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                    VOLUME xxx                                        DECEMBER 1, 1953 --.,C$A~%RAPIDS,.&@~HIGAN
                                                                                                                                .-                                        NUMBYR 5
                                                                                          -.

              $4 l~l-eoar~l-,~c,-,,~~,,-`,-,-,~,,-,,-~,~,-,~~,-~  ,-,,-,,- <y:.                           geance.  &a gives them in the hands' of their cruel-  ene-
                                                                                                                     *hen `they cry to God. And He  would send a
           .-  I,  .-  M  E  D  ~.I  ~a  `-A-~T  `g'  `0..  N  `%-  ~-~~~e.  to  deliver tllem
                                                                                                I                                            .    And  -they  a r e   again  estab-
              ~*~-lrrr~,a;e-,,-,,-,,-~~~,!~~,~,-~,-.,,-  -,a,- IWtNOWNO,f~.                               lished.         But-  &en the same cycle  starts  over again :
                                          :                                                               corruption, misery, crying to God,  and  ref,ormation.
                         .           .     
                                           .'  ?a,'  &g&`;~s   `Bra,&                 .  _  : Ancl that is our history.
                                                                                                             Essentially you  haye the same thing-in my text.
                                     "l+hoYd,   the "days  co&, saith the  L&i,   ,that   1
                                wilr  rai$e  &to  Da&   a  ,righteo_us   &an&,  &d.  a                       It is taken  from the  prophesieti  of the  weepilig
                               .king.  &hall reign and  -pr&pef,   and  sh&,  e&cuts                      @-o&et;.
                              judgm$nt   and,  :justiie in  ' the'  es&h.   Jn  His` days
                                Judah  `shall be saved,   a&.hrtiel  shall dwell   safely:                   He  wept for about fifty- years.
                                and this is -the- name whereby  He shall be called,~                        Then  God took him to heaven and  wipecl all his
                                The Lord our  rightedusness."
                                               .-<                    -Jereniia>  23:5,6   . tears.  113  is singing now,
                                                            -
     :.                                   `.- --                                         `.  ,/              But we `will  take  -our cue from  him  .for  t`his little
                    - N o t   rna$y  d a y s   hence,  aad-`we   Will  Leleb&te-   t h e   medit&on.
              6-lorious event  of-  the  bi&h  of. our  Saviour.                                             For  our comfort in  thes.e  sdays of the advent of
                    For four  thousalld   yea&  t&e-.Church of God had  ,Christ
             look@l for  Him.  00  li?afiy pages  of.  t,he Old  Tesiament                                           '
              scriptures you find  the--longing   .fo?  the  coming-`of   this
             lSaviour,  alid-  olr-the  otliel;  h&!d,  the  b~!e  pi.omis,e of                               _                             Q * a  *                       :
             H i s   :  advent.  `.  :Go$  -has'--pr;irnised:  throlnghout   history  .
             t h a t '   H e  WOL&  selid  His  Go5l;I&   &Ie,&iah.   `Yes',   &cl  -  .                                              _.                     .  -
              it-tieally  m&Is  that God  promised  that  `He'.would  edtic-                               llere is  Jeremiah's promise in the  ndme of the
              Him&f.  `  That:iS   -ihe  :Gospel  of  .tlie. pro&se :  ..I,  your. dord`:  God  is  going  t@-send  unto David a- righteous
             God, am  &ning .to  sa-  $0~  !                      .  -  -.  : --    i -- .           `Branch !
                    A very clear.  <instance of  such a  p?omise'we  ,lzave.                                 And  this: Branch is Jesus. This  prophgcy was
             heard in  the prophecies- of  Isaiah, chapter  $0,  v&se 9.                             fulfilled in  -tll&,   wdnd&ful night when Jesus was born.
             It concludes  ,-in the:  triunlphafit   shout :  E,ehqld  yo~zr                              It  may have  be& the  text for the sermons of those
            LGod  ! In it is- th& glad -cry :: l+`:c&~ .at last !                                    lowly  s h e p h e r d s :
            ..I     It `is  .an answer-to  -the-  e&r  re,curring  qu&on  :                                  N&ice : God raises l%m !
             Wl>o- is active  in.  rt;li~&oli'?:   -And. the -answer is-:  God.                              A&  :  in  the  midst  of  I&' utmost wickedness.  -Not
           acts; And when- He -acts there: is -  reX&on.                            Then we               dilly  ifi. the earth, but Judah-Israel have become like
      corrupt ourselves  `ag2Lii.i: T h e n   ,Gpd  ad&gain,   and unto Sodom  z@d  :Goinorrah..
             tha.  .resitlt  -:&,  ~-~&f&m&ign.~  -~. [And  _thu$  it-,  continues                   ._      Bit  God  raises  Him.  you ask me why  1 emphasize
             throughout  all-  histo?y.  Yes;  -tie are active  t&o: But
             our  action is the  cbrruption'   of:truth  and life. That                              this truth               Because it is  fimdamental,  ancl because
             is  ihe sad  commetitary of  all' history; Clearest of all                              we are always trying to corrupt that truth.
             in  the book of-the judges.  Th&e  you see-the  ever                                            It  is  fulldalnen@,l  for  .it  Teve&ls   the,  entil'e, style of
                                                                                                                                                                                      .  :
             recu$ring.   cycle  of God  est&liqhing  His people in the  -then p&laces-of  G,Od'S   salvation. All along  t.he way  It  Is
             truth..  Theil they  &rrupt   themsel.ves.  ,God  takes  +en-                           ,God  who  saves. Not for  one moment is it any differ-


98                                      ??`HE  ST'ANDARD   B E A R E R                                                 -
 ent. God raise;  .the Branch,  the Princeps, the Leader        and said: Behold Me in your misery and  poverty!
 of the people.....                                             But I come to make you rich!
      He is  called*~B~tinch,  that is a twig that points in
 a different,  iii' a new direction.      And  the direction
 this Princeps points to is the heart of God ! This                                     It  $7  b  ill
 Branch is tantamount to Paul's cry.: For out  .of Him,
 through Him and unto  H&l are all things.  Amen.                  Yes,  th,e Branch would  .be raised unto David.
      You see, we are all going in the opposite direction           And what would His labor be?
 to where this Branch is pointing. Our direction is                 This:  He would  be a King and He  woulcl reign in
,hell. But He comes unto David (so. says the text)              justice  ancl judgment.
 and  He leads David back to the  ,go.od conduct: right-           There is an eternal terror in these words.
 e o u s n e s s .                                        _        You' know what would happen to you when justice
      In. one  worcl : this Branch brings  salvatioli.          and  jud,gment would be meted out  t`o you?
                                                                    There. is but one answer: you would find  your-
                          ***1'                                 s$ves in outer darkness.
                                                                   But  -wait! This Branch is going  to execute judg-
      Who  i&David?                                             ment and justice in the earth, as a labor of everlasting
      The text tells me that God will raise a righteous         love of God!
-Branch unto David.                                             And that makes all the difference.
      But David was dead and gone by the time this                 Oh, I pity the world and the  deviis.1  They shall
prophecy was spoken.                                            feel the justice and judgment,  Fnd its experience shall
  . Yes, but although King David, the father of King            be hell forever. Did not this Branch -say : Now is the
ISolomon  was  de&d at this time in history, David was          world judged! And also this:  Snow is Satan cast out!
still  there<                                                      But as for David: He will execute judgment  ancl
      David in my text speaks of Judah-Israel, the              justice in the earth for them too, but then they will
Church,  `God's  people, the elect.                             be saved. Jesus will prosper  .in that awful labor. But
      And here I approach a chapter that is overwhelm-          He Himself will go under. For He will take your hell
ing: I can hardly continue. It it the everlasting chap-         and damnation on Himself,
ter of God's love. For you must have asked your-                   Yod can read it in the text. The effect of His la-
selves : why call that  chu.rch David? And the answer           bor in the  earlll~ will be that Judah shall be saved !
is. that the name David means Beloved !                         And Israel shall  dwell safely. In these-few words you
      Beloved? The Church? Israel? Judah? God's  peo-           have salvation, marvellous salvation, heaven and hea-
pie? We? I, of all persons?                                     ven's joy and peace.
      Yes, my dear brethren, you and 1, and all that hope          Saved, what is it? It is the loss, of the greatest
in  #God. We are called David in my text, and that `evil and the obtaining of the greatest  go'od.  Through
speaks of the eternal chapter of the love of God. I             His justice and judgment your-sin  and-,guilt are anni-
hear a man warble sometimes on my radio about the               hilated. And through the same labor your righteous-
Love of  ,God. It is the title of  a hymn.. Oh, but it is       ness will shine  as the sun in the firmament.
beautiful and  tr.ue.                                              To dwell safely.
      Perhaps  ydu would ask me for  proof.                      _ I yearn as I write. We do not dwell safely as sin-
      Well, there is proof  ; there is overwhelming proof.      ners. There is an unspeakable apprehension in the
      The whole world is full of proof  ~that God loves         very atmosphere. As sinners our lot is described in
His own people whom He foreknew. There is so much               one of the prophets: In the morning we say: wish it
proof in the world that the trees and the mountains             were even! and in the evening we say : wish it were
are- bidden of the Holy  ,Ghost to sing and clap their          morning !                                 `.'
hands, for that His goodness endureth forever !                    But through the labor of this Branch Judah is
      But  you ask  for proof and 1 will give it. And you       sjved and Israel shall dwell safely.
live this proof,  by6 and bye when you and your dear
ones will travel again to  Bethlehem..to see the Word              What unspeakable salvation !
that has come to pass.
   The proof is that God came in swaddling clothes, in
a dirty  .manger and `dirtier stable, in order to show
you how  ~.%uch He loved you. He came to  point5in the
direction  of  3$iv loving Heart. He came in Bethlehem             His  name is  The  Lord  QW  Righteousness!


                                        T H E   STAN-DAkD+E;ARER                                                                                                              99

   Yes, that is first' of all Jesus  ,Christ  who was born
in Bethlehem almost two thousand years ago.  Thefe                                       THE STANDARD BEARER
can be no reasonable doubt about  t,hat.  The Branch                            Semi-monthly, except monthly during July and Axgust
is the Saviour-King.                                                     Published by the  REFORMED   FREE   PUBLISHING   ASSOCIATION
   But I would like  to point out that He is in reality                P. 0. Box  881,  Madison Square Station, Grand Rapids 7,  Mich.
God Himself, Jehovah, Lord of  ILords,  and King of                                         Editor  -  REV.   HERMAN  HOEKSEMA
kings.                                       .                      Communications relative to contents should be addressed to Rev. H.
                                                                    Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St.,  SE.   Grand Rapids 7, Michigan.
   Salvation is of the Lord.                                        All matters relative to subscriptions should be addressed to Mr.  G.
   No, this Branch is no  thtid party that came be-                 P i p e ,   1 4 6 3   Ardmore  S t . ,   S .   E . ,   G r a n d   R a p i d s   7 ,   Mich.
                                                                    Announcements and Obituaries must be mailed to the above address
tween the outraged God and  tohe guilty sinner. Oh no.              and  tiil!  :be published at a fee of  $1.00 for each notice.
But it is the Party of the First Part: God, blessed for-            RENEWAL's:           Unless a definite  bequest for discontinuance is received,
ever.                                                               it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the subscription to continue
                                                                    without the formality of a renewal order.
  Yes, this Branch is Jehovah in swaddling clothes,                                           Subscription price: $4.00 per year
lying in the manger.            I                                        Entered  as Second  Class  matter ct Grand Rapids, Michigan
   It is Jehovah clothed with humility, Jehovah clothed
with our  weaken.ed,  earthy, corruptible and mor-
tal human nature. It is Jehovah  wit,h guilty David
in His loins.
   That is  w.hat you see in Bethlehem's  stabhe. That's
what the  .sh,epherds came to see. They saw the Sign
of all that  marvellous miracle. They came to see the
Incarnation of Jehovah.                                          `1o~,,~,11,,~`,~~,~,,~,,~,,~,,~`,~,,~,~~~~~`~~,~~~~~"~~~~`~~~~-
   And He is called The Lord our Righteousness!
    These last words of His name  tell a wonderful                                                      C O N T E N T S
story.                                                           MEDITATION-
    It tells of  t&he results .of  Hi,s labor. He established           The Righteous Branch . . . . . . . . ..  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                  97
                                                                                Rev. G. Vos
righteousness for David so that it might clothe him.             EDITORIALS-
   Read of it in the Revelation of John, the beloved                     Earmarks . . . . . . . . 1. . . . . . . .                   . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
`Apostle.                                                                       R e v .   H .   Hdeksema
    He saw a great  tiultftude  of happy  sou!s,   Arrayed
in long white clothes-before the  thronae of  YGod.              OUR  DOCTRINE-
                                                                         The Triple Knowledge . . . . . . . . . .                    ...................... 102
    And there  mu,& have been a question in his soul                            Rev. H. Hoeksema
for he is  answered by one of the four and twenty el-            THE  DAY  O F   SHADOWS-
ders who said to him: What are these which are ar-                       The Prophecy of Isaiah . . . . . .                          ...................... 106
rayed in white  robe,s?  and whence came they?                                  Rev. G. M.  Ophoff
   But John-did not know, and so he said: Sir, thou              FROM  HOLY  WRIT-
                                                                                                                                     ...................... 109
knowest !                                                                Exposition of I Peter  1:18,  19 . . .
                                                                                Rev. G. Lubbers
   And  hege is his answer, and it sheds light on the            IN  HIS  FEAR-
name  *by which Jehovah-Salvation is called: These                       Afraid of the Gospel . . . . . . . . . . .                  ...................... 111
are they which came out of great tribulation,  an,cl                            Rev. J. A. Heys
have washed their robes,  and mai& them white in the             THE  VOICE   O F  O UR  FATHERS-
blood of the Lamb.                                                       The Canons of Dordrecht . . . . . . . .                     ............... ....... 113
    And still clearer is John's revelation in chapter                           Rev. H. C. Hoeksema
19% There we read that to the Bride of the Lamb                  DECENCY   AND  ORDER-                                               . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
 (and that  is.the same as David in my text) was grant-                  The Liberty to Minister . . . . . . . . . .
                                                                                Rev. G.  Vanden Berg
ed that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and           ALL  AROUND  Us-
white: for the fine linen is  the  tighteousness  of the                To Much Election? . . . . . . . . . . . . .                  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
saints.                                                                  What kind of Grace is "Common Grace"? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
                                                                                Rev. M.  Schipper
   The Lord our Righteousness!
    Thus shall He. be called, says the text.                     CONTRIBUTIONS-
                                                                         A  Tes:imony  from the Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
    Oh, let us call Him that for evermore ! Amen.                           J.  H: Kortering, Holland, Michigan
                                                  G .   Vos.      U,rr,--`HI,ICi--,,--"-`-,,-~-,-~-,,-~-,,-"-~~~,~


