                       .-           .
                VOLUME-   XXX  -                                       NOVEMBER   1 ,   -1953  -  GRAND   RAPIDS,   MICHIGAN                                   NUMBER   3

                                                                                   ._                         God, who killeth  and  maketh alive. He is the  `Gireat
        $4 I-I-I-I,-,I-`IH,-,-,-`,-~,-,-,,~,-,,-,-,-,,-~,-,-~,-,.~,
        I                                                                                                     God who is the Creator -and Sustainer  df life. He
        iI                   M  E'  ti,  I  -T A  T  I  0  N                                           1      speaks  and there you `are  ! He speaks again and  -you
        i1:~IoII-IHO-`,-l,-~-,,-,-,-,,-~,-,~,,-~,-~,-`~-,,-~,-,,-,-,!,~. stop breathing.  "Y,ou are dead.
                                                                                                                   Man may not kill `man.
                                    .Rmimb~r  Me!                                                                  And this man was a convicted murderer. Also, he
                                                                                                              -sust.ains  the judgment and condemnation. Just a  mi-
                                "And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me lvben nut&. ago he admitted that before the  -whole  .world.. And
                              Thou comest into  Thy  kingddm;"~   LLuke   23142.
                                                                   ..-.  -                                    since then  the'whol,e  world, wherever this  .tGospel  is
                Everyone~.mocked   the  ,Christ  when He hung on the                                          preached has heard his  assent to the just c&de&nation
        Cross;                      .           _     -     .'       ..-                 _ .                  of himself. HL said :  "And we indeed  justly!"
               -The people stood  beholdi_ng.-                                                                 But I love  .him  -because he is my representative.
                .The rulers  derided Him, but  also  .with  -them,   chat                                      Indeed, he is the representative of all God's elect  peo-
        is, the  peo&.                                                                                      _ ple. We  ali  are by nature murderers. Jesus said
                The soldiers mocked Him.                                                                      that whoever `hates  his  brother is a murderer. And I
                Even the written  word_m&nt   .to deride `Him. The  :admit'-that inany  tinies I  have. hated where I `should
        superscription on-the cross  wasmeant  as'atauat  of the' 1  a-?e loved my brother. Yes, we all are  murdkrers.
     r u l e r ,   t h e   g o v e r n o r :   Ti$  i s   the-  King  o f   t h e   J e w s !                     j  But  this  muCleiwr' is a  coliverted murderer.  Thru
        Imagine :  3 King  ,911 a Cross?? ! !                                                                 -the `ages  the church has  .given him  a~ beautiful name,
                Yes,  atid even a man  tiho was in the same judg-                                              he is called the penitent.
        ment with  Jestis mocked Him, saying, If Thou be the                                                       That he is penitent is  evidlent. The  whole world
        Christ, save  ,Thyself' and  is !                                                                      knows that. Penitence begins by  %dmitting our sin.
                E v e r y o n e   d e r i d e d   a n d   m o c k e d   Jesus.  ~.                             And he has done that in the preceding verse. We  in-
                But  whit!  There: is. one solitary exception : the  deed justly.
        other murderer.                                                                                            Moreover,  .he said to the other,  mocl&g, murderer :
                T-Ie  turlis his tortured body toward the other  Muir-'                                        Dost thou not fear God? And  that surely implies that
        derer and after chiding `him  f,or. mocking Jesus, he                                                  he  fear,& God.. even though the other did not. The.-fear
        turns to Jesus  atid says: Lord, remember me when                                                      of God-was  &j$anted  in his heart. And he showed it.
        T.hou comest into Thy kingdom !                                                                            He  is penitent. He is sorry for his sins.
              Marvel of marvels !
                There is one in the  whole universe that believes  in                                               ,                  72  0  k  Q-
_       t h e   c r u c i f i e d   O n e !
              And-he is a murderer.                                          `I           !                        But there is more.
                                                                                                                   He does what no one  thillks of doing in this dread-
               :  i                              ***a                               -                          ful hour -when  the. church and the world combine to
                                                                                               .z .
                                          `,                                                                   crucify  the  Saviour of the world:  :be: `is going  to,  con-
                 I love that murderer.                                                                         f e s s   H i m .
                -No,`not as a murder&r, A murderer  iS an ugly  per-.                                              He calls Him Lord !  I
        son. He takes  th:e life of his fellow. And- that is hor-                                                  I do. not know how much this. poor sinner knew Of
     r i b l e . There is only One who can  -do that,  naqely                                                 .Christ's  Lordship.;  He is a little  premature too.  We


   50                                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                           s  .I  1  c  -                   ,-
                     8.
 know  .tti&&&&$,de   ,Jesus  both  ,Christ   atid Lord, but                 the way to unspeakable glory and honor.  Yles, Lord,
   ,.&&t  w8s~,~~~~~~~~~~.,-rathe~~,   at  His  glorification  -at;  t-e     and.Thou art also `on the  way to wondrous dominion.
F a t h e r 's   r i g h t   -hand. But this man calls-  Bir& Lord           All  things testify now that Thou art bound, nailed,
   when He hangs on the accursed tree. Did I say too                         tortured, dying, but this is the way to the Kingdom !
   much when I cried out: Marvel of Marvels?                            -        I know, Lord, that all appearances are against Thee
         Lord is He Who has the regime@ over the whole                       having  e!$er  fiordship  or royal majesty, but I know
   Universe. I do not think  that this `murderer was  pres-                  that Thou art both Lord and King !          .-
   efit when Jesus said  :` You  call Me Master  and. Lord :                     Marvellous faith of the penitent!
   and ye  sa;y well  ; for so I am. No, I do not think that
   he heard those words.                     It was not necessary: God                                *  It  *  0
   must have told him later, later, perhaps on the cross.
   Flesh and blood had not revealed it to him. But you
   may be  sure that he knew.                     His `very little speech        But Lord, my Lord and King, I have a little peti-
   carries conviction:  ILord, remember me when Thou                         tion, a  very little petition : remember me ! When Thou
   comest  intmo Thy kingdom !                   What a little speech,       art in Thy Kingdom, surrounded by honor and ma-
   but how fraught with beautiful conviction! Jesus,                         jesty; when Thou art on the great throne, the great
   Thou art my Lord !                                                        white throne in the heaven of heavens, then, o Lord,
                                                                             remember me !
         iOh, I am sure that God told him in  .his heart. He
   hung in the light, in the dazzling light of the ever-                         Two words : remember me !
   lasting Gospel. And when you hang in the light, even                          What a little prayer!
   though you hang on the cross, you see clearly: you  re-                       But, dear reader, what an immensity of blessed-
   cognize  `God, and  IGod's   SOn.                                         ness is asked for.
                                                                                 In case Jesus would give him his petition he will
                                   *+?*a .                        `:         have everything that is blessed and lovely. If Jesus
                                                                             nemembers him he is safe, safe for the little time he
         When Thou comest into Thy Kingdom !                                 has, and Surely for all eternity.
         How utterly marvelous !                                                 0, all we need, really need is to be remembered
                                                This man is talking of
   a Kingdom while his addressee is hanging on the ac-                       by  :God, by Jesus.
   cursed tree ! If anyone seemed to be far from  cl.o-                          There is a hymn, but I do not know the correct
   minion and royal majesty it surely was Jesus at this                      reading of all the stanzas.     It must. have been com-
   dreadful hour. Dominion? He is bound hand and                             posed with an  eye to-this beautiful story, for there is
   feet, and what bonds ! He  .is  nailed  to the tree ! He                  a line : And when Thou  sittest on Thy throne : o Lord,
   cannot move.                                                              remember me! It is the penitent murderer's song.
  But this penitent knows: Jesus is on the way to                              *It was a little prayer, but how dared he utter it  ?I
   His  Kingdbm of light and glory.                                              Remember him? A foul murderer?
         How did he know? I do not know. Perhaps be was                          If a poll would have been taken, at the very spot,
   instructed by a godfearing mother' `or father. Maybe                      I am sure  th$t the unanimous verdict would have been :
   he had heard of the coming of Goel, of Shilo, of the                      No, he is not worthy to be remembered by Jesus the
   Messiah. And now that God gave him life  atid  liglti,                    King. Everyone, both the church and the world had
   perhaps all that knowledge was applied to his  hea.rt.                    decreed that he was worthy of death, and so he  founcl
   But I do not know. Perhaps he had enough  c$ the                          himself on the cross.
   Word of  ,God in that little wooden  bqal'd-  above the                      Yes,  a,nd note the little detail, little but important:
   tortured form of Jesus.  Y,ou know, that  board  that                     he voted for his own condemnation. Verse 40, and 41.
   read in three languages:                   This is Jesus the King of        He was worthy of death, physical and eternal.
  the Jews. Maybe that- was enough.  `God needs very                            And now: remember him? With all that it im-
   little to preach His  ,Gospel. He is the Almighty.                        plies?
         But he knows.                                                          What are  the implications? This: he would be
         Jesus, my Lord; Thou art  .on the way  to inherit a                 forgiven all his sins; He would be justified before
  glorious Kingdom !                                                         God's tribunal. He would receive the beauty of heaven
         Here on this cross, the cross that clearly reveals                  and- heaven's  `God in heart and soul and body. He
  what kind of man I have been and am, I feel the  urge                      would be changed into a fit companion of the angels,
  to confess Thee. Thou art the Lord of the Universe,                        of Christ and of God. He would receive all the hap-
  and Thou art the King of God's Ziqn! Thou art on                           piness of heaven unto  &I eternity.


                                                  T-HE  STANDAR.D--  Bic;AitEa                                                                                                                         bi

    That, my  friends, is contained in this little peti-
tion : remember me !                                                                                THE STANDARD BEARER
    Was it not  presumpteous   to pray for $11 that?                                     Semi-monthly, except monthly during  Iuly and August

                                                                                  Published by the  REFORMED   FREE   PUBLISHING   ASSOCIATION
                           **a*                                                 P. 0. Box  881,   Madison Square Station,  Graid Rapids 7,  Mich.
                                                                                                       Editor  -  REV.   HERMAN  HOUKSEMA
                                                                             Communications relative to contents should be addressed to Rev. H.
     No, my brother. It was not.                                             Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S.E. Grand Rapids 7, Michigan.
                                                                             All matters relative to subscriptions should be addressed  to  Mr.  G.
     Jesus, the Crucified One,  fi$s such penitent mur-                      P i p e ,   1 4 6 3   A r d m o r e   S t . ,   S .   E . ,   G r a n d   R a p i d s   7 ,   Mich.
derers.                                                                      Announcements and Obituaries  mtisc be mailed  m the above address
                                                                             and will  Abe published at a fee of $1.00 for' each notice.
   That is exactly why He came on the cursed earth.                          RENEWALS:              Unless a definite request for  discpntinuance is received,
-It was His mission to seek out and find all those  mtir-                    it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the subscription to continue
                                                                             without the formality of a renewal order.
derers, thieves,  .adulterers, idolaters apd corrupters.                                                 Subscription price: $4.00 per year
No, not all. He came and wrought salvation only for                                Entered  a  &and  Class matter at Grand Rapids, Michigan
those evildoers that were written in the book of life.
But all  those written in that book deserve. such ter-
rible names as I wrote down. That is our natural
name.
     We thought this man  presumptudus  for asking for
so much blessedness, while we all know that he de-
                                                            - . .      1-111  ,l-`,-`ll`,-L1-110-~,-`,-~,-,~-~~-`~-~~-~,-,~-,~-,,-`,-"-
served so much cursedness. And no wonder.  lnstinc-
tively we feel that it is not correct to reward the mur-                                                            C O N T E N T S
d e r e r   w i t h   h e a v e n .
     But we  .must remember that Jesus came and will-                  MEDITATION-
                                                                       --
                                                                                  Remember Me! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                      49
ingly stood in the place of all His beloved people who                                    Rev. G.  Vos
in history became murderers, thieves, adulterers, idol-                EDITORIALS-
aters and corrupters.                                                             Chronicle         . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .       52
     And  <God treated Jesus just as though  He Himself                                   Rev. H. Hoeksema
had done all  that abomination.                                        O P   BOOKS-
     That is the- everlasting Gospel.                                             Hosea  -  by  Drs; C.  ran  Gelderen and W. H.  G&per  . . . . . . . .                                                55
                                                                                   Hebreeen   - by Dr.  7. W. Grorheide  -. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  .-:  .i .                                    55
                                                                                  I and II Timothy, Titus, Philemon  - by  Dr. C.  Bottm~ . . . . . .                                                   56
                                                                                   Heden  zoo gij  Zijne Stem  hoort  -  Twefre  different Authors . .                                                  56
                                                                                          Rev.' H. Hoeksema
     It is not in my text, but I better tell you anyhow.                                                                                                               .*
                                                                       OUR   DOCTRINE-
This man's little petition was heard.                                             The Triple Knowledge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  .-._. . . , . . .  :.  .,.,  1. . . . . .                       5 6
                                                                                          Rev. H. Hoeksema                                                 ..i                ._
     R,ememb  er you `?                Yes, I will rem-ember you. I                                                                                 -.
have paid, I am now paying for your entrance into the                  FROM  HOLY   WRIT-
                                                                              E x p o s i t i o n   o f   I   P e t e r   1:14-16 . .:. :. '
                                                                                                                                                    . . , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .     61
same Kingdom toward which I journey.                                                      Rev. G. Lubbers

     I will precede  yo_u by a few hours. But even to-                 IN  H I S   FBAR-
day, this very day, shalt thou be with Me in  Para-,                               Afraid of the Gospel i . . . . . . . . .   .   .   .   .   .   .   . . * . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .           63
dise !                                                                                    Rev.-J.  A          .       Hey;
     And it  cam& to pass. Both Jesus and this  surderer               CONTENDING   FOR   THE  FNTH-                                                                                           ,.
                                                                                   The Church and the Sacraments , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I . . .                                    65
are now, while I write this, in God's Paradise.                                           R e v .   H .   Veldman
                                                                                             :,                                                                               :-
     Some day we will see him there.                                   THE  VOICE   OF  OUR   FATHERS-
                                                                                   TheCanonsof Dordrecht.: .:......... ::.i....::`.? . . . . . . . . . . .
     I do not think that we marqel so much that  6 was                                                                                                                                                  67
                                                                                          R e v .   H .   C .   Hoeksema
taken to that beautiful Kingdom of  ,God.                                                                               i I,.
     When  the~light of the  %ospel shines in our hearts,              DECENCY   AND  ORDER-   `.'
                                                                                   The Lawful Calling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
discovering all our  terribl(e sins,  zoe softly sing to  our-                                                                                                                                          69
                                                                                          Rev. G.  Vanden Berg
s@ues: And when Thou  sittest on Thy throne, 0  Gbd,                   ALL  AROUND 
remember me !                                                                                      Us-
                                                                                   Theology and Schism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , . . . . . . . .                          $1
     Trembling : o  `God, remember' me.!                                                - Rev. M.  Schipper
                                                           G. Vos.


