctrlne, ,and allow them to be ep-
and sometimes do so in very strong and condemnatory             snared .by the wiles .of the devil? There is no more
language, these people who have been ljolluted by the           certain way to ctiuse  the church to depart from the
false notion of politeness and tolerance of  our age,           truth of God's Word than not to teach that church to
a.nd by a silly conception of brotherly love,.pbject that       be on guard against f,alse doctrine. And. underlying
an articulate rejection of errors offends people, drives        all this is the principle that the, truth is antithetical
them away from the church instead of winning them,              in its yery nature. To say Yes to the. truth implies
and can serve no good purpose in the church of Christ.          already, our No to the. lie. And .because the lie is in
      What shall we say to these things?                  `,    the world, is real, that No must .not only be an implied
      Allow me to point out, first of all, that this method     one, but an expressed one, both. on the .part  of the
of our Canons has a very sound-historical reason. We            church and on the part ,of the ihdividual  believer. Not
must remember that the Synod of Dordrecht was ifi -to reject  .a11 heresies  repugnants;t64he truth is  cer-
th,e very nature of the case on the defensive. More- tainly a dereliction of duty.                                       j
over, the enemy against which it was ca;lled to defend                                                              -H.  C.. Hoeksema
the faith was an enemy within the gate: Arminian-                                                                             . :
                                                                        T,c..:*      `,       -:-::
ism had arisen within the church, not outside bf it.              0           "
Furthermore, by the year 1618 Arminianism had                                                                       .
made gigantic strides toward a conquest of the Re-
formed citadel. What else could the ,Synod do -thafi                                                 -NIOTI'CJE:                      I
to  Tjvard off these fiery darts of the  devil with the                     There will be no Standard Bearer issue on
Scriptures in hand, and very succinctly clarify and                    July 15th and August 15th..                             . .


                                                                          T H E   :ST~ANDARD  ,BEARER                                                        427

                                                                                                         tingilished, ,l&t art ignorant of the fire of the coming
                                                                                                         judgment and of eternal punishment, reserved for the
   i        :     ,,;      :     $     `
   ! -@.l&p&ng  For The Faith  / ungodly. But why tarriest  thou? Bring f,orth what
   .:r,-,-,~y-l!-llt,,~,,-,,~~,-,,-~~,,-,,-,-~,-,,-,-,,-~,-~-"!~
                                                                                          . . ,:s:       thotil wilt." Hereupon his execution occurred, but not
                                                                                                         until he had expressed his thanks- to the Lord for the
                           The  b&h  Aci the  Sacr3m&                                       "1.          privilege bestowed upon him that day that he should
                          EARLY   'FIEFS   '&  THE  cHuR;I;  :('&&'dj                                    be counted worthy that day to have a part in the num-
                                                                                                         ber of His martyrs.
   :2i                                                                                                      Without referring to other Apostolic Fatbers,  such
                  Continuing with the'views of the Church as en-                                         as Hermas of Rome and Barnabas of Alexandria, we
   tertained by Apostolic Fathers, we now call attention                                                 may safely remark that this conception of the Church
   t0  aliother of these Apostolic Fathers,  Polycarp.  It                                               was characterized by indefiniteness. They did not dis-
   is not at all improbable: that he was the "angel" of                                                  tinguish sharply but <emphasized the calling unto sanc-
   the church in Smyrna to whoni the Lord Jesus Chiist                                                   tification and holiness. They did not hesitate to place
   had written' in His letter to  thse church at Smyrna `the origin of. the Church of God beyond icreation and,
    (see Rev.` 2 30 : "Be chohou ,f,aiihf,ul unto `death, and I                                          therefore, in the eternal counsel of God.
   will give  thee's crown of life."). He is said to have
   been a disciple of `the` apostle; John.  He: suffered                                                 The Church and S&x&on.
   martyrdom tit a*V@y>old a@, testifying at his martyr-                                                   The Church and salvation were inseparably linked
   dctm that he  h&d  &rved the Lord Jesus Christ for                                                    together by practically all the early church fathers.
   eiihty si;x'y;ears." `Polycarp's letters cantain a surpris-                                           They all taught and emphasized in their writings that
   ilig'ni&ber  of short passages which occul" in the New                                                salvation- is only in and with the Church and that
   Testatietit  %fid `cover a large proportion of its booki.                                             there is, therefore, no salvation outside of the Church.
   This  cle&l$ indicates that these books were familiar                                                 ,Concerning this there can be no doubt.