                                                                     $!F"IJn  .lie;art, but also in the hearts of all that so strongly
                                                                     support him.
                                                                         How the  Rev. Gritters has changed since he, ten
                                                                     years  ago, instructed his people in Sioux Center by his
                           E        *k
                                arniar  
                                      s            '                 exposition of the Canons. Confer the excellent arti-
                                                                     cles of the Rev. J. Heys in the Stan&& Bearer.
      It will  be.plain  to every one that at  a&understands              And the Rev. A.  Cammenga? The man that was
  the truth that the difference between us and those that            supposed to proclaim-the Protestant Reformed truth to
  left the fellowship of. the Protestant Reformed  Chu?-             &oSe  that are outside? In the  lighk of his enthusias-
  ches at bottom concerns the truth of  electioli  and re-           tic support of that first sermon of the Rev. De Wolf,
  probation.                                                         in which he stated that the promise of God is for all
                                                                     on  cqndition of the act of  gbelieving, I am convinced
      It is the age old question whether grace  is always            that he never preached, as our missionary, either in
  particular and for the elect alone, or whether it is               Lynden  or in  Chattam,  the distinctive Protestant Re-
  Common  and, in some sense, is. for all men;                       formed  trut-h. (He was in  church when De Wolf
      It is the question that arises again  aqd again  ili           preached that sermon, and although he never paid me
  the world whether, in the matter of  saIvation,  God is            a visit, the morning after he came to my house just to
  absolutely sovereign, so that He is  n!ierci%ul unto whom          tell me  wh.at a wonderful sermon that was !) . I
  He will be  meyciful and whom  -He. wills He hardens ;             would  like to know how, in the light of his whole-
  or  tih&ther man can and must contribute  tit  :least              hearted agreement with that sermon, he could ever
  something to his'  sglvation.                                      have opposed the First Point of Kalamazoo 1924.
      Those that condemn. the statements made by the                     At any rate, the' two  sttitements  that, by  Classis
  Rev. De Wolf maintain, as the Protestant Reformed                  East and the  ,Consistory  of the First  P,rotestant  Re-
  Churches always did ever since 1924, that grace is nev-            formed Church of Grand Rapids, are declared to be
  er common but always particular. Those that support                literally heretical, attack the  very. heart of our Pro-
  those statements simply believe that the grace of God              testant  Reform&d truth.
  is common.                                                             It is Protestant Reformed to' teach that the pro-
   I know that they, with a show of  iqdignation,  deny              mise is for the elect alone. De Wolf. and his supporters
  this.  They  say that they are Protestant Reformed!                believe that the promise is for all that hear the gospel.
  They  c&n that they hold to the  tr'uth of election and                It is Protestant Reformed to maintain that, in the
  reprobation, and of particular grace just as well  asp preaching  ,of the gospel,  the$e is no common grace,
 we do.  .But, in the light of all their. agitation  in the
                                                  ___~  ._           but that, through  the preaching,  ,God is merciful to
  churches, and in the light of what the  R,ev. De Wolf              whom  l3e will be merciful and whom He will He har-
  himself called his "unhappy statements," I maintain                dens. De Wolf and those that support him believe
  that all their actions  b&lie   their  word,s and their claims.    and maintain that the preaching is grace for all that
      Often I begin to  think that many  th& went along              hear.
  with us in  1924.ancl many that joined our churches in                It is Protestant Reformed to teach that faith is not
  later years never were Protestant Reformed.  T&y                   a condition but a means unto salvation. But De Wolf
  should never have gone  al,ong, they should  neber have            and those that follow him (or `did he follow them?)
  joined us.  H6ti  &herwise  is, it  to be explained that           insist  t.hat man's act of believing limits the promise
  one of my  own elders, A. Dykstra,  cbuld say in one of            0-i' God.
  our consistory meetings that he knew of nine former                   It is Protestant- Reformed to teach that man is by
  elders, and himself was, of course; the tenth, that were           nature  ,darkness,  wholly incapable of doing any good  -
  convinced that the synod  .of  Kalaniazoo, 1924, was               atid inclined to all evil, and he can never convert him-
right when they declared that I was onesided. That                   self to enter into the kingdom of God unless he is born
  the Rev. Petter for a  time perhaps, embraced  tb.e Pro-           again by the Spirit of God. But De Wolf and those that
  testant Reformed faith, superficially at least, but that           support him  te&h-  and-  in&t that  our  act  o-f  conver-
  he never  wc^s Protestant Reformed at heart is evident             sion is  bef&e  (PRE-requisite)  we enter  itit0 the king-
  from' all that, in the last few years,  .he'  peodtiiced,  and     dom of  `God.
  more especially from his opposition  again&   the Decla-              I am aware that the  l$ev. De Wolf now  ,explains that
  ration of Principles. The same is true of  sill  ihat were
                                                        .:           he was; not referring to  initial,   `atid principle bnt to
                                                        :     t,
  against that declaration.                                          continual conversion and entering -into the kingdom
      The two statements  m&e by the Rev. De Wolf are `of -God.
  only a concise expression of what lives, not only in his               But,  in the first place, let me remark that this is


                                                      .
                                       THE  STANDARD   BEARER                                                          101

an after thought of De Wolf and that, throughout the           be before the latter, can never be a  PRErequisite.
sermon, except in the  last few sentences, he spoke of            An earmark of being a heretic I find in the way
principle and initial  condersion and entering into. the       Rev. De Wolf attempts to distort the plain meaning
kingdom. I know, for I heard the sermon myself.                of the Confessions so as to favor and support his
   Besides, he virtually stated in that sermon that,           stat,ement that our act of conversion is a prerequisite
if we did not convert ourselves, we would all go to hell.      to enter into the kingdom of  ,God. An illustration of
He referred to Luke  13:24 ff, which speaks of the             this you may find in one of his answers to the ques-
workers of iniquity that shall never,  ,enter into the fi-     tions of the above examination.
nal kingdom of glory but to wliom the Lord says: "De-             The question asked  f,or his explanation of Canons
part from me, ye that work iniquity.".  T.his certainly        III, IV, 1-4 and 10. And the answer was rather leng-
could never be said to those that were already regener-        thy, but I will quote all the essential parts of it.
ated.                                                             "That question is not an easy question, the ques-
  Again, at one of' the consistory meetings soon after         tion` concerning our entering into the kingdom, the
that sermon was  prgached, I suggested to him that             manner of our entering into the kingdom, that which
the Lord, in Matth.  18:1-4 certainly spoke to his re-         takes place in the sinner who enters into the kingdom
generated disciples that certainly,  `ils far as their sub-    of God, and the chronological order of events with a
jective condition was concerned, were already in the           view to enter into the kingdom. I have been trying to
kingdom of  ,God.  I asked him  wheth,er Peter, had he         make a little study of that, Mr. Chairman, as you find
died on the spot when Jesus addressed His disciples,           these various references in Scripture, and I am not
would not have gone to heaven. His answer clearly re-          prepared to give you a full explanation of these things,
vealed how far, at that time, the explanation which            because it is rather an  involv,ed problem, and it is not
he now offers, was from his mind. He simply said :             to be  ove,r  simplified by making a line, and saying
"that  ,has nothing to do with it."                            that man is first on one side and -then on the other,
    But even if he referred-to continual conversion and        I assure you, and the Canons also do not do that. It
entering in, the statement does not principally change,        is rather difficult to immediately establish these things
but is still heretical.  In no sense of the  tiord can it      here that are in question."
ever be said that our act  .-of conversion is before we           ILet us remember that, in his sermon, the Rev. De
enter into the kingdom. qlways we must be in the               Wolf was quite sure of the solutiop of this problem
light, always we must be in  the kingdom  bef.ore we           and especially of the  "ch;l:onological  order of events"
convert ourselves. ,Outside of the kingdom we are ever         +en one enters into the kingdom of  #God. Did he
in darkness, and never convert ourselves, whether              not definitely state that our act of conversion was
ljrincipally  or continually. Our act of conversion,           first and that the entering into the kingdom followed?
ther,efore, even in the sense of  cofitinual conversion        PRE  me:ans before, and refers,  theref,ore, to the chron-
is always an act in the light, and can never be a PRE          ological order "of events." Why then camouflage the
-requisite to enter into the light.       -                    matter now and state that the matter is not so simple?
    In one of his answers to the questions put to him          I consider this an  earmark  of heretics. Vagueness is
in the examination to which the  consistory  subjected         their strength.
him, he virtually admits  that,our  act of conversion is          But let me continue the question:  *
not a prerequisite to enter into  the kingdom of  `God,
although in ail the other  answers'he  emphatically main-         " `Are we not in  th,e power of darkness before we
tains this heresy.                                             enter into the kingdom of God?' Well, Mr. Chairman,
                                                               you can say a lot of things about that. Certainly it
    The. question was : "Do you maintain that our act          is true that the  natu.ral man is in the power of dark-
of  conve?sion  is before we enter into the kingdom of         ness and  it is.also true that  w(hen one is in the kingdom
`God, that is, a prerequisite?"                                he is in the light. I think we may say that."
  And he answered as follows : "In the sense of our               Mnz~  say that? Is it possible, in the light of Scrip-
consciousness of entering in, and being in  the kingdom.       ture  alid the Confessions ever to say anything else?
I would say it belongs to our  act of entering into the        De Wolf says : "You can  say a lot of things about that."
k i n g d o m . "                                              I  would like to hear those "lot of things."
    In the last sentence, he, evidently, denies that our
act of conversion is a prerequisite to enter into the             abut I continue :
kingdom.    The two are simultaneous. The  act of                 "Now I  w.oul,d  like to call your attention to  Art..
conversion takes place or is performed at  the same ,IO (of Canons III, IV,  H.H.),  particularly, to show
time that we enter into the kingdom. Conversion is             you that  this problem, is not so simple. And, Mr.
the act of entering in. But then the former can never          ,Chairhan, the  .reason that I call special  attention   to


1 0 2                                   THE   S.&$.~DiliD_   .I!.EARER
                              _.----                                                             - - - - --        -
  Art. 10  is because it  me&ons the kingdom.  The                    his heresy that our act of conversion is a prerequisite
  other articles do not, if my  mem.ory serves  .me  @rrect-          to enter into the kingdom of God!
 l y . `It is to be ascribed. to the prop& exercise of free               What a  Pelagian  interp%t&ion of our Reformed
  will, whereby qne distinguishes himself above  ot.hers,             Confessions !
  equally furnished with grace and  conversion, as the                                                                        -1-I.H.
  proud heresy of  Pelagius maintains  ; `but it must be
  wholly &scribed to God, who as he has chosen his own
  from eternity in  Christ'-and now Mr.  Chairman;may                                              pJ                    -
  I call  you?  .particular  attention to the order in which
  we have these things here in this article-`as  he has
  .chosen  his own from eternity in Christ, so he' confers
  upon them faith and repentance,  .rescues them from
  the power of  darkness,  and translates them into the
  kingdom of  his. own Son.'  "                              .
         Remember that  .DeWolf  wants to  call special at-
  -tention  to the order of  t4hese  things: faith, conversion,                THE TRIPLE KNOWLEDGE
  and being translated into the kingdom of  (Godts  Son.                 AN EXPOSITION OF TFIE  HEIDELEERG CATECHISM
  And note, in  the following, how he twists and distorts
 the  C,onfession to  suppojrt the heresy that  -the act of                       PART  III  -  OF  THANKFULNIBS
  conversion is even  befor&  our being translated into the
  kingdom. Said he:                                                                         EQRD'S   DAY  38
         "Now, `Mr.-Chairman, there must be some reason                                        Chafiter  3
  why  ,our fathers used this order.         They speak of                        The Observance of the First Day
  "translation into the kigdom of his own Son" as fol-
  lowing upon being rescued out of  the- power. of  ,dark-               Fk?om   t&a   pmseding it will be evident that it is  jm-
  ness, as -following upon the conferring of faith and                port&  pmperiy   to observe the weekly sabbath, and
  repentance upon them,  w+l&h faith. and., repentance                that the desecration of  that  sabbath   day is  B  sad  sign
  are certainly active and conscious realities. Repen- of spiritual  deterioratid&
  tance cannot be  anything else but conscious, must. be ;                F'ir&  sf  sii, it  will be plain that they who insist
  and faith I believe, according to our confessions,  iis&. ,on the seventh  iay instead of the first day of the week
  ally has the idea of the conscious act  of faith.- I think          gre-  utte.rly  in error, proceed from a wrong conception
  that if you look up the idea of faith in our confessions,           priccipally, and fail to understand the significance of
  you will find, Mr. Chairman, that that is the, aspect  :  .tho  `Christian  sabbath.                         i:.  /
  of faith as it stands upon the foreground, not the po-              ., This  &ror is not to  be found only in the mistaken
  tential, not the potential of  faitlh, but the act of faith,        notion that one day is holier than the other. The error
  and I find it very significant, Mr. Chairman, that  our of the Seventh  Bay Adventist much  rather- consists
  fathers put it in this order."                                     in  this,  that  he does not understand the progress of
         I must  cohtinue this in the next `number' of the ,God's work, arid fails to see that  ,God  repeatedly spoke
  Stumdascl Bearer.       This answer is very important,              of  anoth@r day. He does not understand that  our
  and I do not  wish to do De Wolf an injustice by  quot-            sabbatmh.  consists  pr.incipally in  ,our entering into the
  ing him only in part as is always so  &aracteristic of             work of  `God, which Be perfected for us in Christ  Je-
  the  so-c&ed  Ref  armed  Guardian,  thus distorting' the          sus our Lord, and  @at therefore, if we must celebrate
  t r u t h .                                                        a special day at  .all, the Christian church, following
                                                                     Scripture, chose the first day as being the  resuri?ec-
     Only I want to call your attention to  the smooth way           tion  of. the Lord Jesus Christ. The Seventh Day
  in which. De Wolf prepares us for the  er.ror that the             Adventist insists on the sabbath of creation and  `of
  Confessions teach that our act of conversion is before the day of shadows. He closes his eyes to the' fact
  we are translated into the kingdom of God. We first                that  ,God  has provided some better thing  f,or  US.
  believe: faith is presented here as the act of faith. The sabbath of creation is gone forever, and  can-
  We  first  convert ourselves: conversion, too, is  pre-            not possibly be celebrated by the Christian church.
  sented here as our act. Thereupon God rescues us                   It was  lost  when man fell into sin and death.
  from the power of darkness,  and,translates  us into the               The first paradise will never, and must never,  re-
  the kingdom-of His own Son.                                     t u r n .
     All  this  must serve  the. purpose of bolstering up                Moreover, the sabbath  of the shadows was  tem-


