                                         :
         VOLUME XXX                                    `.NQ~BMBER.   15,.  1953  5  &AND  R.~PIDS,  MICHIGAN                          NUMBER  4


  .s     ,Hl-o-o-~,-`lro-~,-,~,,-,,-,-`,-,-`~-`,-`,-`,-`,-,,-,,-,*:.                     Who  are the objects of this Divine message of com-
1..       -.    M  .E  b  1  T  A  I][`  ]c  .@  N-  :  .i._.  fyt?
                                                                               I
  .~l-ennl,-o-,lro-`-,,-,~~,-~,~,-~,~,,-~,-,,-~,-,,-~,-,,-`,,~.                        No;- they  ape  not all men. They are not even all
                                                                                     #of the historical Israel. This is pl&n froni the nega-
                                                                                     tive side of the text: "but the wicked are like the
                                                                                     `troubled sea." Isaiah did  Lot have in mind the  wick-
                    "I-havk  seen his ways, and I will heal him:  I ~311             ed  ihat dwelled in  Edom, Moab, Egypt. and Mesa-
                lead him also, and,  re&ore  comforts unto  h&   ,amd                potamia.             Oh no, but .he had in mind the wicked in
                  do his  motirners.. I  create the' fruit of the lips;  Israel.
                  Peace, peace to him that is Xar off, ,and to him that                  But how must we understand this ? -Did not Isaiah
                  is near, saith the Lord #and  I will heaJ.  him. But  the          describe the  wi&ed in  vers 17, and are not  th,e  ob-
                  wicked are like the troubled sea, when it  cannot
                  rest, whose waters cast up mire  .and dirt. There                  jects of. the wondrous comfort of Jehovah  me'n who
                  is  no  peace,  saith  my- God, to the wicked."                    abound in the iniquity of ,.their covetousness7
                                                          -Isaiah   57:18-21             Yes, but  there is  ti difference between elect wicked
         Who  hath believed our r;port !                                            -and ,reprobate  kicked. To the elect wicked `God' says :
         That .is-:what Isaiah cried -a little way back with                         I  ;m  .going  to  he&l  yoil. I. saw your ways, even the
                    ,,
  respect to  tl&  humiliation~of  the Redeemer.  `And the                           Ways -of your heart,. but I. will both lead-you and heal
  implicatiqn  is: no one believed the report of that.suf-                           you, And doing  -so I will restore comforts unto you.
  f cring Servant.          All  tiisunderstdod  Him:                                    The objects- of the comforts. of my text  are- those
         But Isaiah could just  as- well have introduced  .this that are loved of ~God from all eternity. That is the.
  text with the same question, for it is unbelievable.                               G o s p e l .                                                    ;
         Imagine : in the immediate-context the Lord had                                Understand it? No. I cannot. But it is true
  said about His people  :- "-For the -iniquity. of his cov-                         nevertheless. My text, and thousands like it, are the
  etousness was I wroth, and smote him: I  .hid me and proof for such glad tidings.
  was wrath,  and he went bn frowardly  in the way of                                   If you are an object  pf that wondrous comfort,
  his  hea&."                                                                        then- I would have  you  @tend to  your  description, a
         Well, what  would  you  exped?  Hoyt  wodld  you description  you can trust for it  is  f;he Holy One of
and I finish this miserable story of backsliding and                                 Is@el who provides  3.
 tfansgression?  This way: "and therefore. I destroyed                                  You are characterized by iniquity of covetousness.
  those miserable sinners  !" "But instead of that we No doubt,  it refers to our  coveteousness  of natural
  hatie  our text  before us. And in that text God. says  :                          things, of the earth and earthly treasures. And to
  I have seen his ways and I will heal him! .-                                       grasp  for those things is iniquity  incleed.  God did
         How can we ever explain it?                                                not create us for that foul purpose.
         It  is the everlasting Gospel of the unspeakable                               Further, ydu and I are described as being froward
  love of God for His sinful people.                                                in the  way of our heart. That is serious indeed, for
                                                                                     out of the heart are the issues of. life. If we are
                                a  k* f.?  a                                        -froward  in the way of our  heart+  then our name is
                                                                                     froward. And froward  is that we turn our back up011
         Who are\ they?-.                                      .I              - the living God and hasten to  OUI"  idols.
                                                 `.                                        .
                                                                                                          _,-.
                                                                                           _, -~ ._ _.


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                                                                               _'
     .-            74                                            T H E   STAND&D.   PARER
                                             -
                   We ard sick with a deathly illness -for. God says                             -. It is this: healing for the sickness of death.
             that` He will hgal us. Ours  .is the, sickness  of--death                              And that is properly regeneration. It. has begun
             by nature. That  is'  wheu:e  God finds  -us: And in-the .in, the m-en of -which-my  text speaks. It has even pro-
             midst  ,of death He regenkrates  us unto life eternal. "$ressed to the stage where they are conscious of their
                   We are far  aw>y  from  ego! for the  texf;"tells  Us n'ew  life. For they mourn.
            .that Gqd w:ill--lead us; We @v6 gone  astray, but God                               `And  ,God   contintites  to heal. You -sing of i$ in the
             will lead ni- back tb the- old -paths, --the pathway, which                      House  of God. Heals  o& sicknesses  &cl pains. He
             leads  to..H&  h&-t.                 "     ,`.-           .- --            _.    redeems thee from destruction;  and-His-  love thy life
                   That's our clescriptZori,-  ailcl `I<fin& it terrible but- sustains !.
             .tTue.   -That  cliaracteriz&   eVeryone':of  those that are                           I see their ways, saith the Lord, but I will  .heal
            nyzant in  the- text.      -.                                                     t h e m !
                                                                                                 That  is the unbelievable Gospel for poor sinners,
                                  QQkrlr                                                      my brother.
                                                                                              ' But there is more.
                   However, I would have you  noie one  more word                                   He wjll lead them.
             that describes-the objects of wondrous comfort. The:,-                                 That presupposes that they are astray. We have
             are called  mou.rners.                                                           lost our, wajr as we are by nature, wander pn f&bid-
             That shows how  aGod  ah?eady -had  b&gun  His heal-                             den paths that lead to hell and damnation.
             ing  work.
                   Mourners? Jesus calls them blessed : blessed' are                                But our God promises here that He as the good
             those~ who mourn  f,or they shall be-comforted.                                  Shepherd will come and lead' us home.
                   Mourners for what? I think it- refers to' the sad-                              -He  does,._that  every day by His Word and Holy
            -ness that comes ,ovep  us *hen we see our natural e-                             Spirit. Ah me, we will  never~  understand such  lov-
      state. And it is born of the visitation from. on. high.                                 ingkindness. While we are least deserving, He comes
            When  the light of the healing  grac.e  of God enters                             and leads us- home to His bosom.
            ,our miserable and- iniquitous -heart, we  fothwith                                     And, finally, He will I*estore  the comforts.
             mourn.  Alld we mourn  With  a  mourtiifig  that is u-                             I think that Isaiah had in mind the blessed estate
             nique. Nowhere .on this world  do you find a mourn-                              of. the first paradise when- he talks her.e of restora-
             ing such as characte?izes  the objects  of this-comfort. -tion. For so  it is..  ~God's  people in Adam and Eve
             -     Paul speaks of it when he mentions  two kinds of                           were happy in Ihe first paraclis#e. Theirs was the re-
             sorrow. There is  the sorrow  of the  .wo:rld,  but that                         lation of love and friepdship of God's covenant. And
            works  death:.  But there is- also the Godly  sorrow,                             they were at peace.
            that is the s&row according to God, a -sorrow which                                  But that relationship is disturbed, broken.
             is applaoved  of God, and that works repentance.                                      But the text  tells us that the relationship shall be
                   :Oh yes; there you have the distinction between man restored.
            land man. They all' are iniquitous, be they  .el&t or
             reprobate.     But the elect wicked mourn. `- But they                                And what restoration !
            -mourn  only because God showed them their teriible                                    No, we do not regain the old paradise. But we
             estate. And when they  saws the  .abomination  which                             are caught up with &he Son of God in heavenly per-
     char.acterizes their nature, they hung the  llsad and                                    fection.  ,Ours is a world that is entirely renewed,
      cried to God.                                                                           madIe  Theavenly,  eternal and glorious. And we shall
                  Attend, t& Ezekiel 9 :4. Th angel is bidden to put                          never be able-to  fall from thatheight again.
      a  marl<. on the forehead of  all. those that sigh and                                   To view' those glories that abide! That is the
            that- cry for .a11 the abominations -that be d&e in the                           comfort of my  te3. To know and to experience the
            midst  ,of. the great city of God.                   -.                           blessed relationship of God's covenant in Christ Je-
                   And. so I could go on, telling you of`instances~  in                       sus is the comfort Isaiah reports to the nation, the
-    .. God's.  Word which tells oti a thousand  place;  of ihe                               church,
     :: mourning children  bf God.                                      `.-
                  They and they only are the objlects of the comforts
            of my text.                                                                       ,..,-;  /  !  :  I  :    fz a  4  h

                                                                                                   What is the Fountain of such glories?
                                                                                              The text will give you the answer. It is  `God. God
                                                                                              said; I have  seen his ways! And the sight of His


beloved  &hhu.& -in the clutches  .of the iniquity of cov-               -           _- -
etousness sets the bowels. of Hi& everlasting- mercy                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER
in motion. Atid #God says: I will both heal and lead                                         Semi-monthly, except monthly during July and August
him to My glorious eternal Paradise!                                     I
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    And here is the. gushing of that Fountain : listen                                                   Editor  -  REV.   HERMAN  HOEKSEMA
to Him: I create the fruit of the lips!                                          Communications relative to contents should be addressed to Rev. H.
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is created ,of God. He has the  message  in His Divine                                Entered  a Second Class matter at Grand Rapids, Michigan
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Spirit, He gives them the story of everlasting salva-                                                                                -
tion.
    And when `God has filled you to over&flowing with                         ,~,,1,,~,,~,,~,11`,~`,~~,~,,~~,~~,~,-,,~,,~`~~,~-,,-,,-,,-,,-"-
that message of  comfort  and redemption, you  cry:
P e a c e !   P e a c e !                                                                                            C Q N T E N T S
    Yes, you shall have an audience.  ,God also pro-  MEDITA~~;essage   of  Comfort . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                                                         . . . .
vides the audience.                                                                                                                                                                                    73
                                                                                             Rev. G. Vos
    There are those who are denominated  as being  EDITORI;LS-
near. They are without doubt the  descendents  of A-  1                               Earmarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...*.....                    .  . . . . . 76
braham,   ISaac, arid Jacob. Salvation came first to                                         Rev.  H .   H o e k s e m a
t h e   J e w s .                                                             A s   T o   BOOKS-
   But it is~also for those who ape afar off. They are                                Gestalten der Liefde by  Dr. G.  Bril/enb;rrg-Wurth  . . .                                            . . . . 78
the heathen .nations. Also they shall hear the fruit of                               Tijd en Eeuwigheid  by  Rev.  I. M. Spier . . . . . . . . . . .                                 . . . . . . . 78
th& lips, .created fruit. You  shall be able to recognize                             I&ding  in de  Zielk&de'by   Dt. A.  k'uipers  . . . . . .                                            . . . . 78
the Divine ,Crkator  of the message. The message is                                          Rev. H. Hoeksema
<God-like.                                                                    OUR  DOCTRINE-
                                                                                                                                                                                     . . . . . . . 79
    And they shal! hear, and be. comfoyted.                                           The Triple Knowledge .,,......................
                                                                                             Rev. H. Hoeksema
 -And they shall sing unto all eternity of such beau-                         PHI  DAY  OF  SHADOW;-
ties.                                                                                 The Prophecy of Isaiah .   .   .   .   .   .   . . * . . . . . . . . . . . . . . * .                  . . . . 82
                                                                                             Rev. G. M. Ophoff

                       `_                                                     F R O M   H O L Y   WRIT-
                             *     *     *     *.                                     Exposition of I Peter  1:17 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                      . . . . . . . 83
                                                                                             Rev. G. Lubbers

    But the wicked are like the troubled sea!                                 1~~  HIS  FEAR-                                                                                               . . . . 87
    When it cannot rest.                                                              Afraid of the Gospel .   .   . . * . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
                                                                                             Rev. J. A. Heys
    And they' prove their restlessness: their  waters
                     -  _.                                                    CONTENDING   F O R   ~HF;  FAITH-
cast up mire and dirt.                                                                The Church and the Sacraments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                                89
    Here I tremble for two reasons.                                                          Rev. H.  Veldman
    I am  nc& better than they.                                          THE  VOICE   OF  OUR  FATHERS-
    And their end is terrible, too terrible to contem-                                The Canons of Dordrecht .,.........,.................... 91
plate.                                                                                       Rev. H. C. Hoeksema
    T:hey  cannot rest. There is no peace for  them.   I                      DECENCY   AND  ORDER-
                                                                                      Changing Pastorates               . . . . . . . . . . . . , . . . . . . .-; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .      93
pity men who-cannot rest. They cannot celebrate the                                          Rev. G.  Vanden Berg
Sabbath of Jesus who brought,  all  lhe peace and rest                        AIL  AROUND  `Us-
for the mourning -ones.                                                               The Third Ecumenical Synod . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                           95
    ,O God ! how good. Thou art,!                                                            Rev. M.  Schipper
                                                         G. Vos.