   Do-him atid hii%eaders,  atid that for ,him and his read-
   e&  !thejir*$&s&sed  definite authority. Also his  writ-                                                We call attention, first of all, to Irenaeus. He was
   ibgr: are, "&al-a&&zed  by simplicity and abounds in                                                  very. outspoken on this matter.  Irena,eus,  attaining
   practical.cadmonitions.                                                                               unto a great age as did Polycarp whose disciple or
                                                                                                         pupil he htid *bee& was bishop *in Gaul (as France was
   ci&ic~rning the' martyrddm of Polycarp, the  fol:                                                     known at  th&`time)  and suffered a martyr's death
   I'&&ig"&ay be `of. intelr@.st  to  our readers. Polycarp
   zas  `l&&:`in                                                                                         with thousands of his flock about the year, 202 A.D.
                                                  his':day  ai  the  4&&$&h&   ,bf  Asi;l.yj       He
   $&  &,&$i&  ":  j$  tiembers' :  bf,  $s;  owb  household.                                            He struggled heroically against  the heresies that
          .: n .
   ~~~~j'~~~`!~~~~~~~~:fi~all~' apprehended  I;im they'were                                              threatened to undermine the truth already in his day
                                                                                                         and finally  clo.sed his life in the fiendish massacre
   ~~tij~~~hBd'th~~~~~~~.:,-,n:  &ed ma< `should be t4;e ob;                                             which was stimulated by the wolfish Emperor Seve-
   jk$  !?5ff-,$@`ia   :~~Ien&,s  ana  g,-gcil.ess   pursuit,   de:                                      rus:  a He  was' very outspoken, we have already ob-
   cla,& I "Was so' in&h `e&&t  madk';;`o caljture such "a
- ..<$g;ee;aiji';j  ALan ?,,                                                                             served; ofi the question of the .Church and salvation,
                                                      He is $$i&t&d to'.l&ve set food be-
   $@s:kli  &ptors  who  weye  iffj$sl$j  a&b&i&e3   b&hse                                               and surely `emphasized that salvation is only in and
                                                                                                         with the Church and ,that  there is no salvation out-
  ..$fi&$ godliness df this aged di&$&of the `Ch$t' of
   tJ.&  (+gos;*                                                 :.  "                                   side of the Church.       He maintained that in the
   .~:yf~~...~.,.                           `.                                                           Church of ,God all the treasures of the truth are de-
                  Havin,g.:been  brought into the stadium in. .Sgyr@                                     posited. `Outside of the Church are only thieves and
   iid ide&ifyi.ug himself as Polycarp, he  *was  &ed                                                    robbers, pools of foul water, referring, of- course, to
   lbg., -t~~*::p&onsul  to< Penounce the Lord Jesus Christ;                                             them- that  plrofdssed to be  IChristians but were not
   .When:,tq!d,.,thst'~e   wpuld,,be  set at liberty if. he  re-                                         corinected with3he Church of the Lord. "Where the
   q?u@qed. ~,&-4,h~i&.,  #s. aged man replied : "Eighty (Church is," Il;erra&s  declares "there is the Spirit of
   and six years have--I- served `Him, and ,ee never did ,God ; where the Spirit of ,God ?s there is the Church
   me any injury i how then can I blaspheme my King and all grace." According to this ancient  ,Church
    :,.:i:cl.)  `;";?
   and my'- Saviour ?" Hereupon  ~,t&e proconsul  fist                                                   Father, the apostles, like a dch nian depositing his
   tl&&etied to cast `him to the $iid',beasts and then to                                                money in a blank, lodged in the hands of the ,Church
   cons$.ik~`him  by fire. Nothing, -bb&!ver, could' per-                                                most copio&ly,all  things pertaining to the truth. The
   suade. the- venerable IChristian from renouncing his                                                  Church is the `entrance t6 life ; all others, according to
   %i'th in the- Lord Jesus Christ. He answered these                                                    him, are thieves and robbers.
   threats with the words: "Thou threatenest me with                                                        Anoth'er `of the <Church Fathers to which we would
   fire which burneth for ,an hour, an after a little is ex-                                             c-all `a&etit<on in connection with the Church and Sal-


4 2 8 '                             T H E   -STA,NDAR'::  BEAR-ER

vation is Clement of Alexandria. Clement. was oyigi-          anew, and Origen, who had sought to follow, when a
nalljr a pagan philosopher.  The date of his birth is child, his- father. in martyrdom, did not escape these
unknown. It is also uncertain whether Alexandria or           persecutions: He was tortured, pilloried, and bound
Athens  was his birthplace. Embracing Christianity hand and foot to the block for days without yielding.
he eagerly sought the instruction of its most eminent         These tortures seem to have resulted in his death. He
teachers; for  this purpose he travelled extensively          declared that;: No one is saved outside of' the Church.