porary, as, are all the shadows. And the earthly  !an$              strictly a spiritual idea. The keeping of the sabbath
of  ICanaan is forever destroyed,  ko open up  neti  vistas         is a  l'high spiritual act, the  ex.pression of hope and
,for the better, that is, the heave&y country. For  this. faith on the part of the Christian sojourner in the
better country already the patriarchs  <of the old  di+ midst of  this present world. It is for this reason a                          '
pensation hoped, as they dwelt in the  !and of Cdnaan' very evil omen, a sign  ,of  apostacy,  of a lack of spi-
,.as in a strange  coun$ry.  For we read: "By faith he              ritual  lif.e, of a sick faith  and. a waning hope, when
sojourned in the land of promise as in a strange coun-              they that call themselves Christians, that outwardly
try,  dswelling in tabernacles with Isaac  Jacob,  the heirs        join the band of Christian pilgrims in the world, e-
with  hi;n of  the, same promise : For he looked for a              vince no longing to keep the sabbath properly, dese-
city which hath  founclat.ions;  whose builder and maker            crate it, and more and more jdin the world, to follow
is  ,God."         Heb.  11:9,.  IO,. - And again,  in. the same    after  their own desires, speak their own words, and
chapter, vss.  13-16.:-  "These all died  ih faith, not hav-        do their  own:.evil works.
ing received the  pr,oniises, but  h,aving seen them a-                For the  ,Christian  is really a  &ranger  and sojour-
far-. off, and -were persuaded  o.f them, and embraced              ner; a pilgrim in a strange country, because principal-
-them, and confessed that  ~they were strangers and  pil-           ly  .he entered -into the .sa.bbath of the Lord through the
~grims on the earth. For  they that say such things                 resurrection `of Jesus Christ from the dead. He is
declare plainly  that they seek a country. And truly,               begotten again unto a lively hope, through the  resur-
if they had been mindful  .of  that~,countrjr   f%om whence         rection of Jesus Christ. When he is regenerated, he
they  came out, they might have had opportunity to                  receives the beginning of that new and resurrection
have returned.  But~now they desire a better country,               life of the Lord. He ceased  from? his labor and toil.
that is; an  heav&ly : wherefore  :God is not ashamed               He rests from sin and from the world  and its evil
to be called their  AGod-:  ,for he hath prepared for them          w,orks. And he becomes a new man, the citizen of an-
a city."                                                            other country, the heavenly, of the new Jerusalem,
    A  better day has  d.&wned.  And the dawn of this               that will descend out of heaven from  Gtid in the day
better day -the Seventh Day Adventist ignores, does                 of our Lord Jesus Christ. He lives the sabbath life.
not see. It dawned-on the  .first  day  oft the week, the           Hence, his whole life is  ,a  s&batic   life,. a ceasing from
resurrection-day of the  Ltird; that gives us rest. 8mall           sin,  atid an entering into the rest of God's perfected
wonder that the disciples from the outset met on that covenant.
 day..  ,Small wonder,, especially in  the- light of the fact           But in this world his life is a sojourner's sabbath.
.that  again on the-first day of the week the  riseri, glor-        For he still sojourns in Babylon. And in Babylon they
 ified  Lo,rd returned in the Spirit, and sanctified that           do not  know the sabbath of the Lord our  <God. They
 day until His coming again in glory.  IOn that first               are aliens to the very idea of the sabbath, of the rest
 day of the week  God entered into His rest fhrough                 of God's tabernacle. We need not be surprised, there-
 our  Lord Jesus Christ, when He raised  H.im from the              fore, that in the world they devote the  fil;st day of
 dead. ,On  the first day of  the week- He spiritually be-          the  week~to the  puY;s$it  of earthly and worldly things,
 stowed that rest  ,upon His church, which is the tem-              qf  the  ,things of the flesh. It is Usually especially on
 ple-- of God with men. It is on that day that the  peo-            the. sabbath that  all that is. in the world, the lust  of_
pl,e of God celebrate the sabbath of the Lord  their God.           the&sh  and.the lust of the eyes and the pride of life,
  From  a!1 that we have said  -about the sabbath of                becomes emphatically manifest. But this is all the
 the Lord,, it Will also  be  .self-evident   that it is  qui.te    more reason why the Christian  sojou?ner, living his
 impossible to legislate the world -into proper obser-              sabbath life in the midst of the world, where he feels
vance of the sabbath day. It is impossible for  the.un- that he is a stranger, where he meets with Babylon's
believing world to  ~observe the sabbath of the  Lo:rd              opposition and reproach, where all things tend to draw
 our God. I have  i,o objection that proper legislation             him downward and to make it  ,difficult for him to live
be passed, and  th%t.  the already existing laws be en-             his -life  .of rest, shall long for  tlie; day of the Lord, the
forced, pertaining  to. restriction of labor, business,             weekly sabbath,  -which  the  @rd.- in His great. mercy
traffic, and public amusements on Sunday. But  eat best             provid.ed for him, and shall insist to keep it holy. He
 such legislation may be conducive to create. a better              shall not entertain the notioii that by merely refrain-
 atmosphere  f,or the people of God in the world to keep            ing from earthly labor he is observing  the- sabbath
 the  .weekly   sabbath-  hory and to fill their minds-  .arid      of the Lord. He  `shall  not,%magine  that one day is
hearts with  the things concerning the kingdom of God.              holier than the other.`-  The-Phariseeistic  view of the
 Nevertheless, the ungodly cannot possibly celebrate the sabbath is not  -his.;--But-,:-he'  shall' as much as is
the sabbath,. even though%hey spend it ifi -tiompleXe  idle- in him desist  frdm  ev`ery  &arthly,task,  to  .remove from
.ness and refraining  fromtall labor. The  ,sabbath  is             him- mind and heart all earthly cares, in order that
                              . .

              -


the whole day may be occupied orily with the sabbath                  ihese two commandments hang all the law and the
of the Lord  ; congregate  .with His people in His house              prophets." Allthough,  theref,ore, there are two tables
-diligently ;  meditat,e  on His Word  ; take hold of  His            of the law, the first dealing with our relation to God
promises  ; and let his whole  conversatiop  be in heaven.            and the second with our relation to the neighbor, yet
    rcglessed is the man that doeth this, and  the, son               the entire law is one. The  second  table  is based upon
of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the  sab-                 the first, and can never be  separa8ted  from it. When
bath from polluting it, and his hand  fr.om doing any                 the Lord teaches us in Matt.  22:38 and 39 that  the
evil." Is.  56.~2.                                                    great commandment is the love of God, while the
    For even as this keeping of the sabbath is  itself                second  cotimandment, concerning the love of the
the  expressi~on  of a healthy and vigorous  spiriltual~ life,        neighbor, is like unto the first, the meaning is, of
of  khe lively hope unto which we are begotten again                  course, that the love of God is the principle of the
by the resurrection of  .Jesus Christ from the dead, so               whole law and that without it there is no love of  t,he
the proper observance of-the weekly sabbath  will bear                neighbor possible. The latter is rooted in the love of
the  frui% that the believer individually and the church              God. It is evident; therefore, that the law requires
of Christ  orgariically  is strengthened in the most holy             that we love the neighbor for God's sake.  ,Only in
faith, quickened in the hope eternal, sustained and en-               this sense may we love the neighbor as ourselves. Just
couraged- to cease from evil. Strengthened and quick-                 as the law requires  thiat we love ourselves  for  ,God's
ened and encouraged by the proper  obeervv.ance of the                sake, so we-must love the neighbor for His sake only.
weekly sabbath, the believer will yield  himself  td the              It is for  G,od's  sake that we must love the neighbor
L&d,  to work by His Holy Spirit in Him. And he                       in his relation of  authoriaty over us. And  f,or His sake
will be  encquraged once more to take  up- his pilgrim's              we must be  obedie& and submit to the authority.
staff and pursue his  j'ourney in the world, looking                  For God's sake we must love the neighbor in his per-
forward to the eternal rest that remaineth for the                    son, and preserve his life. For  ,God's sake we must
people  ,of God.                                                      love the neighbor in his marriage relation, and not
    Blessed is that man that doeth this,  f,or he has                 commit adaltery. For God's sake  w,e must love the
the sure promise of  th.e  Lord : "My salvation is near               neighbor in his  ear[thly possessions. And for God's
to come; and my righteousness to be revealed."                        sake we must love the neighbor in his name. This we
                                                                      must remember, lest in treating the second table of
                                                                      the.law.we preach to the Church of Jesus Christ a code
                                                                      of external precepts, which every man is able to ful-
                                                                      fill.
                          Lord's Day 39                                        This  i.s a not uncommon  ,error.
              Q. 104. What doth God require in the fifth com-                  Preachers of the Word, when they proclaim this
           mandment  ?                                                second table of the law, not infrequently apply it to
              A. That I show all honor, love and fidelity, to         the world, to human  satiety in general, instead of to
           my father and mother, and all in authority over me,        the church of  Ch.rist. In that case the preaching of
           antd submit myself to- their good.instruction  and cor-
           rection, with due obediemze;  and also patiently bear      the law indeed becomes a matter of common grace,
           with their weaknesses  .and infirmities? since it          and the sermon becomes a matter of so-called civic
           pleases God to govern us by their hand.                    righteousness.
                            Chapter 1                                          It is strictly necessary, therefore, to maintain the
                                                                      principle that the second table of the law is rooted
               The Question of Authority                              in and based  ,on the first. In the world there is, of
   The fifth  1  cbmmandment introduces  th'e second ta-              course, a certain outward morality, a certain external
ble of the law,  tihic.h prescribes the fundamental prin-             keeping of the second table of the law in favorable
ciples that lie at  the, basis of the Christian's life in             circumstances.          By natural light the world under-
relation to the neighbor. In this connection, it is well              stands very well that dissoluteness with  .regard to the
.to be reminded of the fundamental truth that the bas-                law, especially with respect to the second table of the
ic principle of the  who1.e law is the love of God, as  the           law, leads to self-destruction. They observe clearly
L&d  teaches us in Matt.  22:37-40,  -in answer to a                  that the keeping of  .the law is profitable for them.
question by a lawyer  :. "Jesus  said unto him, Thou                  Hence, although they often fail in this- respect, they
shalt love' the `Lord thy God  ,with all thy heart,  ~ancl            make a desperate attempt to observe the precepts of
with all thy soul,  $nd with all thy mind. This is the                the law, although,  df  .`course,  not from  the principle
first  atid great commandment. And the  s&zond -is  like              of the love of God nor for His sake. God is not  iti all
unto it, Thou shalt love  th.y neighbor as thyself, On                their thoughts. But this is not  th,e purpose of the


                                              I'HE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                 :                    105
   -.j..  - .  --. .  ~_.  .~ &&+..-.--                                                                -     -         -      -
  preaching  of the  law in the church  of Jesus Christ."-  1i-1         a  child~:for its father and mother. Such love cannot
  the church the.  law is proclaimed as a  gtiide  iti:-& ev'en  l%  &,  psssible  subject of a commandment. In this
  -mid& of  a sinful world for a life and walk of Chris- sense  you -cannot command a father and mother `to
 tian  gratititirde  ts  God. It is addressed to the. believer; love their children, or children to love their father
  and not  to the  world in general.  And-  theref,ore, we               and mother. This natural love belongs to the rela-
  qiist  remembep  From the  out& that also. `the  second                tion ship which  is fundamentally increated. It is given
t&e  of the  iaw is  based  on the  love of  ,Gocl.                      in  ~the blood relationship. It is not a question of the
      NOW,  i&  f?ftK  commandment,. which reads, "Hon- will, and therefore cannot be a  matter of a command-
  or thy  father  &id  Thai  nM&,   t&t  thy  &,ys  mai be               ment. In this sense even a dog loves its young,  .and
  long upon the  i&id  which  the  Lo@ thy God  givet,h                  even the puppies  iove their parent. Although, there-
  thee," stands at the very head of  the  %&a  sf pre-                   fore,, it  `is  of significance that the honor and fear  ancl
  cepts  .which together- constitute the so-called  se&M                 i*espect  that must be shown to  the parents is connected
  table of the law. -This is but natural, and  t.o be ex- t&h this natural love, in itself has no spiritual,  eth-
  pected. For the fifth  commandm&t deals with God's                     ica1 significance. It is true, of course, that accord-
  -will concerning the parental relationship in the home.                ing to Scripture  sin can even corrupt and  degenerate
  And the faniily is the beginning, the basis, the root, this  n,&tusal  love. Parents frequently  for'sake their
  df  sii  the  &f&rent   Mstionships  that exist and  devel-            children, even in infancy. And children not  infre-
  .dp iii the organism of  t:he  hitman  race.           Prom the        quently  show- a complete want of this natural love
  honie  devd0ps  society  and  ali  the  dif&re&   rdacOn-              f,or their parents. But in this deterioration of the
  ships that are implied in that  term. F~nl. the home natural love between `parents and children, the  hor-
  also  .develops  the' institution of the state and  ail  the .ribleness  of sin becomes  clearly~ manifest. But this
  different gradations of positions  of authority which                  natural  feeling of attachment of `parents to their
 -there are in the state as an institution. It is  the.re-               children and  children to their. parents  is based on
  fore quite logical and in harmony with t.he fundament- the blood `relationship, and is not rooted in the will.
  al significance of the family that the  fifth  commarid-               For this reason, children frequently shed bitter tears
  ment should  stand  at the  trefy head of all the pre-                 from the fount of this natural love at  th,e grave of
  cepts  that  d&l  with:.our. i-elation to the neighbor.                their parents which during their  enti?e  life they have
   It  is  &a  evident   that-  t h e   f i f t h   eomm&ndment,  ~1s neglected, disobeyed, and completely disregarded. The
  ijrreii.   as  Scpiptiire in'  generai;  coB&&rs-  the  -Chief  and    6%me is true of this natural love of parents for their
  fudamental relationship in. the home, the primary prin-                chilc+n when they must carry them to the  grave.
  ciple on which the home  is based; to be  th%t  of  autho.r-           TI cy coddled and fondled them when they were in-
  ity and obedience. With that  p+inciple.that  fifth  corn-             fants.    And when they grew up, they showed them
  manclment deals  w,hen it addresses the people of God                  ail intensity of natural love, but  neverbheless spoiled
  of all ages with  the injunction : "Honor thy  fath,er and             them and  neglectCed to instruct them in the fear of
  thy mother." And the Catechism explains that  t.hhe the Lord. And lest we should imagine that the fifth
  fifth commandment applies not only to the home, but                    commandment refers to this natural love, it does not
  is equally applicable to every relationship of authority say "love," but "Honor thy father and thy mother."
  and obedience in human society. And therefore, we                         This is an entirely different conception. Natural
  must first'of all treat this problem of  tiuthority  and               love is based on the blood relationship. Spiritual, eth-
  of obedience and submission to that authority for                      ical love is rooted in the heart. Natural love is a mat-
  cGod.`s sake,                                                          ter of feeling. Spiritual, ethical love is a matter of
     Let us notice  that the fifth commandment does not                  the will. Natural love may very well go hand in
  say love but  ~"honor"~ thy--father -and thy mother; In hand  with enmity against God. Spiritual, ethical love
  Lev. 19  :3 this idea is even expressed more  emphatic-                is rooted in the love  ,of God. Natural love as such is
a-lly : "Ye shall fear  &very  man his mother, and his                   devoid of grace, although some present it as a mat-
  f&her."     Wheil the  Heidelberg  Catechism explains ter of "common grace." But  spiritutil,  ethical love is
  this fifth commandment in the words,  "That  I show found only in him  whose  heart has been regenerated
  all honor, love and fidelity,. to my father and mother,"               by the grace of  Good. A child, a young'man or young
  the term "love" does not refer to natural love, but                    worn&n, can-be motivated by natural love without
  to spiritual; ethical-respect that is  rioted in the will              showing any honor or respect to his father or mother.
  and finds its deepest  fountiain  in the heart'  6f  man.              But  sp+,ual, ethical love respects father  atid mother
 What is called  pirental  and filial love is natural, not               and all that are in authority for God's sake.
 spiritual. T.here is-nothing  ,ethic&l in the natural love [-  j
 of a parent for his offspring, nor in. the natural love of                        i                                               .-ELI-I.
                                                                                        ._.     -    -  I              . .