                                            `
                                             jiisa      sTAN.o*Ab            BRAkaR
  $2

                         .-mm---_


 .:.,~~-~I---~~,~~~~,~l~~~~l~~~~ll~`~~~~~~~~~~,~~,.~~                    Nevertheless, we are also confident that in the
  f.         E  De  1  .T  Q  R  1  A.I,-S:"?   1                      Bresent  *split we, and not our  .opponents, are walking
                                                                       ih  the way of the Lord. We,  ,and not our opponents,
  i. . ..-lrr~uo-ll-.-,,-~,-,,-`-~,-,,-`,-~,-`,-,,-,,-~~`--`,-,~.~.    maintain the Protestant Reformed truth, which is
                      Chronicle                                        the truth of the gospel, the truth of the Word of God.
                                                                       We, and not our opponents, have and may have the  con-
                                                                       fidence that God is for us and that, therefore, nothing
        Our readers are, no doubt, interested to know  .what           -and no one can ever be against  us.
 is happening in our' churches- in  connecti& with the                   Of this we have always been convinced.
 split which is now  ah -accomplished- fact. And  siace
                                                                           And  of this we become all  the more convinced
neither.  Co&o&$ or  what calls itself the  Ref&med
                                                                       when we read the arguments by which our  oppo-
 Guardian  can be trusted to inform them  .of the  t&h
                                                                       nents attempt to bolster up their position.
 of even the  bare  fc?cts,  The  Staticlar~l  Beayev  will, from
 time to time,  tr'y to bring them up to date.                             The more they try  to defend their position, the
                                                                       more  they evince very clearly that there is no love for
   We are making history fast  iti our little  denotiina-              the Protestant Reformed truth in  tl&ir hearts. I am
 tion !                                                                afraid that many of them never were Protestant  Re-
        In this I can but  see.the hand of our God, Who cares formed, at least not in their hearts.
 for  ,His  Church and always  pres.ekves His  fa'ithful                   Who would ever have thought in 1924 that less
 remnant, the seven thousand that refuse to bow  theil:                than thirty years after Protestant Reformed  mini-
 knees before  Baa1:                                           .,..    ters would belittle the doctrine of election,  wo~~lcl
        `0, the purification and reformation of a church               preach and  de&ad the Arminian error of a  general-
 is, indeed, always a  v,ery painful process. We exper-                conditional promise, and would maintain that before
 ienced this in 1924 when we were ejected from  &he we enter into the kingdom of heaven we must con-
 communion of the  ,Christian Reformed  Church because                 vert ourselves?
 we would and could not, before  #God and our -con-                        The  Riformed  Jowrna.1  writes, that our opponents,
 science, subscribe to the  noto?ious Three Points nor                 by their new doctrine, have taken a step back to the
 even promise to. -keep silent in. regard to them.  But                ,Christian Reformed Church.
 this  process is still, mqre painful, `-especially for the
 undersigned, in the  curr,e,nt`division and. split in our               P,ersonally,  I think they did worse than that, the
                                                                       Christian Reformed Church, in 1924, announced the
 churches. In the first  place,  donsjder  .the fact that -we-
 as churches `belong to the very smallest of all the                   doctrine of common grace in the general. well-meant
 denor&nations in the world. It  -is  .true, no doubt, and             offer  cf salvation. But those that, for the last years,
 we have always preached it  ihat  the- Church of  God                 have tried to corrupt our churches maintain that  Gocl
 cannot be estimated by numerical strength; it is al-                  promises to every one salvation, if they believe. And
 so true, however,  +hat, according to our human feel-                 God promises surely in His love and grace. The Chris-
 ing, we always like to see the Church of Christ grow                  tian Reformed Church, in 1924, maintained that the
 also in numbers, and that it is suffering for the                     natural man,  outsicle of the kingdom of  #God, can clo
 flesh when those whom we considered as standing. on                   gogd in this world,  s+called civic righteousness. But
 the same basis of faith with Us forsake that basis                    they  never yet taught that the natural man, outside
 and corrupt the truth. I say this is  ~painfui; especially            of  the  kingdoni of  ,Gocl, can convert himself.
for me and must be for the Rev.  Qphoff,  because the                     These are the errors our oppbnents maintain, and
very men that now  deeart from us and forsake the                      for these we will  holcl them  responsi,ble, till they open-
truth, have ail been instructed by  us so that it appears              ly repent.
as if our labor has  b'een partly in vain. Add to- this,                  But I am going off on a tangent.
that  I~have labored for over thirty three years in the                   I say that I can see the  goocl  hancl of God over  us
 F~irst Protestant Reformed Church of `Grand Rapids                    in  the fact that we are making history fast;
 (indludilig  my  `labdi am&g them  .when they were                       And I say this because the recent fast  clevelopment
 still the Eastern Ave. Christian Reformed  Church)                    of things in our churches is for  us a God-given op-
ahd that now, under:  the influence of De Wolf,  espec-                portunity to cast off the. impurity and corruption in
 ialy since my illness six years ago, a large  part of                 oqr church-system before it is  $00  Me. I have no
them have forsaken the truth in which I have always                    do::bt that the  opp&ents of  our -Protestant Reforniecl
`instructed them, and you will understand it when I                    truth  wo~~lcl have liked  tp have more time  td see their
say that the-  &rifi&tion  and reformation of the                      Armiaian  corruiltion--i-nfiltrated  into our -churches.
Church is always a  yery painful process.                              But the  Lorcl  opened  our eyes just in time.


                            .-     .           -  T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                  53

    Hence, the split is  come before the wood is so rot-                                                            Holland, Michigan
ten that it cannot be split anymore, as Dr.  yachen                                                                 October 9, 1953
once expressed it.                                              .l    To  the;:.Consifitory  of the
                                                                      Protestant Refor&ed  Church
    A tremendous step in this direction  was- taken. of Holland, Michigan
when the Lord made  Xlassis -West so foolish  as to                   Dear Brethrep in the Lord:
make their  .last schismatic decisions.                                 I, the undersigned Elder of s3id Consistoly,  request that the
   Then followed the correct action of  Doon,  Edger-                 Consistory immediately repudiate the stand taken iby our Pas-
ton, and Hull.          In all these  .congregations the. Pro-        tor, the Rev. B. Kok,  at the session of ,Classis  East, Oct. 8, 1953,
testant Reformed truth was maintained and they de-                    whereby he recognized as the legal consistory of the First Prot-
clared themselves the legal consistories and congre-                  estant Reformed Church of Grand Rapids,  Mich.,  the Rev. H.
                                                                      De Wolf and his deposed elders, thereby severing his conne$ion
gations,  afte?  th(ey had requested  _&heir  consistories' with the fellowship of the Protestant Reformed Churches, be-
tb repudiate the schismatic action of  `Claasis West.                 cause  Classis  East upheld the legal Corisistory of the above
  Recently,  Redlands  `folIowe& suit. They have,.  .at               named church, of which the Rev. C.  Hanko  and the Rev. H.
.present,' according to latest reports, twenty families               Hoeksema are pastors, and Mr. G. Stadt  is clerk.
that stand with  us.  .The  Rev.. H. Veldman, who has                   I as elder also request  that the Consistory immediately re-
                                                                      fuse the Rev. IB. Kok the pulpit and declare him worthy of sus-
received a call from Edgerton, is laboring there at                   pension on the ground of Art. `79 and 80 of the (Church Order,
the time of  ,this writing.                                           and thereupon proceed to his actual suspension from office with
  What happened at the  decent meeting of  ,Classis                   the advice of the nearest neighboring con&tory.
East was already reported to-you  iii the last number                   Should this request be denied, which God graciously prevent,
of  the  Stanckml  ,Bieaq*er. There were two sets of del-             I the undersigned, will declare myself the legal consistory of
egates from the First Church of  (Grand  Rapids,  and                 the 1st  Prot.  Reformed Church of Holland, Michigan and will
                                                                      function as such.
Classis had to decide  which were the- legal delegates.
Communications were  rea.d from the group that fol-                     Grounds:
lowed the Rev. De Wolf, from the consistory of the                      1. By this action you support and condone heresies that have
                                                                           been condemned by  Classis  East of the Protestant Re-
First Church, and from the classical committee that                        formed  Chuuches.
servecl in advisory capacity to bring the matter to                     2. By  :this action you will give support to  an:d agree  .with
the attention- of the  con&tory of the First  Church                       those that were legally deposed as officebearers from the
and, on the `latter's request, was present  at all the                     First Protestant Reformed Church of Gran,d Rapids, Mich-
meetings of the  co&story from June 1 to June 23.                          igtn, which deposition was maintained as  leg&l  by the
The result was that the delegates of the De Wolf group                     classis above mentioned.
                                                                         7. Hence  bye this action you have become guilty of schism
were unseated  and the delegates that were sent by                          and severed yourselves from the fellowship of the Prot-
the Consistory of First Church  w&e received  ai the                        estant Reformed Churches, in which fellowship the un-
6nly delegates. The Revs.  Kok, Blankespoor  ancl Knott                     dersigned wishes to remain.
refus&l to  recignize the delegates of the First  ,Church                                                    Respectfully submitted
as legal, preferred to recognize the De Wolf faction,                                                          Your Brother
 and thereby also became schismatic. They were de-                                                               El,der  J. H. Kortering
 clared to be such, and left  the meeting of  Classis  .East.         Executed in 3 copies
                                                                      1 copy to the Consistory above
     The result was that  the congregations in Hdlland                1 copy to the `Consistory of the
and Grand Rapids II were-split, or rather, they were                  Hudsonville Prot. Ref. ,Chr.  as evidence
.both Fe-established as the legal -Protestant  Reformecl              of this notice,  11 copy for file.
 Churches, the former with fourteen, the latter with                     Hence we inform you that on the evening of Oct. 9, 1953
 over forty families.                                                 the original .copy of the above document was presented to the
     For your information of what happened in both                    said Consistory of the 1st Prot. Ref.  (Church  of Holland,  Mich.
                                                                      and all the Elders, Ralph Bouwman Jr., B. Stegink, J. Knott,
those  chur.ches I can do no better than copy a letter                and  J. H. Kortering being present at this meeting; the under-
which was sent to the members of the congregation                     signed elder  J.  H. Kortering made the motion to initiate the
 in Holland by elder- Kortering, the only faithful elder              proper pr0ceedin.g  to suspend the pastor, Rev. B. Kok from his
 in that consistory. The letter here follows:                          office,  on: the grounds shown in document above. Rev. B.  Kok
                                                                      was present as chairman and three deacons, were  Present.
LETTER TO ALL THE MEMBERS OF THE CONGREGATION                         And  the Consistory refusing this request by failing to  SUPPOrt
          FIRST PROTESTANT REFORMED  CHURGH                           the said,motion  above, has become schismatic and does no ion-
                                                                      g&r belong to-the fellowship of the Protestant Reformed Chur-
                        H o l l a n d ,   M i c h i g a n             .ches,  while the undersigned is the sole legal COnSiStOrY.
 D e a r   M e m b e r s   o f   t h e   Congregaition:   ,.             Functioning as  such we have decided to conduct services of
   The undersigned hereby informs you that  tile following re-        the 1st Prot. Reformed ,Church  of Holland, Michigan, next Sun-
 quest was presented to your consistory:                              `day,  the  L&d  wilaing,  at the place shown herein below at the


.>54                                            THEE   S T A N D A R D   BE.ARER
 -                                                                                                                            -
regular times. At this temporary place we will  meet,`ihe. Lord              before the, vote was taken. Notice how they come with threat-
willing, until: such time as  the. final disposition of  OUT   chu.rch       enings. The Con.sistory  had to immediately repudiate the stand
property is made.       By this you  $11 understand  tl&  `.as  &he          *2kFn by our. pastor, and iriimediately  deny him the pulpit and
legal consistory  aad congregation of the  l`st Prot.  `heformed             declare him worthy of suspension. If the Consistory would
Church of Hollad,  Mich.,  we claim the right to the Church pro-             not do -this they would consider themselves the legal Consistory
perty including the parsonage.                                               of the  Se&d Prot. Ref. Church of Grand Rapids,  Mich. The
   Hoping that all of you may give. this matter their prayer&l               idea  was:.do this, immediately . . . . or else. After this letter
consideration and that you  May preserve peace and unity in                  w& read and  some more discussion: followed the vote was taken.
<the bond of faith, we remain,                                               Isn't it clear that these men severed themselves from the Con-
                                Yours in the Lord                            sistory ?
                                  Elder J. H. Kortering               '        After the vote was taken some more discussion followed. To
                                  The. legal consistory of the               our joy it ~3s  kept on a spiritual level with no bitterness mani-
                                  1st Prot. Ref. Church  of Ho&&d,           fested.      Finally our chairman asked  the two brethren if they
                                     Mich.                                   realized that by this. action they no lon:ger belonged to the Con-
                                                                             sistory. This question they answered in the affirmative. Later
        Attached to the letter, was a notification  concern-                 Mr. Swart said: "Well, I guess we're  through;'  "I guess  so,"
ink the services that were to be held on the following                       said the  chair.man!  After some more discussion the brethren
                                                                             left the meeting. None of this, surely, in any sense reveals
Sa:bbath, the place and time of meeting and  the preach-                     that they were  `tkicked  out."
ers that -would conduct  t$e services,  `as also the follow-                   It is a&o very difficult for the Consistory to understand how
ing  announcem&t : "A special congregational  mGet-                          people can change so suddenly and  turn  against   us and the
ing will be held` D.V. on Tuesday evening, Oct.  l?th,
                                          .L                                 preaching of our pastor, and say  .that he is  wortihy   of  suspen-
for  `the purpose of electing -new  .elders  and deacons."                   sion.  And being worthy  6f suspension also means that he is
                                                                             worthy of deposition  ,and excommunication from the kingdom
        This meeting  yas duly held and the consistory and                   of heaven, and that he can no longer be considered to be a
congregation were re-established as the legal  cons&                         Christian. This the two  deacon.s  have said. Facts are that not
tory and congregation of the Protestant Reformed                             once  ,during Rev. Blankespoor's pastorate with us  ,did anyone
church of  Hohand,  Mich.                                                    protest against his preaching. -Not once did the twovo-deacons  re-
                                                                             fuse to give the hand of approval after the services. A short
         A' similar procedure  was. follow&d in the  :Second                 time ago one of them had a child baptized thereby  answerh.g
:Church of Grand Rapids. At;a congregational meet-                           that he would instruct his child in the doctrine taught in this
ing, held in the Hope Protestant Reformed Church,                            Christian church. And now  th'ey  turn against the pastor and
new elders and deacons were  elk&ted, and immediately                        the Consistory. Now it is possible for people to have an awak-
installed in  the presence of the  .entire congregation.                     enHg.      It is also possible that they weren't fully satisfied with
                                                                             the preaching; But how people  cab turn against us and the
        Let me add  to- this, that as in the First Church,                   preaching of the  a-~tor and approve  of  condemnation   and  re-
of  IGrand Rapids that meets for the time being in                           futation  of what has been preached from our pulpit is beyond
Christian High, so also in  th.e re-established congre-                      our  ,comprehension  of ethics. Neither can we understand how
                                                                             our pastor, because of his stand taken at  Classis,  be worthy
gations of Holland and  (Grand-Rapids  II there is a new                     of  immediate   suspentiion,  one day after  Classis.
manifestation of joy  and.love because they are freed                          Neither can the Consistory understand this in respect to some
from the spirit of corruption and slander that  petrvad-
                                                         .                   of our members. How is it possible to  condemn   us  n,ow before
ed these churches.                                                           the face of God because of what we believe and preach, never
                                                                             hsving  expressed any disagreement with the preaching ? ,Fact
        I also want  .to add to this  one of the letters that was            is that many who left us often expressed satisfaction with the
sent to all the members of the congregation by the for- preaching, on a whole, until the time they left  US. And now
mer consistory of the Second Church of Grand Rap-                            approve of condemnation of the same ? How can they do it?
ids, which was most probably composed by the Rev.                              That all our people don't understand all the issues involved
Blankespoor himself. I copy this letter because it. re-                      we can readily understand. However, as long as people  ,don't
veals clearly how they evade the  isssue, and, instead,.                     understand fully, and still have many questions and problems
                                                                             they .snrely cantnot honestly turn ,against  us and the preaching
try to play upon the feelings of the people, without,                        of the pastor. One of the big `questions for our members is
however, having any effect upon them. -Here is the                           .wh&her  the preaching in our church is and has been Prot.
letter :                                                                     Reformed. If so, one must surely be very hesitant before he
                                                                             can leaye  us an.d  turn against us.
                                                Gran:d Rapids,  i&ch.          IBrothers  and Sisters  in the Lord, we urge you all to continue
                                                O c t .   1 5 ,   1 9 5 3    to meet with us.        ve haven't changed. We still want the
                                                                             Prot. Ref. truth.      Neither  :do we want this separation. It
Dear Members of the Sec. Prot. Ref. Church:                     .            grieves us.
  According to rumors we as Cbnsistory at ,our meeting of Fri-
day, Oct. 9,  1953 "kicked out" the two  dka,cons   Engelsma   and                                                   Yours in the love of Christ,
Swart.  We want to assure you that the contents of these                                                               Consistory of the Second Prot.
rumors are not true.                                                                                                   Reformed Church,
  Here are the facts.                                                                                        .z'+
                                                                                                             -55.        J. Blankespodr,  Pres.
                                                                                                             __..
  At that meetcng  the brethren read their letter `of ultimatum                                           *-!=           $. Bouma, Clerk


                                                                                                .