`over Greece, Italy, Egypt, Palestine and other regions       He, too, speaks of the Church as the Body of Christ
of the' East. He is known as the teacher- oP `Origen,         and animated by the Son of God, He was the out-
the greatest thinker of the early Christian Church in         standing churchman. in the early Christian church of
the New Dispensation until his time. The close of his the New Dis'pensation.
career is covered with `obscurity. He is supposed `to             `The last Church Father to whom `we would call
have died about A.  D.. 220. Clement defines the              attentiofi in this connection & Cyprian. He was the
Church as the society- of the elect. He writes the .fol-      bishop of Carthage and died about the $ear 258. A
lowing, and we  quote: `-"From what has been said,. trich'and well educated man, he ,became famous as a
,then it is-my opinion that the true ,Chur~ch, that which teacher of rhetoric, or speech. In the year 246, he was
is really ancient, is one, and that in it those wh,o a& converted; Two years later he became bishop, and in
cording to *God's purpose are just, `are enrolled. . . For    258 he was beheaded as a Christian martyr. The day
it is not now the place, but  the assemblage, of the          after he was imprisoned he was examined for the last
elect, that I call Church. This temple `is  better- for time and sentenced to die by the sword. His only
thle reception of the greatness-of the dignity of God.,' answer was "Thanks Ipe to God." The ,execution  was
He also calls the Church the Body of the Lord,. as for carried out at once and in an open place near the city.
example : "And does he not say that these are, as it A vast multitude, follow'ed (Cyprian on his last jour-
were, the fleshy parts of the. holy body'? As a body,         ney. He removed his garments, without assistance,
the Church of the Lord, the spiritual and holy choir,         knelt-  doivn, and prayed. Two of his clergy blind.fold-
is symbolised.' Whence those who are merely called,           ed, .h.im.    He ordered twenty five gold pieces to be
#but do hot live in accordance with the word,. are the        given to the .executioner  who, with a trembling hand,
fleshy parts. Now this spiritual body, the holy Chilrch       administered the death-blow. The body was interred
is not for fornication." * Moreover, Clenient  compares       by Christian hands, near the place of the execution,
the Church.to  a m&her to whom we owe our spiritual           an@ over it, as well as on the actual scene of his death
life and nourishment, as in the f,ollowing : "0 cystic        churchfes  were afterwards erected, which, however,
marvel, the universal Father is one, and one the were destroyed by the Vandals. Concerning this Cyp-
universal Word ; and the Holy Sljirit is one and the          rian it is declared that he !was the first Christian mar-
Same everywhere, and she -is the only virgin -mother.         tyr in Africa. There is no record of any other, of men
I love to call her the Church. But ihe is the one vilr- or. priests, who were forced to forfeit their lives be-
gin and mother-pure as a virgin, loving as a mather.          cause  ,of their faith in the Lord Jesus.  IOf him his
And calling her children to her, she nurses them. with        enemies had said that he was a standard+earer of the
holy milk, viz., with the Word for childhood." `Or,           sect, an enemy of the gods, and one whr,, was to ibe an
to quote the following: "Their children, it is said,          example to his people. How true were these words,
shall be borne upon their shoulders, and fondled on           even though they were spoken by his enemies ! He
their knees ; :as one whom his mother comfort&h ; so          had indeed been a standard-bearer, teaching according
also shall I comfort you. The mother draws the chil- to the standsard of Christ; he had surely been an en-
dren to herself; and we seek our-mother, the ~Church."        emy of th,e gods, having commanded that the idols be
It also appears f$om. these passages that this Church         destroyed; and he surely gave eirample'to  his friends;
Father viewed the Church  tis the  gatherinig  of the         since,' when many .were about tB follow in a similar
elect, and also -that the Church and salvation are in-        manner, he was the first  in-  ihe province to conse-
separably relate&                            ..,.             crate the first-fruits of  mdrtyrdom.   '  j
   Another of the Church Fathers to which we;:would                                      ,.                    `,  ;j
call attention in this. connection is  Origen. He  wqs            Also this Church Father declared that there. could
,surely one of the most distinguished: of the Fathers         be no  salvatioli for anyone. except in  {he Church.