106                                     I'fIE  STANDARP-   ,BEARER
                          _ __--...-                            .-.,_                          .
                                                                `of God-to Himself through the Gospel as proclaimed
                                                                by His servants. By His efficacious look the work of
                                                                gathering the church-a work that is solely His-
                                                                prospers. In the final judgment, when  th,e house of
                                                                God is full, the church will be pruned, that is, it will
                         (Continued)                            be -separated from the carnal seed that riots in  its
       6. Prophecy regarding an unnamed land, Chap.             bosom and from the hostile world-power through the
   . . .                                                        destruction of the latter. As delivered  .out of all their
xv111.                                                          troubles the redeemed of God-the scattered and peel-
       Woe-that is trouble, sorrow-is proclaimed a-             ed nation-will present themselves to the Lord as a
gainst a' land the name of which is not revealed but            sacrificial. gift, verse 7.
of which the prophet says that it lies beyond the rivers                 This is a conjecture but not any more so than any
of Ethiopia. It is not likely that Egypt is meant as            of the other explanations that  .are given of this pro-
with this land the prophet deals separately in the next         phecy. And to  my'mind it comes closest to being the
following discourse. What land is meant cannot be               right conception.
determined.       Whatever t.he land, its great  offence
seems to  .be that it sends swift messengers in boats            To us the prophecy is obscure. But it is clear
of  .bulrushes to a nation described in the-text as "scat-      enough as to its essential idea, which is the salvation
tered and peeled, feared from the beginning (from  a7           ,of the church  throu.gh  the destruction of the total of
far off) hitherto, meted out and a trampling,  ~whose           its enemies. And before the mind of God's people
land the rivers have-spoiled." (verses  1,. 2)                  `for whose comfort it was first spoken `it must have
                                                                clarified itself as to its obscure details in the process
       According to some the reference is  t,o  Ethiopia or     of its initial  fulfilment. That is, they came to know
to Egypt or Arabia.  _ According to Calvin the nation           who that unnamed nation was of verse 1. We do not.
meant is the people of Israel. T h i s   i s  likelyi  T h e    hpiied   in  aii  such prophecies is, of course, the mes-
clause, "whose land  ~the rivers have  spoiied,9j  iriiist      sage that Christ died for our sins.
then be taken in the figurative sense. Rivers are then
armies so-, that what is imaged is the  int.e,rmittent                   7. Prophecy  ,regarcling  Egypt, chapters xix, xx.
spoilation of Israel's land by the heathen through the                   a. The Lord comes against Egypt in judgment,
centuries of the past. If. the "nation" is Israel,. the xix :l-15.
messengers must have been under orders to induce Is-                     As riding upon  W. swift cloud, the Lord comes into
rael to unite with the  .people   .of  the,unamed  land of      Egypt, The  ic!>ls  free  and the heart  of the nation
ver. 1 in a defensive war perhaps against the Assyri-           melts  (v,er;  1)  I The whole land is torn by civil strife  ;
ans. But God's people must trust in the Lord and may            confounded, the people seek counsel from the idols and
not put their confidence in an alliance with foreign wizards  (tiers. 2,  3)  ; this, of course, does not avail
nations.                                                        and Egypt passes  L&&Y  the harsh rule of a tyrannical
    The prophet now intimates that something great              king  (ver. 4). The river  Niie dries up and becomes a
is going to take place,  vers. 3-6.                             bed of stinking  podis and morasses. The reeds and
       The Lord will raise up a banner on the mountain          flags  w&her  as  z&o  the fields and meadows on its
that  .a11 the inhabitants of the world will see and a          banks  (vers. 5-8) . .Its fisheries cease `(ver.  8), and
trumpet will be blown that all will hear, verse 3: -Then        thae   manufactur,e  of linen goods comes to an end  (ver.
the Lord will take His rest and will look in His dwell-         9).        Both proprietors and the hirelings are ruined
ing-place like a clear heat upon the herbs and like a           (ver. 10). The  counsellors of Pharaoh that boast de-
cloud  ,of dew in- the heat of harvest. But before the          scent from wise men and kings are at wits  `end ; for
harvest He shall cut away the sprigs and the bran-              they cannot say what the Lord has purposed against
ches, and the fowl of the mountains shall summer upon           Egypt and counsel accordingly (ver. 11, 12). They
them and the beasts of the field shall winter upon              are confused in their minds and cause Egypt to err and
them,  ver. 3-6.                                                bef,oul itself like a drunken man wallowing in his
    The imagery of  -this last verse seems to be. that of       vomit. (ver.  14).        T.here is general unemployment.
a vine or a tree with all it branches cut away so that          Egypt's civilization comes to a miserable end (ver.
only the stock or trunk remains. Just what is indi-             15).                                   I'
cated must remain an open question. Doubtless the                        The word of the prophet has come to pass. Today
"banner" of verse 3 is Christ, so that what is  her.e           the far greater part of Egypt is a desolation as a re-
presented is the exaltation. of the crucified and re-           sult of the drying  up-  of the river Nile and: its tribu-
surrected  Saviour to the  .right hand of God in the            taries. Except where still partially watered by the Nile
highest -heavens and His gathering all men-the elect land cultivated, it is  bare and depopulated.. Three  .hun-


                                                                                                                                                   _
                                                              I%;E  ST.ANDAItD~,  :BEARER                                                          107
                                                -        -                                                            . _ _ . - .
      ,dred and fifty  ye&s.  previous to the Christian  era'&                             Therefore  ?Israel   mine inheritance".  The prophecy
      gypt passed under  the. dominion of the Persians. Af-                                is -that of the calling of the gentiles in this  <Gospel
      terwards it became entirely subject- successively to                                 period.
      the hard rule of the Macedonians, the Romans, the                                        d. Egypt in bondage to Assyria, chap. xx.
      <Greeks,.  the Arabs the <Georgians, the `Ottoman- Turks,                                `The prophecy originated in  t,he year that Tartan,
      and lastly the  Mamelukes,  whose system  ,of oppression                             commander-in--chief of king Sargon  `(Salmanassar)
was methodical so that  explor,ers  as late as  1856  were                                 of Assyria, came against  Ashdod, the key to the land
      still saying that "everything the traveller sees or hears,                           ,of Egypt, laid seige to the city and took it  (ver.  1)
      reminds him he is in the country (Egypt) of slavery The Lord instructed Isaiah to remove his garment
      a n d   t y r a n n y . ~So the Lord had- said, "And a fierce                        made of coarse linen and his shoes and go about nak-
      king will rule over -them" (see above). Yet at the                                   ed and -barefoot in token that the king of Assyria
      time that this prophecy was uttered Egypt was mighti-                                shall lead away the Egyptians and the Ethiopians as
      est of ancient kingdoms. It was a most  fertil,e region prisoners.                                  They shall go naked and barefoot with
      and was called the  granery  of the world.                                           their buttocks uncovered as a sign of the nakedness of
           b. The terror of Egypt in the day of its visitation,                            Egypt  (vers. 3, 4). And all the inhabitants of the
      16; 1'7. -                                                                           coast of Palestine, with fear and shame, will perceive
           When the  ~Lord  will lay His hand upon Egypt, it                               how  f,oolish  they were in making the power and glory
      will be afraid and fear, ver. 16. Knowing the power                                  of Egypt and Ethiopia. their expectation (ver. 5).
      of the Lord, it will live in dread of the  fand of Judah.                            This is what they will say, "Behold, such is our ex-
      W.hen men think thereof, they will quake. with fear,                                 pectation,  w,hither we flee for help to be delivered
      beholding as they do the accomplishment of the Lord's                                from the king of Assyria : and how shall we escape  !"
      counsel, ver. 17.                                                                    (ver. 6).
           c. Egypt converted to the  (Lord, vers.  18-25.                                     8. The second prophecy- against Babylon; prophe-
                                                                                           cies regarding  Edom, Arabia, Jerusalem  .and the
           Five cities shall turn to the Lord including  IrChe-                            Chamberlain Shebna, chapters xxi, xxii.  Li
      pes, the city of the sun. And soon  thene will  ble an
_ altar in the midst of the land and a pillar conseoratecl                                     a. Against Babylon, xxi :  l-10.
      to the Lord on its borders. ISO shall  the. whole nation                                 The prophet beholds the swift-moving army of  E-
      serve the Lord, not head for head and soul for soul,                                 lam  (Persia)~ and Media, that as a dust-laden and
      but  t.he nation nevertheless, the body of the elect  (v&s.                          violent wind in the  son&, beats  a,gainst treacherous
      18, 19).        And their. expressions  .of gratitude and                            and nation-spoiling  Babyl,on  and sweeps it clean away.
      praise, symbolized- in the text by the altar and pillar,                             The vision  ishard; it presents the complete desola-
 will signify the Lord's love of them. And  wehen they tion of this  worldipower that has still to make its ap-
      cry unto Him through the ages because of  -their op-                                 pearance. The  Lord'commands,~`Go  up,  0 Elam;  be-
      pressors, He will deliver them from every hostile pow-                               seige 0 Media." ,It is  Be' that sends them. For an
      er-sinful flesh, devil and  the- world  ,(ver. 20) . . So                            end must be put to sighing,  i.e.`to the bondage of His
      will He reveal Himself unto them as their Saviour and                                people  (vers. l., ij .    .        "
      the fruit thereof will be that they will know and serve                                  So terrible  is.the'v@on  that-the prophet is seized
      Him and praise and magnify His name. They shall                                      with pain as a  wcman that travails.  j  ,-He is bowed and
      do sacrifice and oblation and vow a vow unto the Lord                                dismayed at,  w,hat he hears and  sees. Be is in a maze
      a@  .perform  i t   ( v e r .   2 1 ) .   S o ,   i f   t h e   L o r d   w i l l    from the horror that  afrights  him. The night,.  hith-
                                                                                                                                             `i
      smite Egypt, He. will also heal. And when they turn                                  erto longed for as a time of repose, has become a time
      unto the Lord, He will be entreated of them and heal                                 of fear (vers. 3, 4). This is a description not of the
      them always (ver. 22).                                                               prophet's own reaction but of the state of mind of
 .         But not only Egypt but Assyria as well will be con-                             the Babylonians in the night when the city was sur-
verted to the  Lo.rd.  Thns they will no  1,onger  be  ene-                                prised by  ,Cyrus. It anticipates the anguish of  soul
      mies,of `one another but will be one by a common faith                               of the kings of the earth in the moment of the fall of
      in Christ as united in the truth (ver.  -23).                         And in         the culmination of the Babylon of the Euphrates val-
      this spiritual confederacy Israel  (will have a place as                             ley-the Babylon of Rev. 18, the world-power still to
      the third with Egypt and Assyria. And that will- be                                  appear in this Gospel period.  Theyrthe kings-east
      a blessing in the midst of the whole  ea.rth but only as                             dust on their heads, "and cry, weeping and wailing,
I the fruit of the Lord's  bless&g  -them saying, "`Blessed                                saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein we were
      be Egypt my people, and Assyriathe work of my made rich . .  ." (Rev.  X:19).
      hands, and Israel mine  irrheritance?  (vers. 24, 25) in                                 Now follows a description of the way in which the
 whose Christ all the nations of the earth are blessed.                                    Babylonians were occupied in the night  that, the  ca-

                                                                                                                                     `.._


         106                                     `lii-iE  S.r~..A:NDAk~...iZEAli.ER
                                      ---.I.-                          -              :           .._`,            -'
                                                      .-                     _  :           .-
                                                                  ;
        1,amity struck. Though the troops  ,of  (&us  surroulided            ' Q'.
                                                                         E,dom such as that of Malachi at vers. 3, 4 of the
        the city, they were eating  and -drinking- and making            first chapter, "And I hated Esau, and laid his  moun-
        merry. -The  0111~   precauti,on they took was to  set wat-      taini and his  heritage   waste for the  dragons  of the
         ches. That  w-as  dangerous as became apparent when  w&ern&s. Whereas Edom saith, We are  impover-
         the  c?y reached the  Tevellers in the midst  %f their ban- ished,  but- we will  .return and build the desolate places ;
         queting : arise ye princes ! to arms,. The foe  is come, thus saith the Lord of hosts, They shall build, but
       anoint the -shield"  (ver.. 5). But it is  inconce$eble I will throw down; and they shall call them, The  bor-
         that the prophet can make such an announcement;                 der of wickedness, and,  The people  &yninst   zvhowz, the
        The thing whereof  he~%peaks  is a matter of  th,e distant       Lo& hath inclipmtion  f o7:ever."
        future.  ,So  thk prophet affirms at this juncture. that                Iti a word; Edom as a  nation is reprobated. The day
        what he presents is not his own  .s~~eculz&i&  -&  inyen-   *
                                                                         ~111  certainly dawn, but for Edom never,---Edom, in
        tion. How  were this possible, if  Babylon   -as  a  w,orld the  f* 1  *
                                                                                      ma instance, the total of reprobate men. By
        -powe.r   is still  td be brought into being. But the Lord       t he judgment of  aGod this people  will be reduced to
        has said to  .him,  `Go set a watchman, let him  declare  -- everlasting desolation and will  be silent in hell forever.
        what he  stietli," that is what the Lord will  show-him          SUch is the  p?ediction to the initial fulfilment  ,of which
        ,(ver., 6). Having made this  cl&r, the  prophet-f& he           ali  who  .have explored the country testify. The  repo,rt
        is  the. watchman-goes on to relate what he sees next :  .-1s that by the judgments of  .God the Edom of Israel's
        a train  ,of horses, asses and camels. It is  (Cyrus  a.rmy      1.'lmited  world. has  b&en reduced to desolation and is
        on the march with  Babyion -as its destination: But thus a  .I$nah, a land of silence.
        shortly the vision vanishes and  .the prophet sees no-  -               The second part  .of the watchman's reply to those
        thing  more for some days and  riights, so it  Iseems.           who question him -is just as  inigmatical : If you  would
        Becoming impatient, he cries with `the  vqice of a  Ji,on,.      enquire again,  do so'; if you would return, then come.
        "My  Lord,1 stand  tiontinually  upon the watchtower in          But if the destiny of Edom is irrevocable, why  sh&ld
        the daytime and `am in my place of  watching  &ery               the prophet thus encourage his interrogators to  re-
        night" (vers. .7, 8 j . Barely has he uttered these corn- rturn? It is not unlikely that he wishes to clarify for
        plaining  words, when his vigil is  rew&ded.- The vision         them his prophecy but at this time is unable because
        recommences,~  &id  the prophet sees a chariot and a             he  his in need of more light.  Fact is that afterwards
        couple of  hofsemen. -It is a sign upon which the Lord another and clearer disclosure was made to him  re-
        imposes  EjIis word  -in. explanation- thereof and the  pro-     garding Edom. In the 34th chapter the prophet is
        phet jubilantly  excla+ms,  `"Babylon is  failen,  is  .failen-j again occupied with this people and its land.  Her&  a
        and  all the graven images of her gods' he hath broken           new light is shed upon'his  -foTmer  prophecy.
        unto the ground'! (ver.9).        . .          '     r                  c.  ProphecK  regarding Arabia.    Chap. xxi  :13-17.
            The prophet has announced that his  beiovkd people
        willbe threshed in Babylon. He has declared that they                  The world-power  must  lay.& hand upon the tribes
        will be delivered from the threshingfloor.  :Both  will          that inhabited the Arabian  deser.t,-tribes  engaged in
. .
        come to pass without fail., Israel  mzst believe  &his.          com*~erce* To reach  their market places-Tyre,  Si-
        Indeed a mere  .man cannot make  such  aniiou&m&ts.              do& Babylon-they have to cross the desert. Here we
        And  the?efore  the prophet. concludes this discourse see the remnant of their caravans, scattered by a force
        with. the emphatic declaration,  "that   Which  i' `have         against  which  ethey  are unable to' defend  ~themselves,
        heard of the Lord of  hbsts,~ the God  ofi Israel, `have I      hidilig in a forest far from the regular route to escape
        declared  u&o you" (ver.  IO).           ,                      the wrath of their pursuers. They dare not leave their
                            :                                           hiding places. Destitute of the means of  subsistance,
            b. Prophecy against Edom. Chapter  xxi:ll,   -12.            they are given bread and water by the natives, "in-
           In the  te& Edom is called  Dumah, which is a  trans-         habitants  ,of the land of  Tema" (vers. 13-15). These
        literation of a  Hebrew noun that means  s&me,  .cZiath,  tribes,  Kedarenes, descendants of  Ishmaei,  are a mar-
       clesolationi   A man cries to the prophet out, of  !&5r- tial people,  .that through the ages of the past have
        the dwelling place of Edom-and  puts  $0 -him  &he               distinguished themselves by the, -use of the bow, and
        question, "Watchman ! what of the night?" meaning :              all this in filfilment of prophecy  (`Gen.   16:12;  21320;
        when will the night -end and the  day  ~dawn  fqr my             21). And so they have always been able to defend
       land? The repitition of the question bespeaks  the  in- themselves- against the attacks of other plundering
        tensity  ,of the desire that the. night-Ed&n's  tribula-        tribes. .They are the master tribes of the Arabian
        tions-may soon come to end;  But the watchman  re- ,desert. Yet  they, too,  must'succutib to the  world:pow-
       - plies, "The morning  cometh but also the night."  -T.he  el- (ver.  -16). Their glory shall fail. Their might
        answer is -obscure, but it fully. clarifies  .itself when        shall be -reduced to almost nothing  (ver. 17).
        placed alongside of the  Ofher   propheci&   $regarding                                                      -G. M  Ophoff