                                                                                r-J&-  sTt&i\Jj-jARj-J  BEARER                                                               %J
       .-_        ._      ._             ._

               Let-me add the  folldwing notes to this  l,etter :                                                                 O f          BOOKS  _
               1. What else could the'faithful members of the  CO,Q-                                              `>.  .-_  _,
 sistory do than to demand that the consistory  repudi-                                                     HOSti  (in  "&ommentaar  op het Oude Testament") by Dr. C.
      ate the stand of the pastor at the  classis,  according to                                              van Gelderen and.Dr. W. H. Gispen. Published by J. H. Kok,
 which he made common cause with a  schism+ic  consis-                                                        N.V. Kampen, the Netherlands. Price f. 16.90.
 tory, took, by implication, full  ,responsibility for here-                                                    In a preface to this -commentary we are informed
 tical statements condemned  by  classis,  and separated `that its original  .and chief author is Dr. van Gelderen,
 himself, by these actions, from the Protestant Reform-. .but that he  .could not complete it because the Lord
      ed Churches. What else  could they do than to de-                                                     took him away. His work on this commentary extends
      mand that the  cotisistory declare  i the  pas$or.-worthy to ch.  10:3.  .F,?om there on it is the work of Dr.
      of suspension, and that, too,  .immediately. Could they                                               G"ispen who, at the request of the family of Dr. van
      permit (this was on Friday evening) the pastor, with                                                  IGelderen  compl&e.d  the work.
      his schismatic position  .to Occupy the -pulpit on the                                                    Heartily we recommend  this commentary to all our
      following `Sabbath?  *hey could not.  Hence, `they                                                    readers who are able to read the Holland language.
      were perfectly correct  and right  in their demand.                                                   It is, indeed, a very good work, characterized by  thor-
               2.  The. consistory  aid Blankespoor complain that                                           ough and sound exposition of the text, and written in
      they cannot  utide&nd how people  cati all  of a Sudden                                               a very lucid and  attra$<e  sty!e.
      so:turti against the pastor that they demand his  sus-                                                     Interesting to read  is the  exljositioti of the text in
      pension.             There never was any protest against  his                                         1:2ff.  concerning the marriage of the prophet  Hose+,
 -preaching.                           Even -the two  deacbns  that now  demand-                            and the conclusion of van Gelderen about this  mar-
      ed his suspension  never refused to shake hands with  ~riagc.-
      etc. etc. I consider this nothing but a sob story, a  sen-                                                 I  .cannot agree with the interpretation of  12  :3 by
      timental attempt to  play upon the feelings of the  pep-                                              Dr. Gispen. He grants that the translation "he took
p l e . The Consistory and Blankespoor here entirely  e-                                                    his brother by the heel in the womb" is most probably
      vade -the issue. &r the issue  is- simply this: a. The -correct instead of "he deceived his brother." :And with
      Rev. Blankespoor, at the' -classis, took sides with the                                               this we certainly agree. l&t in his further exposition
      illegal  group-~that claimed to be the  con&tory of the                                               of the text he, nevertheless, explains the meaning as
      First Protestant  R,efoYmed Church  .of Grand Rapids,                                                 `probably referring to Jacob as a deceiver from the
      and  clainied that -they  were~  th'e- legal consistory. b.                                           womb. This, to my  mind, is contrary to  th,e entire
      He refused to  ~recognize the `delegates of the First  coptext. The fact that Jacob had his brother by the
      Church that were declared, the. legal delegates by the                                                heel in the womb was, to my mind, a  IGod-given sign
      classis.           c,. Although he did not express this literally,                                    that- Jacob, in distinction from Esau, was principally
      he took position in favor  df the heretical statements by                                             spiritual, elect, and fighting with his carnal brother
      De  Wolf, condemned by  classis.  d. He thereby  s&par-                                               fdr God's covenant. The rest of vs. 3 certainly  har-
      ated himself  from"`Classis   E&t and, of course, from  monizes with this idea: "`and  by  his strength he had
      the Protestant  R$&~ed  Churches. Let the  consistory                                                 power  wjth  4God."
 ~ and Blankespoor  exp!aYn these things to the  peopie,                                                      But, as has been said, we  heartiljr recommend this
and they will  "un~$&pd  the issues involved."                                                             commentary.                                                  - H . H .
--             And here I close  rn; chronicle with  .the promise
      that, as soon  3s  there-atiepew developments, I hope to                                                                     -::::
infrom you,  `D.,V.                              .I.,~)               ...                     -  H;H.
                                                            `.I'/
                                 ~.                                                                         HEBREEEN (the epistle to the Hebrews) by Dr. F. W.  Gros-
                                                                                                              hefde. Publisher: J. H. Kpk, N.V. Kampen, the Netherlands.
                  -.                                                                                           Price f.5.50.
                                       I----                            c;,        ,,_ji.,
                                                                             :  *-i"  .-                         This belongs to the very popular series  Korte  Ver-
                                 _..-                                fi::;!,  :  ;  ,;-  1                 kZa?%iny (Brief Commentary). That this series of  com-
                         My  s t e a d f a s t   h e a r t ,   0  ;God,                                     mentaries is popular in the old country is evident.
                                 Will sound  Thy-  praise abroad                                            from the fact that some of its volumes already enjoy
                                         With tuneful string  ;                                          t h e i r   t h i r d   p r i n t . This is also the case with the  vol-
                           = The dawn  shall hear my song,                                                 ume  -of the epistle to the  Hebrewi by Dr. Grosheide.
                                 Thy praise  `1 will prolong,                                               We think that this commentary certainly is worthy of
                                 And where Thy people  throng                                               its popularity. The style is clear and the exposition of
                                         Thanksgiving'  bring.                                              the text sound.


 56                                         lWt~-  STANDARL  BEARER                                        !

       In.the interpretation of  6  :4ff. we  would  have liked
 to have an  answ.er or, at least, an  attern& to an an-
 swer -to what is, to my mind, one of the most impor-                 I='-OtJR   D O C T R I N E   1
 tant questions- of the entire passage :  why  is it impos-
 sible  to bring those of whom the text speaks again to
 repentance? Impossible for man? Rut man can never                               THE TRIPLE KNOWLEDGE
 bring anyone to repentance. Impossible for  (God? If                    AN EXPOSITION OF  THE HEIDELEERG CATECHISM
 so, why and in what sense?
       To all that can read Dutch we recommend this vol-                            PART   III  -  OF  THAN KFULNESS
 ume. -H.H. .
                                                                                                LORI?S DAY 38
                       ---.-::-----                                                  Q. 103. What doth God require in the fourth com-
                                                                                    mandment ?
                                                                                    A. First, that the ministry of the gospel and the
 I AND II TIMOTHY, TITUS, PHILEMON, by Dr  .C;  Boum.a.                           schools be maintamed; and that 1, especially on the
   Publisher: J. H. Kok, Kampen, the .Netherlands.  Price f. 6.25,                sabbath, that is, on the  ,day of rest, diligently  fre-
                                                                                  .quent  the church of God, to  hear  his sword, to use
       This commentary also  .belongs  to the. series  Korte                      the  sacrements, publicly to call upon the Lord, and
 Verkluring,   and this particular volume enjoys its sec-                         contribute to the relief of the poor, as becomes a
 ond print. Also this volume we gladly recommend to                               Christian.    Secondly, that  .all  the days of my life
 the  read,e.r that still reads Dutch. Especially would we,                       I cease from my evil works, and yield myself to the
 in this particular case,  -recommend  study of the in-                           Lord, to work by his Holy Spirit in me: and thus
                                                                                  begin i.n this life the eternal sabbath.
 troduction in which the author treats various subjects
 of interest, particularly the historical background, the                             1. The Idea of the Sabbath
 ecclesiastical organization, and the errors which the
 apostle combats in these epistles. I have reference,                     Even as the principle of the First  ,Commandment is
 particularly, to the introduction to the first three epis-           that God is One, and that there is no other god be-
 tles mentioned.                                                      side Him ; and the Second Commandment is based on
       In a popular  comentary of this kind the inter-                the underlying principle that God is a Spirit, and in-
 pretation is naturally somewhat brief and uncritical.                finitely glorious  ; while the Third Commandment em-
                                                       - H . H .      phasizes that God is holy, and that therefore His name
                                                                      is holy  ; so the Fourth  .Commandment  teach.es us that
                      -:::-                                           God as the Triune is in Himself a covenant God, and
                                                                      that therefore His people enter into His rest, the rest
                                                                      of His everlasting tabernacle.
 HEDEN   ZlOO GIJ  ZIJNE  STEM  HOORT (Today, if you will                 It is very important that from the outset we  grasp-
  `hear His voice) by twelve different authors. Published by          this main idea of the commandment concerning the
  d. H. Kok, Kampen, the Netherlands. Price f. 4.95.                  sabbath of the Lord our God, lest we fall into the  ,error
       This book contains a series  .of very  brief- medita-          of failing to understand that even in regard to the  m
 tions on various passages of Scripture, designed  to-,be             Fourth  ,Commandment we are not under the law, but
 read one at a time for every day of the year, somewhat               under grace, and that we are bound to esteem one
 like the meditations on the old Dutch  scheurlcalender.              day above. another and consider the abstaining from
 Although they naturally vary, not only in style and                  our'daily work on the first day of the week  .as, having
 content,  .but also in value, and although I -personally             `particular religious value and merit.  -Also the Fourth
 would not subscribe to every statement in this book,                 Commandment we must not treat as part of an ex-
 yet, on the whole, I also recommend this book to the                 ternal  cocle, but rather as an integral  el,ement in the
 reader that cannot only read Dutch, but who  .also is                law  .0-f perfect liberty, `according to which we walk
 able. to read `critically and with  Reform,ed  discernment.          from the principle of regeneration  ancl of the law writ-
                                                         -H.H.        ten in  our  hearts according to the Word of  $God re-
                                                                      vealed in Christ Jesus our Lord, in the midst of the
                               j-g-             -.                    worlcl.
                                                                          That this is the  iclea of the exposition of the Fourth
             Had not the Lord been Israel's help                      Commandment in Lord's Day 38 of the Heidelberg
             When angry foes  r.ssailed,          '                   Catechism is  eviclent from its language.  Super%cially
             Had not the  ZLord been on our side,                     consicierecl, the exposition of the Catechism would seem
             Our righteous  cau.se had failed.                        rather far-fetched and arbitrary  s for the  command-
- .


                     .





                                               I'HE  ST.ANDARD  .BEARER .                                                          ..57
                                     -.-P.-.-w                                                         --__-

~ ment  emphasizes rather strongly that on the seventh                    sure'.- For except some due time  and.leisure were  al-
  day  we shall cease from all labor. Six days we  must                   lot@!. to  the outward exercise  of. religion, without
  labor and  -do all  OUF work, but  on--the seventh  day,                do&t-men-&ould-be quite drawn from it by their own
  which is `the sabbath of the Lord our- @d, we may not                   affairs. In regard hereof, we see' that in the ancient
  do any  .work, neither.  l&sonally  por on the part of                  churches there were not only certain set hours in the
  anyone in- our  etiploy. i%t the Catechism does `not week appointed for meetings, but that also the Lord's
  spijak'of  this whatsoever, and instead mentions  sever-                day itself, ever since the apostles' time, was  conse--
  .a1 -things that appear to have nothing to do  .with the                crated to religious exercises, and to a holy rest;
 -Fourth  Commandment,.such as the maintenance  of, the which also  is now very well observed by our churches,
  ministry and  the schools, ,-frequenting the church of                  for the worship of  (God and the  in,crease of charity.
  God, care for the  poor, cease  .froni evil  wo?ks  all the             Yet herein we give no place unto the Jewish observa-
  days of our life, and enjdy a  ,for$aste  of the eternal                tion of the day, or to any superstitions. For we do
  rest.. Yet, the exposition  of-the  Catechism. is no doubt              not account one day to be holier than another, nor
  correct.  -It proceeds from the thought that in the new                 think that mere rest is of itself acceptable to  ,God. Be-
  dispensation one day is not holier than-another day,                    sides, we do celebrate and keep the Lord's day, and
  and that to refrain from work. is in itself no religious                no+ the Jewish sabbath, and that with a free observa-
  exercise whatsoever. Hence, the idea of the Catechism                   tion;"
  is that the God of our salvation in  .Jesus -Christ our                    With  i3his latter view of the sabbath  ,Calvin agrees;
  Lord has given  us  on& day of  the  week which we  may                 as is evident from his commentary  on  ,Galatians  4 :  IO :
  timpty of  all earthly cares  ana labors, in order to fill              "Ye observe  cla7J.s. He adduces as an instance one  des-
  it with the things that pertain to the kingdom of God                   criptibn  of `elements,' the observance of days.' No  con-
  and of His eternal tabernacle.                                          demnation is here given to the observance of dates,  as
      .This idea of the Fourth Commandment as part of                     in the arrangements  of- civil  society. The order of.
  the law of  perfect liberty  was  also maintained by  Cal- nature out of which this arises, is fixed and constant.
  vin and the  early-  ref,ormers.  - It  is' true that there             How are months and years computed, but by the  re-
  seems to be a discrepancy  b&tiken such early  -cdnfes- volution~ of the sun and moon? What distinguishes
 .sions as the  ' Heidelberg  CateChisti and the Second summer  fl;om winter, or spring from harvest, but the
  Helvetic Confessiori,  on the one hand, and the  West- appointment of  `God, -an appointment which was
  minster  ,Confession  o f   F a i t h ,   w h i c h   d a t e s   f r o m promised to continue to the end of the world? (Gen.
  164'7, on  the- other hand. The latter confession-  ap-                 8.22  j-  The civil observation of days contributes not
  pears  td teach  .that the  obs&`ance  of a day as  such- only to-agriculture and to matters of politics, and to
  has moral. and religious value. Fdr in chapter. 21 it                   ordinary life, but is even extended to the governments
  speaks of the  sab;b&h  day  a% -follows : "As it is  6f  `the' of the church.  IOf what nature, then, was the  obser-
  law of  .na+rti, that in  g&z&l  a clueproportion of time               vation  which Paul reproves? It was that which would
  be  set  apart   :foi  -the- worship  -of.  God  ; so,: in his Word,    bind  the conscience, by religious considerations, as if
  by a  posit$%,-  -i;loral, and perpetual commandment,                   it were necessary to the worship of God, and which, as
  binding all  men  iqall -ages,  ,h,e hath -particularly  ap-            he expresses it in  the epistle to the  Remans, would
  pointed  or& day in  seven for  a'sabbath;   to be kept holy            make a distinction between one day and another (Rom.
  unto him : which-,  horn the beginning of the world  to                 14:5).
  the  resurrect,ion of Christ,. was the last day  of' the
  tieek ; and, from  the resurrection of  ,Christ, was                      "When  c.ertain  days are represented as holy in
  changed into- tlie first day of  I  the-  week;which in  Scrip-         Qlemselves,  when one day is distinguished from  an-
  ture is  called the  ilord's day, and  iS to be continued  to. other  oil- religious  grounds5 when holy days  aY;e  reck-
  the end  !f the world, as the Christian sabbath." ,One                  Oned  " part of divine worship, then days are  impro-
  cannot fail to observe a  .different conception of the                  perly  .observed. The Jewish sabbath, new moons, and
  sabbath  iq.this Westminster Confessiori  froni that` of                &her-festivals, were earnestly pressed by the false  a-
  the Second Helvetic  Conf.e&sion,  which in chapter 24                  postles,  hecause they had been appointed by the law.
  speaks of' the sabbath as follows : "Although religion                  When -we, in the present age, make a. distinction of
  be not tied  tipto time; yet can it-  not be  plant&d  and              days, we do not  r,epresent them as necessary, and thus
  &e&ised without a  @ie  diyidilig  and  al,lo$t&g  out of               lay a snare for the conscience  ;we do not reckon one
  time.    Every church, therefore, does choose unto it- -day to be more holy than another ; we do not make days
  self  :a certain time for  public prayers, and for the                  to be the  same'thing with religion and the worship of
  p?eaching of the  gospel;.&d'for the celebration of the                 God; but merely  attelld to the preservation of order
  sacraments;  alid  it'is',not  lawful for anyone to  over-              alId harmony. The observance of days among  US  `is
  throw this  -appo&tnient of the church at his  own plea- a free service,  and void  af  all  superstitiori."
                                                                                              1