                                                                  But-the various contradictory attempts at explana-
                                                                tion simply reveal that he and his supporters intend
  1'  EDITORIALS-                                               to maintain the heresy of those statements.            Only,
                                                                they try to present the heresy as if it `were sound
                                                                Protestant Reformed truth.
                               Eiwmarks     _                          Here  ane some of the interpretations offered of the
                                                                first statement:
     When I read all the attempts to explain the hereti-
 cal statements of De Wolf, I am reminded of the pas-                  1. If the gospel is preached and that gospel comes
 sage in Eph. 4 :14,15,  and of the synodical  sermon I with the demand to repent and believe,.this  demand is
 preached on that text in 1950, the year when the               preached to every one promiscuoussly.
 Declarati&  of Principles was first adopted.                          Compare this with the statement: "God promises
                                                                to every one of you that, if you believe yo~z shall b,e
     The text reads as follows: "That we henceforth             qaved."      Does the interpretation even remotely re-
 be no more children, tossing to and fro, and carried           semble the statement made by De Wolf, either in form
 about with every wind of doctrine; by the sleight of           or content?  You say: NO.
 men, and cunning craftin'ess,  whereby they lie in wait                                         _ 4.
 to deceiye ; -but speaking the truth in love, may grow            2.  ,God  promises you, elect  &nd believers in Christ,
 up into.- bin-i in all things, w.hich is the head, even        salvation in the way of and by means of faith.
 Jesus Clirist."                                                  I ask, is this at all the same `as saying : God prom-
    I  thkn,.emphasize$  especially that, in order to grow      ises every  one of you that, if you believe, you shall be
 up ill .Chr&t,  we must, of course, grow in the truth          saved? You answer, of course: NO.
 and that, in order to grow in the truth, tie must not             Again I ask: is this interpretation the same as
 be like small children that are easily deceived by false       that given under  l?  You  answer, of course : it is
 doctrine and false teachers. By all  meags, we must            entirely different.
 not think the best `of them as if -they are men that              3. The statement really  me,ans that the promise
 mlean  well although, perhaps, they innocently err. We         of  <God is for the elect. For (1) "The  promise"  here,
 should rather conceive. of them as men that have the           evidently, does not include faith.       (2) Faith is a gift
 earmarks of gamblers, that play with th& truth, and            of God. (3) This gift is bestowed only on the elect.
 are  chqracterized  by ,cunning  craftiness, whereby they      (4) Hence, the statement : "God promises salvation to
 lie in .wait t.o deceive.                                      you if you believe". is the same as saying: God prom-
    A man thtit speaks the truth does not have to ex-           ises salvation to the elect.
 .plain his statements or have them- explained by others.  '       How conveniently the phrase "every one of you"
 And a man that speaks w,hat is c1earl.y  a lie and then        is here eliminated and replaced by "the elect." More-
 attempts to cover up the lie because be inadvertently          over, does this interpretation agree with that under
 spoke  the lie too clearly naturally runs into all kinds       1 and  2?  You  answer:  NlO.                _-
 of contradictions which simply corroborate that he                4: We must distinguish between the great  oath-
 speaks the lie and ganibles with the tkuth.                    bqund promise and other promises in Scripture. The
    The latter is the case with the statements of De' first stiatement  by De Wolf did not refer to the former
 Wolf and all that' support him and attempt tb give             but only to the latter.
 a good explanation to his statements.                             I ask: does this interpretation -agree  with any of
 They gamble  with  the truth.                                  the others referred to above? You answer, of course:
    I -do not hesitate to say that, in their attempt to         NO.
 make the lie appear as  the. truth, they are p!aying              Again I ask: when De Wolf spoke of the promise
hocus ~OCZLS, they are guilty of what the aspostle calls        of salvation did he not mean the same as the "oath
"the sleight of men" and "cunning craftiness.".                 -bound promise to Abraham?" You say: YES.
                       r_..
    The statements  J  a.re so clearly heretical that they         5. De Wolf addressed the whole congregation as it
 are `in no need of an explanation f,or any Protestant          exists organically. He meant that congregation when
 Reformed man.                                                  he said: God promises every one of you that, if you
    In fact, I am convinced that De Wolf himself knew           believe, you shall be saved.
 this even `bef,ore he went to the pulpit on both occa-            Ingenious  ca.mouflage  !
 sions. I am convinced that, when he prea.ched those               But if you address the congregation as a whole
 sermons, ther'e. was no love f,or the Protestant Reform-       you say: saints in Christ Jesus, believers in the Lord
 ed. truth` in his -heart, and that he very deliberately        Jesus Christ, believers and your (spiritual) seed. The
 meant to contradict that truth as,- in fact, he did.           moment you say: "every  one of you," you exactly do


                                            THE  STA~ARD~EA-RER                                                                 77
                               I - _ . -                                           :        -                              c
not address the congregation as. it .ex&ts  organically,           You,aile   protid  of being Protestant Reformed. Don't
 but' every individual in the audience, -elect and  repro-         think.?youU  20 to heaven because you are Protestant
  bate, member and stranger.  Moreoyer,  in that case Reformed."`
  you do nqt address the congregation at all, f,or the                  Hence, it is my conviction that the context  cer-
  .congregation  consists of believek;s  and- their spiritual @inly does not improve the statement that was finally
seed, sanctified in  ,Christ,  and you  ce,&ainly  do pot          condemned as literally heretical.
  address believers by the conditional clause: If you  b'e-             The sermon was bad throughout.. It was a sermon
lieve.  Just try it and say: Believers, if -you believe
you shall be saved,                         /                      such as should  neve? have been preached from a Pro-
                                                                   testant  Rleformed  pulpit.
      Ingenious, too, because ihe author by this inter-                 All these desperate attempts at interpretation,
  pretation exactly touches one of the most fundamental            how.ever,  reveal  ,plainly  .: (1) That the interpreters
  efrors in- the statements (both) of De .Wolf.  He has-.
  no conceptibn  of the `Church. He really has nd room %hetiselves  very well understand, that what  Classis
  for infant baptism.  -The  `congrlqgation  does not-  con-       E,ast expressed is true: the statement is literally her-
                                                                   etical. (2) That the interpreters show the earmarks
  sist of those that. are sanctified in Christ (-young as
  tie11 as old, parents and  &ildren).  but as a crowd             of -real heretics  when they, nevertheless, insist on
  that is to be evangelized; Sermons  such as he  preach-          thus  presenting  the lie as the: truth by their would be
  ed would fit-very well in any Arminian revival meet-             interpretations.           They  play hocus pocus with the
  in&, certainly not in a Reformed church.                         truth. And they  .deceive the people.
      But again- I' ask : -does this explanation agree with
  any- of the above mentioned attempts at interpreta-              p
  tion? I  am confident that you Will say: NO.                          It is somewhat striking that  ;the statement from
      I could mention more explanations. One other   I             the  secbnd  sermon that  was condemned as literally
  must mention, .although it really is no ~-attempt  to in-        heretical did not find so many .supporters  and inter-
  terpret the first statement, nor, for that matter the            preters  as the first one. This cer%&iply cannot be due
  second. It is :         ,                                        t-0 the  f,act that  the.  error -in  ,the statement  ii less
      6.  we agree that .th,e statement taken  by i&&f  is serious. It really implies that even regeneration is an
  heretical, but you must interpret it in the light of its         act which man can or must perform before he enters
  context.                                                         into the kingdom of  ,God. For is it not true that un-
     Very well. But  1 insist  .that, in  t;he light of the        less a man be born  again be cannot see the kingd.om
  context,  t.he statement certainly does  not improve.            of God?  D,oes  not Jesus say that unless a man is
     What is the  co&&t? This  :,                                  born  .of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter -into
      1. The sermon was  preached   ipmediately  after             qhe kingdom. of God?                 But, perhaps, the fact that
  Classis   East adopted  $he Declaration of' Principles. this statement does  not.find  so many interpreters and
  That  Declartition  maintains  @longly that the promise          explanation must.  b.e explained by the difficulty of try-
  of God is not fos ~a11 but only for the elect atid is un-        ing to present even that error as if it were Reformled
  conditional. In direct opposition to this, and, -1 have          and Biblical.
  no doubt, deliberately;De  Wolf preached-a-  conditional              The  matter seems  .too clear.
  p r o m i s e   f o r   a l l .                                       Outside of ,the kingdom of God we are in darkness.
      2. In the sermon he said: "You  have nothing to                   In that darkness, we are, according to the  Heidel-
 clo with election and reprobation, your responsibility berg Catechism, totally depraved, incapable of doing
  is to believe. If you will believe  you shall be saved."         any good and inclined to all evil,  unlless we are  re-
  Or: "ele&on and reprobation have nothing to- do  wi$h generated by the Spirit of #God.
  the gospel." That he said this -in this sermon, which-
  I did snot hear, `is- for me tiorroborated  by :two :facts  :         How, then, is it pos:ible,  as De Wolf, proclaimed
  (1) -In the sermons I did, hear- of-.De Wolf he often~ in the statement that  wae condemned as literally
  &her silenced br belit&& election and reprobation.               heretical `and, in fact, `throughout the sermon. from
  (2) In the  second  sermon  %o  which  objections -were          which  the statement was taken, except in the last two
~l~dgecl, and against  which I  person.+&  protested, he           or three ~s&tt&es,  that. hour act of `conversion is a
  cleprecated  the  tr\lth of election, In one of the an-prerequisite  to- enter into the kingdom of  G&d  ?
  swe?s to, the protests he denies'this-and  claiins.  that         -1' think that the supporters  -of De Wolf feel the
  he  only warlied  against "abusin'g  the precious d&r&e          difficulty.
  of election.":~  .But this is  simply  aquntruth.~.                   Hence, I  :&aily~fiild but two attempts at  interpret-
     3. In the  ~same sermon he also said : "Some of you           iiig  .tl$S  ~~z+qn&xt~   :  :=  ~,-  -.    _
  carry Protestant Reformed  -on the iapei of your coat.'          -".. The one is that which likes to explain away the


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        -                            - - - - -   .                                            -.                        - - - - -
                                                                  :
        PRE in prerequisite and explain it in the, sense of re-                       J. M. Spier. Published by J. H.  Kok,  N.V.,  Dampen,  the
        q,uisite.                                                                     Netheal,ands,  Price f.  8:90.
             The other likes to emphasize that our- daily con-                          T.he Rev. Spier has a philosophical mind and is
       version is a continual entering into the kingdom of                         very much interested in  philobophical  problems as
        God, and that the former is a prerequisite to the latter.                  ought to be evident to the reader from, the several
             To this I must call yopr attention next time.                   --    books by him I have revi'ewed  in the S&&&l  BenneT.
                                                                - H . H .          From  the start he was interested in what is called "De
                                                                                   Wijsbegeerte der Wetsidee" and, ther,efore,  I am not
                                                                                   surprised that now a book  appeal.s  on the subject
                            -...---:::----                                         "Time   and Eternity." The book reviews largely the
                                                          -.
                                                   .     ..                        different conceptions of time presented from the ear-
                                                                                   liest times till the present by different philosophers
                       A S   T O   B O O K S                                       and theologians as well as by the authors of the "wijs-
                                                                                   begeerte der wetsidee" (the philosophy of the idea of
     i GESTALTEN DER  LIE:FDE   (l&nifestatidns of Love); by Dr.                   law), discusses different questions  .related  to the pro-
          G. Brillenburg-Wurth.    Published by J. H.  Kok,,,N:?.   k&n-           blem of time, devotes a separate chapter to the  qu'es-
          pen,  the Netherlands. Price f. 4.95.                                    tion as to time and the human heart, and- closes with
             In this book the author discusses  ,various aspects-or                a chapter on the relation between eternity and time.
       manifestations of love; or, perhtaps,  it is better to say                      What struck my-attention is that, it seems to me
       that he discusses love in its various aspects or  hanifes-                  for the first time, the Rev. Spier criticizes a rather
       tations.      ("Gestalten" is somewhat'difficult  to translate- fundamental conception of Dooyeweerd's. It is the
       into English). Thus the author discusses love. as in-                       idea  thati-the-human-heart  -is not subject to time but
       stinct, as feeling, as fellowship, as confidence, as meet-                  is super-temporal. For the undersigned, however,
       &g.together,  as conversation, as service, as sacrifice, as                 this is of less importance because 1. do not believe that
       forbearance, as mercy, as humanitarianism, as bro-                          according to Scripture, the heart.is  the, center of man's
       therhood, as' friendship, as love  bf one's enemies. And                    existance  -frofi a natural viewpoint: it is a spiritual
       he closes with two chapters on t&e cooling off and on                       -ethical  concept.
       the quickening of love. The author discusses all these                          This, you understand, is not a book for the average
       aspects of  Jove in the light of much that modern  phil-                    reader, not even if he can read Dutch. But to those
       losophy and psychology has written in recent times' a-                      that are  interested in philosophical problems I gladly
     bout-thle subject.                                                            recommend the book.
             A very  intereiting  book which  the  average   i-ntel-                   I had expected a little more  on Barth's conception
\      ligent reader that knows his Dutch- ought t.6 be able                       of the relation between time and eternity. -H.H.
       to enjoy. To him I heartily recommend the book.
             The  b'ook is biblical and Reformed. Yet, I  `have                                           ---e:s-.-B:-
       read books of the same author that are more strict-
       iy biblical and reformed than this  one. It seems  tb INLEIDING  IN DE  ZLELKUNl3E  (Introduction to Psycho-
       me that, if Dr. Brillenburg W@h bad follqwed  a lit-                          logy) by Dr. A. Kuipers.           Published by J. H. Kok, N.V.,
       tle different line, the book would have gained btith in                       Dampen,   t.he Netherlands. Price f. 16.50.
       clarity and in definiteness. I would rather have pro-                           This book enjoys its third print, and it is fully
       ceeded at once from the biblical concept- that love is                      worthy of it. It is not a -book written for the general
       a spiritual-ethical conception, the  bond of perfectness,                   public. Yet I think that the intelligent reader that
       that can exist  .only between  the ethically perfect' per-                  is able to read Dutch, would be interested in reading
       sons ; and in that light I would have viewed the dif-                       it. And I recommend it especially to all our ministers
       ferent aspects  of "natural love,"  .ihe  distincti&'  be-                  who, of course, mu& also be pedagogues.
       tween .&he love of the brethren and  bf the neighbor in                         As to the contents of the book, after an introduc-
       general, the love of one's `enemies, etc., etc.                             tion in which the author discusses the significance of
             But, as I said, the book is interesting;' the style is psychology, its `history, division and method, it is  di-
       clear, and I recommend the book to the average reader -vided into an analytic part and a synthetic part. The
       that knows his Dutch.                                    - H . H .          former  <treats of the various functions of the soul, sen-
                                                                                   sation, perception and  apperception,  memory, concept,
                            -::-;--                                                etc. In the second part, the author discusses the soul
                                                                                   as an entity, the seat of `ali the different functions
       TIJD EN  EFUWIGHEIID  (Time and Eternity), by the Rev.                      tinalized  in the first parti`. -' " ..`.
                                                                                                                         i  I-,.  ;
                                                                                                                                       ,:.c  -


             I consider this one of the best books I have read          their feet if they should be called to defend their posi-
        on the subject of psychology from the biblical view-            tion..
        point. It is very clearly written.           .                     It is; then,  not superfluous to call attention to this
             In the discussion of the relation  betweeri  soul and      histo&al  development of the sabbath  of the Lord our
        body in tihich, by the way, I personally was always             God in its different historical phases.
        interested, the author also briefly present+  the concep-           These different phases, or stages, of development
        tion of the "wijsbegeerte der  wetsidee"~  without, how-        we designate by the terms  creation-sabbath, shadow
        ever,  commiting  himself to any criticism. I would             -sabbath, resurrection-sabbath, and the fina& or per-
       have liked to read  his.cr,iticism.                              fected sabbath in ,the day of our -Lord Jesus Christ.
             Heartily recommended.                            --H.$L        All the more proper it is to call attention to these
                                                                        stages-of development, because the Word of  $God points
                                                                        us. to them in Hebrews 4. For clearly, the author of
                                      El             -                  that epistle speaks of the creation-sabbath in the lat-
                                                                        ter part of Hebrews 4  :3, and in the fourth verse of
                                                                        that chapter, where he .writes:  "Although the works'
                                                                        were finished  from the foundation of the world. For
                                                                        he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this
        1                                                               wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his
        .:.lltU`-O-`NI,-`-,,-~,-,-~,-,,-,,-,,-,,-~,-,,-,,-"-,-,,-9~     works."       Yet the  author  continues to  &y that al-
              THETRIPLEKNOWLEDGE                                        though this creation-re&  would appear to be the rest
                                                                        of Go& He also spake of another day for His people
             AN EXPOSITION OF THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM                  in the land of <Canaan, when He said: "If they shall
                     PA&T  III  -  O                                    enter into my rest."             This, therefore, was another
                                      F  THANKFULNESS                   rest, another sabbath, a different stage in the develop-
                                 LORD'~  DAY 38                         ment of the  ,sabbath. But even  *his is not the final
                                                                        stage: for "Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying
                                 Chapter. 2                             in David, Today, after so long a time; as it is! said,
              The Historic Piases  of the Weekly Sabbath                Today  ff ye will hear his voice, harden not your
                                                                        hearts. For if Jesus (Joshua)' had given them  r,est,
             The question must now. be asked and answered :             then would he n,ot afterward ,have spoken ,of another
        why do the Christians in the neti  dispensation cele-           day." The rest in the land  9f Canaan, therefore, was
        brate the first -day, rather than the last day of the           not the final rest. For even after Joshua had led them
      week? In order to answer this lques;tion, we must call            into the rest, the Lord still spoke of another day, of
        attention to the different phases of the .weekly  sab-          a rest that was still to come. That other day is the
        bath in the history of the development of ,God's  cov-          day of the new dispensation, now, the work of God is
       .enant.  The work which  `God performs  for--His  peo-           finished in Christ Jesus. That  day of rest is therefore
        ple in preparing for them the eternal rest, though it           now realized, but it is not yet perfected in its final
.       is perfect in His counsel from all eter,nity, is never-         manife&&ion.,  It is not yet revealed in all its glory.          ,,_
        theless realized for us in time, and follows a certain          An'd.th&%c&,`there  still remaineth a sabbath for the
     line-  ,of historical development, and in  tihe course of          peopl,e   &:  ,(f$di"  :H&.  4  :$I.
        history presents certain distinct tihases.                          From'this passage two things appear. at once evi-
             The  Se:venth   Day Adventist, besides committing          dent. First of all, it is plain from Hebrews 4 that the
        the error` df. consideritig~  the Fourth' Commandment           idea of the sabbath is that of (God's people' entering
        part of an outward code wl!ich must be kept, rather             into His rest,  int9..  His.::g+erlastitig  covenant.    And
        than looking at it from the viewpoint of the law of             secon,dly, it is also evident  from this chapter that the
        perfect liberty, also commits the fundamental err,or            weekly sabbath passed through certain definite his-
        that he does not recog?ize  the historical progress of <torical  phases: the sabbath of creation, the sabbath
        God's work, and  t$e&ore  insists that even in the              in the land of Cariaan, the sabbat,h  in the new ,dispensa-
        new dispensation  ye must still celebrate the sabbath           tion, and the final sabbath in eternal glory.
      o f   c r e a t i o n .                                               First of all, then, Scripture speaks of the sabbath
             It is to be feared that many people of God under-          *of creation. aGod had finished the:,creation  of the hea-
        stand very little of this fundamental error of the Ad- vens and of the earth, -and on the seventh day He
        ventist, and although by f,or,ce  of tradition they keep rested.            This  cex%ainly  does not imply that the al-
     _  the first day of the week, might easily be swept off            mighty  and ever-living and active God was idle for