                     ~.J


                                                        :      ;;;-
                                                              ._           . . .          ,,.-     -..     -I
                                                              .`/'  ,,.
 .:~,~,I-IIIIII,-III,~`,~~,~~;~~,~,~~,,~,,~,-,,~~,~`,~,,~,,~,,~,.:.                 fi&~&&&&jut   w.hich no one shall see the Lord ! For
                                                                                    holy living is- hopeful living.
                                                                                          In passing, it should  b,e pointed out, that he who
                                                                                    constantly  keep-s in mind that he has been purchased
                         Exposition  of I Peter                                     with a preat  grice,'  will also clearly understand that
                                                    1:18,   19-                     the  wo?k of Christ on the Cross is  .-not the whole of
     In our  Yformer  article  wee  ctillecl attention  .to verse the spiritual consideration unto a godly walk. They
 1'7 of this first  Chaster  of I -Peter.  Wee noticed that                         who walk in a pious and godly- conversation, which
 our  cmonfession and  T+alk  must be in perfect harmony.                           does not merely have the form of godliness,  clenying
Always it is the order of  Confession  arid- walk. These                            its  pow&.+,  will be motivated `by the  whole Counsel  arid
 belong  tdgether.  `.  T.he moment  the former  is,-  &liim-                       -Decree  of  God-  conoe,rning   ,God's bringing them to the
 &e-d in respect to.  th6  latter.  it is impossible  to retain                     final salvation in Christ !
 either  one  ,of the two. They who play out our  .%alk                                   Su& was the  cas& with our godly fat-hers of the
 overagainst  our Confession  .as an antipdle,  rather than                         *Synod of Dort.                   T.hey understood that, unless the
 presenting them  ds root and fruit,  certainiy have no                             whole truth of  Go4 concerning our redemption to sal-
 Christian walk left.  And I  m&y add,  that they. who                              vation was confessed, the  solicl comfort  of the saints
 speak so much of  "mortil issues" in  our,-times  and so                           would be undermined.                    Only by preaching the  full
, little about the real implication  qf  "heMica state-                             truth  could they obey the  summotis  02 the Lord, who
men&" certainly  show in  their walk  that they are not                             says  : Comfort ye, comfort ye my people !
 able to retain a Christian ethics!             The  L&d, Who                             And this is also the clear  teaching of Peter in this
judges  ace&ding to every man's work, is not mockecl.                               entirT;e section. We know that our. fathers speak of
     If  we confess  that.lGod  is our Father, then we are                          the "golden chain" of our redemption.  -All the ele-
to-walk as  childr.en of the new obedience in Christ in                             ments of this "chain"  are here present. Notice the
 all of  `our  converkation in holy fear and trembling.                             following elements :                       -
 We are to be such. that it can be said by  the  Consis-                                  1. Notice that in verse 20 we read that the Christ
tory in good conscience: N.N. is sound in faith  ancl                               Who has redeemed us was  "forgknown  indeed before
 upright in walk !                                                                  the foundation of the world, but was manifested at
     Now there is nothing- that  -incites  to a walk of                             the end of times  $0~ your sake." All is anchored in
 godliness  as the spiritual  iealigatioti  that we have been                       eternal  :election and predestination. Take this away
bought by a great and precious price, and thus  have                                and you. never have a Cross and a great  redeniption
 be&  mad,e. God's dear children.                                                   prince that is certain. This is the first and all-con-
     Of this we are reminded in the  verses 18  aiid 19.                            trolling link in the chain.
These  v!el*ses  $ead  as  follows :  "Knowing~  that ye were                             2.. According to this election of certain persons  un-
 redeemed not with  c.orruptible  things, with silver or                            to life and holiness, Christ died to save this people
 gOldj   from. your' vain  convers@ion   (mannkr  of life)                          from their sins. He paid the great redemption price.
 handsd down from  yow;r   f,athers;   but with the pre-                            This is the second link in the chain. vss.  l&19
 cious blood, ,as of a lamb without blemish a-nd without                             3. Those thus redeemed according to the purpose
 spot, even the blood of Christ."                                                   of election have also been regenerated unto a living
     We ought to keep in  m&d,- that the real subject                               hope through the resurrection. of  J.esus  Christ! effi-
 of this passage is not simply. that Christ died for us                             caciously they are called by the Word of God,  Who
 in the  fulntess of times. The matter that the Apostle                             l i v e t h   a n d  abid:eth  fdrever.  v s .   2 3 .  :
 wishes to call to mind here is not simply a  Christo-                                    4. And to these  c6&& the exhortations to keep this
 logical fact  taken,by-itself,  but that  thle  subj,ect is still                  "goiden chain" `in mind and to walk in the "ways of
 OLK  walk of  conirersion,  of perfecting -sanctification                          the elect" to perfect sanctification  in the fear of God,
 in the fear of God. These verses  .&ill deal -with the walking in the conversion which flows forth from
 exhortation of the Apostle,  as- a precept of the Gospel,                          faith as the fruit on a good tree-fruit of election in
 that we  -who have  %he Spirit of the Son  in  OLW  hearts,                        our life.                                 -.
w.ho call upon  `God  as "Father" shall keep in- mind
the great  red#emption  price with  .which  we have been                                  Such is  the golden chain  presentecl here in this
purchased.  D'oing  this latter with spiritual sensitive- -won&erful first Chapter of I Peter.
ness we shall discern the thihgs that differ.-.  T.he  fact-                              All this is the spiritual motivation of sanctification.
ness of our having been set. apart will-constantly stand.                           When this is lacking the very heart is out of  our
out before the eye of our mind  ; then shall we be living                           sanctification. . For the heart-beat of the life of the
.having  th6 loins of our mind  kirt up, in that  sancti;                           Church is election. Not for nothing is election named
     --          `.-_
           _             .J                                                                                      ,

                                                                                     ,


the  COY  eccZe.&, the heart of the Church.  -For this           the footsteps of the sons of Abraham,.the fathers of
very reason election-preaching is the- only preaching            Dort.
that really calls to faith and repentance.  Election                        Shall  wle do this, then we must stop speaking of  -
preaching is not simply a sermon on the topic "elec-             faith as  b'eing  a condition and we must confess in
tion"  onde in a while. That the out-and-out  Armin-             child-like obedience that faith is a means, an instru-
ian  -will do too in  -his own way. But election-preach-         ment which God works in our hearts by the preaching
ing is such that all the preaching finds motivation in           of the `Gospel, and which  .he stirs up in us unto a liv-
(God's sovereign and unchangeable love, whereby we ing  fsaith by the exhortations of the Gospel. For let it
have  ~been  called out of darkness  int.0  ,God's marvelous     be clearly understood, that our Fathers of Dort, the
light. And election preaching is preaching that calls            Counter-Remonstrants, exactly had to battle for their
to repentance not in that it says that we must  t'acoept"        very life's sake with the Remonstrants, who made
Jesus, but rather that it says: ye are the children of           faith a "condition" and not a "means." They defined
light! Walk as children of light  !"  .                          faith as they did because only thus  could they  main:
    That is the very warp and woof also of -this entire          tain their nefarious conception of predestination, based
chapter. He that readeth let him take note!  -                   upon foreseen faith and the  excellenci,es of man.
 For to him that hath is given and from him that                            The following excerpt from a. book written in 1924
hath not is. taken away even that he thinketh to have !          by Rev. Meijering on the  "Dordtsche  Leeregels" is
And it is with a view to  thisw`L'receiving" more and            ,quite revealing on the issue of whether faith must be
more from this  fulness  of  IChrist, also in- the life of       d,efined as a "means' and "gift" or whether faith is a
sanctification, that Peter here appeals to the  sanc'ti-         "condition, cause, or prerequisite."
fimed consciences of his readers,  when-he says:  Ktiow-                    The Remonstrants said that the entire Decree of
ing that ye -have been redeemed . .  1 . with the pre-           election is that  ,God  elects  believers. Quote: "that the
cious blood as of a lamb without spot and blameless !            will of  God-to save those  .who would believe and who
   ,We said that the motivation unto a godly walk in             wquld persevere in faith and obedience is the whole
the redeemed saints is exactly what  IGod  did on. the           and total Decree of election unto salvation, and that
cross in Jesus  ; that this' consideration cannot be a fear-     God's Word reveals to us nothing more concerning
ful one unless it pulsates with the heart-beat of elec-          this  Deciee."
tion. Look at all the anemic children of God who are                        (On  ,January  19, 1619 Professor Lubbertus from
robbed of this sweet and solid comfort of  eltective love        Franeker  ans,wered  the' question whether from such
.and grace of  ,God.on  the cross ! , How are they not  har-     passag&  as John 3  :36 and similar passages. it could
rassed all their life with fears. Never do -they stand           bie. proved that `God's purpose to save  beE.eaers was
in that grace wherein they  r'ejoice'even  in tribulations       the whole Decree of election.  <On the next day this
in the hope of the final glory. As far as  their hope            was also done by Gomarus and some of the Theolo-
and joy is concerned Christ might as weil'never have             gians from- other `countries. And shortly afterwards
di,ed.  _ For they groan under the law rather than- to           Thysius, Professor, from, Gelderland, . answered the
rejoice in grace. And our fathers  of, Dort  say:`Evil           questions :  ~
                                                                      ..
and wicked people pervert the -doctrine of  ,election to                    1. Whether the Decree to save believers (eligendi)
their own destruction, while to the godly this affords           was the  w.hole of the decree of Predestination.
the sweetest consolation.  IOur fathers at Dort were
not "hair-splitting theologians,  -filled with  ice-bold. and               2. Whether faith was a condition, which is  requir-
hard logic," but they were men of Cod, shepherds of -ed in those who are elected, or whether faith is a fruit
th:e flock of God. And their great concern is the com-           that flows from election.
fort of the hearts of God's people. This people must                        And Rev. Meijering adds : the point of controversy
be refreshed in the great consciousness of redemption.           between the Remonstrant and the  ,Counter-Remon-
But shall this be done, then the source of comfort may           strants is exactly on this point of what "faith" is.
not be polluted at its source, that is, election and eter-            T.his is very instructive.
nal  pred'estination may not be perverted into a condi-.
tional contingency that has lost all  cert,ainty  !                         It teaches us to beware of any definition of faith
                                                                 that fits  .in that teaching which breaks the  "golden-
   The "golden chain" must remain our sweetest con-              chain," making faith a  pae-requisite condition  rather
solation and the incentive to a holy and Godly walk.             than a fruit of election, as a "means" to obtain the
   Thus it is here in I Peter  1:14 to the end of the            salvation of election. Only the latter is the incentive
chapter.  _                                            :         to a walk of conversion.
   Thus it is also in the mind of all who will walk in                                  (to be continued)          G. Lubbers
                                                                 x


                                                                                                                                       111
                                     -----        jfHE  STANbAR?   BE.ARER

                                                                  f.reely and `where I can find peace. And that is  be-
                                                                  hiild$hrist,  He must be  before   me, must be between
                                                                  me  a n d   &d.  A n d   I   m u s t   b e   i n   H i m   a n d   k n o w
                                                                  that God judges me in Him. But if I have to hide be-
                       Afraid of the Gospel             -  - hind a work of mine  .that God requires of me, if I have
                                                                 to believe that there is a condition that I must fulfill,
                                                                  I will never be conscious of any salvation.
                                     .U)                              And, yet, the amazing thing is that people have
     C h r i s t   o r   c o n d i t i o n s .                    learned to like exactly such a philosophy. And a
      That is the issue! Either  Ch.rist and His work is          philosophy it is, for  a Scriptural doctrine it is not. As
  the prerequisite for my enter&e into the kingdom                we wrote last time, some people have learned to  ,en-
  of heaven or else my act of  conv&ting  myself  .is  .the       joy Christless sermons. With them it is indeed : Christ
  prerequisite. Either  <Christ and His atonement is the          or conditions, and they choose conditions.  T.hey want
  basis for my salvation or else I am saved on the condi-         you  to be a methodistic exhorter who lays out a long
  tion of faith, and p&haps on the-condition of a few line of requirements which you  niust fulfill. And the
  other things demanded of me.                                    moment that you begin to proclaim  that Christ ful-
     Christ  and  conditions?                                     filled  all these arid  khat, as the  kpostlte Paul says, it
     Y.ou  :prefer to say  .that ? You say, Christ is the         is not we who do these things when we walk in sanc-
  basis for my salvation and  for my entering into the tification but the grace of God in us, you have actually
  kingdom of  #God, but once in that kingdom and once . spoiled the sermon for them. The minute you bring
  receiving  salvatiop  there are conditions to my con-           in election and Christ as The Righteous One Who ful-
  scious. enjoyment?  .T.hen you are still  wrong,  fo,r then     filled all for His `Elect, you spoil the whole thing for
  you still put a condition  where Christ ought to be and         them.     Why?, Because you have  spoiled  the condi-
  eipect the conscious enjoyment of your salvation from           tion.  Yen   have taken away  cond&onal   theology.and
  that fulfilled condition  instead  of from Christ. It is        it makes them so sad to think of parting with such a
  still, though  fin a more limited sphere, conditions in-        man-exalting theory.
  stead of Christ. It is still with you as though  you  have          We would like to give you a clear example  ,of this
 ,to choose between  `Chiist or conditions. And you               Christless  preaching and of the craving for the metho-
 choose conditions !                                              distic tactics  that"`have  arisen among those  w.ho have
     Wherever you retain -conditions in your theology,            cast away Protestant Reformed truth and who are a-
 you  -exclude.`Christ.  For Christ has not `prepared a           fraid- of full and free salvation in Christ alone.
 conditional but an unconditional salvation., Of course,              There has been in circulation for the last yeas or
  our righteousness must exceed that- of  -the Scribes and        more a document that is composed of quotations from
 of  the Pharisees, if  we are to enter the  kingdon% of          the works of the Rev. Hoeksema, the Rev.  Ophoff
 heaven. But  there again you see that it is Christ and           and the Rev. Vos. The one of the Rev. Vos we  hav.e
 not conditions. That righteousness which exceeds that in mind at  Ohis time. We will quote it just as far as
 of the Scribes and Pharisees is Christ. We are told              the author of this document quoted it. It is from a
 in I  Car. 1  i30 that Christ is "made unto us wisdom,           meditation  ~rpon the text. in Matthew  7  :21, "Not every
 and  righteousness  and  san.tification  and  redempti&n."       one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into
 And again in II  ,Cor.5.:21 we-are told that we are  "made       the kingdom of heaven  ; but he that doeth the will of
 the righteousness of God in  Him."  Therefore  my my Father which is in heaven." A text, by the way,
 righteousness before God  rrpon which my salvation               which you can nicely make a conditional text, if you
is based and which is  the prerequisite  forLmy enter-            want to rob it of Christ, just because the text does
 ing the  kingd,om is not something I have fulfilled; is          not mention Him by name. And if  You are going to
 cot something that is a condition placed before me,             follow the advice of the Rev. De Wolf you will have to
 but is the work and the righteousness of Christ.                 do that, because he warns you not to bring election
     If I have to do something  b.efbre  I can enjoy the         into any text, unless it is literally there.                  So here,
 conscipusness of my salvation,  then I tremble with the  .name of Christ is not at all in the last part of
 fear, and I have  no  ,joy or certainty of salvation. Con- this text which declares what is necessary for us to
 ditional theology exactly takes all my joy away, for -enter the kingdom. And so, make it a Christless ser-
 it. takes Christ away.  And-  He is  my  rigl$eousness mon and you will have your conditional preaching.  :,
 which exceeds that  ,of the Scribes and Pharisees. When         And you will have said.: conditions NOT Christ.  ,But  i
 I  am afraid of the terrible wrath of God, then I can           let us give you the quotation.
 only find one place to hide and where I can  ,breathe               "Therefore birth in the  l&e of the Covenant, to