 58                                     I'HE-  .STA'fiDARil  B E A R E R

       Yet, although. in the new dispensation we do not           dained for the purpose of lifting up. the pilgrim-strang-
 consider one  d&y  mor,e holy than another, and although         er in this  worlcl to things spiritual and heavenly, so
 we do not consider it-specially religious or of any value        it can easily be pressed in the service of the world  ancl
 of merit to spend the sabbath day  in, idleness,-yet,            serve the purpose of enjoying the things earthly and
~ on the other -hand, we should not fail to observe' that         material better than any other day of the week. And
 the sabbath day originally is rooted in the  creatioii-or-       even as  .this desecration  <of the sabbath itself has its
 ,dinance, and that it was given to the New Testament             source in a spirit of worldly-mindedness, so it exerts
 church in order to -be filled in a  special measure with         a reflex influence upon the minds and lives of the  pe#o-
 -the things of the kingdom of God and of His ever-               ple of  God, so that it becomes less heavenly-minded
 lasting covenant. Man  was,>fiot  made for the sabbath,          and more attached to  the, things of the. world.  The
 but  the sabbath for  .,man. And the Lord Jesus Christ           trues significance of the sabbath, that it was not  or-
 is Lord also of the. sabbath. The keeping of. the  sab-          clained  fmor recreation and pleasure-seeking, that its
bath is a highly spiritual matter; an act of  fgith and           chief purpose' is not even that we might rest from our
 hope, that  can be performed: -only by  .the Christian           daily toil and labor, but that on that day we should
 that professes in word and walk that he has become a             exclusively be occupied with the things spiritual  ancl
 stranger in this world, and looks forward to the in-             heavehly, that so it might have a sanctifying influence
 heritance incorruptible and undefiled and that  fadeth           on our whole life in the midst  ,of the world and that
 not away, to the eternal sabbath that remaineth for the
                                                 ,Ij  1           we might have a foretaste of and more and more  f'er-
 people of  ,God.                                                 vently long for the eternal sabbath,-this true im-
       Bearing this in mind, it cannot be' denied  !bat the       port  2nd  significatice of t-he weekly sabbath is less  ancl
 desecration of the sabbath in our day is an evil that is         letis understood.
 assuming  alarming proportions.         And the  dange;  is          Hence, we will first of all ask the question: what  i?
 more than imaginary, that the  .Christian pilgrim, as            the idea of the weekly sabbath?
 he lives in and travels through this strange land, will
 defile his garments and adopt the habits of the  ti&ld.              The sabbath  iti the deepest  ~enst? of the  word  is  thr
 A.nd many causes and circumstances have, especially in           rest of God, This is  abtindantiy  $roven  from the Holy
 late years, concurred to  aggravate this danger., The Scriptures. It has its beginning in  &he rest of the Lord
 wave of abnormal economic prosperity that is sweep-              on the seventh day, after  $he six days of creative work
 ing especially our  country surely, does  .not prove',  to be    in which the heavens and the earth were finished.
 a spiritual  blessing'f,or many children of God; `but is         For  onthe seventh day God ended His  work which He
`rather conducive to. a  spiTit of  worldly,mifidedness by        made, and-He  rest&d on the seventh day from all His
 which also they were overcome to a greater  extent               work which He had made.  #Gen.  2:2.  And `because
 than they realized `or  w+re willing  :to admit. Evkry-          of the rest from all His work which He had made, on
 body is prosperous  .in the things of the world. All had         that seventh day  He blessed `and sanctified it.  ,Gen.
 sufficient means  to' seek after, and in a measure to ob-        2 :3. This is  referr:ecl to in` the Fourth Commandment :
 tain the commodities and even the luxuries  nece,gsary           "For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the
 for the enjoyment of this present life. Not to possess           sea and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day:
 an automobile is  ai  &lcommon thing. Young-and old              wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day,  snd hal-
 spend their time of leisure between the wheels. `Home            lowed it." .Fol*  th$t reason it is called in the Ten
 life is  destr,oyed. Family fellowship becomes a strange         Colimanments "the sabbath of the Lord, thy  ,God."
 thing. The family  -altar is  forgctteli. If one is not          Ex:20:10;  Deut.  5:14.  In Lev. 23  :3 we  raead: "Six
 on the road to enjoy a- ride, he can find his home con-          days -shall work be done; but the seventh day is the
 nected  with every-conceivable  place  of  amusemeilt by         sabbath of rest, an holy convocation  ; ye shall do  .no
 means of the radio and television, which has  ,be&me             work therein; it is  the  sabbath   of the Lord in all your
 as common as the auto. Man-has become amusement                  dwellings." And in Isaiah 58  :13 we  l:ead : "If thou
 crazy. Life seems  t'o be without care and worry. The            turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy
 things of -this  pr,esent  time occupy a chief -place in  our, pleasure on my holy day ; and call the sabbath a de-
 hearts and  miindi. The things heavenly  recede'*into            light, the holy of the Lord, honorable  ; and shall honor
 the  backgroun,d,  and appear gradually with less fre-           him, not doing thine own  ways,.nor finding thine own
 quency above the  thu'eshhold of  otir consciousness.            pleasure, nor speaking thine own words, then shalt
                                                                  thoti delight  in the Lord." In Psalm 95 it is said:
       With such a  spjrit   ,of frivolous-worldly-mindedness     "Unto whom I  sware in my wrath that they should  ,not
 and practical materialism,  the sabbath is no longer  re-        enter into my rest.", It is true that in this latter pas-
 memberqd,  .and desecration of the first day of the week         sage the original -Hebrew does not  tise the word sab-
 has become  cu,stomary.      Even as  the sabbath is,  or-       bath for rest. And  it'is also true that the first  refer-


                                               I'BE  STANDARD  BEARER                                                           59
   -       .-.    - --               -    -                                                  __--
ence in the phrase "my rest" is to the land of  Can&an.           iS  ab$olut&& of the Lord. God is never idle. He is
Yet, from Hebrews 4 it is evident- that this "my rest"            pure activity. With all His glorious and infinite Being
has also a' higher, an ultimate meaning, ahd that es-             He is unceasingly, from eternity  to%ternity, active.
sentially  it.is expressing the very idea of the sabbath.         As the Triune God,  .Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, Three
For the author of the epistle  to the Hebrews applies             in persons, One in Being, He lives  th,e life of infinitely
the text from Psalm 95 directly to the final rest of the          perfect. action. Yet in God is  the  rest. There is in
sabbath,  that.remaineth  for `the people of ,God. The  un-       Him no labor or toil, no struggle and strife to reach
believe.rs in the desert could not enter into God's  Pest         a certain. end, to accomplish a certain work. For His
because of their unbelief, Heb. `3  :19: "Let us there-           work.  is.eternally finished and perfected. From ever-
fore fear, lest a promise being left us of entering  int.0        lasting to everlasting He lives the infinitely perfect
his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it."            life of covenant fellowship and divme friendship with-
Heb.  4:l. IAnd when finally the author writes, "There            in Himself.    From eternity to eternity, the Father
remaineth therefore a rest for the people of God," he             `generates and gives life to the Son; Yet this divine
uses the very word  sabbath  for what is translated               activity  ,of eternal generation is eternally perfect.
"rest" in our language.  The sabbath, therefore, is  IGod's       From everlasting to everlasting the Son is generated
aest, the sabbath  ,of the Lord thy  IGod. It is the rest         by the Father. Yet with infinitely perfect love the
of God for which we are admonished to iabor, in order             Son cries eternally,  "Abba,. Father." Eternally the
to enter therein. Heb.  4:ll.                                     IIoly Spirit  proceeds from  the. Father and the Son.
                                                                  Yet this procession is eternally finished and perfect.
        This must  -necessarily determine the true implica-       ,God is infinite. action, and at the same time perfect
tion of the notion  of  rkst'.  The word  sabbath  means          rest&., His action is rest, and His rest is action. And
literally: rest. And  the  .primary notion appears to             in this  ,eternal rest of perfect action, in the which
-be that of ceasing and desisting from work. However,             there is never a moment of idleness, He rejoices  wi,th
`we should not make the mistake of confusing  the idea            the divine  j,oy of eternally entering into perfect cove-
 of sabbatic rest with that of complete idleness., Idle-          nant fellowship with Himself. This divine covenant
 ness and rest are by no  means identical. The former             life  `of God, eternally active, eternally perfect, the in-
 is sinful, and always  cond,emeed  in the Word of God.           finite love-life of `God, is the rest. of God.,  th.e divine
`Strictly speaking, man that is created after the image           and eternal  sa$bbath of the Lord.
 of  ,God cannot be idle in the sense that he ceases from
 all activity apd labor. Even though he  should  stretch           Now it is  SGod's  eternal good pleasure to prepare
..his body on his bed, so that he refrains from  al! physi-       a rest  ~for His people in Christ Jesus, a rest which
 cal labor, he would still  be_  busy thinking and willing,       should be a reflection  and a manifestation of the  r:est
 planning and desiring ; and it, would prove to be an             of His  own divine Covenant, life. This rest  ?f God's
absolute  inipossibility  for. him to force himself into          perfected covenant with us is the sabbath that  re-
 a state of complete inactivity. Neither is  the  chi,ef          maineth.  for the people of  IGQd. And this is the essen-
 purpose  ,of the sabbath that we refrain from all earthly        tial  id&a of the weekly sabbath in  th_e new dispensa-
 labor.      Nor is there anything especially meritorious tion.                                                            )
 or holy in the mere fact that on  the sabbath day we              We must  rememb,er  that it is the eternal purpose
 cease from our weekly toil. To raise this notion of              of the Triune God to establish, His covenant with  us.
 desisting from work to the primary and main idea of              Unto this end He ordained them whom He foreknew,
 the sabbath was the error of Phariseeism, always se-             to be conformed according to the image of His Son,
verely condemned by the Lord. It is very evident that             that...He might be the  f.irstborn  among many brethren,
 dne  may completely  refrain from doing any work on              and  $,hat they might be able  .to stand in covenant  re-
 the first day of the week, and  yet so crowd the day             latio.pship  with Him.      And whom He thus fore-or-
 with his own work, with speaking his own words and               dained, He also called, justified,. and glorified, Rom.
 following after his own pleasure, that for him the day ~8 :29, 30. The glory of  .the exceeding great promises
 becomes  -of.. all days most  unholy. It is- therefore  ini-     which God gave unto.  H.is people is so great. that  .by
 portant  that  we- bear in mind from the, outset that            these they even are -made partakers of the divine: na-
 rest  and idleness are nbt identical. Iti, fact,  :ihat we ture. II Peter  1:4. According to  `God's purpose, they
 desist from daily labor on the first day of the week             are chosen in order that they. should be holy  and-un-
 has its purpose in the positive notion that we should            blameable  befone Him in love,  *I$ph.l:4; that they
 fill the day.  with  .other, activities, with the work of and    should be renewed after  the~image of  aGod in  knowl-
 f o r   t h e   rest;          ,                                 edg.e of Him,  Cal.. 3  :lOj in true righteousness  and holi-
        Rest is the entering into, and the enjoyment of a         ness, Eph.4  :24  ; that they might  :have fellowship with
finished and perfected work.' In this sense the rest              the Father and His Son Jesus Christ, I John  1:3 ; that


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            ~60                                           ,r&fE:   t#$j&jA~~;.-j:   b%AkEfi
                                               -     -

            they might-be in the Father  &nd in the Son, I John 2 :          sin  sti&dwells in our members. Hence, we  sho.uld  con-
            24;  -that%hey  -might know Him, love Him, walk with             sider it a great blessing of our -covenant God that on
            Him and talk  .with Him,  eilter into His  secrets, eat          one  day of  thle week we may rest from  otir daily toil,
            with Him and drink with  Him; dwell in His house, yea,           separate ourselves in a special sense from the world
            know Him as they are known; see Him face to face,                about us,  land gather with the people of  ,God, to set
            and be like-Him in  p&f&on, John 17  :3, 21-23  ; I Cor.         our mind wholly  on the things that are above. Such
            i3:12; I John  3:2; Matt.  5:8; Ps.  17:15; Ps.  25:14.          is the idea of our weekly sabbath. The vacuum that is
            They shall be  .the temple of  ,God ; and they shall be -His     created by desisting from our daily toil is no end in
            people. II Cor. 6  :1,6. In that perfect rest, where  thle       itself. Neither is-one day holier than the other. But
            tabernacle of  SGod shall be  p&fectl$  realized, the  cove-     the- rest from our `daily labors must serve the purpose
            nant and kingdom- of  (God shall be identical. For in            of  cregting the proper opportunity for the church of
            that tabernacle of  ,Gpd  shall be "the throne of  #God and      Christ in the world to occupy itself wholly with things
            of the  Lam,b; and His servants shall serve Him: And             spiritual  .and  etern81, to set its mind  entireiy on the
            .they  shail see His face ; and His name shall be in their       things which are above, to be busy with the exceeding
            foreheads. And there shall be no night there; and                great promises only, and thus to be  strengtbe.ne:d for
            they need no candle, neither-light of the sun; for the           that battle, that must  necessai$y be fought if our
            Lord  <God  giveth them light:  ancj they shall reign for        whole life is to' -be reflection of the eternal sabbath
            ever and ever." Rev.  22  :3;5.  ;`That   `l-mmnly rest, that    and we are to be the friends of  ,God in  thle midst of
            perfect, though  creatLlrely,   reflection of -God's  oivn       the- world, blameless and  wit.hout  rebuke in the midst
            sabbath, of His divine covenant life, that perfected             of a crooked and  perverse  generation.
            fellowship. of friendship With the  iiving  ;God, i's  the
            sabbath which God  prepares for them that  love Hini.               This  ?s evidently the  fufidaniental  idea of the  Heid-
            And into  that-rest  of Gdd they enter. This  enteking           elberg Catechism in  Lord's: Day 38. Instead of  em-
            into God's perfected `work, into` His rest, His sabbath,         phasizing   whai we may not do -on the weekly  sab-
            5s the  idlea of  the weekly sabbath, according to  Scrip-       bath, it insists  that we are  calBed to fill the whole day
            turc.                                                            with  the things concerning the kingdom of God. The
                                                                             ministry of the gospel and the schools must be main-
                         O,f that sabbath, indeed, our whole life in this  tained. On the day of rest I am called diligently to
            world must be a manifestation. For also in the  .midst           frequent the church of  *God, to -hear His Word, to use
            of the  world we must  .be friends of  IGod.          For the the sacraments, publicly to call' on the name of the
            -friendship of the world is enmity with  IGod. And- who-         Lord, and to contribute to the relief-of the poor. Thi&.
            ever  wijl  be a  frilend of  the world is the enemy of God.     devoting the weekly sabbath  entirely to the things of
            James 4  :4.  4.s friend-servants of  `God we are to-walk        God's covenant and kingdom, it  wiil  bear fruit for  our
            worthy of the calling wherewith we are called  with all          entire  lives, so that  "all' the days of my life I cease
            lowliness and meekness, `be followers of God as dear             from my evil works,  `afid yield  myself..t% the Lord,  to
            children, walk in love  as-Christ  has  loved us, walk as        work by His  Holy Spirit in  me  :'  and.thus begin in this
            children of light. Eph. 1, 2  ; 5  :l-8. Antithetically  -we     li!ie the eternal sabbath."
      ,     are called  tom live from the principle of regeneration,                                                            `H.-H.:
            according to  th@~`Word  of God,  -and be  blar@ess  .and
            harm18ess, the sons'of  (God without rebuke in the  mid&
`-          of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom we
            shine as lights in the world. Phil.  2:15.  Even now our                       -     -     -          @I
            conversation-must be in heaven, where is our real  citi--
           zenship,  and from whence we also look for the Savior,
            the Lord Jesus Christ. Phil. 3  :iO. We must not seek
            the things that are on the earth, but the things that
            are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of                     The Lord is great, with worthy praise
            God, and set our affections on them-only.  Cal. 3  :l-3.                   Proclaim His power, His Name confess,
            Iti respect to these things there is  fro difference be-                Within the city of our  [God,
            tween one day- and another. But the things of this                         Upon His mount of holiness.
           present time; the  car& and  anxiet,ies of the world, our
            daily toil and labor, have  ,a tendency to  draw- us  down-              With our. own eyes we have beheld
            ward to the things of the earth. And the battle -with                      What oft our fathers told  .before,
            the devil, the world and sin is  hard.  Nei.ther  aYe we as              That God Who in His Zion  dwells
            yet perfectly delivered from sin, but the motions of                       Will keep her safely evermore.