 a day. For as we showed in the `preceding  ih&ter,             *or the better thing He had provided for His people
 this is quite inconceivable, being in conflict with the        in Christ Jesus is the eternal rest and-perfect manifes-
divine nature. And the Lord emphatically denies this,           tation of His covenant life, the  h,eavenly tabernacle of
 when He says to the criticizing Jews: "My Father               God with men. Of that eternal tabernacle the fist
 worketh  hi&esto,-and  I. work.`: John 5 :I?`. But  it does    paradise was but an image. When the image disap-
 signify that He  ceased  from creating, and that  He en-       peared, God began a new work, the work of grace and
 tered into the enjoyment of His finished work. This            salvation. He began-to realize the higher  manifesta-
 work of six days and rest on the seventh day,  .we             `tion of His covenant, and to lead His people into the
 must  undlerstand, is a revelation  .of  `God in time.         rest of that other day of which, He spoke, and always
 Within. God, and  bef,ore His eternal counsel, creation        speaks, in the gospel.    It is the work  qf grace, by
 -wo.rk and rest are identical, and eternally God'enters which He causes them to cease from the labor and
 into the enjoyment of Hiscompleted  work. Now, God toil and slavery of sin, delivers them from the bqnd-
 also sanctified and blessed that seventh day, so that          age of corruption and darkness and death, and leads
 it became a sabbath for man. For rntifi to enter  into them into the perfect liberty  of the children of  God
`God's rest. He was created after God's image, that is,         and to that highest covenant fellowship in which they
 with a creaturely  likeness of `God, adapted to live in        may know Him even as they are  known,  and see Him
 God's~  covenant fellowship, in true knowledge of God, +we to face.
righteousness and holiness, that he might know  ,God,              Of that rest the land of Canaan was `a type, even
 love Him with all his heart and mind and soul and              as Egypt is typical of the unrest and bondage of sin.
 strength, be wholly consecrated to Him, and serve Him          When God delivered Israel with a mighty hand out of
 as king under God in-connection with the entire earth-         Egypt, led them through the Red Sea and through the
 ly creation. Man was  :God'S  friend-servant. In the           wilderness, fed them with manna, and quenched their
 first paradise. it was hi,? calling to labor in order to       thirst  wi.th water from the rock, made them pass over
 enter into God's rest, keeljing  the garden, opposing          .Jordan,  and gave them the land of Canaan for a pos-
 the devil, and maintaining the covenant of God. --Thus         session, He led them into rest. Hence, the very heart
man would celebrate the sabbath, and eat of the tree            of that land was to be sought in the tabernacle and
 of life which was in the midst of the garden.                  temple, where God dwelt with and among His people.
    Howlever,  the first man did not enter <nto the `rest       Hence, too,  Cana'an  was preeminently a sabbath land;
,of (God. He violated thre covenant of ,Gd'd, denied his        and in it the people must celebrate the weekly sabbath,
 Sovereign Friend, and became a`friend of Satan,~  the          the sabbaths of  manjr special festivals, the sabbatical
 enemy of  ,God.  He fell. And the whole human race             year, the year of jubilee. Hence, too, the weekly sab-
fell with him into that which is the very antithesis
of the sabbath of the Lord, the labor  ahid toil, the           bath was  & memorial in Israel, to make them remem-
                                                                ber the great deliverance which God wrought for them
darkness `and corruption, the  -guilt and unrest of sin,        when He liberated them from  the yoke of bonclage:
the. iyages  of which is death. God had spoken of His
rest to man,  and~the first man had despised the rest.          "And remember that thou wast servant in the land
And God had-.sworn  that he shoirld not enter into -His         of Egypt, and that the Lord God brought thee out
rest because of' his- sin, disobedience, and rebellion.         thence through a mighty  hand  `and a stretched  -out
He was exiled,'  atid` banished from God's presence.            arm: therefore the [Lord thy !God commanded thee to
The tabernacle of  aGo< had appeared in paradise long keep the sabbath day." Deut.  5:15. The Old Testa-
enough to be shown as .an image of the glorious,, ever-         ment Joshua, therefore, as a type of `Jesus, led the
lasting rest; but in the first man -Adam it could not           people of G,od into the rest which God had prepared
be maintained and  gleorified.  It was with man no              for them.
longer.                                                            Yet, even so the w,ork  of God was not finished. God
   But God had provided some  b&ter  thing  for  us.            had provided still some better thing  f&or  us. ,Canaan
Heb. 11:40. Although His works were finished from               was a phase of the sabbath of the Lord, a stage in its
the foundation of the world, ,Heb. 4:3, and although            historical development, a type of the better and eternal
He rested on the-seventh day from all His works,  Heb.          rest, but not the rest itself. In this final sense Joshua
4 :4 ; and although He had cr'eated %an to enter into           had  ,not given the people of God rest. This is evident
that r.est with Him and in His fellowship, so that when         from the fa& that even after Joshua had led them
man failed to enter into that r&t of creatiod  the sab-         into the land of  Cana.an,   IGod still spake of another
bath seemed past and lost forever; yet He spoke of              day; still put  lthe sabbath in the future and in the
another day, of a better and higher rest that was to            light of the promise.. Heb. 4 :7, 8. And if Ctanaan .had
come. His counsel was- not finished with the work of been the rest, He.would not have spokeri of another
creation, neither at all frustrated by the fall of man.         day. The fact is  tha.t- the whole of  tliat typical rest,


with oil and wine and corn, with temple and altar and /               This  is~,.the idea of the weekly sabbath for the
sacrifice, with prophet and priest and king, with.-  iis          chur&' in the new dispensation.
continual threat of ,God's impending  curse, which be-               Yet,. even now the sabbath is not fully manifested.
came more and more a reality as history advanced,                 Spiritually and in principle,  ilideed,  the tabernacle
and was fulfilled-when. Jerusalem was finally. destroyed *of God is with men. -We cease from works and have
and t-he nation was cast off;-that all these things               peace  with God. But  w,e are still living in the strange
loudly proclaimed that Canaan could~ not be the rest              country. And though we do not battle in order to ob-
of God and that  the earthly  jerusalemmwfis  nd abiding tain the victory,-for this we have, in Christ Jesus
city. Fact is, %oo, that under the inflyence  of all these `our Lord,-although we do not work in order to merit
clear testimonies, and in the light `of the ever repeated the ?est of ,God, yet we must still labor and fight, be-
promise by the prophets, the true people of God in                cause we possess the. rest `only in principle. Arid in
Israel longed to be ,delivered  from the yoke of. the law,        the world we shall have tribulation. Hence, while
and lived in the hope of the salvation of the Lord.               principally we have  &-&red into the  rest,`the  sabbath
It was only in that- hope- that they. could still keep            still {is `preeented  to us in the light of the promise, and
the. sabbath, eyen in captivity in a strange country.             there-still  `remaineth  a rest  -for the people of God.
Is.  `52 :2. The .blood of -bulls. and goats, as became           That rest will be revealed~  when all God's oounsel  is
gradually more and more evident, could never .-make               accomplished, when the last enemy shall have been
perfect and lead to the rest (of the Lord.                        overcome, when Christ shall cbrne- again, make our
    Hence,  (God spoke of -another day. He still wqrked           mortal bodies like unto  His most glorious body, make
to realize the rest f,or His people. And He realized it           all things new, and establish the glorious, heavenly,
in Jesus Christ. He accomplished. it when He sent                 and eternal tabernacle of God with men. Then the
His only begotten Son into the flesh, and in the Son work ,of <God shall have been finished, and we shall en-
united Himself  in.personal unity with man. Ifi Him,              ter with Him ifit0 the eternal rest of perfect fellow-
God and man-in unity of divine Person, the tabernacle ship, the sabbath of perfect activity, to the praise and
of. God is -centrally, with man iti `such a way-  &at it glory of Him that loved us from all eternity.
can be destroyed nevermore. God dwells in Him with                                                                    - H . H .
His people  fcbrevep.  He  ve&ied it,  nm&$ver,  when
Christ labored at the Head of ail His people. to en-
ter into the rest  of God in the way of His justice and                         -_---  pJ  -
righteousness. For He labored  and toiled, He strove
and fought the battle alone against all the powers of
tlarkness,  sin, and the devil. He suffered and shkd
His lifeblood  3n the toil of His soul. He died and en-              "I may say, that in the forty years in which I
tered  into.hhe agony of hell as the faithful Friend              fulfilled my duty as Professor of Sanscrit  in the Uni-
Servant of God, the better and last Adam,  that h&d               versity of Oxford, I have dedicated as much time to
come  t,o do  $h& Father's will, In the midst of His.toil         the study of the holy books of the East as any man
He became `exceedingly &orrowfuI,  even  unto death.              in ,the world. And I wager to say that in this col-
In the depth of His suffering He "became utterly a,               lection of books the basic note is,  they all agree-these
mazed;  Yet, He was always perfectly obedient. And .holy books-be it Veda of the Brahmans, Purana of
at the end of it aI! `He could g0 i.n the peaceful con-           Siwa and Wishnu, the Koran of the Mohammedans,
sciousness that all was finished. Through Him- God the Zendavesta of the Parsans-they all agree and
?ctiomplished  the  wok'k,   realized the rest,` when He          find their unifying principle, which permeates them
raised Him, from ithe d.e$d; and. gave Him heavenly all, in this: salvation by works. They  all teach that
`glory. The sabbath  of- the Lord is accomplished on              salvation must be purchased, and that the price con-
the first day of the week, the clay of the resurrection.          sists` iii their own works and merits.
On the other, the glorioils,  the heavenly side of the              - "Our own Bible, our holy Book from the East, is
open grave stands the Immanuel; and procl+ms: "It                 from beginning to end a protest against this teaching.
is finished. Rest from your toil and labor, .from sin             Good works are indeed required in the holy Book from
and death. Come unto me, all ye that labor and are `the East, even more than-in any other holy books from
heavy laden,  and I will give you rest:".                         the East, but they are exclusively the out-flow of a
 Into that rest of  th.e resurrection of Jesus Christ             thankful heart. They are wholly thank-offering, whol-
we now enter by faith. It is the rest from @i-our own !y fruit of faith. They are no redemption money of
wo?ks,  from sin anh unrighteousness and death.: P,oSi-           the disciples of Christ . . . ." -Max  Muller
tively, it is the rest  oft entering into  -the perfect right-              Dr. H.. Bavinck, Gereformeerde Dogmatiek, p. 484,
.eousness .of .God  and His blessed covenant fellow&ip.                     Vol. III,                                    I


82                                               PHE  S-TANDAtiD.   B E A R E R
                                   ~___

             s.                                            _'   I_    %h61e  e&h. It was "one vast plain,  adoreed  and en-
.:*,U,H,-II-LIIO-,,-~,-,,-,,-,,-~-,,-,-,-,,-,-,-,-,-,-`.:.~
                                                                      riched by the Euphrates and the Tigris, from which,
                                                                      and from the  numer.ous  canals that intersected the
                                                                      country from one. river to the other, water was dis-
                    T-he  Prophecy  of  Isaiah                        tributed over the fields by manual labor and by hy-
                                  (Continued)                         draulic machines, giving rise, in that warm climate
           I . .                                                      and rich exhaustless soil, to. an exuberance of pro-
III.  Pr80phecies against individual nations  ,of  Is;                duce without a known parallel, over so extensive a
rael's and Judah's limited w.orld,  chaps.xiii-xxiii.                 region, either in ancient or modern times."
 1.  The first prophecy against Babylon, chap. .xiii:                     But today this same region is a vast wilderness
l-xiv:23.                    ,                                        uninhabited except by wild beasts. And the city of
      a; This. prophecy is initroduced  `bi a prediction: of          Babylon is a heap, a wilderness, a dry land, a desert.
:the clesolation.  .of th,e anti-Christ&n world power `(the           Every one `&at goeth by is astonished.
Babylon of Revelation 18) that -is still to appear and                    &o has this prophecy been fulfilled to the very let-
of w:hich  the.cit$  and &ate  of Babylon of ,the Euihra-             ter. Yet at the time ,of its origination and proclama-
tes valley was the prophetic type.                                    tipn, the city and state of Babylon as a world power
      The Lord musters the hosts of heaven against it: had riot yet made its .appearance. It  tias  nbt until
Judging from its noise, it is a great people that gathe?s             at least 70 years after Isaiah's death that  Nabopolas-
together, a multi.tude, kingdoms of natitons. And they                sar in alliance with the Median king overthrew Nin-
come from the four -corners of the earth t,o destroy                  eveh the capital of Assyria and founded this new Ba-
the whole land as the weapons of the Lord's indigna-                  bylonian empire. So here we have Isaiah foretelling
tion,  chap.~  xiii :2-5.                                             the passing away and complete desolation of a king-
      Doubtless this "multitude" is the ,Gog and Magog                dom 70 years before its appearance.
of Ezek. xxxviii  :2 and of Rev. xx  :8. ..
      b. Prophecy of the final judgment and end of all                    There is a theory that insists that this and similar
things.                 \                                             prophecies of Isaiah originated long after his death
      The day of ithe Lord is at hand, coming as a de-                and were spoken by another  p$rson, a so-called
struction from the Almighty. Aware  of this, men's                    second or even third Isaiah. Underlying this theory
hearts melt and there is ,110 more spirit left in them;               is the view that prophecy, definitely the prophecies of
they let their hands  $a11  limp. And well may  they.                 these eighth century prophets such as the one with
For the day oft the Lord  cometh cruel with wrath and                 which we are  XV occupied, are not prophecies at all
fierce anger to lay the land desolate and to d&troy                   but history,  that is, the narration of events during or
the sinners out of it. Stars, sun, and moon shall be                  after their transpiration; or at best prediction based
darkened. The Lord will punish the whole world for its                on mere human f,o+esight  and thus limited as to its
wickedness. In His wrath He shall shake the heavens                   rang,e  and reach to these prophets' own historical hor-
and the earth shall remove out of her place, vss. 6-13.               izon.
      c. Prophecy again& the city and  killgdom  of Baby-                Men of today who make a study of our times fore-
lon  .of the Euphrates valley.                                        see war between the Western powers and Russia. But
      It is fanied  for its glory alid excellence ; and many- what they see is their own fallible deduction which
persons from all nations have gone  t,o live there. But               they make from the present state of affairs of our
the time will come when e&&y  man will flee the city                  world. So, too, lthe prophets, it is said. As students
like a chased roe and seek safety with his own people.                of world  affai,rs  they concluded from the turn of e-
For Babylon  sha!l fall.              The Lord will  sti,r up the     vents of their day that Babylon would be destroyed.
Me&s against them. And they shall be activated not                    And that is prophecy of the Bible ; it is human specu-
by lust of booty but by a different motive. What                      lation regarding the future of men and  Xii8tidns.
this motive is the -prophet does not reveal. Babylon                     But this is not the position  `of faith. True the
shall be uninhabited  f&eder,  and  ilts palaces  desolate.           text at IChap. 13 :l does state : "The burden of Baby-
No wandering Arabian shall pitch `his tent there, that lon, which Isaiah the son of Amos did sefe." But what
is, use it as a temporary st@pping  place; nor `a &ep-                Isaiah saw concerning Babylon-its fall and desola-
herd. But it shall be the ha@ of wild beasts of the                   tion-was not a deduction of his ,own origination but
desert, vers. 14-22.                                                  a spectacle that ,God  by special revelation had made
      The reference here is to that portion of the Eu-                to  rise before his mind's eye. Hence the word  .that
phrates valley over whitih. the city and state  ,of .Baby-            he spake tias not his owli ; it uias always God's coun-
ion has spread itself. A,t the time when tl& prophecy                 sel that he proclaimed, communicated to him by God%
was  u$tered  it was the  m&t  fertile region on the                  ISpirit-God's  counsel for all the ages that were still