 112                                   THE  STANDARD   BEARER
                            _-     ____--___ ,, `:.                                :  -
                                                                         .         .  .  .  .
                                                                  ~`  .  .  ..y
have God-Searing parents, church  .att&dan&::`%ate-               kltigdbGir   t.hat is,  th.e holy hill of Zion,
chism  teaching, confessing  the.Name of God, partaking                       "The- only answer is purest obedience, from the
 of Christ's supper-all these things  are- nothing but            love of God.
terrible:condemnations if they' are all you possess.                          "But  then I hear you make answer and say: Who
Theri  you~sul:ely  will not enter the blessed Kingdom            cafi then be saved : For we have  very  rilthy hands;
of heaven.                                                        otir hearts are cesspools of  unhdliness;   contindiy   I
        "What then is the entrance?                              lift  `up my soul unto  ,vanity ; and as for the  truth  in
  "Doing the  will of God constitutes the entrance  acr -the inward parts :  $1 men are liars  and  I  am  one  03'
cording to the text. And.we realize that this  .answer "them! And  we  would say : that is  true of  sii  natural
has a  pelagian   sound,  as though after all  mall by his       men. But there is one-man among men who is not so.
own work of  -obedience  coulcl~  enter  the  Kiligtjom  of      %le  ftdjtlls   th#e requirements of  thle heavenly  ent&n.ce
.lzeaven. And I would make answer  th.at I do not -to  the  very  ~lnst   details.  And that Man is the  ,God-Man,
care how much it sounds like  pelagiahism,  that  abed-          the Immanuel. It is Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
ience to. the will of God is  th& only door heaven  pos-                      "Ana  here is the blessedness' of the Gospel: He
s&ses.       There is  no  othe? entrance.  Ancl  the. door      ascends the holy hill of Zion in purest obedience  sub-
to Bell is the door of disobedience to God's will. That stitutionnlly  folr you and me. For all the elect of God.
is the  trut,h which you will  fitid  on.every.[page  of  the    He-pays the awful price for all your. and  my disobedi-
Bible."                                                           ence and that is the story of His blood. That is shed
        So mucli is  quoted~  of the writings of the Rev.        for me, even me!"
Vos.  O And that is exactly as much as those who are                          The underscoring is ours. That is beautiful Prot-
addicted to conditional theology want. And what fol-             estant Reformed truth.             It is preaching Christ and
lows in the meditation of the Rev.  -Vos would spoil it          not conditions. And note how election is not hushed
all for them. As  long as you continue in  the  veiri of         but becomes the very core and heart of the possibility
those  lines of the Rev. Vos, you are, in  th+r opinion          for us to enter that kingdom thru Christ's blood and
coming  w&h  t,he pedagogical approach  whi,ch is  ne,ceg-       obedience. In the next paragraph the Rev. Vos also
spry lest man become  careless and profane, And con-             states that  "-The Cross of Christ is the entrance." He
sequently the  .lines  wlzich follow and were. left un-          also goes on  to show that "the  Holy  !Spirit  regener-
quoted  ancl  @erein the Rev.  VoS draws very sharply            ates us so that His life of  perfej obedience- enters us
the Protestant Reformed lines of-the truth and where-            and recreates us unto new creatures." He preaches
in Christ is brought forth in all His beauty and glory,          no passive doctrine of  thae   ibelievers being stocks and
these lines-put the lie to the accusation that the  kev.         blocks. It is the vibrant truth of Christ, that we are
Vos also preached conditions.  Not even when quoted              ifi  C,hrist  ai living members, living out of Him and to
lout of context does. he in these lines teach conditions.        His glory. It is the message of Christ in us and not
Indeed, he does show us in these lines a prerequisite            of conditions set before us.
for entering  the kingdom, but that  qrerequisite   js not                    Let not those addicted to conditional theology
tlze  prel:equisite  of the  Rev. De Wolf, namely,  o'ur act     therefore deceive. themselves into thinking that they
of conversion and  o`wr  act of doing the  wills of  the. Fa-
ther, it is a prerequisite which God  Him,self fulfills          have a God-given calling to  do_ missionary work in
                                                                 the Protestant Reformed Churches. They have not!
in the person of His Son. In this meditation the Rev.            They cannot have such a calling.  (God calls the Church
Vos as he stands before the question:  ChYist or  con-           td do missionary work with the gospel, not with here-
clit.ions,  says, by all  .meank give  nie -Christ. Here is      tical  statetients.  He commands the Church to come
the rest of his  articl$e,  and please note the  shade? of       with Christ and  not with  a theory that conveniently
1924 ! The very  .fi&t sentence shows why the quota-             sets Him  -on the shelf and puts conditions where He
tion was not completed;                                          belongs. -And, by the way, their claim that they do
   "`But let us explain.                  . .                    have such a calling is very revealing. It is character-
    "We  f&d the  whole. matter.  beauti&lly stated in           istic of their whole movement's change of tactics
Psalm 24 :3-6. There we  read : "Who shall ascend  in-           whenever some new emergency arises. For to claim
t.o the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand at His  holy        that they have such a  `Gocl-given calling is an  admis-
place? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart                 siqn on their part of that which  f&merly  they did not
who  bath not lifted up his  soul  ~unto vanity nor sworn        want to state, namely,  tl@ they do have a different
deceitfully."                                                    doctrine. than that  ,of  the Protestant Reformed Chur-
    "There is the  answer,- and you have noticed  that           ches.
also there  wti have the matter  .of entrance  into  the                                                       -J. A. Heys

   -


 .:. 111111-1)-(1-,,-,,-,,-,,-,-~,-,,-,,-,,-,,-,-~,-~,-,,-,~,,~,...    have  `l&en  Perf.ectly  righteous. .had He done so. But
 1.                                                                    ,God   is a God of love'.  - And as a God  .of love, He does
 i        The Voice of - Our Fathers ----.i not  &%v Himself to be governed by such strict jus-
                                                                       tice. His love is greater than His justice. It over-
                The Canons of Dordrecht                                comes  His.  justice. And in His love He saves men
                                                                       from the condemnation to which His justice would
                              PART TWO                                 have moved Him. Such a view denies the oneness  ancl
                 EXPOSITION OF THE CANONS                              simplicity of God, because it denies the unity of His
                                                                       attributes.  `God  Is One. And all His attributes are
 FIRST  Hti~  OF  DOCTRINE,  6~  DIVINE  PREDESTINATION                one in Him. His mercy cannot be in conflict with His
                                                                       justice. Nor can His love be in conflict with His  j~s-
                Article 2. But in this the love df God was mani-
             lested, that he sent his only begotten Son into the       tice. But rather is His mercy a just mercy. and His
             world,  that`whosoever  believeth on him  shou1.d not     love is a just love. The divine love is characterized
             perisb,  but have everlasting life. I John  419, John     by  berfect righteousness and justice, because in thn
             3:16.                                                     Triune God love is the bond of  perfectn&s,  the bond
       As the word "but" indicates at the beginning of                 which unites Father, Son, and Holy Ghost in the
 this- article, we turn here to a contrasting thought.                 sphere of perfection. And what is true as  fau: as the
 In the former article it  tias established that it would              virtnes of God in Himself are concerned is also true
 not have been unrighteous on the part of  ~God  if He                 as far as the-manifestation of those virtues is concern-
 had doomed- the entire human  r.aoe to  d,estruction  in              ed. IGod  does not  reveal  His love or His  mercy as be-
 the way of sin, that therefore it could not' possibly                 ing in conflict with His justice, but in the manifesta-
 be  called  .unrighteous on God's part if He desired to               tion of those virtues He exactly shows forth His love
 save  som-e  out of that human race, and that certainly               and His mercy as they are characterized by utinost
 no damn-worthy sinner has any ground for complaint                    justice.
 whatsoever when and if  IGod should save some, while                       Ndr do the  Canons  offer any other viewpoint.
 He might in all justice leave all to perish. We found,                The contrast set forth here is not between  divin'e jus-
 further, that the underlying thought in the article,  th'e            tice and divine love. The  coritrast  is between divine
 ultimate principle, is not  menely  the perfect and unas-             wrath  and divine love. To leave all  meli to perish
 sailable righteousness of  (God! but His absolute  fr,ee-             and to deliver them over to condemnation on account
 dom. `And now the thought presented in Article 2                      of sin,-the possibility mentioned in Article 1,-would
 stands in direct contrast to the language of Article 1:               be a manifestation of just wrath,  but nevertheless a
 "God would have done no injustice by leaving them .manifestation  of wrath. And now `Article 2 begins
all to perish and delivering them over to condemnation                 to speak of the manifestation of the  16ve of God, as
 on account of sin . . . . But in this the love of God                 it stands in contrast with the  hypothfe$ical  manifesta-
 was manifested,  that he sent his only begotten Son in-               tion of the divine wrath suggested in the former arti-
 to the world, that  whosoevel  b,elievleth on him should              cle. And  ,it is perfectly correct, of course, to contrast
 not perish, but have everlasting life." Hence, we are                 the  ,divirne wrath and the divine love. God's wrath  is-
 here given to understand that what,  Srom the point                   the manifestation of His hatred. And God's hatred is
 of view of divine justice,  might have been  God's will,              the counterpart, the antithesis of His love. But His
 (namely, to leave all to perish),  pevertheless  was  no!             hatred is a just  hatr,ed,  and His love is a just love.
 His will. Instead, God willed to save some men out  0                 His wrath, the manifestation of -His hatred, is a just
 their condemnation and to  g.ive unto them eternal life.              wrath ; and the manifestation of His love is just. In
       A word of caution is in  ordEer here. For it might. fact, only a love that is characterized by strictest jus-
 seem at first glance as though by the intended con-                   tice is worthy of the name. Only such a love would
 trast of Article 2 the divine virtues of righteousness                be able to save us. And of that divine love this arti-
 and love are set at  odd,s with  one another, and  as                 c l e   s p e a k s .
 though God's love is presented as overcoming His                          In connection with this main thought of Article 2,
 righteousness, And ous Canons must not be thus mis-                   that God willed to  save some sinners from their doom
 understood.          Others, -indeed, present matters thus,           and to give unto them eternal life, we may notice the
 just as often God's mercy is presented as overcoming                  following elements.
 His justice.  -This presentation is, I think, quite  w'ell                In the first  plaoe, we are here taught that the ori-
 known, but is not at all  charactdristic of the Reformed              gin, or cause, of this divine will to save is the love of
 faith. It runs as follows. God might have,, according                 ,God  : "in this the love of God was manifested." In
 to His justice,, allowed  all men to perish. He would                 other words, God wanted to reveal not only His wrath,


  ii4             `-             - - -                  .-           Ly
                                                                     . . .
T but also His  love.~  We need  n.ot  ,bere-  d&velc$  ,$n- de-     hi"  athXitiOn   is the means  through which some are
 tail the Scriptural conception of- the-attribute of  `God's         saved and receive everlasting life; namely, faith:
 <love. Suffice it to say that the love of God  iS the infi-         "that whosoever- believeth on him should . . . have
 nite and  &ernal  bond of -fellowship that is based upon            everlasting life."
 the ethical perfection and holiness of the  .`divine na-                     Numerous  ape the  :Scripture passages which might
 ture, and that subsists between the three Persons of                be adduced as proof for the thoughts that are  here
 the Holy Trinity. This divine love it  ple$sed God to               set forth. Our  Cunons  set forth only two. Striking
 `make known, to reveal. Notice that this  imp& that                 it is,  holwever, that here, where the positive thought
 the reason for this manifestation of love. is not to be             of the Canons is presented, we find no human reason-
 .found ultimately in the objects of that manifestation              ing whatsoever, but the  simpl,e  presentatiori of Holy
 of love, but in God's eternal love of Himself. -Father,             Writ, and that too literally. This entire article, with
 `Son, and Holy Ghost love one another with an &e&al-                the exception of the word "but", is literally Scrip-
 ly perfect  .&nd infinite love, and  ar,e pleased to  .mani-        ture. In fact, even here it is evident that the fathers
  fest that love for their own sake. And the  highe&' re-            will not use isolated texts, but are  inteiested in the
 velation of  Gbd's love is in the work of salvation, that           c&rent  ihought of Scripture. For they take a part of
 work,  of God  wKei%by  Be, -in the desire to manifest              the text in I John  4:9, and add to it the last part of
  His own infinite love, reaches down to the  in- him-               John 3  :16, -"that whosoever believeth on him should
  self and  datiniworthy  sinner, makes him a  -fit  object of       not perish, but  have:;,everlasting life." Let those who
  His love, receives  hiti into the intimate  fellowship             boast' that they  want, only Scripture, and that they
 ,df His love in  the'mcovenant of friendship,  and causes' will  have nothing  td..do with creeds `(and  rememlber,
 -him  to partake of that divine love, thus  making him              that this is  characte&tic, at least in our day, of all
 ta  reflect the love of `God that is shed abroad i-n his            Arminians especially),-let them take note of the
 heart.                                                              style of the  f&hers. They indeed allow the Scriptures
     In this same connection it is important to notice               to speak !
 how  out fathers conceive of the relationship between                        Need it -be -mentioned that this article is only a be-
` Cod's love and the  revela&on of Christ. Very  loften              ginning? The work  `o'f Christ is mentioned, but it
  ,this relation  is present&d as though God  ivas.  filied          is not fully described. The means of faith is men-
  with  hatred   land wrath  again'st men, but that  ChGist          tioned, but its  origin and activity is not defined.  T.he
  loved them, and  that in His  love Christ died  for' His           loTie of God is mentioned, but the saving power of that
  people, thus  meritin-g   fork them the love of  ~God and- love is not  d&ned as yet, nor are the objects of that
changing the  ,divine  hai%ed into a divine  love. toward            love determined  in this article.  And thus far, al-
  us. `Christ then is a third party between  ,God   -and us; though the subject of this chapter is divine predes-
  a,nd becomes the reason for Cod's love toward us. .Our             tination, the decree of election and reprobation has
  fathers,  however,,f,ollowing Scripture, present  the mat-         not been so much as  mentioeeid.  Especially  do,es the
  ter in just the other  way. (God's love is first! And              question remain, therefore : who are the  "whos'oever"
  becauSe  ~God loved His people from  ,a11  ~eternilc3f with        mentioned in this article? Who  .are they that believe?
  an unchangeable iove in -the  Son- of His love,  H&-gent           Or, to state the  questioin more exactly:  hoti do men
  His only begotten Son into  -the world. If it were not             come to believe? This question is crucial, for it is
 ,,for God's love, Christ would never have come. Christ,             this that decides who shall be saved  atid shall  Teceive
  therefore, is the manifestation of God's  everlztsting             everlasting life. And to  thjs  q&&ion  the  fbllow?ng
  love. Such is' the thought  Qf  ScriptuBe.  And  such is           articles  give- the answer.
  the thought that is already in this second- article set                                                     --ET. C.  Hoeksema
  forth by the fathers.
         In the second  place, this  -article calls attentiop to
  the  way. and  tli& ground of the  salvation  of. some,                               --_--  @  ;
  namely, that  `God sent his only begotten Son into  the
  worl$ that whosbever  believeth should . . -have ever-
  lasting life. The.  sending  of. His Son, therefore, is the                                     NjOTICE
  m&ife&tion of divine love, of a love that  saves its
  object. And that  sendiflg of His Son, and  all that is                     This is to inform you that  at.piesent Nanning  Kla-
 connected with it, the work of Christ, is `the ground               ver, 924 Godfrey Ave.,  S:W.,  GrandRapids  9,  Mich.
of  the salvation of  thbse whom  -God desires  to:-save' has been elected Clerk and James  SwaEt, 1007 [Grand-
  out of the  w.hole human race.                                     ville Ave.,  SW.,  Grand Rapids 9,  Mich., has been  e-
         And the  thrrd element  to  virhich  this. article calls    l,&ted, Treasurer  ,of the 2nd Pro.  Ref. Church.