                                              THE   STANDARD-.   BEARER                                                            61

                                                                            is-%&&s&le  to please God, because we are pleasing
.:*,NIIO-I,H,-IIII,-,,-`,-~,-,,-,,-,,-`,-,-`-`,-,,-,,-,,-,,-,.:.            to  ~God  in the conversion by faith. It is a conversion
I-  FR0.M  H.OLY   WR.IT  1 of faith. See  Heidelberg.Catechism, Question 91.
.:.,-1,-1,-1,-0-,,-,,-,,-~,-,,-,,-,,-~,-`,-~,-`,-,,-,-~,-,,-~,-,     .:.       Such is also the ease in our text.
                Expqsition of  I  P&r  1:14-16                                 In the first place we should take careful notice, on
                                                                            the incentive  that is indicated in the text, as being the
                         C o n t i n u e d                                  only incentive and spiritual possibility of, conversion.
                                                                            Writes Peter : "as children  of  obedieiace."  We wish to
    SSince. it  .is sometime ago that we called attention                   point out a very careful  touch here in Scripture. This
to the setting and  meaqing  .of  .this particular portion of               "children  of obedience"  should. not be read simply as
Hdly Writ from I Peter,  and, no doubt, the exact                           though it were the equivalent of  obedient  children!
text is not clearly before our mind any more; I shall                       There is quite a  distinct'difference between these two
wu;ite out-this particular passage in full.                                 expressions. The latter expression would indicate the
  The  iext reads as follows:  "as children of  ob.edi-                     difference  betwe& children of God, namely, the  dif-
ewe, not fashioning-yourseies according to the former                       f erence between  obe,dient  and  &so  bedient  children.,
lust in your ignorance: but like HIe Who has called you                     Both are then children, some walking in sin for a sea-.
is  holy  so be ye yourselves  also holy  in all  manner  of                son  .and others not. But such is clearly not the intent
living;  becauw it is written.: Ye shall be holy for I                      of Peter in the expression "children  of obedience!"
am holy."                                                                   In the expression in the text the notion is expressed
                                                                            that the children of  grab& regenerated unto a living
    `Just to refresh our memories, we wish to  call to                      hopi"through. the resurrection of Jesus Christ, are
mind the faj that  .Peter here addresses the church in                      fkndamentally  and  principally  children, and, there-
their  neti  lega!  St&us to  IGod as children,  the pilgrim                fore, by virtue of this regenerating grace of  IGod:
strangers in the midst of' this world. fO,urs  7s a new                     obedient!  The characteristic of the new-born children
Status Quo in  `Chrjst. Old things have passed  d+ay,                       is that they are obedient with  .the new obedience of
we are saved in hope, in a living hope through the ef-                      faith to the  `Gospel in Christ.
ficacious grace of-  ,God wrought  iti the resurrection of
.Jesus  C&rjst  from  t&e dead. And our sole and whole                         That such is the case is borne out by the following
comfort is that in the day when Christ shall be re-                         in the text.
vealed upon  the.clouds  of  heavgn God  tiill reward the                      This is borne out by  ,the Hebraism of this expres-
evil  for. their evil, but will reward the righteous in                     sion. In Scripture we also have the term "children
tender mercy for their faith. and patience performed                        of  .disobedience"  and that, `too, as contrasted with the
in the same  m.e&y.  Viewitig  -all things in the light                     term`."children   of  light.`!  Eph. 5:6-8. Only the chil-
bf  the great and final Day of  the-Lord is living with                     dren of God, who were darkness, but who are now light
the  loins of  th@ spiritual mind  girt up. That is  sobi%-                 in the Lord can walk as children of light. Only the
ety in Christ. -That is the clear and penetrating knowl-                    elect generation, a holy nation, a royal priesthood, a
edge and grasp of the realities of the Kingdom of God                       peculiar possession. to the Lord can so walk as to show
and of His Christ.                                                          forth the  ppaises  of Him  Who has called them (us) out
    In this world of sin, as long as we are "not yet"                       of  darkneSs  itit0 His marvelous light. And when  th,e
in heaven, we can  on&  w'alk in spiritual  .sobriety  atid                 apostle Peter addresses us as "children of obedience"
according to the Spirit of grace, by actually walking                       it is very clear that he addresses the church from the
very concretely in conversion.                                              viewpoint, that the Church is sanctified principally in
                                                                            Christ; the church as to her remnant according to elec-
   -The  text speaks of the actual and  continuous.cbn-                     tive grace ! Children of obedience are the Israel of
version of the saints  in Christ. Scripture everywhere                      `God that walk according to- the rule (Kanon)  df faith !
teaches the conversion of the saints. It `never speaks  .of
the conversion of  the reprobate. The Bible never tells                        The church is `here, therefore, not addressed as a
us that we must convert the world, but  Script;ure                          mixed whole, as a general  audi.ence, but Peter takes
teaches very clearly  th+`che saints are  -to keep them-                    his stand in the  ,Church and confesses to be a  fellow-
selves unspotted from the world. James  1:29. For                           partaker of the like-precious  faith...11  Peter 1  :l. In
we have seen very clearly from the writings, of Cal-                        this Church he sings in joyful confession: "Blessed
vin, Ursinus, Bavinck and others, that. all conversion                      be the God and Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ, Who
is never  before  faith,, but that conversion in both parts,                according to His. great mercy begat us again `unto a
the putting off of the "old man" and  the putting on                        living hope by the  resu:rection  of Jesus Christ, unto
of  the "new man", is  out of faith;  Without faith it -the- inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that



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fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for ydu, who by             not merely according to some of them ! Sanctification
the power of God are guarded through faith. unto a              is not piece-meal anymore then regeneration is piece-
salvation ready to be revealed in the last day. In this         meal. It is the sanctification of the whole man. Not
Church  Pet& takes His stand. Let it never be for-              merely the outside  ,of the cup must be cleansed, but
gotten.                                                         the whole cup must  ,be cleansed. When a man is
   And, therefore, we do not have here a precept of the         washed by the  &ace of God he is every whit clean.
law `cowing unbelievers in feigned submission, but we           Sanctification is not the trying to make a putrid thing
have the precepts of the. Gospel, that is, precepts, which      look good, with a thin veneer of hypocritical  self-
are a part and  parael of  tke Gospel! It is the exhorta-       righteousness, but it  ,is the cleansing of the inner man
tion that is implicit in the good-news of God in Christ.        so that  in all  his'manifestation he is every whit clean.
It is the precept which  *God employs by His Holy Spirit              That such is the clear intent and evident teaching
to energize to further obedience those  wh-o are obe-           of the Apostle is further evident from the positive
dient.     It is then according to the rule ;  he who has       side of the walk  of conversion out of faith. The Apos-
receives more.      ILet it be. understood:  rec&es and         tle writes: Be ye Holy for I am  IIoly,!          _
not  acqwires   m&e! It is the faith that is then stim-               This word from the pen of the Apostle is evidently
ulated in us whereby we walk in the  obedien.ce of              a  qtiotation from the  `Old  Test,ament  Scriptures. Lev.
Christ, our  .Head: What we now walk we  .walk by the           11:44,  19:2,  20:27.
faith of the Son of God.                                              It is a  `wolnd that gives the deepest and final ground,
    He, who thus receives more grace, will walk in              but also at  ,once the only possibility of conversion and
continuous conversion of faith !                     ~  .,,     sanctification.  For. let it not be forgotten that the
    The rule is laid  down here, first of ail, negatively.      Lord, our  `God  here'speaks  to us of His transcendency
It is that we be "not conformed to the lust in  ?orm&           as well as of His immanency. Jehovah is Holy, that is,
times of our ignorance." In this phrase the Apostle             He is exalted far above all that is  call,ed creature. He
reminds the readers and us of what- we formerly were            is separated from  .the creature as the Creator. Never
apart from Christ-and glorious  faith-knowl@dge.of  the         can the two be placed on. one line. IGod is the exalted
Gospel. It was the time when. the  ,Gentile-Christians          one  dwelli.ng as the  ,Holy One in eternity.  lAnd He
still by serving the dumb idols, had. not  jret had their       is everlastingly -dedicated perfectly to Himself as the
hearts opened to the  8Gospel  of the Kingdom and of            most Blessed forever, Amen !            Because He is Holy
the hope of everlasting life. But that is, thanks be to         all  creatures are: to Worship Him!
God's almighty and  6fficacious grace, a matter of                    Now it  .tiotild seem that the very fact that  *God
"form,er  times." They live at the- time of  the writ-          is Holy would make it impossible: to worship Him;
ing of the Apostle in the "now"  ,of  -the. knowledge  .of      The  sinner not covered with the blood is afraid of a
the glorious `Gospel in the  face of  JesusXhrist  ! i          Holy God. He quakes with fear. How then can this
    To  be in this present grace wherein they stand             be  a motive to incite  us  to a godly walk?
and rejoice in the hope of the  gl,ory of God thep need              The answer ?
fulfill no pre-requisites. They were simply born again'
by the power of the resurrection of Jesus  Chris't.  j But           It is simply this: God has called  us  unto holiness.
since we are thus born again we are  obliged  unto new          .He constituted us a holy people, a-royal-priesthood.
obedience, that of not serving in the oldness of the            And  exactly by principally setting us in the knowl-
letter but in the newness of the Holy  ispirit! It is           edge of  the blessed Gospel by faith, we are by this
the "must" of being the  neti creatures in Christ  i.n          faith sanctified." Acts 15  :9.
self-conscious faith, which becomes more and more                    Thus walking in sanctifying faith we walk with the
nssuranc.e  of self-conscious faith !                           !qins of our mind girt  up.
                                                                           `..          I,         Nothing beclouds our  vis-
                                                                ion.  ::$?e see' that the night is far spent and that the
    #Certainly this self-conscious faith  is. that of justi-    day  is.-& hand; we will not walk as in the night, but
fying faith. (Only as the justified by faith do  wti cru-       in t$ .light of day,. `0,  tlie glory of this precept of the
cify the "old man" of  deceitfbl lusts. These  "lutitti  bf     IGospel.. It  gives,light to the simple. God's holiness,
the  f,ormer  times in our ignorance are not  m&ely  the        where into He calls  US, is the deepest  .motive  and sure
lust  -`of the carnal pleasures  of fornication  and:`lasci-    g?ound of  the realization of this walking in  conver-
-Viousness, but they refer to the entire  category  Jof all      *..`.'
                                                                sion, ,                                         -G. Lubbers
that is contrary to the spiritual  natures of the  la% of
,God. This is clear by virtue of the contrast in the
text.     Peter says : in all your  convers&ion!       That           ,`.                     crococDo0'.
meatis according to all  the Commandments of  :God and                -  ..,:  :.  '                              _      :


                                                       T,HE. S?I' A  N-D A  R-9:  B;E A R E R                                                            63

.:  .~y11,-,11`,-1,-`,-,,-,,-,,-,,-,,-`,-,,-~,-,,-`,-,-,,-,,-~,-,~-~.~- err&; perhaps farther than he at first intended to go.
  II  l[.N  El I-S  F  E A' R                                                             %       We find on page 28 of his book, "The  T,estimony
  1                                                                                       ,
.*,-l-lll)(l-`,,-I,-~,-,,-,-~,-,,-,,-,,-,,-~,-,-,,-,,-,-,,-,,.`l.~.                            of Dordt," this beautiful reformed statement, which
                                                                                               he made when he was not afraid of the Gospel, "Art.
                     Afrad of. the Gospel                                                      x  :. . This article, with one finger points to the
                                                                                   . .         Total Depravity  df those who hear the Gospel, and
                                   (6)                                                         with the other finger points to the Sovereign grace of
                                                                                               God which gives the elect sinner the grace to  ob.ey and
       God cannot be  smocked.                                                                 receive it. The article asserts this in one clause when
                                                                                               it says, that  (God `Confers upon them faith and re-
       He may not  be mocked ; but He cannot be mocked                                         pentance.' As also everywhere speaking about these
  either.                                                                                      things, the Scriptures assert that faith is the Gift of
       And when one departs from the straight line of                                          God, as, for instance in Phil.  1:29 Scripture saith,
  the truth, he must come back to  th,s point of depar-                                        `For unto you it is  ,GIVEN, in behalf of Christ . . .
  ture or else  continue still further away  from'the.truth.                                   to believe on Him.' Through the mysterious working
       That is not  only a fundamental principle  taught                                       of His  `Grace  <God  bends the will so that it believes, and
  us in the Scriptures, it is also the testimony of Church                                     humbles the heart so that it repents. ,Showing  by the
  History and  even of  .our every day life.                                                   way  also, that faith and  r,epentance are the requisites
                                                                                               for salvation, and these requisites Grace confers upon
       It makes no difference how little the departure                                         us. And God. confers these gifts, as the articles say
  niay be, one must come back from it all the way,  qr                                         upon His people as He has  GHOSEN  them. God does
  else he will go still  furth,e.r in his  :way of error and                                   not confer them upon all people without any distinc-
  of a sinful walk.                                                                            tion; but  ,God confers the gifts of repentance and faith
       And so it is that today things have-come to a head  ;                                   upon the elect.     Hence, the Gospel preaching itself
  a crisis has been. reached in our churches';  congrega-                                      is  never grace, but rather the idea is that, through
  tipns have split; individuals show by their absence                                          the preaching of the  <Gospel God confers grace upon
  from  `God's  house on  the Sabbath that they have made                                      the elect. The conferring of these gifts is not general
  up their minds to go even  farther.atitiy from the truth                                     but particular; not left to the free-will of man but de-
  &rid from the upright walk than they did before..                                            termined by the counsel of  .God's election. The more
       No longer do they manifest themselves as being                                          also that we hear the {Gospel the more we must be upon
  &fraicl  `of the gospel. They  DARE to show you that                                         our knees, praying  ,God that He, through Christ, may
  they despise  X, do' not want to hear it and go where                                        confer and increasingly confer,  .upon us the gifts of  r,e-
  they may hear that which is more palatable to their                                          pentance and faith."
  tastes. They  tiay; perhaps, tell  ydu that they are sick                                        This passage, surely, shows us that the condition-
  and tired  of: always hearing in the preaching that                                          al -theology that is maintained so tenaciously today
  their are no conditions unto salvation and  thst  &an                                        by  the Rev.  (Gritters  and his colleagues who have left
  has no  prerequisites to `fulfill before  ,God gives  the. the Protestant Reformed  ,Churches  and who are a-
  next installment of salvation. But they  ihen  g,i;' and                                     fraid of the  ,Go&pel we preach (the only Gospel for it
  sit back with joy and  complete  s&isfacti&~in%%e-pews                                       preaches a  coinplete salvation that is unconditionally
  of a church that as  vehimently  -or even  rno?k  v&he-                                      obtained by the elect), that this conditional theology
  mently brands as heresy  ati unconditional  pr'omise  of                                     was not at  all known by the Rev.  -Glitters ten years
  #God to the  elect that He  wi!i  kive them  sal&ibn  thru                                   ago. Not even when he writes,  &s above, that faith
  faith.     They  tiay tell you that they are full to their                                   and' repentance are the  requisites  for salvation. At
  chins- of -conditions, but that is not so. Their  behav-                                     that time he embraced the truth of Scripture and of
  iour shows that this is  not. so. For  they run as fast                                      the Canons, for he declares that God  confers these
  as they. can to go where  Jhey will be filled even `more                                     gifts  upon  the elect.  Not6 that he does not say that
  with conditional theology. After  all  that.the@ogy  has                                     gGod.requires faith and repentance  of  rrurm in order for
  something for  mati, flatters him and does not put him' him to attain to salvation. With a mind and heart
  in Such a hopeless and helpless light as the  trut% of ah                                    that was pure of the Arminian taint of conditional
  unconditibnal  election to  +m  unc`otiditional   proniise of                                theology he says that faith and repentance are re-
  an unconditional salvation !            &  `(`"  .IP/i  i,;  >:f,-j.;:  -Jr..                quisites for salvation.    No more! Well, yes he does
       We like to  shqw you, again, from the writings of                                       say more. He says that GOD  CQNFE&3 THEM upon
  the Rev.. M.  IGritters   that unless one returns back to                                    His elect. iAnd hence, ten years ago, he writes by  im-
  the straight line of the truth, he will go farther into                                      plicatiop that God requires these OF HIMSELF, for