                                           PEE  STANDARD   B E A R E R                                                  s4
                                    - -                                                   -    -    -
  to come. This  a1on.e explains the reach of Is&h's            the, Etiined-  city and state of Babylon, for his entire
  prophecies (and of all the prophecies qf the Bible) i         evil  seed  sl@l  be exterminated. His iniquities shall
  It-this  reachLextends  to the end- of time. As we            thus *be  viiited  upon his children. And all will be
  just saw, in this particular discourse Isaiah foretells       the work of the Lord.  Vers. 18-23.
  the  final judgment  anld the end of all  khings. With           2. A second prophecy against Assyria.
  this and similar prophecies unbelief knows not whit              As the Lord has sworn, so it has come to  pass and
  .to do. It cannot explain them on the basis of its the- thus shall it stand. He will break the Assyrian in
  ories; but neither can it deny them. For Isaiah speaks        His land and the people of Israel shall be delivered
  too  .plainly.   So all it can really do with such pro-       from  this scourge, vers. 24-27.
- phecies is to ignore them.                                       The prophecy is brief, comprising but a few lines
    + d. Israel's deliverance.  <Chap.  xiv:!,  2.              in the text of the Scriptures. There is reason. The
     The  pr.ophecy  contained in vers. 14-22 implies the       passing away of Assyria has already been foretold
  prediction :of Judah's exile to Babylon. Tq' the king in the chapters vii-xii:6. `The prophet will now be oc-
  of this coming weld-power also (God's  pe'ople will           cupied with the nations of Israel's world  .a11 of which
  be in bondage. But Babylon Will be ,destroyed,  the rea-      were hostile and some of whom, such as. the Philis-
  son being that the Lord will have mercy on His peo-           &es,` have been menacing the people of Israel almost
  ple. He shall bring them  back to their own !and.  This f,rom the beginning of their  existance   as:. a nation.
  shall take place wit+. the consent ,of the heathen,. who      But at the moment the great -offender is.;Assyria  ;
  shall cleave unto them  .even leading them to  their          f,or its kings possess the world power and will con-
  place. Israel shall possess them as servants and hand-        tinue in the possession thereof for `70 or perhaps a
  maids, and shall hold  .those prisoners,  whose? captives     100 years to'.come. So before taking up his discourses
  they formerly  w.ere.                                         against  th,e nations the prophet takes another glance
      e. Prophecy ,against Babylon's king. Chap. xiv :3:23.     at Assyria and assures ,God's people anew that this
      In the day that the Lord will send Israel the de-         chief of scourges will surely be broken.
  liverance described in vers. 1,2 Israel `will give ut-           3. Prophecy against Philistia.                 -3
  terance to a derisive  speech  About the  king of Babylon        Its origination took place in the year of King Ahaz'
  (Sers. 3,4a) . The prophet thinks of no particular ,death, ver. 29. The Philistines have escaped from the
  king, but  ,of the kings of  -B,abylon  in their totality,    ascendency  of some power that was smiting them.
  or rather of the king of Babylon in the abstract. He          But they must not  rejoice.:but  howl. For from this
  Shows that the proud monarch shall be humbled to hell         power-serpent in the  .text-shall  come forth an ad-
  by the power of  #God.                                        der and from the adder a fiery flying dragon, ver. 29.
     The first section of his proverb is an exclamation         We deal here with imagery. It is not. clear who or
  of joy that the spoiler of nations is destroyed. The          what  -is indicated.
  whole earth rests  $nd sings. The fir trees and the              But.- God's believing people must not be afraid.
  cedars rejoice that they will no more be cut down,            For they shall feed and lie down, in safety. .But not
  vers.  4b-8.  ..                                              so the Philistines. This ancient lenemyiof  Israel will
     On the other  hind, all hell, the kingdom of the           be overtaken by a series of .,calamities  that will re-
  dead, bestirs itself to meet the -new  -arrival. Shades       sult in its complete ex.$itipation.  The text reads here,
  of the dead say to him; "Art thou become weak as we?          "I will kill thy root with famine, and he shall slay
  Art thou become like unto  us?" Vers. 9,lO.                   thy.-reinnant,"  ver 30. Here the Lord announces Him-
     Then  th.e prophet again takes up the proverb, put-        self as the destroyer of the Philistines.     The agent
  ting it into the mouth of Israel, whom he person&s.           through whom He  .will work is a "smoke" that comes
  To what depth of degradation has the Babylon de-              from the north, ver. 31. We must understand to be
  scended!   l&s pomp is cast down  to  ;the grave. The         meant the total of hostile armies by which Philistia
  noise of revelry in his palace is silenced. . W6rm$  con-     through the centuries will de devastated to the  -point
  sume his corpse. How  has this st& fallen !  H.e who          of  extinc,tion.  Perhaps the  dragon  of ver. 2 is these
  would raise himself to the level `ijf the Most High is        arniies. But it may be too that the -reference is to
  c&t down  into the deepest pit of hell, vers. 11-15.          the Messiah. What  shall then be the ariswer of God's
     Meti see his wretchedness .and- v,o%e  their th&ghts       believing people  to-:messengers  of the nation? This
  about him : Is this the man%hat-shdok  oand .deva&ated        that the Lord has Xounded  Zion for His people to be-
  the. earth? Vers.  16,17.  The kings `of the nations          take themselves to it in the times of  stress__md  storm,
  lie. quiet in their tomb but his grave casts him out          ver. 32.
  that the corpse may be trampled. This is his punish-             The land of Philistia bordered on the west and
  ment for having destroyed the earth and.slain  his sub-       south-west of  Judea.  It was included in the allotment
  jects. No descendent of his shall ever  rise to restore       of Judah.  I.ts soil was wonderfully fertile. In the


._'                                                      .,fHE  ISTANDARD  BEARER
           S4'
                                             -      -                  :  +:: >.,                   .'s
           ~twelfth  century of our Christian era t;he country  still c&i&  thiy are allies. unitedly they made war against
           possessed a numerous population, btit tod+y it .is un-                         Jerusalem, vii :2, viii i12. But the unholy league will
. -- inhabited except by some peasants. The  Phil&tines beget them `a common` ruin. Damascus. (the.  capi-
           as a people have become extinct many denturies  ag&                            tal city of ~Syria)  will be a heap. The walls of Ephra-
           The other eighth century pr.ophets have more to say                            im's cities will be broken down by the same hostile
           about this people particularly her -cities- all. of which .. ar'mies.                           The dominion will cease from Damascus,
           at the present. time are deserted ruins as the Scrip-                          meaning that Syria will  pass away as a kingdom. It
           tures foretold.                                                                +ill be mad,e to descend to the same depth of degra-
                  Phophecy regarding  lWoab, Chaps. xy, xvi.                              elation  as that of Ephraim.
                  The prophet depicts the d.esolation  of Mpab, direct-                      b., A prophecy regarding Ephraim alone, vers, 4-8.          .
           ing attention to the judgment as it strikes in various                             Ephraim shall be  qreduced to almost nothing. Tlie
       places. of the land and to what the terrified. and. dis-                           prophet  ~declares  this by a threefold figure.
           mayed  .inhabitants   experience,   s&y- and  d.0;  ver&  l-4.                     First he compares the destruction of Ephraim to
           Therewith `he expresses his heartfelt- sympathy and the loss-of flesh by a fat man, ver. 4. Second to the cut-,
           foYIe$ells that those of the  Moa.bites who  :escape  the                      ting and githering of corn, <er. 5. The idea is that E-
           .general  `carnage Will become prey to lions, verb: 5-9: phraim shall  be. mpwed down  .like standing grain.
                  Bu.t Moab shall escape the judgment,  if he uiillinffly                 Third to :the- olive harvest, whe,re  the fruit is part-
           sei;ve Judah to. whom he is tributary, and-`if he .shtiw
           hospitality- to the fugitives  am'ong God's people  iti the                    ed from the tree by the shaking of the branches, ver. 6.
           :day `of  their visitation, xvi  :4a.  Then, when Christ                           Yet  the@& is a gleaning that remains both of corn
           sh&l!  lsit upon the throne of David, and all  appre@ion                       and of fruit, two or three on this branch, four or five
           on earth shall have ceased, Moab shall share-in  the sal-                      on that. The truth imaged is that there will be a rem-
           vation,  vers. 4b-5.                                                          lzant to Ephraim, and -that this remnant will be con-
                                                                                          verted to the Lord and thus saved, vers. 6-8.
                  But Moab is tab proud for that.~  Hence the judg-                           This reninant exists today. It is being saved still
           .mentsTun  their course. The  whole land is filled with through the ages of this  :Gospel dispensation. And it
       - latientation.  In the description of -the general- devas-                        includes all the elect, gentiles as well as Jews.
           tation threi! lqcaliti&  `are given prominence : Kirhar-
           e&h with its grape-cakes  (ver.:  `7), Heshbon with                                c. Description of Ephraim's destruction continued  ;
           its fetile' fields (ver.  8)) and Shibnah  with- i.ts. vine-                   its cause, vers. 9-11; Ephraim sees in her forests the
           yards  (v@r;  8).  *                                                           ruined castles of the Canaanites whom he has  dispos-
            Prof,oundly   moved by the great distress, the  pie-                          sessed ages ago. The cities of Ephraim shall be like
        phet joins the chorus` of lamenters,  ver.11.                                - these. castles, ver. 9.
                  -In his ,calamity -Moab turns to his ido!s;  bui.`that,                   The cause of Ephraim's troubles is that he  for-
           of course,' is of no avail, ver. 12.                                           sakes the God of his salvation and is unmindful of
                  These troubles are to begin immediately -and with-                      the  I$ock of his strength. He  cultiva.tes in his land
           in .three  ye&s  only a small :remnant  6f M6ab  will be                       the worship of imported gods and is careful to pro-
           left  over   so  that  he  shall  really.  have  ceased-  to  be  a            tect his  imPoI%atiOnS. This  is  Ephraim's  great  Sin
&t&m,  v e r s .   1 3 ,   1 4 .                                                          that the prophet declares.by  the figure of one engaged
             .Substantially  the same prediction. regarding Moab                          in  -the culture of imported plants and fences in his
           is contained in the prophecy  pf Jeremiah.                  This pro-          cherished garden. Ephraim shall surely have a har-
    j phets  prediction. is to the' effect that. all the cities of                        vest to consist in a heap of sorrow in the day of sor-
           Moab will be desolate without  any to dwell therein. 1 `row*   ver* ll.
           And according to Zeph. ii :8-10,  Moab shall be a per-                             d. The rise and fall of the w,orld-power,  vers. 12-14.
           petual desolation.                                                                 The prophet's message is-a dreadful one. To com-
                  Today Moab is a desolation.            His  ci.ties are de-. fort the remnant he  tykes  another glance at the world
           serted. All but a few are in ruins. Moab  has been                             -power  (Assyria and his successors through  the, ages)
           destroyed   from  being a  people.       Such is the r(eport-. of _and-foretells  its rise and sudden destruction. He hears
           all such who in modern times have explored tl& re-                             and sees in the spirit t&e noise of approaching nations,
           gion. They tell us in their "Travels" that common- which he likens to the  fushing  sound of many waters.
           to all the cities of Moab -is their entire desolation;                         But at the rebuke of God they disappear like chaff
                  5.  Phophecy   r.egarding  Damascus, Ephraim,  C+ep.                    and whirling dust before the wind, ver. 13. The even-
    17.                                                                         , .,.
                                                                 -.                      ing when the, tumult approaches ,is one of trouble  ; but
                  a. The destruction of Damascus and  Ephraim,, the                       when the morning is come all  is..vanished  away. This
           Israel of -the  t&n `tribes;  xvii.:l-3.   t                                   says the prdphet;  shall b,e the lot of them. that trouble
                  The prophet takes them. together in these lines  -be2                   us, tier. 14,                              -4, M Ophoff