of the early Church..  IOrigen was born probably at However, we will. return to this in our following art-
Alexandria, about the-year 182, and died at Caesarea          icle.
not later than 251. He was a disciple oft Clement of                                              - H .   V e l d m a n
Alexandria and surely outshone his teacher. In the                                                 2,.  .,      :
year 250 A. D., persecutions of the Church broke out                               :- :-:-                               h . . *'


                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                             429

                                                              They'k  is etisentially but one calling that comes from
         DECENCY and- ORDER 1 God through the medium of the Church to the minis-
                                                              ter of the Word.                                      .'
                                                                 To the internal aspect of the calling there is rn0r.e
                The Order of Assemblies                       than a mystical feeling in the heart. The mere de-
                                                              sire to be a minister is not necessarily a. calling of
           T                                                  (God. When one supposedly sees the letters  "PK."
                HE CALLING OF THE MINISTER                    in a heavenly vision; they might.`mean  "Plant `Corn"
   Thomas Nichols said, "We believe that the gospel           as well as "Preach Christ": The calling of God to the
ministry is the noblest and most exalted office to which ministry is rooted far deeper than the stirring of one's
man can aspire.       But not' everyone is qualified to       emotions. It is a conviction of heart that one can do
preach." This is another way of saying that one iS un-        nothing *else than proclaim the gospel of J&us Christ.
able to put himself into'the office of the ministry of the ks the apostle Paul expresses it in I Corinthians 9 :16,
Word. There is only one entrance into that position           "Necessity is laid upon me; yea; woe is unto me if I
and that is thru the lawful calling of which both the preach not the gospel". There is no uncertainty about
th&d and fourth articles of our church order speak. It        it. It is a Divine `must:. The minister so called does
is of course *also evident that in this field there always    not then place the ministry4n juxtapositiion with other
ha_ve been and there  still are many `imposters' who,         vocations which also might have an appeal to  hiti
through subtility or deception, have gained entrance          should he become discouraged.        If he is called the
but only he who is lawfully called is "Verbi Dei Min-         wor,k  of the ministry becomes his one and only pur-
ister" in truth!                                              suit in life. He has no  .other choice than to do the
                                               _I             bidding df the Lord. It is laid upon him of necessity !
   Ref,ormed  people hav,! always laid stress upon the           Implied also in the internal phase of the calling
necessity of the calling.' Scripture teaches with un-         of the minister is the consciousness that he is to be
mistakable clarity that the ministry is not of men but        an: ambassador of Jesus Christ. More is to, be written
of God. In II Corinthians 5 :18 the apostle says that         about this in a later connection when we discuss' the
"Gbd hat& given to us the ministry of reconciliati&".         office itself but here we are to note~ that the minister
To  Timqthy  the apostle expresses  hi,s gratitude  to        called of God must be aware of the fact that he is not
Christ Jesus Who "hath enabled him, for that He               called to go forth to tell- others  aboilt  :Jesus   and to
counted hjti ,faithful,  putting him into the ministry".      give his opinion of the Saviour but rather he is called
(I Tim.  1:12)  : Now it is not true, as some allege,         to speak only that Word-that Christ Himself :shall put
that this.was sd only for the apostles and is no more         in his mouth whether that Word appeals to his hear-
in vogue today. T.he same IGod that gave the ministry         ers or not. Only then is he a "sweet savour of. .Christ -
to men and put them into it then does the same today          unto God, in them that arle saved and in them that
although it may be said tha& what was then done atid-         perish ; to the one the savour of death unto death,
ibly and visibly is now done through the Holy Spirit.         a,nd to the other the savour of life unto life". .(II.Cor.