  64                      .,               TII-E  S T A N D A R D   BE.ARER
                                 -_ .---- -_-___                                                        -_--               ~-
  I1e~ confers what He requires.. Faith and  repectance              in this well-worked-out study of the Canons than he
  are required' because  `God has elected  us--to salvation.         we+. `even . ..TWO YEARS ago.-
                                                                     - :" ,..,, . .    `_-.>-,:-
TITUS  GOD'S  .DECREE  OF  ELECTION   requir.&T$ait;h                         Fbr when he and his consistory drew up a  clocu-
  and repentance IN  US. but not OF  U,S. God  COti-                 mentewhich undoubtedly was chiefly his work which
  FERS these  @pon.us and does not set them  before  US as           the consistory adopted-to send to  th$e Synod of 1951
  pre-requisites.                                                    in order- to seek the rejection of thk Declaration of
        At that time he had never heard of that nonsense             Principles, he did  ilot. believe in prerequisites YET.
  of "conditions which WE-fulfill by  IGod's grace." That            On- page 133 of the Acts of Synod of 1951 we read the
  is nonsense !      For. it is meaningless double  .talk; It        following from him and his consistory :
  says  ~that there are conditions and at. the same time                      "2. Second, in the Declaration (under  `C)  it. is de-
  t1~er.e are not  coriditions.~ It says that  there is some:        clared `that-faith is no prerequisite or condition unto
  thing  ,God~  :ap&rt   -frqnl.  Hiss grace demands  of- us, and    salvation.' W.HICH IS TRUE OF  GOURmSE,  but are
  that  theses things are at the same time given' us in His          we  to.conci&le that this  IMPLIED HERESY pertains
  grace. Let us explain.            W&e I to meet a penniless        to  Rev.  Fetter because he used the term `conditions?"
  deeply  ilidebted beggar  on the street. Were  -1 to say           Then the  .Declaration  must tell us plainly what it wants
  to him, give me  ten dollars, right this very moment,              so that we may know where we are." (The  capitaliza-
  and on that condition I will assume all your  .debts' and          tidn in both instances is ours, J.A.H.)
  `and care for' you  &he  rest: of your life. I would be                     Indeed, we clo  by that very Declaration know now
talking -nonsense  Do. that  Oman.  I- would be mocking              TYhere we are  an4 also where those who want condi-
~, him, ridiculing him, making a fool of him.  But- tional theology are. For notice that only  .two years
  riot& how  1  wo& destroy iny condition, were  -1:to say,          ago the Rev. Gritters rejected the  .idea of  -faith being
  well,  my~good man, I know. that you cannot  meet my               8  prer.equi&e  -u& salvation. He  says that it is true
condition, so I am going to -give you -the ten dollars- that  f&th is  r&t a prerequisite unto salvation  ancl
to give to me. I demand something of you, and I am                   that it is heresy to say that it is a prerequisite unto
  .qoing to do that thing  myself which.1 demand of you.             salvation.
  I-Tave I not destroyed  my condition? Have, I not taken
  it away? I-Jave  ~1 not- said to that man, my good..man                 And yet, he  aqd his consistory rush to recognize
  there is no condition.  f,or  $ou.to fulfill. I  tiill assume      and take their stand besides a  g.roup' that maintains
`all  Your  debts and  care  .for you the rest of  your -life        exactly that heresy today ! When a minister of the
  rega?:&ss  -of the fact that you did not first  do some-           Gospel is suspended because he says. that our act of
  t h i n g   f o r   m e . '                                        con+ersion is such a prerequisite to entering the king-
                                                                     dom, `and a gdodly number of his elders defend him
     And  so to  return-to these words  of the Rev.  Grit-           in that  sta&ement,  the Rev. Gritters will recognize
  ters, written when he saw `things the way we always                them as a consistory in the Protestant  Rtifokmed Chur-
  believticl and maintained them as Protestant Reformed              ches. His consistory did not come to  Classis  West  ancl
  Churches.      G'OD   .GQNFERS   THEM UPON-  THEN'  fi-            say that  th,e suspension  and deposition was illegal but
  LECT. Beautiful truth!  But that -beautiful. truth                 that the group so  illegally'~deposed  should by  Classis
  means exactly  that-' these things are not conditions              West-which seemed to think that it  w&s the  Synod-
  which `man  &ust fulfill.          They are however, things        be admonished to  confess its  err& of defending such
  which lie will and  must- ENJOY.  Ana they  .are  re-              here&a! statements: Oh, -No! It was ready to take
  qu;recl not in order that he  niay be saved, but they              to its bosom that group of men with their heretical
  Tre requirements for  Isalvation  because  THEY ARE                s t a t e m e n t   EVEN  THOUC%I  I T   REjECTED   S.UCH
  PART OF THAT  SALVATION  ! They are  not,- even                    HERESY two years before. It has  .not  .one word of
  by the teachings- of the Rev.  -Gri&ers,   PRErequisites           admonition, of rebuke, of warning for that faction of
  but'requisifes., He did not dare in those  days say that           lvhat.was once the consistory of the First Protestant
  these  had to `be there BEFORE  s&Iv&ion  could' be                Reformed  #Church of  Grand.Rapids. It wants to main-
  .given us.  : He said that God  donfirs them  upori us as          tain man's  cesponsi'bility   but.does   not hold that group
  part of  -owr  salzhtion,   AND AS THE THINGS UNTO -.of men responsible for what it had itself  on&e con-
  W H I C H   W E   A R E   E L E C T E D .                   ..     demned.
        Another  very  ?nteFesting element in this  cdnnect'ion         When  ybu are afraid of the Gospel,. you  apparent-
  is  that which we penned  doT?n  a$  the beginning  of- this       !y  are not afraid to do illegal things.            - J .   H e y s
  article.    One must.  :return to- the straight line of- the
  truth  OS  he  wi!l go farther  -and- farther from, the
  straight line. And  it is  evidellt that`the  Rey.  ;Gritt&*s                                         I
  h&s the LAST YEAR gone farther from-his writings                                                  -- :-::-

                                                         .


 .~,,~,,1b~ll~,l-l,~,l~,,~`,~,,~`,~,,~,,~,,~~,~,,~,,~~,~`,~`,~~:~,.~    c&&e -bishops.      For it is a matter of necessity that
 -I                                                                     every Church should agree with this Church, on ac-
  i      `Contending For ,The- Faith 1
 .~*,-,-,us-c,n,-~,-,,-,,-,,-~,-`,-~,-,,~,-`,-~,-,~-`,-,,-~!-,,.~.      count of its preeminent authority, that is, the faithful
                                                                        everywhere, inasmuch as the apostolical tradition has
                                                                        been.preserved  continuously by those faithful men who
            The Church and the Sacraments                               exist everywhere . . . .     The blessed apostles, then,
                                                                        having founded and built up the Church, committed
         EARLY  VIEWS   OF  THE  CIIURCI-I   (Cont'd)                   into the  hancls of Linus the office of the episcopate.
                                                                        Of this Linus, Paul makes mention in the Epistles to
       -Continuing with the early views of the organiza-                Timothy. To him succeeded Anacletus; and after him,
 tion of the Church as entertained by the  early Church                 in the third place from the apostles, Clement was  al-
 Fathers, we now call attention- to Irenaeus. In our                    lottecl the bishopric. -This man, as he had seen the
 preceding article  we.callecl attention to  the views as               blessed apostles, and had been conversant with them,
 expressed by Ignatius, one  of the Apostolic Fathers                   might be said to have the preaching of the apostles'
 and, bishop of the church at Antioch. The great esteem                 still echoing in his ears, and their traditions before
 in which he held the office of bishop appears from all                 his eyes. Nor was he alone in this for there were
 his  %ritings, although we also called attention to the                many still  r,emaining who had received instructions
 fact that Ignatius also held the office  .of the presbyter             from the apostles.     In the time of this Clement, no
 or elder in high regard. Later the office of bishop  was               small dissension having occurred among the brethren
 held in much higher esteem.                                            at Corinth, the Church in Rome dispatched a most
       Irenaeus  -is reputed to have been. the first to have            powelful letter to the Corinthiahs, exhorting them
 advocated  the institution of bishop as a diocesan of-                 to peace, renewing their faith, and declaring the  tr+-
 fice and as  the! continuation of the  apostolate; From dition which it had lately received from the apostles,
 him we  q,uote the  folkjwing quotation: "It is within                 proclaiming the one God, omnipotent, the Maker of
 the  pow,er  -of all, therefore, in every Church, who may .h,eaven and earth, the Creator of man, who brought
 wish to see  the truth, to contemplate clearly the-tra-                on the deluge, and  call&d Abraham who led the peo-
 dition of the apostles manifested throughout the whole                 ple from the land of Egypt, spake  with Moses, set
 world;  Andy we are in .a position to reckon  up those                 forth the law, sent the prophets, and who has pre-
 who were by the apostles instituted bishops in  the                    pared fire for the devil and his angels. From this
Churches, and to demonstrate the  succe&ion of these                    document, whosoever chooses to do so, may learn that.
 men  td our own times ; those  who, neither taught nor                 He, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, was preached
 knew of anything like what these heretics rave about.                  by the Churches, and may also understand the apos-
 For if the apostles had known hidden mysteries, which                  tolical tradition of the Church, since this Epistle is of
`> they were  in the habit of imparting to the "perfect"                older date than these men who are now propagating
 apart  and privily- from the rest,  they would have de-                falsehood, and who conjure into existence another god
 livered  them. especially to those to whom they were                   beyond the Creator and the Maker of all existing
 commiting the Churches themselves. For they were                       things. To this Clement there succeeded Evaristus.
 desirous that these men should be very perfect and                     Alexander followed Evaristus; then, sixth from the
 blameless in all things, whom also they were  l.eaving                 apostle.s,  Sixtus was appointed ; after him, Telephorus,
behind as their successors, delivering  up  their own                   who was gloriously martyred; then Hyginus; after
 place of government to these men  ; which men, if they                 him, Pius; then after him, Anicetus.  Soter having
 discharged their functions honestly, would be a great                  succeeded Anicetus, Eleuthirius does now,  " in the
 boon to the Church, but if they  should fall  .away, -the `twelfth place from the apostles, hold  .the inheritance
 direst calamity . . . Since, however, it would be very                 of the episcopate. In this order, and by this succes-
 tedious, in such a volume as this, to reckon  up  the                  sion, the ecclesiastical tradition from the apostles,  ancl
 successions of all the Churches, we do put to confusion                the preaching of the truth, have come down to  US.
 all those who, in  wlhatever manner, whether by an evil                And this is most abundant proof that there is on-e  and
 ,self-pleasing,  by vain-glory, or by blindness and per-               the same vivifying faith, which  hrs been preserved in
 verse opinion, assemble in unauthorized meetings  ; we                 the Church from the apostles until now, and handed
 do  this, I say, by indicating that tradition derived from             clown in truth."
 the apostles, the very great, the very ancient, -and uni-                 In connection with this lengthy quotation we would
 versally known Church founded and organized at Rome                    make the following remarks. We see readily that this
 by the two most glorious apostles, Peter and Paul  ; as                is a rather  r.emarkable quotation.    Neither is it dif-
 also pointing out the faith preached to men, which                     ficult, to understand that -the Romish Church of the
 comes down  to our time by means of the succession                     present, claiming that' the pope is indeed the successor


        of the apostles, feels itself considerably strengthened                   And this is not all. The observation of the above
        because of writings `such as this quotation of  .Irenaeus.            quotation that the apostle,. Paul, never mentions the
        Irenaeus lived later.  than  Igntitius   (,he is alleged to the  -labors of the  apbstle,   Peter: in -his  ,epistle to the
        have- suffered martyrdom -in  the year, 200 A.D.) and                 Roinans is certainly well taken an'd much to the  point.
        presents  here~ a more advanced development of the                    However, we should notice that Irenaeus informs us
        episcopate:  IOf course, the  accupacy of these  renikrks             that the blessed apostles, having founded and built up
        of Ignatius may  tie11  be questioned. May we con-                    the Church, committed them into the hands  ,of Linus
        clude, for example, that his presentation of the suc-                 the office of the  episcopat&     There  .is a tradition that
        cessors of  .the apostles-is just as &curate as his re-               Linus was bishop of the Church at Rome, and that
       mark. that it was Abraham who led the people of  Gdd                   his consecration to the government of the  Roman
        out  o? the  iand  .-of Egypt ? He writes, does he  .not,             chui;ch as its first bishop was one of the dying acts
       that. the one  ,God, omnipotent,  .the Maker of heaven                 of the apostle, Paul. Concerning this Linus we read
      and earth,  the  ,Creator of man, called Abraham who led                in II Tim.  4:21. And there is certainly nothing in
       the people -forth from  `ihe land of Egypt. However, _ this  Scriptural reference to suggest anything  `$vhich
       this may h&e  beell.merely a slip on  .the part of this                might  even resemble his elevation'to the office of bish-
        eminent church father and  do&  not, of course; show                  op at Rome. And we may surely  ad< that there is
       conciusively that he also  erred~ in his  ~presetitation  of           nothing in all of Holy Writ to suggest  the  thsught
       .the historical successors of the apostles.'                           that the apostles designated and appointed men to
            We do well-to bear in mind, however, that his pre-                be their  succgssors.    It is  cbrtainly~ Scriptural that the
       sentation of  the-succe&rs of the apostles is based up-                apostolic office was a special office and that it was not
       & tradition.       Havirig suffered martyrdom about  t the             transmitted to men who  webe bishops in the chur-
       year,  200  A.D.,  he belongs to the age of the Church                 ches then in existence.. We have already  called atten-
       Fathers after the era of the Apostolic Fathers;  `One                  tion to the reason why the  .episcopal  form of church
       can easily understand that this tradition had been                     government should become as  pron$nent as it did
       fairly well established and entrenched  iti the conscious-             in the  .early years of the New Dispensational  ,Church.
      ness of the Church at-the time of  th'is Church Father.                    Be all this as it may, reading the quotation of I-
       Particularly worthy' ,of  not& is Irenaeus' reference to -renaeus',  on&  nded'-ti&  d.oubt that the office of bishop
       the tradition-that the church at Rome had been founded                 was held in-  tretiendously  high-  e&e&n during the New
       and  organi?ed by the  ttio most glorious  apostJes, Peter             T&stam,ent infancy of the  ,Church of  ,God. In fact,
       and Paul.  ,We know that Paul was in  .Ro&e; Acts                      this noted  ,Church Father sets forth the  thought that
       27 and 28  clearly  prdve this fact. But there  i,s nothing            these bishops were the successors of the apostles, that
     in Scripture to warrant the supposition that-the  apos-- Linus was ordained  to be the  fist bishop' bf  .Rome by
       tle, Peter, had also been in Rome  .at one time or an- : Paul himself. Moreover, he even calls attention to  ij
       o t h e r ;                                                            the  s&cession  of bishops in the Roman church. This,
          &uoting  the -International Standard  Bibie  Encycio-               of course, we do not intend to. dispute. Bnt we do
       paedia, we read  concerning~  Peter the following  :. "The             dispute the allegation that these bishops were succes-
       tradition is that he died a martyr's death at Rome  a-                 sors -of  th$e apostles and appointed and ordained by
      bout 67 A.D., when. about seventy five years old. His                   these apostles.
       Lord and Master had predict&d a violent death for him
        (.Joha  23,  :18, 19)  .w,hicb it is  thought-iame to pass  -by          The Lord willing,. we will continue with this  high
       crucifixiori  under Nero. It. is said that at his own de-              esteem in which the office of bishop' was held in our
      siye.  he was crucified  head- downward; feeling himseif                following article. `Then we  expect to call attention to
       unworthy to- resemble his Master in his death.                   It    two-other prominent Church Fathers : Tertullian and
       should be observed; however, that  the tradition that                  Cyprian. jrt is especially the latter who emphasized the
       he visited  Romeo is only traditibn and nothing more, priestly dignity of the  bishtips  and that they were  the
      resting, as.  it does,  pa&y upon a miscalculation of                   successors of the  apostl&.
       some of the early Fathers Who assume that he went                                                                   -H. Veldman
       to -Rome in 42 A.D. immediately after his deliverance
from prison (Acts 12  :17)  ."  ISchaff  says this "is ir-                                        -Z-I--
       reconcilable with  -the silence of Scripture, and even
     with. the  m&e fact of  Paul's Epistle to  thi Romans,
       written in 58, since  t;he~ latter says  not a word of                         In sweet communion, Lord, with Thee
       Peter's previous labors in that city, and  he- himself                           I constantly abide ;
'      never built on other  ~men's foundations (Rom  .!5  :20~;                      My hand Thou holdest in Thy own
     1.I  car.  1 0   :15,  X),."                                                       To keep me near Thy  sid,e.
                                                                   c