                                                                                  -
                             :                                         l-.    we @ti& m&e  and more have faith and hope in God.
        go~~,-,r,,-l,io~,,-`,~,-,,-,,-,,-,,-,,-,,-,,-,,-`,-,~~,-i,~,.:.
         1  -'  lU!tQ-&l  HOI,-Y  WRI:T  ..I~ The text d&s not tell us that we must become church
                                                                              of God. On the contrary this passage teaches  LZS very
        .:.111,~111o~1,o11~,,~,,~,,~,,~~,~~~~~~-~~-~~-~~-~~-~~-~~~~~~~~  9    clearly throughout that we are the children of God,
                                                                              who  have  .received  the Spirit  into our hearts, and
                      L&siticn   o          f          
                                                      r  IL  1:17             who  ,by this Spirit cry:  A,bba,  Father!
        We continue our  expositi.?n  of  I Peter in  %his  es-                  Such is the implication of the conditional  sentence
       say.  This time we intend to  make-a  few -remarks, in our text!
        concerning verse 17  .of this Chapter., This  passag6.                   The believers and their seed call God their Father.
        is very rich in instruction and exhortation and, there-               No, we are not simply told here that it is possible that
        fore; worthy  6f our believing  and prayerful attention._ we do call or that we shall call' God our Father. Nor
          The  tex,t in- question reads as follows: "And if- ye,              does the  text- teach that we  ought  to call God our Fa-
        tall on Him  6s Father, bho without r-espect  of perso'ns             ther.    Nkither  does the text  teach  we cannot  ful-
        judg&  acco~rcling  to each  wuv?s work, pass'-the time               fil the condition of calling God our Fath.eT,  and that
        of .your sojourning in. f ear."          b                            we say before His face: 0  IGod, I cannot fulfill the
            For the correct' understanding of  the Word of                    condition of calling Thee Father, but wilt Thou ful-
        <God in this text, it is tie11 to.bear  in mind, that Peter' fill the condition in me: No, the  simply Gospel truth.
 ; is not addressing  the'churches here as  thbugh  they                      free from all error is: we call God our Father. All
        were~ simply potential candidates for heaven and- hell,               that,  faith cati do is call God Father! And that is not
        that must be confronted with  the "two. ways" of hea-                 only what  .an Abraham calls God on  Moiiah's  heights
        ven and hell, always standing  in the crisis of the choice            of faith, and a Jesus in the agony of Gethsemane, but
        that  determines  their status in Christ! If  `such were              it is the very confession of the penitent Prodigal,  who
        t.he case -this passage would indeed be very void of                  will rise and go to his Father's house, and will say:
        the truth of the Gospel. Then it would be, as some                    Father, I am not worthy to be called Thy son!
       err,oneously  contend,  th.at  God always addresses  I%s                  This is .the beautiful term that J,esus  places upon
        people  "conditiontilly."      And the dictum would be:               our lips in the model prayer as the expression  of the
       when God  ,speaks concerning His people He speaks                      chief part of Christian thankfulness. When .ye pray,
        unconditionally, but when He speaks to His people He                  p~%y  yc thus: Our Father, which art in heaven. And,
        speaks conditionally.        But Such .is riot the case in Q, the evangelic comfort of this prayer, to excite in
        Scripture at `all. The above  dictum do& not square                   u's a childlike reverence for, and confidence in God,
        with-the -@es,ent&ion  of the Gqspel together with the                which are the f.oundation  pf bur prayers and our dox-
        exhortations iti the Word &f *God, the :Bible. It does                ologies. In this name we glory in the most blessed
        not fit with  the plain teaching of Scripture  ,which ad-             God, for&r, Amen !
dresses the Church as  bleing.  an elect generation, a                           We  mcntioeed  that  the text contains a conditional
        holy people, a royal priesthood, a peculiar treasure,
        called out of darkness into -God's  marvelous light to                &ntefice.
 .declare  G d d ' s   upraises ! It  dpes.  not at all make sense               About this we must say just a word.
        in the light of the fact that the precepts of the ,Gospel                The sentence here is a conditional sentence of fact.
 "are precepts  to.  stir up the faith  that  is  in  u.s and to              The "if ye call upon as F.ather"  can very well be  para-
        a godly. walk of  cotiversion  that  Bows  from such a                p.hrased  as follows: since ye call upon as Father. It
        stirred up remembrance of the great mercies of God                    is a conditional sentence, which expressed  determint&
 .      to us .in the death and resurrection ~of Jesus Ch+st, so              reality. That it expressed determined rea1it.y  in this
        that- 6ur faith and hope might be in <God !                           case- is due to the fact, that. Peter is addressing the
            The presentation that makes. faith a condition fits .Church as she is born anew unto a living hope through
        well with  th.e preaching of  !`two ways" that makes the  .resurrection  of Jesus Christ from the dead. (I
        ,of faith a new law; but it does liot square with the                 Peter  l:l-3) He addresses the church as they are
      %imple"  Gdspel-truth  that faith is  the God-wrought                   the spiritual sojourners, `having the new principle
        instrument  whereby~ we receive  -from:  Christ's full-               of heavenly joy and peace in their hearts, joy un-
      ness,  graoe  for. -grace.                                              speakable and joy full of glory as the Apostle states
            Let this not be &e$ooked.                                         in, verse 8: Hence, it is the, Father's good-pleasure
            For it is .important  to notice tha.t  the entire thrust, -that their cup shall overflow with goodness and mercy
        of the versus  17-21. is  such.that the exhortations find             all the days of thieir life in their earthly pilgrimage.
        their anchor point in what .we a& in Christ. We are                   They are those who have and who. must receive more
        sue& in Hin;l,b;y',virtae  of the design of s&ation that `abuncance  of mercy. And  ihe Holy Spirit employs


this conditional sentence in this exhortation,  yemind-          t&n. Faith without works is dead. With such faith
 ing  them  of their good confession, in-. order that He         we are no  bletter  than the Devil, who  b.elieves  that
may  .work .the grace. of perseverence  in their bearts,         IGod is one. and trembles. But He does not tremble
stirring them onward..and  upward  to faith and hope             before the Lord in godly fear. His works are wholly
into God!                                                        empty and void of all that angels adore, w3hen they
    Thus God's efficacious work of salvation is wrought          sing: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord, God Almighty.
in them by the Word bf exhortation, which employs                The whole earth is full of His glory.
a conditional sentence expressing factnes.                           Such dead and em_pty  works ours are not to be. It
    Peter says: if ye call upon  aGod as your Father             is.. comely to us the saints that our works be f,ound
 (and you do! !) then you must live out all the iinpli-          full. In this present evil world our works are to be
cations of  thi,s good confession in all the relationships       found full of godliness. Our works must be such in
of life ; you must have a full-orbed life of  conver-            Iheir very nature and &sence.             They must be full of
-sion and sanctification. The conditional sentence  doeS         good fruit of the .Spirit. No,  th,ey  must not be  .I-ooted
here not express what man must perform as a pre-                 im the slavish fea.r that seeks to merely escape from
requisite condition at all, but is  `simply  a -part of  .the    the wrath to come, but they must be such that are full
Word of God, which comes with exhortations. and                  of joy, love, peace, meekness, longsuffering, hope and
threatenings  ancl great and precious promises, as the           p a t i e n c e .
chief means of grace, the. preaching .of th,e `Gospel.               We must walk in `this good consession as much as
Incidently, this i's a  far cry from the dictum: God's           we love our `soul's salvation;
profiise always comes to God's people in. conditional            Walking `in: our earthly pilgrimage by hope we
forin ! For God's promise ,oft&  comes ta God's peo-             w<il  then"dften  sing :  My. soul fainteth for Thy  sal-
ple in. the simplex assertion: I am the Lord:,.:thy,,God,        siatibn  ; but I hbpe  iri Thy Word.
Wh'o  h&h  cau,sed thee to go  for[th  out  of Egypt,  qut       ^ +h, then the fact that our Father will judge every
of the house of bondage. `And I may add, without                 ov.9 according to his work becomes the great incentive
fear `of contradiction, that such -is the chief and.funda-       to  gocl!iness.  For this means that the hoping Chris-
mental way in.  which   #God's  Pzromise  comes to the           tian will be rewarded in mercy. For those,  who love
,Church. That is  th.e Word of reconciliation. When              and fear. God, ,receive not strictest justice of the law,
w,e are exhorted to enter in,to this work by a true and          but we are refreshed with water of mercy out of the
living faith and hope in God, then sonzetirnea  ( !) .the        brook, as'they flow to us froth the Throne of ,God  and
conditional sentence form  7s employed as a means  of            the  ,Lamb.  And, o, these Waters of Salem, which
g r a c e .                                                      God in H&s judgmelit  withqut  respect of persons gives
    And thus we have an instance of. this. common                50 us, quicken `and revive us on the `way. Our hearts
thought  mot  excZus&e use of the conditional sentence!          are than filled with joy and f-u11 of glory, full of the
  But when we have a  pr"omise  for all upon condi-              immensity of the glory of grace!
tion of f,aith, and try to defend it with specious argu-             For there is no glory as the glory of ,God's grace
ments, yes, then we need such dictums as : `God's prom-          and mercy in us, the redeemed saints.
ise pertains to all and is ours upon condition of faith.             We will see more of this in our next installment,
    But enough of  this heretical  .concoction,  lest I          D.V., when  tie will call attention to tde following
weary the reader.                                                verses which speak of the exceeding preciousness of
    Positively Peter teaches here the need -to consider          the. redemption price with which we &av,e.  been pur-
that the Father whom we confess to be our God, is                chased.                    :.  1
the same who said to Israel : be ye holy, for I am- holy !                                                              rG..  L u b b e r s
God judges every man in His holiness. And all our                                                                 .,       -.
works must be done--in the beauty and grace of holi-
ness. There must be no disagreement between our                                             a         n      -
                                                                                                 :
confession and walk. Our walk must be the seal and
cor@rmation  of our confession. The text does not                           .O praise `the Lord, for He is gbod,
teach that we ought to call God our Father, but it -in-                         His mercies still endure ;
sists that we ought to walk with a conversation that                         Thus. let His  .ransomed  testify,
is worthy of our lofty confession as sons of the liv-                           From all thei,r f,oes secure.
ing  .and holy ,God.                                                         He has redeemed His captive saints
    And then the fact is that we must show our faith                            Fro-m  adversaries' hands,
out  o? our works of  conveysion,  that  is,. out of our                     Has gathered them and brought them back
continuous and  lifbe-long  conversion  and  sanctifica-                        Iti peace  from hostile lands.
                                                                                      ,'


                                        TfiE  STANDAR?   B E A R - E R                                                 87
                                                                  , :  -.
                                                                people into.  an outward semblance of obedience and
j                                                               faith. We must keep man from being careless and
!        I N   HIS  F E A R                                     profane, is then the idea, not by gospel of a salvation
                                                                wholly and entirely by the works of Christ but by
                Afraid of the Gospel                            filling man with all kinds of  f'ear as to the conse-
                                                                quences, if he does not ,do this or that and a  f;ew  more
                                                                things. Preach to him admonitions, warnings and re-
                            (6)                                 bukes, but do not spoil it by telling him that God
                                                                must first give him unconditionally this grace before
     In response to  our  publishing of his statements          he will heed these admonitions and that ,God  will most
that "Many people also speak this way about accept-             assuredly give that grace to all His elect people. Our
the terms of the Covenant.. We do inc$ed  believe in            people, some of them, actually have developed a crav-
Covenant obligations and privileges,-  but never as con-        ing for Christ-less sermons. And that is a fact! But
ditions,`: the Rev.  Gsritters objected  by personal letter we wanted our people to be refreshed with the for-
and declared that  w,e could not find in any of his  cur-       mer writings of one who knew how to present the
`rent writings that he now embraces conditional elec- (God-centered truth of the Protestant Reformed Chur-
tion.                                                    r      ches.
     We let the readers judge. We never accused him                `Nor is that all. We wanted to spare the brother of
of that, in  fact we pointed out in that article,  `tip-        continuing until he did come to th.e point where he
pearing October 1 that when he stated -that "Many peo-          and his follow&s would maintain conditional  elec-
ple also speak this way abou.$ accepting $he.terms  of          -tion also. We pleaded in that article to him to come
the Covenant" he was  cx?ctly  touching-upon the issue          back and cast away all conditionality. For to carry
which is raging in our churches today. As yet we                ,out this conditional  theoloby  must needs result in a
have not come to that stage where. we must even  di-            denial of unconditional election too. Th.at is so very
l+ectly  defend Unconditional  ElectionI      But we are        plain  now that all the proponents of conditional theo-
very, very busy fighting against the conditional the-           logy amongst- us, without an exception, have  d,eparted
ology  a% applied to the.covenant. We fail to under-            so faF that they will now speak of conditions in the
stand  the,worcl "also"  ip the quotation above if it does      sense of prerequisites.    (By the way, will those who
not ~mean that there are people who .likewise speak like ,to ignore the fact that the Revs. Hoeksema' and
of the terms. of the covenant being  c&ditional.  And           Ophoff have published their acknowledgments that
then we cannot see the last sentence in any other way they wese wrong when they used the word "condition"
than that he says that in that covenant he would -never         in the past, please quote one passage to show them
say that  wha.t we  ace obliged to do and are privileged        speaking of prerequisites unto salvation ol unto any
to do is a condition.                                           phase of it? We can now drop all such quotations of
     And rather than to accuse the Rev.  GritteTs.  of          theirs which use the word. "condition.". And you
teaching conditional election-we will not do that to-           can thank the Rev. De Wolf for being the spokesman
day, in spite  ,of his conditional theology-we  meent,          for the whole movement to show us that the conditions
by Iquoting him, td show our people that ten years ago          of the Revs. Hoeksema and Ophoff are as different
he not only  condemne-d unequivocally conditional  elsec-       from those which they, the proponents of conditional
tion but ALSO,--and  at that time forever, all idea of          theplogy  in our midst maintain, as there is between
OLW covenant obligations. and privileges being condi-           our understanding of the word election and between
tions in and unto the  &Tenant.                                 that of the  Arminians.)  But to  re.tuTn  to what we
     We had no malice in our hearts when we reprinted           began to say, the idea of conditions in the sense of
his, words. Rather than to try to publish errors he             prerequisites unto salvation is set forth among  US
madze  in the p&t,  we wanted himsand  all ,our people          because, so it is said, we need that pedagogical ap-
.to see and remember the-beautiful Protestant Ref'orm-          proach. If you do not come thus to man, he will be-
ed convictions  t;hat  .flowed from his' able. pen. Z%nce       come carel,ess  and profane. We might add that then
our contact with .the Liberated, many of our people             it surely follows that to pr,each  election also requires
,did forget what we- formerly believed and maintained.          the pedagogical approach lest by teaching an uncon-
.After  all it was .s,6 &uch  nicer .aqd easier to emb'pace,    ditional election we move men to carelessness and pro-
at least to a measune,  -that appeal of -thte Liberated         faqity..  Wh,at holds for the one, surely holds for the
,theology  to our own conceit and pride. It  ,.gives  us        other. If  preaching that there are no conditions even
more room to b,e man-ceniered  in our thinking atid to          IN  the covenant we lose that pedagogical element
adopt the methodistic tactics of striving to frighten           which  keeps   man from being careless and indifferent,


        -.