,Our Confession in Art. 31 warns that "everyone must          2 :16, 17)    Moved by  this  convi,ction  of his calling
take heed, not to intrude himself by indecent means,          the  miliister will not be reluctant to declare "thus
but is bound to wait till it shall please  *God to  call.     saith the Lofd" and, thereupon, proclaim the whole
him ; that he may have testimony of his c?alling, and         counsel of God as revealed to him in .the Holy Scrip-
be certain and assured that it is of the  Lord". And tures. In that confidence alone will he be able to leave
when men are ordained `to the minis$;y of the Word            the fruits of his ministry i: the hands of 1zi.s Sender
the first question that Is asked them according to qur        Who through His own Word accomplishes the -good
Reformed form of ordination is: "whether he feels in -pl,easure of His will.
his heart that h,e is lawfully Icalled of God's Church
and therefore of God Himself, to this holy ministry"?            Finally, the qualifications for the work of the min-
To'this he is expected to reply: "Yes, truly with all         istry may also be included in the internal phase of'
my heart." This, certainly, is according to Scripture         the calling. These  .are both physical and  spiritual.~
so that the fundamental requirement to the office of          One' who aspires to the ministry of the Word must
the ministry is the calling of IGod.                          c&rtainly have the love of God in his heart dnd must
                                                              `have above all other things an abiding desire in his
   <Of what then does this calling consist?                   heart to serve the Lord in all his labors. He hi,,mself
, In discussing this matter we may distinguish be- -must know that he is a child ..of God and a partaker
tween the internal and the external aspects of the cal-       of that exalted  life in Christ, the way unto which he
ling prqvided  we do not confuse and separate them.           proclaims to others. It is true that God is able to build


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        436                                   .THE        SJji'aNjjAk,-o          .&&(&j-j,k        -,     ;'     .         "


       and edify His Church for a time through  evea-  the trjr from the Lord. Yet, the-apostle could not and did:
       labors of a reprobate but it is also tru,e that a  rep-        not go. forth into that ministry until he was, called
       robate can never be a true preacher of the Word of             by the  ihurch. In Acts.  13  :2-4 we read:  "As they
       God. The minister must also have natural gifts. He ministered tom the LoKd, and. fasted; the Holy Ghost
      must be sound in body ; he must possess -the ability to          said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work
       speak ; he mUSt have the, power of intellect to study          whereunto I have balled them. And  khen they had
       and various other necessary talents. To be sure one            fasted and prayed,. and laid their .hands on them they
       does not have to possess extraordinary ~gifts or bril-          sent them away.- So, they, being sent forth by the
       liant talents to be assured that ,God calls hiti to the         Holy- Ghost,.  departed   unto~  S&u&."  SevePal   ~things
       ministry. There are ten tallents, five talents and also- we. would -note here briefly in connection With ' this
      -one ,talent, which may be sufficient- for this calling.         passage. First,  the Lord definitely calls these two men
       Nevertheless, a measure of talents must certainly be t6 a  `sijecial  work  thro-ugh  His  Church. He does not.
       there. It was once said, for example, that if a man             do this directly though that was not impossible but He
       has hands like coal shovels and no brains, he. tiay very uses the. medium of the church. S,econdly,  the church
       well make up his mind that ,the Lo~cJ does no& call him         called  these men  through  fdst&g  &&  prayer. Only
       to the ministry of the Word. The point is that  where after fast&$ ahd pra+ing did the `church send the@
       the Lord calls He also provides the necessary gifts forth  ui& `their labor. Thirdly, we read that  -the.
       and powers to realize that calling.                             church sent th(em  away and.  they were sent forth  by
          To the calling of the minister of the Word there'is         the Holy Ghost. And being sent thus their labors were
       also an external aspect. We would mention especial-            also abundantly blessed -as the subsequent history-
       ly two things in this connection. The. first is that shows.                                                                             I
                                                                                   -        .-
     where there is a calling the way must also be opened                  Now this order is-no longer held in regard by many
       to realize that calling. We .believe  that the only pro-       in  our' day. Preachers today apparently  no longer
       per  IYhliStry  is  ,the "trained  ministry"  Which  is.  dS0  ,Ueed  to  be  Sent. A&,  Cert$UJy  the  ChUl-Ch  iS  UO  long-
       in accord with the injunction which Paul gave to Tim-          er regarded .as the proper body to s&d forth the min-