                                                     T H E   STANDARtiiBEARER                                                       67
                              ---__--.
           __.
       .3 lii~~-,ur,Nl-`~rr.-`,-,,-,-,,-~,-,,-~,-,-~,-"-,,-,,-~,-,,-,~~.    b$ the Spirit of truth,  has. said, with the Scriptures in
       .f. `.`The Voice. of Our Fathers ,f hand : "This  tve confess. This is the truth of Holy
                                                                            Scriptur,e. Here are the implications of that truth for
                                                                            the gospel  of. your salvation. If you would speak the
                         The Canons of Dordrecht                            truth]' if you would indeed be-Reformed, then here is
                                                                            theyclkar line of the truth." And on the other  hand,
                                                                            inasmuch as the Canons function as a bulwark, a de-
                  :'-                    PA$T TWO                           fense, of the truth of  ,God's Word concerning our sal-
                  ; * -EXPOSITION OF'THE 'CANONS                            vation, they clearly mark the line of battle, both for
           1'                                                               friend. and foe. It is only too  ,ofteti the case that the
                          FIRST HEAD'  F DOCTRINE                          enemies of the truth of divine  pred,estination make a
                          OF  DIVINE PREDESTINATION                         caricature of this truth, in order then to do battle a-
                                                                            gainst it. They set up a straw man of some sort. They
       Intfrocluction       -,     ._                                       purposely substitute fatalism or determinism. for the
           That the chapter concerning divine predestina-                   Scriptural truth of predestination. ,Or they picture the
       tion stands  firstin the Canons and is the longest of the            predestinating God  ,of the  :Scriptures as a horrible ty-
     five heads of doctrine is, of course,.no accident. From                rant, who delights inanely in the desolation of little in-
       the historical viewpoint this has its occasion in the                fants. Or they picture the predestined creature as a
       fact that the Scriptural truth of predestination bore                passive stock and block.      And having charged  th,e
       the brunt of the Arminian attack, and that it was on                 Reformed confessor with all these horrors, they  pro-
       this subject of  pred.est$nation  that the Arminians ex-             ce$d  $0 do battle against  the.ir own caricature of the
       pressed themselves in the very first of their  3%~  Art-             Reformed confession. The result is that these enemies
       icles. It was to be expected, therefore, in view of the              of the truth often seem to leave the field of battle
       apologetic character of the Canons, that they too                    victorious.    And, sad to say, the simple and undis-
       would speak first on the subject-of divine predestina-               cerning are often confused by  tl>ese,tactics, led to be-
       tion. HoweveY, from the  doctripal  viewpoint it is also             lieve that. indeed there  is..something  seriously wrong
       proper that this should be the first concern of the                  with our Reformed view of predestination,  and de-
       Canons,  since the truth of divine predestination is the             ceived into compromising or even surrendering com-
       foundation of the  entire- structure of the truth con-               pletely. The Arminians were adept at such tactics,
                                                                            as our fathers well knew; and the enemies of the Re-
,      cerning our salvation. To the credit of the  Armin-
       ians it must be said that, although they erred concern-              formed faith in general still follow this plan of battle,
       ing the truth, they showed no ignorance of the fun-                  in order to deceive  $e simple. Only, `in the  Canons
       damental issue, but recognized the fact that if they                 the line of battle is clearly defined. We say, as it
       were to promulgate their doctrine of a conditional sal-              were, in this First Head of Doctrine: "Put your straw
       vation, they must above all overthrow the  Reftormed                 men away now. Be done with your caricatures of the
       conception of divine predestination. That is at least                Reformed faith. W-hen you fight against fatalism and
       moie than some  pseudo4alvinists  will acknowledge                   determinism, or whatever it may be, you do not fight
       in  ,our own day.  ,Our fathers at Dordrecht, as well                us. Here is the truth. Here is our confession. Here
       as the Arminians, also recognized the cardinal impor-                is the battle line. Here is our first line of defense.
       tance of the truth of divine  predestination, and in the             Would you vanquish us, you must make a frontal as-
       construction of the temple of the truth which we have                sault against this  buiwark,  defined in these eighteen
       in our  Cunons  they therefore accorded to this truth                positive and nine negative articles. But remember !
       of predestination the place of prime importance. And                 The timbers  ,of this bulwark. are  fikmly fastened in the
       they labored long and carefully, in order that this                  foundation of the infallible, Word of God. And unless
       foundation might be properly and correctly laid.                     you can destroy that foundation, you will surely leave
                                                                            the field of battle utterly routed."  ILikewise, there-
          Nor is the significance of this carefully laid  foun-             fore, it befits the Reformed confessor to find his de-
       dation to be overlooked. When in eighteen clear  and                 fense behind this bulwark of the truth.
       concise  artidles,  together~  with nine rejections of er-
       rors, our fathers in unmistakable language have  d'e-                   As to the method followed in these articles,  ,it
       lineated the Reformed  concepti,on of divine predestin-              will immediately be evident that the Canons are apolo-
       ation, there -is,  .on the one hand, absolutely no excuse            getic in character. This is true not only of the nega-
       fo\m ignorance on the part of Reformed people of-either              tive portion, the Rejection of Errors, but  &so of the
       the meaning- or the. significance of God's sovereign  pre:           positive-part, in  which  The true doctrine is expounded.
       destination. The church, being led into all the truth                Even while they develop the true doctrine, the fathers,


6                 8                                             T H E   STANDAR~&EARER

as it were, have one eye  ,on the Arminians. Thus, for                                tion is: Is not God unjust in  .His decree of reproba-
example, one immediately feels in the first article that                              tion? As we indicated above, when we took this arti-
the Canons are on the defensive: an  obje.ction is being                              cle as an example of the apologetic character of the
met, namely, the argument that the decree of predes-                                  Canons, the occasion for choosing- this viewpoint lay
tination is unrighteous. And so, by way of defending                                  in the controversy with the Arminians. T h e y   s o u g h t
tKe true doctrine,  ,our fathers at the same time develop                             to present matters so, that the  ReformSed churches
and define that true doctrine.                                                        made  ,of God an unrighteous tyrant, who  ar,bitrarily
          `Of the contents of this first chapter we will  gi+e                        saved some and damned others.                 That is a charge
no general oversight here, beyond that -which is fur-                                 wllose  stinging lash Reformed people feel also today.
nished in the title, `IOf Divine Predestination." Ra-                                    Let us examine the implications of this charge
`ther `will we allow the various articles to speak for                                which is met by Article 1. It is noteworthy, first of
themselves.                                                                           all, that the accusation which is here answered by the
                                                                                      Cunorts is purely rationalistic. It is the product of
                                                                                      human  l:eason, yea, of sinful  rea,son, which charges
                                                                                      God, the only Righteous Judge, with unrighteousness.
                                                                                      And a `careful examination of Arminianism will re-
                  Article 1. As all men have sinned in Adati,  lie'un-                veal that such rationalism  charactel*izes  its entire view.
                  der the curse, and are deserving of  eternal  death,
          I"..                                                                        We will undoubtedly have opportunity to repeat this
                  God would have done no injustice by leaving them                    observation in 
 .1 `_            all perish, and delivering them over to condemna-                                      our  further studies. And how striking
                  tion on  a,ccount  of sin, according to the words of                it is that those who are themselves guilty of  such ra-
                  the apostle, Rom.  3:19, "that every mouth i&y be                   tionalism are known for their accusations of ra-
                  stopped, and  .a11 the world may become guilty be-                  tionalism against Calvinism.*  .That is much worse than
                  fore God." And verse 23: "for all have  sinn.ed -and                the proverbial pot calling the kettle black. In the
                  come short of the  gllory of God." And Rom.  6:23:
                  "for the wages of sin is death."                                    second place, it must be observed that this charge of
                                                                                      divine injustice in predestination can only be brought
          `Our English translation of  this article' is not as                        against those who maintain that  ,God's predestinating
literally correct nor as forceful as it might be. The                                 decree. is sovereign and free. Under the Arminian
article  undoubt8edly  intends to  -einphasize a  un&erial                            conception of a predestination on the basis of foreseen
human  .quiZt,  and this is  &ore clearly expressed. in both                          faith or unbelief such an  aCcusation  is said to be un-
the  J,atin original and the Dutch translation of this                                necessary. The Arminian view is alleged to have ex-
article. The English rendering, "lie under the curse,                                 actly  this advantage, that it leaves  ,God righteous when
and are deserving of eternal  -de&h," is in the Latin,                                it makes the matter of man's salvation or damnation
"et rei sint  facti  mdecLiction.is et  mortis  aeterwe,`" a matter  ,of free will. But, it is  all'eged, if  `God is sove-
which  iS more aptly translated in the Dutch, "en de's                                reign in predestination, if His ~predestinating decree
vloc~ks en  &euzo@en  do&  xijn'bch&?ig  geworden  (and                               has its source, its cause, its occasion only in Himself,
are become guilty of the curse and of eternal death)  ."                              then  ,Gocl is an unjust and horrible tyrant. Ultimately,
The translation, "by leaving them all to perish," is                                  ther.efore, this first article maintains not only the right-
also an  &`tremely free rendering  ,of the  L*atin,  "ii  uni-                        eousness of the predestinating God, but the  soveleirn
ve!%un genus  humunum in  peccafio-  et  m&dict&~e                                    freedom of the God of our salvation. Finally, let 
?*elikque~-e . . . . . . . . . . . . . . voluisset."                                                                                                    us
                                                             Here again the Dutch     notice  lzow  ilievitably  our confession concerning God
is much more accurate with its,  "in&en  Hij het  ganse                               is tied in with the whble subject matter of the  Ca?zo~ls
menselijke  geslacht in de xonde en  vervloeking had from the very outset. God and His works are not to
wl:Elen  latent  (ifi case He had willed to leave the  en;                            be separated.. And so it is that it is not merely God's
tire human race in sin and  the curse.)" A little more                                decrees th-at are at stake here, but the decreeing God!
accuracy in the rendering, therefore, would have em-                                  The Arminians attacked not merely the  righteolrsness
phasized more strongly the idea of a common human                                     of the decree  sof predestination, but the  righteousnexs
liability to death.                                     .                             of `God ! They attack not only the absolute freedom of
          It is evident that the Canons here proceed, in their                        the decree, but the sovereign  free:lom of  God; And
introduction of the truth of predestination, from the                                 to this our Canons give answer here.
viewpoint of (God's righteousness.                                The question is:                                            - H .   C .   Koeksema
(Can  IGod be charged with injustice in election and
reprobation?  &Lore stringently formulated the  ques-
     I)  The,  English  rendering here used -is taken. from "The                                    -      -     -         @ -.        ..
     Psalter."


                                                        ?`l%g  %TANDAR.@   BEARER                                                        69

          .~,,-l,-o-an,-c,-,,-,,-,i-,,-,,-,,-,,-,,-,,-,,~,,-,,-,,-`,-,,-`.:. to  -th$  borrowing. And all of this he must do with the
                   DECENCY   a n d   i%DER  f Word of God.
     F                                                                             In realizing this charge unto the holy office three
     ^ *:*1.1,.0-1,-11-~-,,-,,-,,-`
                                     ,-,,-~,-,,-~,-`
                                                  ,-~,-,,-,~-,,-,,-,,-,,,~.    things are requisite for the minister.
                            The- Lawful  Callhg                                    1. He must love Christ! .The love of Jesus con-
                                                                               strains him ! In that love is the love of Christ's sheep
                            F.. The -Exhortations  '                           whom he pastures and feeds. That love is then not a
                                                                               sentimental attachment of the  past.or to his church, a
             -It is rather important  &at-we give-  special atten-             bond of flesh, but it is the spiritual bond whereby
          tion to the  conclitding  paA of the  f,orm for the ordina-          pastorand  flock  aae united in the spirit of truth. Love
          tion of ministers  ,of the  W&d. This part contains- a               and truth always go together. (Eph. 4  :15)        Without
          most serious charge  ,or  ekhortation of  Gdd to both the            the truth, love is impossible..  Fbor that reason the pas-
          one who has been ordained  ahd  to the congregation in               tor is charged here also "to take the oversight of the
          which he has received his  offi&. And, as is always the              flock." He must rule  them and in the love  of. Christ
     case, when the. exhortations of  ,God  are.not heeded, the                demand of them that they walk  ?n the truth. That a-
          results are spiritually damaging. For the  p,ractica!                lone is love. And when there are those who will not
          and'  spiritlial well-being of  the church, therefore, and           heed, it is not love to leave them in the gutter of sin
          the success of the  ministry of her  pastou',  it is impera-         but, together with the  eld,ers, the pastor must apply
          tive that. both- the church and her minister do more                 the means of love to save them and administer the
          than merely read  th,e  form  but that they especially at-           discipline of Christ..
          tend. with all earnestness- to, the charge given them
          from the Word of  .God.  .Doing  this continually the                    Thus is the pastor charged "to love Christ and feed
                                                                               His sheep."
          ministry will  be blessed and  th.e  joy  of the Holy Spirit
          will- prevail in the church.                                             2. The second `requisite is that he must be dili-
                                                                               gent in the meditation and -study of the Word of  <God.
              The newly ordained minister is charged first. -His               The  forni states: "Give attendance to reading, to ex-
          charge is,  fiyst-and foremost, that he shall "feed the              hortation, to  d,octrine.
          church of God which He hath purchased with His.                                                   Neglect not the gift that is in
                                                                               thee, meditate upon those things, give thyself wholly
          own blood." Today, the success of the minister is no                 to them, that thy profiting may appear to all; take
          longer measured by this standard. He  ir; regarded, as               heed to thy doctrine, and continue steadfast therein."
          a good minister who  ,is a  nic,e  fellow,  good  sport,  goo.4
          nz`ixer and an  elopent speaker even  th'ough  .he feeds                 The-pastor must be a  studlent. A student of the
          ~the church with stones and he who ministers  th.e pure              Word!  IOnly when he, himself, delves diligently and
          bread of life  is persecuted  and regarded as  otit of line          deeply into the riches of the  W,ord will he bring forth
          with the times. But that is -not  stiange for so it has              treasukers for the church. Even as a good cook is
          always been and those very' things  are the- earmarks                diligent in  pieparing the food  f,or the family, so a good
                                                                         .-
_    of a good preacher. D,oesn't  Paul, a faithful  apost!e                   pastor is diligent in preparing the spiritual meal of
          and- servant  -of Christ, tell us  much of  ,his own re-             the church. And the church must not then think that
          proaches  and  aflli&ons in II Corinthians  11:23133.                her minister has nothing to clo and has all kinds of time
          And isn't it written plainly. to Timothy that the only               to loiter here and there. He  doles not! N,ot if he hears
          tYue standard by which  a good minister  is to be gauged             his. charge. Not if he understands his calling. Oh,
          is : "If thou shalt-put the brethren in  remembran&e.of no! He must labor incessantly to prepare food that
          these things thou shalt be -a good minister of Jesus                 is wholly pure of the poisonous mixtures of deceit and
          Christ,  ndtirished up in the words of faith and of good             f alsehotid.
     doetrin'e,  whereunto  thou hast attained." (I  Tim.  4:6)                    3..And,   firially, he "must patiently bear-all suffering
              That then is the  -only calling of the minister of  ,God.        ancl oppressions as a good soldier of Jesus Christ."
          -He must look for  none other. He  pust   feed the sheep             Suffer he surely will when he  labors to faithfully exe-
          of Christ  in the green pastures of the truth. He must               cute such a charge. Opposition will  -continually arise
     proclaim to them the  whole counsel of God  as re-                        from within  his  owns  sinful~  flesh as well as from with-
          vealed in the  ;S&iptures.  He is charged  "besore God               out. Those that are carnal will withstand him and the
          .and the Lord- Jesus  Christ to preach the Word  ; be in-            reproaches of men will be heaped upon him because
          stant in  seasonand  out of season, reprove,  exhprt  with           he refuses to accede to the modern  clamours and
          all longsuffering and doctrine." (II Tim. 4  :l, 2) `Be              trends.
          must comfort' the sick, strengthen the weak ; lead the                   He must stand fast. All this he must bear with
          s i m p l e   ;admonish the erring ; bring joy  and. peace           patience and so also be an example unto the people of