               . . -                            THE  STANDARD  BEARER                                                       115
                                     - - - -                                                   -      -
                                                                   office~;c$   -the.-minister  reposes in the local church. Out
                                                                   Of  th$-.-prii&ple  the rule is deduced that no one has
                                                                   the  lib&$- to function as minister of the Word ex-
                                                                   cept those who have been lawfully called and ordained
                   The  Liberty to  Mini&r                         by the church and  ane subject to the articles of the
                                                                   church order, or in the words of Dr. H. Bouwman:
  ARTICLE               VT.     i                                      "Dit artikel  gaat uit -van de gedachte, dat  niemand
                                                                   kerkedienst kan  vervu,llen  zonder wettige  roeping en
      "No  minister shall be at liberty  td  ~s&ve. in institu-    zor&er  we?+nnld  met  cle  plccatselijke   kerk. (Underscore
   tions of  mhercy or otherwise, unless he be previously          mine, G.V.) . De  regel van de beroeping volgens Arts.
   admitted in accordance with the preceding articles,             3-5  gel&  ook,voor de predikanten in particuliere  heer-
   and he shall, no less than  &hers,   be subject to the          lijkheden,  gasthuizen,   enx."
 church order."                                                        From this it then follows that all true ministry of
      Although on the surface  this"artide of the church           the Word can proceed only from the instituted church.
   order may  not appear to  be very important and the             The minister can function only upon its authority and
suQect treated here perhaps does not readily arouse                the church in turn has  ita authority from none other
  your interest, yet, a closer analysis of its content will        than Christ  TSm_self Who commissioned her  "to
  show that it  exprlesses a  fun_damental principle of Re-        preach the Word, etc." Maintaining this principle it
  formed  ,Church. Polity that is more and more being  di,s-       so&  b'ecomes evident that a  great deal of that which
  regarded in our day to the detriment of the church.              in  our days poses as "true ministry" cannot be re-
  What is more, the implications of  this article have a           garded as such. Rankest among such  wquld-be  gos-
  far broader practical scope than we may realize and              pel preaching is the work of modern revivals and e-
  effects each of us  ecclesiasticalljr  or otherwise.             vangelism.
      The negative  tene$ of this article is an aversion              ~The sixth article of our church order, however,
  to an error of the Romanists  .whieh made its inroads
  into  .the churches of  the Reformation in. the sixteenth        does not have this particular phase in mind but rather
  century. According. to this error the authority of `the          applies this principle to the work of the  minister  who
  off&e   of the  minimstry  is vested in the person of the        serves in institutions of mercy in particular. It also
  priest or minister. This is a serious  errdr that has            adds "and otherwise" indicating that the hospital pas-
  its ultimate  f.ruit in sacrilege and idolatry.  The fact        tor is not the only one effected by this rule. To these
  that an article appears in  Our church order against it          may also be added in our present times' the ministers
  by no means implies that we are entirely freed from              who assume instructors positions in. the Christian
  it. Remnants of it are still sometimes found in modi-            schools, college presidents and professors, etc.        The
  fied forms among Reformed people who in their prac-              question is whether or  not these may retain a  minis-
  tical thinking and attitudes fail to  distinguish  pro-          t&al  status while engaged in such labors to which the
  perly between the minister, the ministry, and the                article replies that they cannot unless they are pro-
  church. Even in our own churches we have seen evi-               perly called by a local church according to the preced-
  dences of this error when throughout our present                 ing rules of the church order.
struggle  to mairitain the truth we find people who                    The historical occasion of this article sheds some
  either out of  sentimen.t or ignorance seek to sustain           light upon the necessity of such  a ruling. The origin-
  the  .minister instead of the ministry. They defend the          al redaction of the article was somewhat different
  man rather than the holy office. These are ignorant              from our present revised rendering. It reads as  fol-
  of the issues at stake and when they are confronted              lsws :
  by.other members of the church who are better posted
  -than they and who  plleisent to  theq the truth of the              "Plersbns -engaged in the ministry of the Word in
  matter, they reply to all argumentation with the fool-           the mansion of  [any ruler or baron shall be properly
  ish retort : "I don't believe it anyway  .because  dominee       and lawfully called as the others, subscribe to the
  says it differently." The assumption in this sort of             Confessions and the Church Order,, and appoint the
  argumentation is  th,at the person of the dominee is             ablest of the group they serve to the  officses  of  eld.er
  vested with the authority of the holy. office and must,          and deacon."
  therefore, be endowed  with,,&ome form of infallibility !            The  o?casion  then of the adoption of this rule was
     .Pure Romanism !                   r                          the practice of the early Reformation  drays  in which
     Contradietifig  .this error the sixth article of our          the feudal lords appointed house-pastors to minister
  church order correctly avers that the authority of the           in their estates and rulers appointed court-pastors.

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

     The latter practice was begun by Prince William `I            constit&e the church but  rat.her they are members of
     and, perhaps, was the direct occasion for the adop-           a local congregation. This church in turn calls a pas-
     tion of the  abov,e  cited rule. These pastors who were       tor to minister exclusively to their spiritual needs. He
     .appointed by barons and rulers and who were not              is then placed under the care and supervision of  t.hat
     lawfully called by the church would not-have recogni-         particular consistory and to her he gives account of
     tion in the Reformed Churches. And this was neces-            his labors. Should he prove himself to be unworthy
     sary to safe-guard against  th,e error of Rome which          of his labors, the same consistory would be compelled
     vests the authority of the ministry in men and to             to remove him from his office. Thus in 1918 the Synod
     maintain the truth that this authority rests only in          of the Christian Reformed Churches ruled on this
     the church.                                                   point in Art. 37 of the  Acta as follows:
            In 1578 the Synod of  Drodrecht  expresse"d  itself       `fspiritual  Advisors for Institutions shall be called
     as cited before. This id rather interesting because the       by a neighboring' church in consultation with the re-
     ruling then  a.dopted  indicates that the Synod was well      spective Boards."
     aware of the fact that if such a court-pastor or fami-
     ly-minister was to have an  eccl,esiastical  status, the         It is the view of the undersigned that this  sart
     group to which he ministered  #would have to be insti-        of ruling  canno;;  be applied to those who assume the
     tuted as the church. Elders and deacons must be ap-           position'of instructor in Christian day schools or  iol-
     pointed. Subscription to the Confessions and church           leges. Just  b'ecause  one is engaged in the work of
     order must be made. There must  be the ruling as              teaching Bible does not imply that he thereby has the
     well as the  teachihg ministry. Where the  &urch is           right to retain a ministerial status.         The  instrui2t-
     not properly instituted the minister could  not possi-        tion in the school is in its very nature non-ecclesi-
     bly function `in an official capacity because the right       astical as long as the school itself is non-parochial.
     to do so does not inhere  in. him or in any man, but in       The teacher in the school is not engaged in preaching
     the divinely instituted offices of the-church. This is        the word. When one, therefore, accepts such a worthy
     rather pointedly demonstrated in Judges 18 when               position, he is no longer engaged in  the work of the
     there was no king in Israel and everyone did  `as             ministry but has entered upon a new vocation and
     seemed good in his own eyes with  th'e result that the        should relinquish his right to administer the Word
     priesthood and ministry were shamefully corrupted.            and Sacraments until he is  called anew into the min-
            That this ruling of the Synod was not without          istry. If this right is to be retained he must either
     error is also rather apparant. According. to it the           receive an associate  pastorate  or a status of  emerita-
     nlinister was to appoint from the constituency of the         tion in one of the local churches. Then, however, he
     group he served some of the ablest men to the office          is not minister by virtue- of his position of instructor
     of  ,elder and deacon. This is in conflict with the rule      in the school or college but rather by virtue of the of-
     of Reformed Church expressed  jn previous articles            fice in the church.
     of the  &urch order according to which the elders and                                                     *G.  Vanden Berg
     deacons are to be chosen and called through the
     church. Nevertheless,  alreacly  here the sound prin-
     ciple was recognized that ecclesiastical work  can  pr.o-
     teed only from the instituted church. If this princi-                          -...--:::--
     ple were understood and practiced today the revisions
     in missionary labor by many Reformed Churches
     would be. very great. It appears as though  t,his is
     but another of many sound and fundamental princi-                    1Alas  for me,  w.hose lot is cast
     ples which form a large segment Of the nominal  axe-                    With those who' find their joy in strife!
     fo~med~Church  has  all-eady passed into  oblivioti..                With those who hate the paths of  peace
        The present  applicatidn  of this article is to the                  I long have dwelt and spent my life.
     hospital-pastor or one who labors  in an institution of              In thought and act I am for peace,
     mescy. Because the latter `is not an organized church,                  Peace I pursue and ever seek  ;
     does it follow that such a minister looses his ecclesi-              But those about me are for strife,
     astical status and that all his work in such an  ~institu-              Though I in love and'kindness speak.
     tion cannot bear an official  &amp? This is evidently
     not the intention of  th*e article: The article points in            I cried to  ,God  in my distress,
     another direction. It only states that the minister                    And by the Lord my prayer was heard;
     engaged in that sort of work must be called, etc. by                 *O save me, Lord,  -from lying lips
     the  10~21  church. The patients in the hospital do not                 And  firom  the false, deceitful word.         -



L


                                                                     :,.::.,.
                                                                                 j`
                                                                  tir$$:~r'differ&nt  point  of view. He realizes that in .
                                                                  their  &culiar struggle that glorious part of our Con-
  f         A L L   .A'R,OUND   U S   f fession, -election, may find itself too much in the back
                                                                  ground. He says, and I translate as literally as  pos-
                                                                  sibl,e, "We hear so  littlt&  talk about it, and we read so
  Too Much Election?                                              little of it." And he concludes "It is a human char-
                                                                  acteristic to fall into one-sidedness. -What.  too,k place
       It was while I was'  w&king in Hull, Iowa, a few           in Grand Rapids surely has something to say to us.
  weeks ago that  1 received another issue of  Poortwabe,         The  Five Articles against the Remonstrants, let them
  a little Dutch, paper  th,at  is  sent,to me. regularly from not become dead capital among us."
  the Netherlands by a Young Ladies' Organization                     Well, well ! That is something ! Hoeksema was
   (Liberated) . I  read  .an article in it at the time, which    the only one who fought Arminianism in this country.
  to me,  was very striking and on which I thought to             And  HoeBsema  did this by always maintaining the
  comment.      But because I was busy I laid it aside.           glorious  doctrine of election, which according to the
  However, after perusing the article again, I thought            writer of the above mentioned article the Fathers call
  it well to call attention to it even though it may be           "the heart  I$ the `Church." But the poor fellow went
 a little late. The -article appeared in the September            off the beam with this doctrine.           He preached and
  4th issue, on pages 168, 169. The  name of the. author          taught it so much that he became one-sided. In fact
  is not given, but I surmise that it is Mr. K. Van               he became so one-sided that in respect to the  requine-
  Spronsen who vi&ted among us a few years  agg. I- ment and promise of the covenant of grace,  well-
  will not translate the entire  article but merely give          these  simply don't exist anymore. Too much  telec-
_ the gist of it; and then make my comments.                      tion !    Well, well! That is something!  You  really
        He reminds `his young people  that the time for           have to read the Dutch papers to find out what goes
  vacation is ended, and that  they- must get busy again          on in- America.
  with their studies in matters that concern Reformed                 (One wonders where the man got his information.
  truth. He calls attention to the fact that there `are           Was it  th,e  Stanclavd  Bearer, perhaps? If it was, I
_ many great problems that arise which force them-                would like to know the volume and the' page. Or did
  selves also upon youth for solution.  -Among these are          one of our schismatic ministers tell  h.im this story?
 `the  deplorablie separations in the Church which are            One wonders when he reads-stories like this. We sug-
  taking place today.                                             gest that  thf$ young ladies, who were advised to study
        He suggests that his young  .peopie may also  haie        the problem of  "separations,~`, that they do not slick
  read of the separation which took place in the Pro-             this story up, but do a little  inv,estigating  on their
  testant Reformed Church in  A.m#erica. <Concerning              own.
 this he says that whoever takes cognizance of the back             But notice what an admission this author makes.
  ground. of the differences that have arisen in these            He tells his young people in  no. uncertain terms with
  Churches,' understands also something of their tra-             their doctrine  (L,iberated) they are liable to lose e-
  gedy. Rev.  Hoeksema, so he continues, in 1924 arid             lection if they don't watch out. In fact, so he tells us,
  since that -time, has in faithfulness to the  Scriptur&s        they have already lost it. No one speaks of it any-
fought his fight against an imposing Arminianism in               more, and no qne writes  about it anymore. The only
  America which had also gained ground even in Re-                place  you can find it is in the Canons of Dordt, the
  formed Churches. Against this Arminianism,  and  cor-           Five Articles against the Remonstrants. Verily "the
  rec`tly so,  tioeksema had raised up that central part          heart of  th,e Church" has fallen into the dust! I
  of our Confession, namely, election.                            would like to remind  ou? readers that we Protestant
        But  now look at  ttie further developments! That         Reformed people can surely learn something from the'
  part of our Confession he has dogmatized so one-sided-          liberated. We  Eearn this, that as  soon'as  you monkey
  ly in his preaching and doctrine that the  reipirement          around with that conditional business, you are on the
  and  pyornise of the Covenant of graoe, of which Scrip-         road to losing everything. And this is going to be
  ture is full, no longer receive their proper emphasis.          th,e experience of all those who have separated from
  The result-the unfortunate thing that has happened              us to embrace their conditional doctrine.
  -separation !          1                                                             -    : -    -
        He  th,en asks : Doesn't  :-this perhaps have some-                                             :    -
  thing to say to us? And he answers: Maybe it does.
        H.e reminds his young people that they (the  Liber-       What Kind of .G?ace is "Common" Grace?
ated) also have a struggle, though it  is: from an  en-               This is the  qilestion  Dr; M. J. Wyngarclen of  Cal-