       Othy "to commit the things which he had learned to             ister in the name of Christ. Today, everybody .with
       other faithful -men that they tiight~ be able to teach         a whim and a wis'h attempts,to  preach. @ten, women,
       others also;" (II Tim. 2  :2)       This means years of        and even children occupy the  pulpits.                     And  ,others
     -preparati.on  and a means of livlihood  dtiring~the  time who should preach no longer do so but devote them-
       -of preparation and certain limited aids to study, etc.         selves to lecturing on sundry topics. Today there is
       These' are not accessible to all aizd; therefore, where        gross ignorance with respect to the fundamental ques-
       the way to obtain the` n&essary, training is closed it         t*ion& concerning-the calling to preach the gospel. And
       is evident that the Lord does not &all.                        the result is that a generation has. been produced
          Then, in the second place, the. cdl1 by the church be-      which. is superficially religious btit which- no longer
       longs to the external calling of' th6 minister- of the         recognizes or  under&an& the  WlORD  OF CHRIST  -
       Gqqpel. - `This is Above all important. No ,matter how but clamors more and -more for religious entertain-
     sincere one's desire. may be to serve the Lord in the            ment by  %he modern comedian who calls himself. a
       ministry,  and no matter how  mariy gifts and talents `revivalist', With  fluent oratory and wild  gesticula-
       one may have, and though the way is wide open for --tions, they stir the passions of the populace and through -
       him, as long as he is not called by a congregation he their bringing in  t6e name of  Jesus they  ~deceive
       cannot consider hi&self called to the ministry at all.         many; However,- as .Jesus says : -"My sheep hear my
       The call by the church seals as it `were the internal          voice  and I know them  alid they follow me." (John
       calling. The actuality of the inward calling is brought        10 97) And again : ."And a stranger will they not fol-
       to manifestation through the call by the church. This          low but will flee from him; for they know not the voice
       phase, therefore, is very important and may  not in of strangers." (John 10  :5)
       any way be solicited. There  may never be  any,  sirnor&            In conclusion, therefore, we may s& that Chritit,
     As our Confession puts it, "one must wait till it shall          through His Spirit, calls His. ministers. This call
       please God to call him", which means that he must -the same Christ seals  thrcugh the calling  by. His
       wait until it ;bec&nies  evident that Gdd has %al!$d him       Church.  Through the- servant  thus called  <Christ
      through His church. Another lawful  way  &to the                speakc to this sheep calling them bjT name and giv-
       ministry of the Word of God there is not;          .`-`,                                                                    .
                                                                      ing to them eternal life.
          In this cbnnection -we may well consider what is                                                              G. Vanden`Berg
       written in Acts 13. We showed earlier that the apostle
       Paul was conscious of his having received his minis-                             -  :   A  :   -                   ._            ,_          -
I


                                                       THE  S-T-GNDA-RD  B - E A R E R                                                             431
                                                                              `-.,          ..`y       .a-.-`;.     ;
                                                                             _-..
  l :4 ,H1 -1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 -1 1 --0-,,-,-,-,,-,,-,-,,-,,-,,~,,-,,-,,~,,-,,-,*~.              ment he iviil be right when history ends, but* not be-
   1 ALL  AROU~ND  US  1. fore. Not `before, because while one can think ab-
   .                                                                                          stractly, one cannot get out of history. But if this
                                                                                       I
  r~l..n,.l,-l,-~,-~~-~,-,,-,,-,~-,,-,-,,-~           I-,,-  ` ,-,-  (,-,)-,,-,),  :.         iieiv emphasis is right, then my judgment regarding
                             -                                                                Rev. Hoeksema is wrong, and he is getting to be more
  DY. Duane and Common Grace.                                                                 right and  1924 more wrong each passing day.  Pre-
        In the May issue "of  the  Reformed Journal Dr.                                       sum?bly the margin of difference will become so small
   James Daane writes an article entitled: "Refle&ons that the continued separate existences of the two de-
   on Common <Grace." We enjoyed reading this article nominations will not be justifiable."
  not because we `agreed  with its contents, but because                                              It & rather difficult to determine just what Dr.