                                                                 .._
                                          ran  s.T&DAR~..  ,Bp$tiR
70

,God in "word, in conversation, in charity, in  spirit,~in     ness."  (Underscore,ours) She is exhorted "to hear and
faith, in purity. "Then his labor will not  .be grievous       receive the word which  -*God speaks through him"
but will be  j,oy in the Lord being performed in the           and- that that  w&d is then not to be received as "the
assurance that "when the chief Shepherd shall appear,          word of man" but "as the word of God Himself". U n -
he will receive a crown of glory that fadeth not a-            derstand, too, that the church must  dIesire to  he_ar no-
way."                                                          thing from her minister but the Word of God and
      A solemn charge !                                        require of him nothing other than  that- he bring them
      A difficult labor!                                       th%t Word as an  ambass,ador   6f Jesus Christ. The
      And a glorious end!                                      church must certainly.  bs able to discern between the
                                                               Word  of.  IGod. and the word of- man and the former she
      "Therefore, beloved brother, take heed to thy call-      is duty `bound to hear and heed while. the latter
ing !"                                                         she must  rej#ect. For she is charged "to be submis-
  The congregation, too, is charged by the Word of             sive to that  W,ord, obeying them that have the rule
*God. Most beautiful does the form of ordination ex-           over  her because  ,they watch over her  souls  as thpse  '
press this and we must know it to be our individual            that must give account."
calling to heed this exhortation and have it always
before us as we walk among Gods people in the midst                From all this it should be evident what  t,he calling
of the church. Then alone will decency, order-  and            of every member of  the  chur-ch is. .  aChrist- Jesus has
peace prevail in the congregation. Then  dur faith ex-         instituted the office  .of the ministry of  thIe word in the
pressed in the thirtieth article of our  #Confession will      church.  Thrd@gh  men whom He places in that office
not be a matter of dead  letter but will be a living  ex-      it pleases Christ to speak unto. His church and to  .re-
perience. There we read:                                       veal unto her  His holy will. To that  Revelation  she
                                                               mu& be  atiehtive and walk ace&ding to it without
           "Moreover, that  .this holy ordinance (con-         murmuring and  `bbtiplaining.                To, the  rule and govern-
         cerning the offices in the church) of  (God may       ment of  the church that is according" to that  revel&
         not be violated  `or slighted, we say that every      tion she  must always be submissive.  ..
         one ought to esteem the ministers of God's
         Word and the elders  ,of the church,, very                     Doing this joyfully "the peace of  *God shall enter
                                                               -your house?                 Likewise upon the rebellious and  djs-
         highly for their work's sake, and be at peace         dbedierit  abides the wrath of  IGod. But  the  .&ongrega-
         with them without murmuring, strife or con-           ti6n;  .%&lkitig in  relatioh to the  tiinistry of  the;Word
         tention as much as possible."                         according to  he+ solemn charge,  iives'in the assurance
      This means- that the minister  (and elders too           of hope.          T@ougl?   th@`Wol'd which she hears and
though at present we are discussing only the ordina-           heeds she receives an  &fi@~~iticreasing  assuranc6  of the
tion of ministers) whom the church ordains to the              reward  6f the  et&ial  in&eYitance which -shall be  hers
office must  be esteemed highly at all times by the            tirid wherein  all. things shall forever be harmonious
church and that, not because of his person or because          with and in submission to the will  .6f `God in Jesus
                                                                                                     .
he is better or different or holier than other men, but        our' Lord.
alone because  of the  ianctity of the office in which he             `Congregation, `that is a holy calling!                _
functions. And, the minister must know too, that'
his' person cannot really be divorced from his work                   And also a difficult way accompanied by much
and that, therefore, should he at any time -reveal him-        t r i b u l a t i o n   !
self as unworthy of  .the office, he at that  time also.                But `the end thereof  is. certain! Eternal life
looses the esteem and high regard- of the congrega-            through Christ!  -
                                                                I.
tion.     Thi,s must inevitably be So because the -respect              -And so,  the  ..exhortations  to the minister and the
of the congregation  tiay never be to the  person,,of   the    church are concluded with this beautiful confession:
minister in separation from his office. They. may- nev-        "Since no man is of himself fit for any of these things,
er set him up on a pedestal and hold him in high re-           let' us call upon God with thanksgiving."
putation as a man. That would be  id,olatry,  the  wor--
ship of the creature. -Rather, he must be esteemed                Pray about it !                Fervently  !.
highly  fog his  wor;k's sake. As long, therefore, as he                That we ministers and churches, through the
properly performs  the work of his office, he must  .be        grace and Holy Spirit of `Christ  Gay hear and heed
held in that  lestimation.                                     with. all  f%ithfuln:ess  the solemn exhortations unto our
      This becomes plain further in the charge that is         calling.                                           ,G.  Va,nden  B e r g
given to the church in the form for ordination. She
is told to "receive her minister in  the  Lo~d  with  glad-


                                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   .B%ARER                                                        71
                                         -----               F                   i        `
                                                                                           fi.

                                                                                       within our own churches. The history spelled by the
      I..
      I   A L L   A R O U N D   U S   .i Berean and Protestant Reformed  Churches should not
                                                                                       be ignored. It is a part of our history. These went
      .+c, -1,-1,-1>-1,-1,- ` ,-11-<,-1>-,1-I, -o-t>-  0 -,>a < ,-o-,1111-  4          out from our  ,Church, not from another. Their  tllec-
                                                                                       logies were developed within our denomination, not  i:l
      TlzeologQ  And Schism                                                            some other denomination. This part of our history
             Under the above caption Dr. James Daane writes                            which gave  .birth  to these theologies and these Chur-
      in the  Reformecl   gourn'al of September, 1953. We                              ches may not be regarded-as forgotten pages."
      gather that the theology  ,of  *which he speaks- has to do                          Under the next heading which he titles "Am I My
      with the matter of common  grace? while the schism to                            Brother's Keeper?" Dr. Daane seems to be pained by
      which he refers `is the one  ?&hi&   has. recently taken                         the treatment his churches have given those who were
      place in  the Protestant Reformed  Churches. We have                             cast out  ,of her midst. Writes he: "We shall need the
     not the room to quote his  enttre article which is `in-                           humility and courage to ask ourselves whether we have
      deed very interesting, but here are a few  quotes.:                              forsaken and abandoned the churches that went out
             "The recent break-up of the First Protestant Re-                          from us to the hurt of their own errors. Have we  dis;
      formed Church of  (Grand  Rapids is a sad event in the                           associated  ,ourselves from  t&m as though they  w'ere no
      history of Reformed Churches. It  is. cause for more                             concern of ours, perhaps the more easily to take pride
      than a localized grief. There should be a general sor-                           iti our rightness?     Have been our brother's keeper
      row in  Reforged Churches  oyer` this new rending of                             or has our brotherly love stood still at our denomina-
      the body  bf Christ within the family of the Reformed                            tional borders?" Dr. Daane then continues and makes
      Churches. Although'it would- seem that this event- is `a                         this  &%rtling observation: "The record shows that we
      historical justification for the Three Points of 1924                            have not and our failure deprives us of an opportunity
      it would be  less  than Christian if we of the Christian                         to render real service now.  Although they do not ad-
      R'eformed Churches viewed, it as merely an event of                              mit *it, those of the Protestant Reformed Churches who
      self-justification. Such  Gn attitude would be sinful.                           now disagree with the Rev. H. Hoeksema have taken at
      For whatever else this event may be, it should be  ex-                           least one theological step baak toward the Christian
      p&?encecl as a rending of the body of Christ, whose                              Reformed Church. For this we can take no credit.
      body we are.                                                                     :Long ago we terminated the theological conversation
             The story of the division and sub-division of the                         about common grace. This places us at a  distintit dis-
      Refoi*med Churches in Holland and America is not a                               advantage now, for the present situation in the Prot-
      pleasant'story. While separation is not limited to  the                          estant Refbrmed Church is hardly the best psycholo-
      history of these  IChurches; it is significant that so much                      gical moment to enter the discussion. Y,et there would
      separation has taken place within the churches who                               be point in clemonstrating, if it could be clone within
_     possess such a strong denominational  con@ciousness.                             the context of an existing theological conversation, that
      This new event of separation which has taken place                               thosle who di.#er from Hoe'ksema and affirm the right-
      within  th'e  Prot.. Ref. Churches  iS cause therefore                           ful place of `conditions' within,Reformecl theology have
      not only for grief but  for careful reflection. It thrusts                       thereby theqlog~ically  conceded th.at grace can after all
      questions upon us which we ought to face anew. Why                               be offed inasmuch as a condition is in its very na-
      do Reformed Churches continue to  bleak-up? Whkn                                 ture of the ess,ence of an offer. None can predict what
      is a separation necessary and legitimate, and when                               might have been. But in view of what has now hap-
      sinful  ?`-                                                                      pened, it is not too fanciful. to think that something
             Such  ,ane the opening remarks in Dr.  Daane's  art-                      very good might have come from a continuation of
      icle. He then proceeds under separate headings to  de-                           the common grace question with the Protestant Re-
      liniate on his subject. Under the first, which he titles                         formed Churches. In any case, it would have been no
      `Qur Centennial",  r6f erring of course to the centennial                        more than  brother!y concern for those who are of us,
      which is to be celebrated next year in the  .Christian                           though they went out from us; If the theological is-
      Reformed  ,Churches,  he warns against "mutual  adinir-                          sue of 1924 was significant enough to warrant a church
      ation and self-praise, coupled with a thanking  .of the                          split, it was also of sufficient significance to warrant a
      Lord that we are  noti as other churches," and  exhorts                          continuation of the theological conversation in the hope
      to a careful reflection on such a question as: "When                             of a healing of the  brleach . .
      and on what groynds is it legitimate to raise up an                                 Dr. Daane  seems quite certain that the common
      independent Reformed church  aiongside of an existing                            grace conversation was terminated for the sake of the
      one?" Writes he: "Proper centennial thinking will                                peace of the church. But with this he is not at all  sat-
      require that we think on the schisms' `that appeared                             isfie'd. He claims that the doctrine of common grace is


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                                                      T.H.  E'  .sT.A'ND.+-RW  B]WAAR E R
                                     .-A.- _.-... -_--                     .~
                    ,-(.     .--.              .-.           .,                                                             -              -         -         -
                                                                                      :.       :                  -    -                                  -
 no  "Binall bit  i  bf  1 theology  %ith  n0 large' illiportance."                them to leave us and  go.  Ghere  *hey  can `live `in  agrea-
ITe  s a y s : ."If we  .d~oulizl  come to think so,  t.hen:we                     ment  ,und& one  -ecclesitistical   roof.
 wo$d have to-regard the action of  1.924  which  -resiilted .                              In'  the second  p&e,  we are happy that  Daane  ad-
 ill  th:e creation of the Protestant-  R,eformed   Churc!hes                      &its  that his churches have neglected the Protestant
 as a  veky large mistake.. . .  .' T&h is  `somtithing to                         Reformed  ,Churches  -all `these  yea& Every overture
 believe, and  bornething  by which  to  ljve.' `-If-  cbmmon                      ol:r  chu&es  sent -to  theal: reminding them of  tl,leil;
 grace was a- truth which  -vrialYarited   z$'  break  wit&in @i'was  .i.gnorecl.  Let  th6  Chris&~~  R'eformecl  Chur-
 our denomination, then it  ~?&.a tr-uth  of  large  theo-- cl;lks  .i.n their Centennial- acknowledge. this.
 ldgical  stature,  s$mething.`by  which to live-.  ; . . . The                                                                       _
 claim that common- grace should not be stressed too                                  ~-Thirdly,.  we_ agree- with. Daa-ne -that the  oommoll
 much should  soui~l very  strange in a church  ,which in                          grace  .issue in `not a small thing.                    We  have-  always
 1924  stressecl  it  Bo much  ai to make the Three `Points maintained that the'  ,Christian Reformed Churches
 of common  grace an occasion for split in  our  -deno,m-                          have-an entirely different world and life view than we
 ination."                                                                       d o . .            .
                                                                                       Fourthiy,  wle can also agree with Daane that if the
     Daane argues that "the doctrine of  -cor&on grace                              Christian Reformed Churches had not so prematurely
 is no  n&e  &ppenclix to Reformed theology. It  iS a                              cast out  the Rev. Hoeksema he "might well have
 vital organ in the body of Reformed Theology.  Sur-                               brought-a much larger-sector of  t*he church  uncler the
 rend!er of  `&  do&tie of common  grace would  affect                             banner of his thought." People  whose eyes the  Lorcl
 t h e   v e r y   natu?e  o f   o u r   `cheolog$."  I.             ,~            opens.  have no trouble following him in his thought
      Dr. Daane wants the common grace discussion to                               because it is generally based upon the truth of Scrip-
 be continuecl. Writes-he :  "The  clenial of common  grace                        ture and the Confessions. He is a  Reformecl  man,
 arose out of a theological spirit that -existed  w.itliin you know, the Synod-of  1924 being  witness. Ancl why
 our churches-. -Although  thle denial was so strengthen-                          shouldn't those in  -the Christian Reformed Churches
 ed by the  considera,ble  theological ability of Herman                           who still love the old  Reformed truth not follow him.
 FToeksema that his  n&me has both in America  ancl                                It is  still.not too late for them to repudiate the error
 Europe  cbme to be -associated- with a definite  theologi-                        of common grace, to come out and follow him.
                                                                                                         -                                           We  acl-
 cal position, yet the fact remains that the denial arose                          vise them  to do so.
 o$  .o? a- theological spirit that existed in the bosom. of                                                                               - M .   Schipper
 our  chdrches. This should guard  us against the un-
 realistic fancy that only one or two of that generation
 were touched by that spirit,  ancl that the  n,ext genera-
 tion, trained  by the  prececling  one, would be  ~wholly
 immune to  that spirit. Present differences concern-                                                         --
 ing common grace indicate  that  the- spirit of  Hoeke-
 ma's denial are not  yet dead . . . Looking back over
t.hc years it is not too.  mu.ch to say that  our  languicl
 post-1924  intesest in common grace at least suggests
 the  possjbility  that if Hoeksema had  m&ed.more  slow-
ly and the issue had not been settled in so hurried a                                                             IN MEMORIAM
 fashion, Hoeksema might well have brought a much                                     The  B'oard  of Adams Street Protestant Reformed School
 larger sector of the church  und&  the banner of his
 thought."                                                                         hereby expresses heartfelit sympathy with Mr. John Hamstra
                                                                                   in the loss of his father:
      Dr.  Daane writes much more which we  .are sorry
 ,w'e have `no more room  to. quote.                                                                          MR. JOHN Hz&STRA, Sr.
                                                       But  this~ much  ii
 plain.' !In the first  place,. it is' our opinion that he has                        May the God of grace Who performs all things  acc0rdi.n.g  to
 correctly  `obselrved that those  iti our present contro-                         His own good -pleasure, but also in unchanging love to His peo-
 versy who-have disagreed with Hoeksema "have taken                                ple comfort and sustain him in his  sorro&:
 at least  on'e theological step back  towal;d the Christian
 .Reformed  ,Church."                                                                                                  Adams St.`I%o<. Ref. School. Board
                               Whether they will  admits  it or                                                             J .   Heys,  &es.
 not, those who believe in and teach a conditional  thee-
 logy have  tie right  of. separate existence from' the                                                                     A. vermeer,.  Sec'y.
 Chyistian Reformed Churches. And we would advise                                   Grand Rapids, Michigan