88                                     TH-E-   :ST:A;NDAR.I)   B E A R E R
                            _ -.---                              .I
                                                  :                                            -I-
then by all means  we will  fi,eed  ,a conditional- election    they told themselves and us that they would do so in
for the same pedagogical approach and for the  avoid-           a limited sense-now clefend prerequisites, the most ob-
.ance of  care@ssness  and profanity in the one who             noxious form of conditions.           Even Dr. Schilder in
hears about ttlection..                                         his definition of conditions  tried desperately to avoicl
      But in this connection  also -we would like to show       that idea. The most he would say is that conditions
you how  the Rev. IGritters,  ten years' ago, .was  not at      are twb things that are always found together, that
all`--afraid  th& _ to preach  u&onditional  election made      is, next to each other.      Prerequisites say that one
man careless and profane. We appreciate these lines             thing is built UPION  the other. Faith as a prerequi-
qf his and would to .God he would apply that al& to             site is the basis for our salvation. And that is heresy
"conditions in the coven&t" and to the covenant prom-           pure and simple.
ise- and have the confidence that to cast all conditions               Nor is it difficult to see why the Rev. De. Wolf
." way, wo~~icl   ,not influence man to  carel&sness  and       hacl to speak disrespectfully of election in those ser-
profanity.  `On page 10 he  iyrites! "Art. XIII . . .           mons in  w'hich  #he made those heretical  statemeats
Yqu  a&l recall that the Arminians (of- today also)             which in their literal form ape heretical, that is, are
a.rgued  that election is moreo+er  .a d&gerous doctrine heretical until you change a word, add a word or
because it leads men to careless  iiving. Arminians             take one away. That is why he had to include, as
said that election will induce, people'to  say, `Eat, drink     we understand, such a statement about election even
and be merry, we are elect.and-  nb matter- how we live,        in the sermon outline which he gave the classical com-
we will' be saved anyway.' This Art., how-ever, test-           mitt-ee  w.hich  studied his case. If we have not spoken
ifies that people  who say such things reveal their hat- the truth, he may feel free to use this department the
red for. the holy matt.ers  of God and by talking that          next issue to show, us how he can defend those state-
w-y show by their .very  speech what awful- judgments           ments in the light of election.. We would appreciate
come'ugon  them that do  n"ot walk in the way of grace          an explanation as to why election has to be hushed
and  holiriess.    The  a&cle instructs us rather that          in connection with  ur~g truth of IScripture. W,e would
election leads men to humiliation and adoration with            like to se,e how the "everyone of you, if you believe"
c&sequent lives  bf holiness and thanksgiving. God              in that first statement fits in with unconditional elec-
first loves us', .and therefore we also love Him: And           tion, and with the "prerequisite" idea of the seconcl
ha.ving  that love in our hearts none of us will jump to        st.atement.    A chain is no stronger than its weakest
the  bareless  conclusion that no matter how we live,           link. And the chain is unconditional election- unto an
we will be saved or lost anywtiy."       Why can the bro-       uncondi.tional  promise of an unconditional salvation.
ther not say that same thing aboutthe  covenant prom- .Make  one of these conditional and they all become
ises and the whole of our salvatioil?  With that love           conditioned by that ,one,     Make the promise condi-
,in- OLW hearts wh.en the covenant promise, as an un-           tional and those unconditionally elected to it are yet
&nditisnal  promise, is preached, why will  we then             before a condition which puts their election in doubt.
suddenly jump to careless conclusions?- The next                Fake  one of these three conditional and the whole
I~arag~aph  for which we have no, room  is also very            chain is useless. It will break rather t,han  be God's
m~-ch  to the fioint.    He writes in it that election must     means to draw us into the glories He has promised.
not be treated like an "xexquisite  piece  bf furniture,               Still more, another revealing fact. The Rev. Pet-
stored ii? the attic and occasionally brought out f,or          ter, in order to defend the two statements also felt
display." The broth,er  had a knack for hitting-, the           the need df .meddling  with el,ection,  be it with a dif-
nail on the head.-                                              ferent approach. He speaks of promises to the re-
      But how much heavier  OLW hearts become when tie probate, t,he contents of which promises is the same
turn away from the fact that conditional promises,              as that promised the elect. God promises elect David
faith as a- condition, our act of converison  a's a-pre-        a ."sure  hods&" and to reprobate Jeroboam that same
ro?uisite   to OUY entering the kingdom, etc. etc., .will       promise is not simply preached, but according to the
Ze& to- conditional election, and then  r:ealize-  that al-     Rev.  P.&ter God promises tl@s- also to him. We are
ready steps, great .steps  have been taken in that di-          glad, however, that in  later writings he began to
rection and have not been i*.etraced!     It is not a mere      doubt this and presented  the possibility that the Rev.
abstract theory that to maintain conditions-somewhere           Hoekserina   could. show that the distinction between
along the line will lead -to including election which.          Promise and promises cannot stand. And, by the
stands at the head of the line. -Exactly  as we wrote           way, -the Staten Bijbel does not translate the Hebrew
last time. `God cannot be mocked, and when you play             woid YSaith" in-1 Kings 11:35 as "promise" even tho
with fire you are very apt eo `get.burned. That is w,hy         the- English translation does six times.
those who defended `conditional theology-ev&though               :                                           -J. A. Heys


                                                                      `-.,
                                                                      -:- %.    polit&-&s&$ine,   mor&.
      .~o-l,,`,r,,-a-,,-,,-,,-`,-,,-,,~,,-,,-`,~,-,,-,,~,-~,-,,-`;.,~*                                      His writings are full of life
!                                                                               and freshness. They are written in a refreshing style,
       If       Contending  Fok  Th6  Failk  1
      .~,-,,-,-,,-,,-,,-,,-,,-,,-,,-,~-`-,,-`,-,,-~,-,,-,-,,-`,-,,-,l.~.        peculiarly his own.
                                                                                  Tertullian claimed that the keys of  the kingdom
                                                                                were given to Peter a1on.e and not to the bishops.
                 The Church and the Sacraments                                                                                        All
                                                                                spiritual men, according to this eminent Church Fa-
                                                                                ,ther,  ar'e successors of this apostle. This sentiment
               EAYRLY   -Vmws  OF  THE  CH&I~. (Cont'cl)                        is clearly set for.th in the following quotation: "But,
                                                                                you say, `The Church has tjhe power of f,orgiving  sips
             Another of the Church Fathers  to whom we would                    . . . . If, because the Lord has said to Peter, `Upon
       call attention  in connedion with our discussion of the                  this rock will I build My Church, to thee have I given
       early views of the Church particularly as concerning                     the keys of the heavenly kingdom,' or, `Whatsoever
      the tremendous esteem in which the office of bishop                       thou shalt have bound or loosed in earth, shall be
       was  held is Tertullian. -In our last two articles we                    bound or loosed in  the heavens,' you therefore presume
       called att.ention  to the writings of Ignatius and Iren-                 that the power of  bin.ding  and loosing has derived
       aeus and noticed that the latter even calls the bishops                  to you, that is, to every C+rch akin to Peter, what
     the successors of the apostolate.                                          sort of mlan are you, subverting and wholly changing
             Tertullian; the first great writer of Latin Chris-                 the manifest intention of  the Lord, conferring `(as
      tianity and one  of. the most original characters of the                  t;hat intention did) thi!, (gift) personally, upon Peter?
      Ancient  Church, was  born   tit. Carthage between tlie                   `On thee," He says, `will I build My <Church ;`. and, `I
       years, 150 and 160, and died  therte  between the' years                 will give to -thee the keys,' not to the Church ; and
       220 and 240. This city in North Africa was also the                      `Whatsoever thou shaJt have loosed OY btiund,' not whit
       city in which Cyprian lived; In fact,  .Tertullian was                   they shall have, loosed or bound . . . What, now (has
       the teacher bf this famous Church Father. Very little                    this to do) with the Church, and your (church), in-
     is  l&own  of'Tertullian's  life; He was a scholar, ha+-                   deed, Psychic? For, in accordance with the person
       ing received `an excellent education. `His principal                     of Peter, it is to spir<tud men, that this power will
       study- was jurisprudence (the study of law),  ,although                  correspondingly appertain, either to an apostle or else
       he.was   z&o  a great student of philosophy and history.                 to a prophet . . : And accordingly `the Church,' it is
       He studied law and practiced in Rome. His conver-                        true, will forgive sins : but (it will be) the Church
       sion i;b Christianity took pla.ce about the year, 197-198.               of the Spirit, by means of a spiritual man  ; not the
       This event must have been sudden- and decisive ; he                      `Chdrch which consists of a number of -bishops. For
      ,himself -said that -he could not imagine. a truly Chris- the right and arbitrament is the Lord's, not the ser-
       tian life without such a conscious breach, declaring:                    vant's ; God's Himself, not the priest's."
       "Christians are made,  not born." In this understand-                      It is evident from this quotation that Tertullian, al-
       ing of Christ he did not advance much beyond Justin                      though he held the office of bishop in high esteem,
      (the great apologete of the early Christian Church)                       lopposed the idea of thYe primacy of the bishop of Rome.
       and Irenaeus, but he was very gifted in the use of                       It is true that this Church Father wrote these words
       language and was therefore also to state the true  dpc-                  after he broke away from the Catholic SGhnrch of his
      trine concerning Christ mbre. clearly and precisely than                  day (not, we understand, the Roman Catholic Church
       anyone before him had been  able to do. He was or-                       of kour day), but the fact of his opposition of the pre-
       daineg a  pr&sl@er   .in the  .chu?ch   .at Carthage  (al-               eminence of one bishop surely indicates that there was
      though he was married-something which the Roman                           certainly no established doctrine in his  day. concern-
       Catholic Church may well bear in mind). In midde                         ing the primacy of the bishop of  RIome..
      life (about the year, 207) he broke with the ,Catholic                        It was especially by Cyprian, the bishop of Car-
       Church (thus the -Church  of. his day was called and                     thage who died in the year, 258, who wrote -profusely
      this must `ndt beg. confused with th& Roman Catholic                      on the office of bishop and ascribed tremendous im-
       C,hurch  of  our' day) and thereby became a  schis-                      portance to  .it. According to him, they are really the
matic.           The statement of Augustine  that he returned                   successors of the apostles.     This appears from  the
       into the, bosom of  the. Catholic Church. shortly before                 following quotation : "Our Lord, whose precepts and
      his death is considered very improbable. Tertullian                       aclmoniti'ons  we ought to observe, describing the honor
     has ,been likkned t.6 a fr.esh mountain torrent,  tumultu-                 of a bishop and the orcler of His Church, speaks in
       ous, clear and.precise,  and making-its own path.' His                   the Gospel and says to Peter: "I say unto thee, That
      writings cover the whole theological field of the time                    thou art Peter, and upon this  r,ock   will I build My
      --he wrote against Paganism and Judaism, discussed                        Church: and the gates of hell shall not prepail against


  it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom            US should bring forward what we think, judging no
  of heaven: and whatsoever thou -shalt b@d on earth               man, nor  rej,ecting  any one from the right  .?f  com-
  shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou  ihalt             munion,  if he shou!d think differently_ from us. For
  loose  ,on earth shall be loosed in heaven." Thence,             neither does any of us set himself up as a bishop of
  through the -changes of times and successions, the  or-          bishops, nor by tyrannical terror does any compel his
  dering of bishops and the  plan of the Church  fiow              colleague to the necessity of obedience ; since every
  onw,ards ; so that the Church is sounded  upon the bis-          bishop, according to the allowaece  of his liberty and
  hops, and every act  df the Church is controlled by              power, has  his.own proper right of judgment, and can
  these same rulers."                                              no  mor.e be judged by another than he himself can
      Moreover, this renowned Church Father, discuss- judge  another* But let us all `wait for the judgment
  ing the office of bishop, maintained that the bishops            of our Lord. Jesus Christ, who is the only one that
  represent and preserve  the unity of the Church, and             has the power- both of preferring us in the govern-
  that he who is not with the bishop is simply not with            ment of  .His Church, and of judging us in our  con-
  the Church.  Atten,d, if you please, to the  fiollowing          duct :khere."
  quotations: "And the Lord aiso in the Gospel, when                 "The& quotations from Cyprain speak for  them-
  the  .disciples forsook Him  ,as He spoke, turning to the. selves. It` is' true that he alsd wrote the following:
  twelve, said,  `will ye also go away?' Then Peter  ans-          "There is one God, aand Christ is. one; -and there is
  wered  Him, Zord, to whom shall we go ? Thou  hatit one Church and one Chair (by one  &a& he meant:
  the words of, eternal life; and we believe, and are sure,        one center of authority)". And he continued also in
  that Thou art the Son of the  living  God.`~ Peter the  ,following  vain: "He who is not in the Church of
  speaks there, on whom the Church was to be' built,               Christ- is not a Christian. He can no longer have
  teaching and showing in the name of the Church, that             IGod for his  F,ather who has not the  Church for his
  although a  ?ebellious  and arrogant multitude of those mother.             There  is no  salv:&ion  out of the Church.
  who wili not  (hear  and obey may depart, yet the Church         The Church is based on the unity of the bishops. The
 does  no't depart from -Christ; and they are the Church bishop is `in the Church, ,and the Church is in the bis-
  who are a people united to the prie& and the flock               hop. If  #anyone  is not with the bishop he is not in
  which adheres to its pastor. Whence you  qught to the  ,Church."
  know that the bishop. is in the Church, ,and the ,Church             Concluding our article on the early views of $he
  in the bishop; and if any one be not with the. bishop,           Church, the views that were prevalent in the Church
that he is not in the  Church, and that those flatter              during the first three centuries of the New  Dispensa-
  themselves in vain who creep in, not having peace with tion, we may observe that they wer.e characterized by
 .,God's priests, and think that they communicate se-              vagueness and indefiniteness. The office of bishop  was
  cr.etly  with some ; while the Church, which is Catholic         held -in tremendously high esteem. The bishops were
  and  ?ne,  is not cut  :or divided, but is indeed  connetited    regarded :as the successors of the apostles, and the
 ,and ,bound tbgether  by the cement of the -priests  who          unity of the Church was inseparably  connected with
  coher'e  T;i;ith  on6  anothe?."                                 them. There was no salvation eoutside of the Church
   However,  we would conclude our  quot&ions  from                and one could not be. in and with the Church and, se-
 TCyprian  by calling attention to what  &is eminent  par&e   himself   from  the  bishop.  ,On the other hand,
Church leader has to say in connection With a "bishop              however,  there was no established doctrine concerning
  sf bishops." The foli,owing  is very much t6 the point :         the primacy of the bishop of Rome. The Church at
  "YOU have heard, my  dearly beloved colleagues, what             Rome may have been regarded ever so highly, but  Cy-
  Jubaiamis  our co-bishop  h:as written to me, taking             prain  clearly   fejected  the  theory of a "bishop of  bis-
  counsel  .of my poor  intelligance  concerning the  un-          hops." Neverth.eless,  one can easily understand that
  lawful and profane baptism of heretics, `as well as              this early age -of  the Church, because and by its very
  what I wrote in answer to him, decreeing;to  wit, what           vagueness and indefiniteness, laid the foundation of
  we have once again and frequently determined, that               the  flater hierarchy. Once having ascribed such tre-
  heretics who come to the Church must be baptized                 men,dous importance to the office of bishop it  vas but
  and sanctified by the baptism of the Church.  :  more-   - another step toward bestowing more recognition upon
  over, another letter of Jubaianus has also been read             one bishop th$n another. However, we will call atten-
  to you, wherein replying, in accordance with his sin-            tion, the Lord willing, to the development and rise of
  cere and religious d,evotion, to my letter, he not only          the papacy in later articles. First, however, we must
  acquiesced in what I had said, but; confessing that he           call attention to the early views of the sacraments.
 had been instructed thereby, he r&turned thanks fsor                                                            H. Veldman
it. It remains, that  upon  this same matter  each  of