  we believe he seriously attempts to bring into dis-                                         Daane means with this paragraph. In the light of a
  cussion the doctrine of common grace which has been                                         shor:t preceding paragraph which I have omitted, it
 virtually smothered- in the Christian Reformed Church- appears that though he is aware- there is a "new and
   es for more than .25 years, `while at the same -time he                                    strafige emphasis" in his churches relative to the doc-
  diligently attempts to defend this doctrine. We have trine .of common grace he himself is at a loss to de-
  respect for one who dares to take the old skeleton out                                      termine exactly what they want.  He  c6ncludes that
  of the closet, trying to put some flesh on it, giving                                       if they are right and their conception agrees with
  to it the  righ't of existence. What's the use of hav-                                      Hoeksema then he, Daane, may be wrong. But he is
  ing a doctrine you don't talk and preach about?                                             quite sure, at present at least, he understands Hoek-
        In our opinion, however, the writer is not $ little                                   sema and that Hqeksema is wrong. Accordingly Hoek-
  philosophical in his reasoning. He makes sweeping sema believes in the absolute antithesis which will be
  statements  wi,thout  proof from the Z$ripture or the                                       realized not in time but in eternity when light and
   Confessi,ons,  nor from the writings  bf others. And                                       darkness will be  perfectly separated. But so long
  he understands little of the Prot&ant Reformed con-                                         as history continues there can ,lbe no absolute anti-
  ception of the antithesis, which he criticizes, making                                      thesis. Hence Hoeksema is wrong now and the Chris-
  a serious attempt to sustain the First Point .of. 1924                                      tian Reformed Churches are right. It follows too that
  which we have called. "het puntje van het eerste punt," anyone who agrees with Hoeksema must be wrong
  an Arminian doctrine, namely that part which speaks                                         now. But Daane is not too sure of himself, and he
  of the Gospel o@ered to all.                                                                perceives that there is possibly a chance that the dif-
        We understand that Rev. Hoeksema has been asked ference between the element emitting a new emphasis
  to write on the matter of common grace in the Torch                                        and the -conception of Hoeksema will be- so little that
  and Trumpet,  ano'ther periodical published in the the two will eventually come together.
  Christian Reformed Churches. We were told that in                                                   The new emphasis, according to Daane, has to do
  that article he will also reflect' on Dr. Daane's cori-                                    with a doctrine of the absolute antithesis. And two
  ception.  So we can be brief in our remarks.                                               things he has to say about this view. "First, it deals
        In the opening paragraphs of his -article Dr..Daane                                  with the antithesis in the realm of the abstract, in the
  writes as follows : @Since 1924 the doctrine of common realm of the non-historical . . . .                                        Second, this  non-
  grace has sailed in peaceful waters -in the Christian                                      historical appr,oach absolutizes the absolute antethe-
  -Reformed ,Churches.              The counterwinds that blew sis." The first puts the antithesis outside of history
 from the Protestant Reformed Churches-were not even and declares that believers and unbelievers have noth-
  able to ripple the waters. Now after more than  ~" ing in common. The difference between ihem is ab-
  quarter of a century the climate `is beginning to                                          solute. While the second suggests a "dualism between
  ch$nge. Noises of `distant thunder can be heard, and                                       the. two poles <of the antithesis which is so deep' and
  rising winds Can be felt moving the waters and cre-                                        permanent, that there are two worlds in endless and
  ating new theological  cur~~ents." Here Daane  defers                                      eternal opposition."
  undou,btedly to the questionings and dissatisfactions                                              Daane calls this "questionable theology.`) "After
  of many of his people and not least among the clergy all aGod alone can create a world, and he created but
  in his churches. We too have heard rumors that many ,one. The devil is hardly so absolute that he `can create
  of the ministers of the Christian .Reformed Church                                         his own world. Moreover an absolutizing of the ab-
  are considering it necessary to reinvestigate the de-                                      solute antithesis constitutes a denial of- the absolute
cisions.of  1924. But let Dr. Daane continue.                                                ILordship of Jesus Christ. This version of the anti-
        "I: have often'expressed the opinion  that the %ev.                                  thesis is defined out of reference to Christianity, which
  Herman Hoeksema  in. his views on  this- matter is                                         is a very historical religion."
  prematurely riiht, and therefore wrong. In my judg-                                                 Daane argues that the Bible never speaks of the


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                                                              ,.                       -__  -___-----.I
            432      ---                   ---    -  T  H  E  ,;  8  .T  A  N  D`
                                                                                       A  R  D  BE  A  F  j$$  ,-..         ~.     -~----      --     ~-~     -~
                           ,i
            /__._  -.                      ------..---
                                                    `
                                                     _
            antithesis in. the abstract, but it knows only oft an                       general offer of -salvation. It. further. declared that
            antithesis in history. "In its Old Testament form it this -general offer is.-well+neant. It thereby -declares
            is a conflict between the pagan nations and Israel -as                      that G,od is for t.he world. in terms of the Cross and-in
            a people of God. Neither side wins' the' decisive bat- terms of the gospel as the message of the Cross."