-vin College attempts to answer in the  latest issue of          commentary,  Ma.)                 They had thrust from them the
Torch and Tmwwpet.                                               l@nclness  of  Go& and in a manner carried on war for-
    He writes: "This question is generally asked by wardly with  IGod,  so as to prevent any access to His
those who deny or doubt that  thene is a certain grace           favor.    (This I found on page 313, far removed from
or favor of God in addition to saving grace.                     that which he had just quoted above,  MS.)  That
                                                   They are
not convinced that there is some kind of favor of God,           Z:echariah  now speaks in his own person, and then in-
and  thfat there is a sincere offer of salvation also to         troduces God as the speaker, makes no difference. . .
those who do not accept that offer. They take this               (Wyngarden left out the words : "as we said  yester-
stand because the reprobate  .do not receive the power           da.y"-that is  indicated.by the series of dots.  M.6.) as
needed to accept this offer. The question can  be asked,         to the main subject; for his object is to set forth
which  grac.e, what kind of grace do they then  rei how shamefully the  Jelws had abused the  f&or of  God,
ceive?,,                                                         and how unjustly they had despised it. `(Italics mine,
                                                                 M.J.W.)  "        (This I found on p. 324 of the comment-
    Dr. Wyngarden then attempts to show what kind                a r y   M.6)                 .
of grace the reprobate receives by quoting' from Cal-
vin's commentary on the prophecy of Zechariah 11:                 Wonderful way to quote, don't you think?  Re-
10, 14.                                                          min'ds me of someone else I know who likes to quote
                                                                 that way. You can make any writer or commentator
-  Spaoe  will1 not allow that I quote the  piofessor at         say anything you  want- to when you use this method.
length. But he says that  "accprding  to John Calvin,            And there can bo no doubt that is what Wyngarden
these verses speak of the reprobate, reprobate who               attempted to do. He wanted Calvin to  teach  Wyngar-
stand overagainst the poor of the flock that waited on           den's pet doctrine of  "Cotimon   aGrace."
the prophet, and acknowledged that the words which
he spoke were the Word of  `God."                                    But  iS that what Calvin teaches in his commentary
                                                                 on the  pass&ge  referred to in Zechariah? I think not.
    When we read this `we became interested to know              4s I understand Calvin, all he purposes to teach is
whether or not John  .Calvin actually taught this. So that  IGod had manifested his favor to Israel, particu-
we took our commentary of Calviri on Zechariah and               larly Judah, looked at as a people constituted of both
began to check the quotations the professor made.  .And          elect and reprobate. The majority in the latter group.
w'e were  astoniihed to.  learn the method the professor         And in order that God may save his people and at the
uses when he makes quotations, a method one uses                 same time destroy the reprobate, he causes the  pro-
when  h,e wants to make another say what he wants                ph'&t to come before them all with the two staves,
him to say. Let me quote.-a little more to  showy  what          Beauty and Bands, which are the Word of God. This
I mean.                                                          Word of  God the poor  r'ecognizes as the  pow,er of God
    Here is what Wyngarden `quotes further. from Cal-            unto salvation, while the reprobate are hardened there-
vin : "But he (the prophet) says further,  that the              by unto their destruction.
poor of the flock perceived this: and thus he shows,                 Surely the pedple see God's favor to His people
that while the body of the people followed the way               in.-Christ.  This is `true also `today under the Gospel.
to ruin, a few  d,erived benefit  froin  #God's   scourges  ;    `God shows it to  them. But is  G,od  therefore gracious
and thus it never happens, that God  chastizes without           to the reprobate? Nonsense ! Let Wyngarden exe-'
some advantage. Though then  the  reprobate  (italics            gete the entire chapter for himself and he will see
mine, M.J.W.)  obstinlately  resist God, and hesitate  not       this if he has  `eyes to see. And if  6 writ& again,
to tread under' foot his judgments, and, as far as they          let him do his quoting fairly, not  decepiiv&ly.  Tomb
are able, render them void, there are yet some few               ancl, Trumpet  should refuse articles of`  this kind. It
Tirho receive benefit, and acknowledge God's hand  so            destroys the very purpose for which- the  periodjcal
as to humble themselves and repent."                             was brought into being.'
    And now follows a quotation to which I especially                                                              ii%  Schipper
call attention to show up  Wyngard.en's  method. What
follows  appear,s all in one paragraph in Wyngarden's                                    -         - : - : : -
article, which means that he intended  that'the   reader
concludes that this was exactly as he read it in Cal-
vin's commentary. "For the paternal care of God had                              Salvation !  ,O melodious sbund,
been most  basely~  and most-shamefully `repudiated, as                            To wretched dying men!
well as the kind favor which he had  mlanifested  to-                            Stilvation,  that from  (God proceeds,
ward the people. (I found  this  on- page 312 of the                               And leads to God again.


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                                        ;..y,      .;.,:;;     `$    .,         L.-     -1:.      ._      :           :..I.         .


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                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D -   -BEARER                                                                             119

                                                                                         tional theology as expounded on the pulpit on Sept.
         CONTRIiWTI.ONS                                                                  7th, and as written in his articles in  Conco+&.
         .:.                              _  ,~                                                     ,On Dee. 18, 1952 elder Kortering made the motion
                                                                                         tb initiate the proper proceedings to suspend Rev. Kok
      A.  TBSTINONY   FRO&I  THE,  RECO,RD~                                              from his office. The Elders failed to support this mo-
   With reference  tom the former Rev. Kok's,  `fNews                                    tion. Elder  Korte!ring appealed his protest to  Clas-
Items from  Hollland," in  Con$corcZti,  Nov. 5, 1953, the                               sis East, to have  theni judge over us, whether the
uncl`ersigned simply makes the  follo&ng testimony grounds submitted- in his protest of Dec. 12th are
from the Consistory records,. beginning as  etirly as the                                sufficient grounds to suspend Rev. Kok from his office.
l.atter part of 1949, when the Holwerda-Kok case  o&i-                                             .After  this and at the same meeting, Dec. 18; 1952
ginated in the Netherlands.                                                              Art. 6, Consistory  djecided  unanimously to have Rev.
   On Nov.  -17, 1949, elder Kortering filed a lengthy Kok prepare his answer for  Classis,  on the protest. of
docmpent with Gonsistory, advising the following.                                        Elder Kortering, and to present this answer at our
On the basis of I Tim. 3  :2  atid I Tim. 5  :19, as literally next Gerenal Consistory Meeting D.V., to be held on
taken from Deut.  19:15-21, Professor  H,olwerda, and                                    Dec.  26th, for their consideration.
ia our case (Rev. B. Kok) being placed before the                                                  IOn Dec. 22, 1952 Elder Kortering filed  h.is, copy of
Lord, will have  to  ansiwer these questions to the legal-                               p.rotest against the Consistory of Holland with the
ly ordained. Consistory of Holland  Mich., of which                                      stated clerk of  %lassis East.                      `;
Rev.  Kok is pastor: Whether yes or no Rev. Kok made                                               ,On  D.ec. 26th 1952 elder Kortering laid a copy of
these statements as Professor  Holtierda wrote in that this protest sent to  Classis (which was basically the
letter to an immigrant in  <Canadai This must be in-                                     the same as his Dec. 12,  1952  pr,otest already in the
vestigated, as well as the `integrity and  truthfujtiess                                 record of  ,Consistory),  on  .the table of Cdnsistory.
of- the reporter,  Profes'sor  Holwerda, a" professor in
Dogmatics  $1  #God's  Christian Church in- the Nether-                                             At this Dec. 26, 1952, meeting, Rev. Kok failed
lands. - For, Rev. Kok challenges  thte  t,ruth of these to carry out the mandate of Consistory Art. 6 Dec.
statements as  he.. (Prof. Holwerda) made them. Short-                                   18th minutes above. And instead of answering my
ly after this my office expired on Dec. 31, 1949. The                                    protest, which Consistory could adopt as their answer
ConSistory  never carried out this advice beyond the                                     to my protest to  Classis. Rev. Kok corrupted the
public statement  mad& by the then  Rev. Kok to the                                      Consistorial  m.andate  by charging me with violating
,C&gregation,  in  w.hich he  .denied the truth of the                                   Art. 30, Church Order. His loud arguments caused
Holwerda   yepor?t.    The undersigned  re;entered the                                   tension to rise in Consistory, and in the confusion that
office of elder bver a  yeal later; and also failed to  ai                               f,ollowed,  nothing was accomplished, the copy of my
gain  tak,e up that matter. I herewith confess my guilt,                                 protest was not read, and the answer that Rev. Kok
it would have been better in view of  &he present his-                                   had prepared was simply reoeived for information
tory if the whole matter had been cleared up at that                                     and filed.
time. With the passing on of Professor  Hoqwerda                                                    At the Meeting of  Classis  East, January 7, 1953
into eternity the whole matter  ,was sealed to the day                                   Rev.  Kok as delegate simply kept-that paper which he
of judgment, as far as official action was concerned.                                    had read to Consistory on Dec. 26, 1952, in his pocket,
   .On Feb. 22, 1953 elder Kortering registered a                                        did not  iread what he had reported to Consistory, but
l&gthy document in Consistory  disagfeeing with  Con-                                    blocked my protest gaining the floor of  Classis  by
sistory's stand taken on Dec. 20, 1950 against  %ynod                                    saying that-Consistory had no time to answer it.
adopting the Declaration of Principles.                                                                  The rest of the history of my protest at  Classis
   IOn  Sept. 8, 1952 elder Kortering submitted to  Con-                                 from then  oti is so well known to all that we need not
sistory  f,or their. study, examination, and  considiera-                                repeat  it, the minutes of the Holland Consistory are
tion, his  grouided objection to Rev Kok's conditional                                   simply filled with articles, referring to my protests.
theology, as  her expounded it  `on Sunday Morning,                                      From the  &mites officially given to me over the Rev.
Sept. 7th from the pulpit, and as he had written and                                     Kok's own signature dated Aug. 13, 1953 I can count
defended the Liberated Doctrines publicly in his arti-                                   at least 39 articles, separate entries in the minutes in
cles in  Concorclia,   etc. This also was a lengthy docu-                                reference to or connected with my protests, from Sept.
ment, copy now  f$led in  Classis.                                                       12, 1952 to April 21, 1953. From  th.at  sevetral   webe
   IOn Dec. 12, 1952 the  ab@veve  Sept. 8th grounded ob-                                omitted, and these do not count my separate protests
jection  b~ecatie a protest, requesting Me suspension against the Consistory allowing Rev. Vermeer, and
uf Rev. Kok from his office,' on the grounds submitted,                                  Rev. Petter to occupy our pulpit after they schisma-
and on the fact that he refused to retract. his  condi-                                  tically recognized and preached  fo!r  the De Wolf group.


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                                                                      :.
                                                .                                                                                                                +
                     2  -._
. .                                                                                                      .-- --~~-                      ~~_
          y          ;.j&          :     .-     `]    -               *.               ."TH-E~`.STA-N?..ARB                              B.&ARER                           .'
                                                               .ii.--.- .._... ---            -                                                       -
                i                                                                                                                                                          - ___.__-
                                                                                                                                                           -'
                      r. Iii tiddition' to' `rbove,  Consist&y-forgot  -to: in&de                         the  swo?d of the spirit-the Word of  God,.  as the record
                     iiJ?lzeiT  report -Art.  ,ii, Mar. 12, 1953  min&&,`-@ch   `.  -clearly  sh&+&. iAnc1  that is much more important, for
                ~,-  r$a{l.  - Kortering requests to  have  -the-  follbtiing enter- it  had as  its  pnrpose the  welfaire of  th#e  former  P&J.
                     ccl'in~theminutes.                    Dtie.to  t.he fact. that  niy own  pro- K01c at  heart, that  he (D.V.)  might see  hiti error  a-`
           -tests.  are  J&  the records of Consistory, and in  ai far                                    -repent,  Xn?l   riow by  his  own action (as clearly  re-
                     .as' these  other  ,protesti  ilow  in'  donsideration  at: this ported in  .f?rmer  issues of the.  $hkmclcGrcl  Rearer).
       _  -:1.J  -,lt,i:~ie,. `read  on- my protests;  :-I  -hereby want to express, He,  cllt himself  lo&e from this office of- discipline, from
                ~IIB:  h-ve entered in -the minutes; that  I- do not  ,wan.t                              this hand  :of  fl~ien&liip;  'frdm  this  voice  w]licll  llo  ion-
                     to -be  ,held responsible for.  answers-`given by  Consis-~   g&  corl+ts him. An'd having lost his  offi&, and  ly-
                tory,  either  exl&secl~  or impiied to these.  prot;`ests..   `*                         iig  out&de  of  i the Church;  the following Scriptural
                     ~  I On  August  2,  1953  K&terilig   h&l  "the following Discipline  -aiPlies:                                          .:-
                     enteped  in -the  niinutes  -of  Con&stoiry.  '  Td  R~@v~."Kdk                                  `1. Cor. 5  :5 : To deliver such an one unto  satal?
                     Fllld  the  ,C&sisto?$,   1st  Prot.  ~Refl;  Cliu&h;   ,Holltind,-   :tk;e   de&rb&iofi  of the  flesh' that  the  spirit  may  bc
                     Mich. Dear Brethren: I wish it-  imd.erstood  that  f                                saved in the day- of the Lord  Jesus.
                     assume no responsibility: for  an-y--errars  %hat  `m&y  be                                      II  %cess.   -5  :6 : Now  w'e command  you brethren, in
                     preach&i by Rev.  Kok. Grounds :  .My protest  against                                -"
                                                                                                          the name of  ..o& Lord. Jesus Christ, that ye  withdralv
                     the Consistory  -for_  .failing~ to  suspend  hiin  frop- his
                                                                                                   -.     yourselves from epery brother that walketh  disord'er-
                office  is now  r?t  Classis.  -1                   -`.                _          -       ly  afid  tiot  .after the tradition which he  n-eceived of us.
                        Among  eyro!rs  .I also consider personal statements                                                    :  -
                                                                                                                      11.  Thess; 3  :I4 : And .if any man obey not our word
                     as. follows;- made in this  -morning's.  sermon. Which                               by-.&his   epi&le note.  thtii man and have no company
                     "some  of., you  lay-in my  mout.h."  As.1..objected once                            \vjith him that: he -may be- ashamed.
                     before, sermon  Feb.-l&,  en*ered.in  Mai.  18th  minutes,
                Consistory, the  pi&it is  nev.er  _ the place  for  such 11  The&.   3':15: Yet count him not  tis  an enemy but
                                                                                                                                                                                    -
                     personal statements or  remarks,                                 Neither  is  -that  admonish  him as  -a brother.
                     ,God's,  Word, which. must  -always. be in the  mouth of                                    This  stiripiure   admopi&s  us  to  no  l&g,er extend
                     G o d ' s   Seyvants  ,on  the,$lpit.                                                our  $and  of  f,ellowship   $0  the.for&er Rev. Kok,  ancl
                               Besides these official  ,&inutes  which- I lit&ally exhar.ts  .US  ,td admonish him  for-the   && of his way.
                     quoted  albove,, -I  can testify  that many  `tities.  I.have  ~-Which   we  hereby also  do.  Let.h$n   repentbefore  God,
                     tried to correct the-former  R+v. Kok. That went so flee from  !his  err.ors,  c&fe>s  hir;_si&. Let him return                                                             -
                     far and so  often, that personal  atiimosity   fr.om sbme                            and willingly -again place -himself under- the legally
                     of  `the  -deacons   irose  .eve&ime  &is  oc&rred. `Iti  a                          oi:dained  office of discipline of  ihe 1st  Pjrot.  Reformecl
                     spirit  j of open rebellion,. one would cry to  th,e top  .of                       Chm:ch  of.  l%oilland, Iv.&higati.                     .-  ._
-.                   his voice, get out of here,. if you don't like Kok's-                                 _ As to the second charge that-while-the undersigned
                     preaching. This has happened  m&e thaq once.  ..  Un-                                was  .meeting with the former Consistory," tentative
           d e r   t h i s   u n p l e a s a n t   ptensioll  above,  &cl  t h e   l o n g   ,sus--plans for meeting  -separate the f  ollpwing Sunday were
                     i;ense in which  my, protest. at  ClaSsis could  not. -be                            secretly  mad&.  This  -is -absolutely false. Not one of
                     freated and  e$ the  matter, I  was  cdmpelled  to  @sue                             the- entire Congregation- knew. anything about this.
                     t h e   b l a n k e t  clrder  a b o v e ;   a$d  .have  ente?ed  i n  -.the  They  a,r,e  all,  open  witn,e,sses. A,sl<. anyone of  ~them
                     n&lutes,   th:at- I refused `to  bye held. responsible  .for any                     _ -
                                                                                                          yoni'self. . The. undersigned himself woiked all that
                     ,err'ors  t&t   Rev.  K o k   m i g h t  -be   preaching,-   011.'  the night `(Friday night), and everything-.&as arranged
                     grounds, that  `he would not be  pgeaching  these errors                             after,  the- former Con&story had  :become schisrriatic  a-
                     any' longer; if  Colisistolry had  done-  ii% duty and  sus-                        1ong with the  former-  Rev;~Kok, on that fateful -Oct.
                     pended him from his office last fall,  ai it was their                               9th meeting,.  aftei  +hich all of them  lo& the  fellow-
                     d u t y '   t o   . d o .                                                            ship' of the Protestant Reformed  Church.
                          `From all this  I fail to see  ho& the  `forn& `kev.                                                                                        - J .   H .   Kortering
                     Kok  has the  au$acity  to publicly infer. that  -I  n&er
                     corrected him; and always agreed  witk him.  `I'must
                     say that-  f air; only a sinful  man, strong in-  solge things
                     -and.  weak~iin. others. I  may  have-he& too easy in  the
                     ethics of some things. If I  Ilad  ndt been,  he (the                                                                -:-:--
          iarmer  Rev.  K o k )   wo&d  hot  n o w   dare-  t o -   b o a s t   a s   .:
                     he does in  Conco&a.  But  fof that I  ai  also glad,
                     that  .I did  ti&,  fight with'  mjr fists,  -but did fight with                            -