                                            TJI$  STA,NDARD   BEARER                                                                91
               ~_L_- - - - - - - -                          ,_.'                    -.
                                                                            but  .th& position of  juclged.  The Arminians charge
  1  The  Voice:  6f Our  Fatheps  .`I the @%ld: of `Reformed theology,-and He is the God
  5                                                                         of the  Scri$ures,-with unrighteousness. The Can-
                                                                            ons take as their basis the "God  f,orbid   !" of the apos-
                The Canons  of Do+rocht                                     tle Paul, when the charge of unrighteousness is
                                                                            brought against God.       The Arminians assume the
                           PART TWO              ~                          position of those who in Scripture are the real or
                 EXPOSITION. OF THE CANONS                                  imagined opponents of the truth of God's righteous-
                                                                            ness and sovereign freedom. The Canons,, quoting the
  FIRST  HELID   OF  DOCT.RINE,   0;  QIVI~E  P&EDESTINATI?N
                             .I..,       .:.  .. .  ,.                      Scriptures, assume the stand of Holy Writ itself.
  Article  1  ( c o n t i n u e d )                   `:                       Briefly let us note the various  ,elements  of this
       We may distinguish three main  $ropo$itions  in                      arti,cle  in connection with their Scriptural proof. AU
 the chain  :of  reasonitig   which  the Cations  fbllow in                 men have  sinwecl in Adam.  The point of this first
  this -first artide. They are the following :                              proposition is not the truth of original sin, but the
       1. All men have sinned in Adam. -                                    fact of universal sin. Also the truth of  original sin
       2. All men are ther,efore  become liable to the curse                is maintained by our fathers, but it is not treated un-
 and eternal,  deatliI;                          .                          til we come to the Third Head of Doctrine. Here al-
       3;~ Hence,  God would h&e done no. injustice had                     ieady it is mentioned. But it would appear in this
  He willed to leave the entire race in sin and the curse,                  brief reference to our relation to Adam that the em-
 and condemned them  f:or their sin.                                        phasis is not so much on the element of an inherited
       It must be r&membered, in connection with  %he a-                    corruption, but rather on the mere fact that as long
 bove,  fi.rst of all, that  ,this article concerns  God's will,            `as -you can say nothing .more than that we are chil-
 His decree. And in the second place, we' must,  bear                       dren of Adam, members of the  hutman race, you must
  in mind that  the basic  premise of the article is the                    necessarily say that we are sinners. ;And that  all
 soverdgnty,  the  absolute  freedom,  of that decree.df                    men are sinners receives the  w.eight  of emphasis heie.
 God. It was against the latter that the charge of                          It is the first link in the chain of universal liability to
 injustice was-leveled by the  Artiinians.                  Their charge    condemnation;     That this is true is plain from the
 might be formulated in the following propositions :                        Scripturlal proof that is offered, Romans  3:23: "For
       1. Reformed men teach that God sovereignly                           all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God."
 chooses'  some men unto salvation, and rejects the rest                    If the fathers had wanted to prove the truth of ori-
 of men, leaving them  &nto perdition.                                      ginal sin, they would undoubtedly have referred us
       2.. To sovereignly  reject  some while He  save,d'                   to such a passage ,as Romans 5 :li,ff. But now they
 others would be arbitrary and unjust on the part of                        simply employ a text which teaches that  a.Zk  h:ave sin-
 Gpd. God has nb right to go this.                                          ned.
       3. Hence, a gover%g&z  divine de&ee:cof  predestinax                    Hence, they Zie under  the cwwe, ancl acre cZese&$ig
*  tion, being unjust, `% `i@ybl;sildle,   since `God iS surely             of eternal cknth, or more correctly, they  aye- Jecome
 just.                                                                      Ziable to the curse and eternal death.  This  is,.really
       When,. therefore,  the'  &gume$aiioh  of  Articl,e   1               the point upon which the entire. article  hitiges.  All
 is followed -to its prop& conclusion,`itid  that in the                    men, since they are sinners, are guilty before God.
 light of the objection which  it. intends to answer, the                   And, since they are guilty, they are worthy of eternal
 conclusion is that .tl& charge of injustice against a                      death.  `, For the first part of this proposition, that all
 divine decree of predestination  that'  is sovereign is a                  are guilty, the Canons offer proof from Romans 3 :
 -i&e charge. IGod's sovereignty is not in conflict with                    19b:  " . . . that every mouth may be stopped, and all
 His justice. The  sovereigtily   -dei~e'eing God is also                   the world m&y become: guilty beftore God." -This quo-
 the righteous ,God. And He is righteous -in His decree !                   tation is striking not only because it so strongly em-
       A careful, comparison  .of  the two  yiewpoints  at                  phasizes the universality of the guilt-verdict ("every
 stake in this article will  ieveal how  `.tibmpletely  at                  mouth" and  `(all the world"), but also because it is
 odds they stand. The Arminian  viewpqint   which  is                       very applicable to the argument  ,of the Arminians
 opposed here puts man. in the position @ jude. The                         that is being opposed here. The. apostle Paul here
 sovereign God of all is hailed into the court of man,                      emphasizes exactly that it  is the divine purpose that
 in order to determine wlyether  or not .He, the Lord,                      not only in the-final judgment in the day of the Lord,
 is righteous. The very opening words  bf Article 1,                        but also in time, every mouth must be completely si-
 "as all men  have sinned in kdati," puts `man in his                       lenced before God. No one may contradict, no one
 proper place ; and that is not the position of judge,                      may be able to offer any objection when God judges.


                 _


   92                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   ` B E A R E R

  Even  thoughit  is true that wicked men may wickedly                another, and higher, viewpdint. The Canons already
  rebel against the judgment of God, yet befo?e- *God                 here give .evidence  that they are infralapsarian, that
  they have no ground of justice -left. Al! the -,&orld               &,,"theyY&ach  that in His decrees God elected some
  must be guilty, punishable, even in  their own  con:                qut of a  fialleq  race. And from the  infral,apsarian
  science before God.  How  impossible, then, how  ab-                viewpoint such argumentation as we find in Article 1
  surd, how presumptuous, that anyone shoulld charge is to be expected.                   An infralapsarian is almost forced
  G+ with injustice when He  .saves- some  out of a race              to answer the Arminian argument in this fashion.
  tl7at is all guilt?  ! How  absurd to  charge:God  with -Scripture, however, teaches not only that `the guilty
  injustice when He  ,leaves  ,&tie to perish-,  when He              creature has `no cllaim over against God; but it goes
 might.  jl%tly- have left all to perish!                             a ~step farther, and emphasizes that the creature as
         For the second part .of this proposit&; that all             such, apart  ev& from his sin, has absolutely no  cl,aim
  are worthy-of eternal death, the proof of Romani  6,:               on God. ,Goh is sovereign! This is very plainly the
  23  ii  offered.   It is  ~blain without  any  further  exposi-  .teaching  of Romans 9  :14-23  : "What shall we say
  tion. It is simply. SCripture  that the sinner must die.           then? Is there unrighteousness. with  ,God?   `God for-
If, therefore, all  mefi.are  sinners, guilty  befo?e  God,           bid. For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on
  they are all liable to eternal death.. Death is the  wages          whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion
  of sin. And Gdd is the divine paymaster.                   . .      on whom I will have compassion. -So then it is not
         From'al.1  this the third proposition, that God would        of him tliat willeth, nor of him that runneth,. but of
  have   done  llo injustice  had  He  left  all  m&  to perish ,God that sheweth `mercy. For  the scripture saith un-
  011 account *of their sin, follows.         The Canons offer        to- Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised
  no Scriptural proof  speci:fically  for this truth. It is           thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that
  a.logical  conclusion' which cannot be gainsaid; it fol-            my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
  l&s- inexorably from the twq preceding propositions: Therefore hath he mercy on whom'he will have mercy,
  Moreover,  in the--light` of this argumentation the  &.r-           and  tihdm he will he hardeneth. Thou wilt say then
  n$niFn position.is  entirely destkoyed.  And how &range - tinto me. Why doth he yet find fault?- For who bath
  a position it is. The,y- indeed consider it str&nge and            Tesisted  his will? Nay but, ,O man, who art thou that
  out of the ordinary- that anybne  ,at all should go- lost           repliest against God? Shall the thing ~formed  say to
  on God'&  part. They take it for granted that. @very-              him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?
  one can be' saved ai far as God is concerned. That Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same
 .-anyone is saved  they find tb be quite ordinary. But              lump .to make one vessel unto honour, and another
according to Scripture, it would be nothing strange                  unto dishonour ? flat if  `God, willing to shew his
if no  one were  sayed,  Scripture  teaches that  it is a            wrath, and to make his power known, endured with
  wonder,  ali extraordinary thing, that  %nyo&  at all much longsuffering  the vessels of wrath fitted to de-
  is saved. In other words, as history. has so often coh-            structioll: And that -he might make known-the riches
  iirmed,`the  objection against predestination- is  not pri-        of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had a-
  nlarily.  agiinst the decree of election. If -th@.re `were fore prepared unto glory . . ."
  only a deetee  df election, then perhaps  .there-  would be            Notice, in this passage, that the apostle, after he
  no disagreement: But the objkction  is, strictly speak-            sporitlaneously  rejects the charge of unrighteousness
  ing,  against  the  decree  of reprobation. Sinful   mlan- in God, proceeds not to defend that divine righteous-
  does not  &a$ sovereign-reprobation. And how  strik- ness as such, but rather maintains the sovereign free-.
  ing in t&light  of the, fact that even before his o.wn ~dom  df  Gqd over `against man, the creature of his
  coilscience  eternal death is perfectly- righteous and             h&nd. This becomes very plain in the passage 19-23.
  @ompletely  deserved by every linan. No man by na- There the apostle addresses not the sinner, but man.
  ture  d&eu"ves  anything but  death.   `God might have             Man as such, not the  sin&r, is the clay.  !And the
  jtistly condemned all. Let-every mouth, then, be  stbp-            divine `potter fornis ,out of that one lump of human
ped,. wheri the Lord of `all determines  to-save  some  6ut          clay one vessel unto honor and another u&o dishonor.
  of. -the commbn misery; `.                                        ,God  is absolutely free. Not only h&s the sinner noth-
      ;Such  is the .ms&ction  of our Canons &e. Man,                itig to Say. i3ut man,  apart from his sin, has absolute-
  as a guiity creature, is put/in his proper place in ?e-            ly no right to answer against' the sovereignly deebee-
  lation to God. He has no ground of complaint wh&t-                 ing God. Such is the viewpoint of this passage of
                                                      I
  soever.  -.                      :.                                Holy Writ, a viewpoint wh+ch  is higher than that of
      However, while it rhay- be granted  that- this'piew-"  Our CanO"!s:
  point  of the Canons ,is correct and perfectly sotinfl  &%-            But, f s&y once` more, the stand of our Canons is
 trine, we may  inenti& in  passjng   t&t there is  .&$o. perfectly sound.                                -H. C. Hoeksema


                                         -


                                                 `PiI%  .S'PANiDAkD   tiEARE]R                                                  93
                            -    -     -
 .:..,HI-I,-~I-III~IIII-,,-~,-~,-,,-,,-,,-,,-~,-~,-,,-`,-,,-~,-~,-~.:.    these~testimonials  a minister called from without could
 I                                                                        not  be;inst&lled  with Classical approbation. Whereas,
 IF          DECENCY and ORDER  "1
 ..:.!-.-llrl,-l,-o-,,-,,-~,-,,-,,-~,-,,-~,-,,-,,-,,-,,-,,-,,-,,-,,.~. then, th&se credentials are in themselves a potent safe-
                                                                          guard and the possibility of any of our churches ac-
                                                                          quiring a minister from without is very small, it hard-
                   _ Changing Pastorates                                  ly appears necessary that the churches add a special
                                                                          ruling on this matter. But in the  Netherlands  and
 ARTICLE  V.                                                              also in -the Reformed and Christian Reformed Chur-
       "Ministers already in the ministry of the Word,                    ches in this country this provision of Article 5 of
 who are called to another congregation, shall likewise the D.K:O. has had rather promiscuous usage.
 be called in the aforementioned manner by the con-                          Consistories of vacant churches must also consider
 sistory and the deacons, with observance of the regu-                    that ministers who have not served in their present
 lations made for the purpose by  the'consistory  and of                  charge for more than two years are not eligible for
 the general ecclesiastical ordinances for  the eligibility .a call. This rule is not inviolable. There may be in-
 of those who have served outside- of the Protestant                      stances where a consistory has very preponderant
Reformed Churches and for the repeated calling of                         reasons to place a name on the nomination df one who
 the same minister during the same vacancy  ; further,                    has served his present congregation less than two
 with the advice of the classis or of the couns_elor,  ap-                years and no one can deny them that right. It be-
 pointed by the classis,  and with the approval of the                    longs  -to their autonomy. Everyone of our ministers
 classis  or, of the delegates appointed by the classis,  to              in good standing are eligible at any time for call but
 whom the ministers called sh'ow good ecclesiastical                      before any church will call one contrary to the gen-
 testimonials of doctrine and life, with the approval                     eral rule, they should have valid reason that is con-
 of the members of the calling congregation, as stated                    vincing to their counselor who must also give an ac-
 in Article 4 ; whereupon the minister called shall be                    count to the  Classis.  And if the counselor and the
 installed with appropriate  stipulati.ons  and prayers                   consistory cannot agree as to-the validity of the rea-
 agreeably to the form for this purpose."                                 `sons given, -the call must be held in abeyance until
        The above article defines the proper procedure                    the advice of the Classis  itself can be obtained.
to be followed by a  cotisistory  of a vacant congrega-                      There is undoutedly good sense in this reasoning.
 tion in extending a call to one who is already stationed                 It is generally agreed that -too short pastorates are
 in the ministry of the  WoYd. In so far it is repetitious                detrimental to the churches and the minister him-
 of Art. 4 as there is no .essential  difference in calltig               self.. It takes time for a minister to work into his
 a candidate oy one already engaged iii the ministry.                     congregation and he himself must feel that it is vir-
 The only difference is that the latter is not required to                tually impossible to do any real constructive work in
 resubmit to examination before  `Classis and the cere-                   less than two or three years. The deepest spiritual
 mony of the laying on of hands it not reenacted at his need of the congregation is discovered oniy after in-
 installation. Hence, it would be redundant to repeat                     tensive and lengthy labor and the longer a minister
 what has been written under the previous article.                        works  in the congregsition  the more he discovers this
        There are, however, in the above article certain                  need. Besides this, especially in smaller churches it
points of interest that are worthy of brief considera- becomes a financial impossibility to obtain a new min-
 tion. Although it is seldom practiced, our church or-                    ister every two or three years. Moving expense is no
 der -here allows for the possibility of `one of our chur-                small item and where distances are  gr.eat it could  ancl
 ches calling a minister of the word from outside our                     sometimes  .does  create a real hardship.
 own denominational circles. To the knowledge of the                         Likewise consistories  are advised to refrairi  from
 undersigned this has been done only twice in our brief call&g  the szme minister more than once &ii& the
 history and in  broth instances the calls extended were period of one year without the advice of the Classis.
 declined. Our church in :Oskaloosa, -Iowa at one time                    The reason for this is to be found in  the'very  serious-
 extended a call to Rev. P. De Koekkoek and our Roo-                      ness of the call. If, after prayerful consideration, one
 sevelt Park church (now Second Grand Rapids) called                      is moved to decline a call, that decision must be ton-
 Rev. J: De Haan, both from: the Christian Reformed                       sidered final. It is not likely that  circumstance$*wiil
 Church. Our churches have no rule of limitation in                       be so altered within a year's time so as to justify the
 this matter except that which is also incorporated in                    reversal of. such an important decision.       Howe'ver,
 this fifth article- of the church order which states                     whereas that is not altogether impossible, room is al-
 -that "the minister called must show good ecclesiastical                 lqwed for the exception.
 testimony of doctrine and life" and, of course, without                     When then a minister in a fixed charge receives a