            tle in the Old Testament dispensation. But when                                 "The proponents of the absolute  -.version of the
            the Seed himself comes (i.e. of -Gen. 3 ?l.52M.S.)  the -antithesis-at least when they are  ,consistent-deny
            decisive battle is pitched, and Christ emerges as thg                       that the gospel is an offer to all men. And when the
            Victor . . . . ,Christ's victory is decisive. The-New  Tes-                 gospel ceases. to- be an offer, it becomes a naere an-
            tament .consequently speaks of good news, of the bincl-                     nouncement, an announcement that things are bad for
            ing of Satan, of the'fact ,that Jesus is the. Lord.--  yet                  the reprobate and- nothing can be done about it, and
            although decisive, Christ's victory is not complete,                        that things are well for the elect and nothing needs
            for the opposition is not completely crushed. The -be done about it. But this is not the biblical idea of
            New Testament teaches concerning the -anti-Christs                          gospel proclamation. In the biblical idea of proclama-
            and the anti-Christ is clear evidence that the victory tion man is placed in a moment of serious decision, a
            is not yet complete. . . . The question,' theref.ore,  is                   time of crisis and judgment. For when the-gospel is
            not in the first instance whether people in the Ne.w                        properly preached it is not announced that all is well,
            Testament times are for or against goodness, truth,                         nor that all  is, bad, but rather that God is for the
            or beauty, but whether they are f,or or against J.esUs                      world in the Christ of the Cross in a&h a `manner that
           . Christ . . . Men in the New Testament .are not co-n- the--hearer is placed before an offer and de&&. . . .
           fronted with mere good or mere evil in general. They                         Thus when 1924 taught the general offer of salvation,
            are confronted -with* the good in the form of God who                       it on the one. hand repudiated an absolutized non-his-
            is"for them in the Christ of the cross. And the ques- torical version of the antithesis, and on the other re-
            tion  is- whether men are for or against God in this pudiated both the position that the gospel is not an
            form, in the form expressed-by the gospel."                 I               offer, and the position which reduces gospel proclama-
               "In the New Testament the gospel must be-preach-                         tion to mere announcemetit.`"
           ed `to ,every creature', and to all nations. For )God.-is                        Daane has more to say about the stand of -his
           for the world. !God is for the world, and for the &ole                       churches which we cannot quote.  here. But he closes
           and only world. Therefore the gospel -must be preached                       his article with the following observation :                                '
           to every creature and all nations.`?                                             "Hoeksema insists on the ,absolute version of the
               "This `being for the world' must be defined and                          absolute antithesis and defines it non-historically in
           understood in terms of the Cross; in terms of the gen-                       terms of the abstract and trans-historical difference
           eral offer of salvation;" " . . . . Thus the antithesis ac- between election and reprobation. He, therefore, de-
           cording to the Bible is not abstract, static, absolute,                      nies common grace and-the common offer of salvation.
           or- non-historical. It is rather historical  ; it runs                       It should-be added, however,. that he is far too good
           through, the Cross and the general offer of the gosp'el,                     a theologian to give it an application that speaks of
           and in its New Testament form is suspended by the                            two worlds in eternal -and endless opposition."
           world's  rea'ction to the gospel message that  Go&is                             Well I'm glad he -has something to say about him
           for the world in terms of the Christ of the Cross." .'                       anyway, even though he does not agree with his doc-
               Dr. .Daane asks the question :' "What do the Church                      trine of the antithesis and his denial of common grace.
           and the world, believers and unbelievers have in corn:                       But maybe someday Daane will get around to really
           mon ?" He answers this question by saying:  "The                             understanding Hoeksema's  dodtrine  of the antithesis
           Synod of 1924 said two things regarding this question.                       and throw away the misera'ble  conception of a general
           It taught a general or common operation of the Ho-                           offer. We hope and -pray that he and his colleagues
           ly Spirit . . . .     But it also said that there is a gen-                  will-get their eyes open and give a little less time to
           eral OS common off~er of the gospel. With this only am philosophical reasoning, and a little more to sound
           I concerned here."                                                           exegesis.                      . `.
               "Liberalism believes neither in the antithesis nor                                                      :                      - M .   Schipper
           in the ministry of reconciliation. It -therefore has no                                         -:A.:-                                '
           message.      The  absolutizers of the antithesis preach
           the absolute antithesis. and therefore have no gospel                           If. IGod had not chosen thee in. His Son, he would
           offer.    But 1924 recognizes the -historical character                      not have called thee by His !Spirit  : and He that called
           of the antithesis. It recognizes that the antithesis' pas-                   Thee by His Spirit, will preserve thee to His kingdom.
           ses through .the Cross, and 1924 therefore posits a                                                  _                                        -Toplady