call from  .another  church, he is confronted  with a ser-        A minister may be h,ampered  by his consistory or
ious ,questioq He must prayerfully ascertain whether parishoness making his labor virtually impossible. Be-
the `Lord would have him continue in his present pJace        cause of some past difficulties the church may refuse
of labor  or whether the  da11 received is indicative that to give him their support and cooperation so that his
ihe Lord has -appointed hiti to a new field.' Unless          ministry becomes stagnant.          In such  circumstaqces
his motivation in seeking a decision is to do the will        the Lord may assign him another place where he is
of Christ, Who says to one  serv.$nt,   `(Go here"- and       able to labor with fruit. Yet, it must also be borne
td another "Go there," it  will not go well with him          in mind ihat' a ininister  may not seek another call as
no matter what his decision may be. The servant of an escape-from a difficult situation  for then his trou-
the Lord ,must be ready to labor wherever thk Lord            bles will only follow him but after he has done the
will send -him whether it is to his liking or not:            utmost to. .re&fy  .%he situation and it has become ob-
   `Oft- times, however, sinful  and selfish considera-.      vious that future labor-is impossible is he justified in
tions move men to either accept or decline a call. Life       accepting another, charge. The necessity of a change
is full of -siti and its results ahd the ministry, too, is    in pastorate'  may be providentially `created  when the
not wholly freed from its contamination. A minister           climate of a certain locality impairs the health, of the
`may tire  bf his present charge  and may- openly or          minister making  his labor difficult and so many things
secretly solicit the vacant churches for a call. Such         need to be taken into consideration.
practices are always. to- be condemned for it is Gbcl             The. minister, in distinction, from the candidate,
tiho calls to the office of the ministry, through- His        is given three weeks  to consider and furnish a reply
church, and none should ever, therefore, solicit as he to the  ,call extended. Normally this is long enough
would for an ordinary secular position.         Likewise,     although if circumstances warrant it, he may be
one might accept a call for reasons of personal gain          granted a brief extension of tinie. This extension, if
or honor. The offer of a larger salary may be a sin-          granted, should under no circumstances be' indefinite
ful enticement to leave a  cong?egation  that is `very        so that the congregation is left endlessly  .waiting. It
much  in need of his continued services  & the fact           should be definitely stated as to when a reply is ex-
that the calling  chuich  is considerably larger and has      pected. If afier that time no answer is forthcoming
more prestige atid recognition may be a sinful moti-          and the minister offers no valid reason for his inde-
vation. The  ministeu'  may. be sinfully lazy  and so         cision, the call should be revoked and a new nomina-
eagerly. avail himself of the  oppdrtunity  to enter a        tion made and another call extended.. In considering
new charge where, as it is sometimes rather crudly            a call, the minister must consult with and receive the
put, "he can turn the pile over."                             consent of his own consistory for unless he does this
   If, however, the minister of these and similar con-        he :cannot receive the required credentials in the e-
siderations leaves his  congregktion  contrary to the         vent -he should choose to accept+ Wit,hout  these cre-
Lord's will, he may be sure that the blessing of ,God         dentials no other church may receive him. These
will not follow .him in his new field of labor. What credentials,  accdrding to the present article of our
he secretly coveted  and thought to be gain will prove        ,Church ,Order,  must also receive the approval of the
to. be to his own detriment even 8s ;our Heidelberg Classis the minister i,s leaving as well as the one he
`Catechism states in Lord's Day 50, "Neither our care         is. entering. We hope, .D.V.,  to discuss them in con-
nor .industry,  nor even thy gifts can `profit us with-       nection with Article 10 and in the present connection
out thy blessing."                                            ar.e only to note that the granting of credentials by
   And #God cannot be mocked!                                 any consistory  must never be a mere matter of "pro-
   `On the other hand, it is also conceivable that the        cessing a form" but must be done in integrity to ,God
Lord sometimes speaks througli natural circumstances          and the sister church.                   4G.  Vanden  Berg
directing his servants in the way He would have them                         `:    -      - : - : : -
go.  T.here  may be, for example, a  :mi&ter with a
large family serving in a small con,gre,gation  that is                                 IN MEMORIAM
incompetent to provide adequate support. He may re-             The Mary-Martha Society of the  -Protests&  Reformed
ceive a, call to a larger church that is able to provide- Church of Manhattan, Mont., wishes to express its sympathy
his needs and those of his family. It may be the Lord's       to  -.a fellow member, Mrs. Albert  Visser, in the loss of her
way of relieving the smaller church of an unfortunate father,
situation. `(P.S.-Another  w&y  of  relievidg  this kind                    MR. B,ILL  VAN,DElR  VO'ORDEN
of situation is that the smaller church receives ade-           May  t.he Lord sustain her and  the  5aamily  and grant them
quate support from the Churches at large  :td meet its        His grace which is always sufficient.
obligations.)                                                                                  Mrs.  Ja.ck Oostema,  Seer.

                                    -


                                                       THE  &A.&&D--   .$EA-RER                                                       95
                                        _---
                                                                         -.
  ,2 > a,,-, >-,1-n  -011,  s-0 -I,- O-lll)(ll,l-,l-l~-~~-,,-~,-,~-,~~,~~,.~.    of this body to which exception must be taken. Synod
             A,LL  A R O U N D - U S  r  1 wOuid therefore leade the matter of membership in
  I.                                                                             thi.s body to the  judgmetit  of the several Churches.
                                          .  _`.  `-
  ~~.,~l,~ll~,,lt,~,,~~,~,,~,,~,,~,,~,,~,,~~,-,,~,,~~~-,,~~,~~,~~~~`l~~.         b. Re the WCC Synod advised member churches not
                                                                                 to  ,join this organization as now constituted. With
Th:e  `Third  Ecunzenicnl  S&mod                                                 respect to those churches already joined, Synod re-
        Most of our readers will remember that the Prot-                         quests that they reconsider their position in the light
  estant Reformed Churches had received  tin invitation                          of the- basically divergdnt  confessional statements of
  to attend the third Reformed &u&enict?Synod  which                             the RES and the WCC. c. At the same time Synod did
  was' held last ,August  in .Edinburgh,  Scotland. They not  -recoinmend  membership of its churches in the
  tire also aware of the fact that the delegates appointed WEF.
  by our Synod did- not go' as had been -$sviously  plan-                            On the basis of the little we know that is not good
  ned. B&au&  of oL& interest i&this international ec-                           respecting the three church movements in question, we
  cl&astical.  assembly-and  it,&, work, we thought it well                      considtir  the decisions of the Synod quite  commend-
  to present the following gathered  froti:the  reports of                       able. Though, .accbrding  to the  ,Guapdian,  there were
two witnesses who  attend:ed.                  The two witilesses are some such as Dr. J. B. Marais of the Dutch Reformed
  the Rev. Maytin  Monsma of the Christian  Reformed                             Church of South Africa who took a mediating  posi-
 Church who reports in De  Wachter,  and the Rev. J.                             ti& in favor of these movements e'specialiy  the WCC,
_ W.  Betzolg of the Westminster  Presbytekian   Chur-' it  -appears  that Synod really took exception to the
  ches reporting in the Presbyterian Guardian. Th+ moderism  .of these church organizations. What the
  reports substantially- agree as they tell us of the  fol-                      Synod said about the American Council of Christian
  lowing items that appeared:on  the agenda  Ear discus- ,Churches, which we understand to be composed of
  siofi and decision. .                                                          Fundamentalist groups of which Carl  McIntire,  an
         1. Problably.  &e most .difficult  matter. to come be-                  ousted Presbyterian minister, is the leader, we read
  f.ore  Synod was the .business conce$ng  the name and nothing.
  nature  (of  the. present `assembly.  -According to  -the                        3. At the second Ecumenical  (Synod held in  A&
  IGuardian, there was considerable debate  anent the                            sterdam in 1949 three propositions respecting the  ques-
  qupstion  what to call this assembly. Is,Synod  a-judi-                        tidn of "Creation and Evol&on" were presented to
  ciary body, .or does it have only. advisory capacity?                          the churches for consideration. The Synod of the
  Should `the gathering be called an Assembly, .a Con-                           lChristiafi  Reformed Churches last  June objected to
  v&ion, or a Council? Some would have changed the                               these propositions and so declared themselves at this
  name to one of these. "HoweveT  in the  .eyes  of  the  ,Synod. The Synod therefore decided to make further
 majority  t;he present name was  most acceptable, carry-                        &udy of this matter and put it in the hands of a
ing as it does not only certain  ecclesitistical   connota-                      study -committee of five Dutch theologians who will
  tions, but also the  provilsion  that Synod will continue                      leeport   at  the  next,   Synod.
  to offer `advice.' " So th.e name "Reformed Ecumen-                                The three propositions adopted at the Ecumenical
  ical  .Synod" was  retained.                  `..                              Synod of 1949 which we quote from the Banner of
         2. Another matter .of importance treated by Synod                       June 5, 1953, are as follows: ."a. This historical char-
  was "the affiliattibti  of. inember khurehes  ~of Synod with                   acter of the revelation in Genesis 1 and 2 must. be
  such ecumenical movemetits  as then-World -Council of maintained without compromise. These two chapters
.Chtirches,  -the International Council  :of. Christian                          offer no data to justify a symbolical or visionary in-
  Churches,  and the  .~ World  EqangeKcal   Fellowship.                         terpretation or treat them as meaningful myth." "b.
  These are the' respective world-wide projections of the                        The true, completely trust worthy description by God
  National Council of Churches (formerly the Federal                             of His work of creation is given to us in a .humanly
  Council), the American  Couficil  of Christian  Chur-                          intelligible form, So that, although (that is full, ex-
  ches, and the National  Associ@i,on  of  Evangelicals."                        haustive')  representation of the divine act, it is suf-
  After considerable debate, ,in yhich some delegates                            ficient for us to acknowledge and glorify Him as our
   argued that membership j,n the Synod and in  these                            Creator." "c. In maintaining the historical character
   church'movements in question  was incompatible, while                         of Genesis 1 and 2  the Church rejects all evolutionary
   others -saw nothing obj,ection%ble  in them, Synod de-                        teaching which either rules out God entirely, or con-
   tided : a.- Not to recommend membership in the IClC,C                         ceives of `God as dependent upon the process of a so-
  thougl?  there are many commendable features in the                            called creative evolution, or allows for Him td enter
  Statement of Faith in' this. organiz&on .the?e  are also                       into. the process, only incidentally. The human form
   certain features in the constitution rand the practise                        of the -revelation shoLljd prompt the Church to pro-


c                                                                                                                !     1



                                                                                                                 :          `_





                                                                                                                 1.
                            -----m-y                                         __ ,__  ,-+G~~f;@jir~~-T
                                                                                  ..;_                            2  N  D  A  R  D                     B  E  A  R  E  R
               %--:i';d-   .  ...:   ;.:-.:.-~.-.l'.~.;..--.`--
                                                                         .._j,    .--,-  _'  --;~~~~:;i",:-"     :  ,_-                         ,:.
                   ,..,     .      ..I                                                                                                                                                                --
     __-                    . .  .  .  .  .  _  ..:,-..   .                                                                                     ,:
              teed  with- modesty and ..caution,  and to ?e$r$n' from                                                              Netherlands- in recent- years to various countries  in-
              niTking various pronouncements in `the field of .natural eluding South Africa, Australia, New :Zeeland,  Cana-
              science."                                                                                                            da, an& the -UiTnited  -States. The Churches of the Nc-
               -  Respecting~   these  prolYositi&s  the  Synod  &f `the thel;]ancls  cle.sired  that the&z people l!av_e  the.Reformecl
              Christian Rkformed  Churches iti se&ign  last June' a-                                                              Churches in~tliese  countries 1yrovicle~thEm  with s>iritn-
              dopted thkfollowing  advice  of the committee of pre-                                                                a1 care.-%. <f% comme&able  overture we would say. A
              a.rlvice. `fThat `Synod make t&e following  ieply to `.tha _co@nitte&  of five was appointecl   to provicle.the  emi-
              kef&med Ectimeni&l  Syliod : -1. That Sjrnod^abp&-..  grant;s with, information. Rev.  J'.  YW& Vancler Kieft
              ciates in- the statements submitted by t&e: Refo&ed  .of the `Christian  Reformecl  Church in  Amcl:ica  is one
              Ecumenical Synod on the subject of:`Creation  and g-                                                                 of'  tl;@ nier&erg  of this committtie.
              volution' the. maintenance of the Bible`@  the infallible                                                                  .-                    miW                   :        p
                                                                                                                                                6.. And. finally,. the.: Synod also considered the re-
              Word of God; and-. the historicity of .-the `)jiblical  ac-' q$& for aclvice_ prese&ed  by -the` ChriSti+ Ref ormecl
              count -of creation. 2. That Synod' `expresses its. dis- !Churchy  -of this country re  ., the woman-suffrage  ques-
              satisfact.ioli  with the second- and. third  `guiding-.prin-                                                        @o-n.  At  the-Synod  of the latter  C,hurches  in 1950 it
              ciple' in -their present  f&n because they .do nc$dis-. Tvas decided to-preseqt this question `cd the Ecumenical
              tin&ish-with sufficient clarity b;etween  Ache Reform&  .._, ;L  -'  .'
                                                                                                                                   Synod. `Our readers Will probably-remember that we
              position .on the. one hand -and. t&e, positions of &-called  _ @l-cd z&e&ion  iu .a previous article to the fact that
              theistic evolution and -the dialectic theglogy.  on the                                                             tke.  Reformtid  (Chtirches  in the Netherlands took a
              other hand. 3. That Synod sl!ggests to t&F Reformed                                                                 St&d .in. respect to. this question.                     They  ,deciclecl in
              E,cumenical  Synod that the whole matter be studied                                                                 favor of  woman-suff$ag&  in the Church. The Synod
              anew."                                           `.                                                                 of Edinburgh  appbinted  a committee  to study the
              - In  as f&r as we al;e able to jud.ie? .we.are.  pleased                                                           && which comEittee  later reported and rendered
              with both  -the decisions of'  the  CliT:&tiai?   Reforined                                                         ad&&  wfii&.the'Synod in turn decided to offer to the
              :Churches and the  Ecum@nic@   Synod on  t)zis.&&ter.m   &-,_  ,ul{ches for  ea&est   `tionsidei%tidli. The advice in-
              They appear to show, an attempt !o c!ing to the .in-                                                                &tdes  six pqi&.`whiclrl`$e cannot now qilote  for lack
              fallible, historical account of  the Scriptural  :llarra-. ,0-f- spac$.Y It appears to `us, however, that the Synod
            tive of  creatipn, and a purposeful opposition'  t;i the .spoke ,in favor- of woman&u&rage; basing its stand
              current att,empt  to introduce tlie evolutioqistic  theory tiot:so  n&h on Tyhat S&i$turk  Says about this matter,
              of creation of the scientist  or-+e theory  oi "the,  c@e-                                                          tilt  r&h&.bn  what it does not  sa'y. In other words,
             gory.-  of the super-historica?' taught- b;y, B&h,:                                                                  b&z&se it is t$ o$nioG  of synod  that Scripture does
                    4. Synod'  also  en&red:   -into the  r&al.  prqblem- .ii& expressly condemn the p&cticeY of Woman-suffrage
              which had been' pfesented:  by then Ref &nikd Churls ill: tlie Church, therefore it is `allowable. Perhaps we
              of  South- Africa.                                     The difficulty wl&h ' Synocl tl'ied                          Will,`htive'inore  to say later on this subject.
              to solve can be briefly stated-as  fdllows  : The -Church                                                                                                                      - M .   Schipper
                                                                                                                                                                               :      "
              believes. that the.children  of God are all one in Christ,                                                           :;                                          .
              but does this meal1 that all races can or `iho$d live
              together? In South. &frica . -it a.ppearg  `..- ihat since
              Word War II. this problem has b&me acute.  `There                                                                          .                            - `1 - :T---
              are between  l&e- and  t&n million  negroeS   -in, South  `.
              Africa, but  about two  `and. a  half. -million whites.                                                              I-
              Though there  a&  -inore colored children*  ?a  ,&~ol                                                                                          MEN'S  ILEAGUE  MEE<TIN,G'
              than whites, the bill  is footed by the white-tax-payers.
              Hence  social and  econon&al  difficulties  &ave also  a-                                                                         The  -Eastern  League of  -Men's -Societies of the
             risen. This question has been put into the h.&& of                                                                   Protestant Reformed Churches. will hold their mass
              a  brotid committee consisting of twelve members  frorri                                                            meeting  Thursday evening, Nov. 19 at 8 o'clock in
              foltr different countries with three `from  each  country :' t h e   Hudsonville   @rot.  Eef..  Church.
              England,  $Iolland,  South Africa and America.  Th.Fy.                                                                     --Rev. G. Lubbers will speak  -on the topic : "The
              will report at +he next Synod to be -held   ia~:~l958 in                                                            Plzice  of Exhortation in the Preaching of th.e Gospel."
              South. Africa.                                                                                                             -. Opportunity will be given  for questioning and dis-
                    5. The Synod  also  ent&ained an  oiertnl*e   from  cussiqn after  -the  -address.
              the Reformed  Churches of the Netherlands i,e the pro-                                                               We cordially invite all our men to hear this tin@y
              blem of the spiritual. care of emigrants. `As is well  a$ worthwhile address.
              known many -emigrants have migrated from the                                                                                                                                    The Board


