                                                                           -

        VOLUMEi                 xj<x                     DECEMBER   15, 1953  -  GRAND  RAPIDS,   MICHIGAN                               NUMBER   6


  *a ~O(IM,OI~-~I-I~-~1-i~-~~-~~-~-~~~~~-~~-~~-~~~~~-~~-~~-~~-~~-~.:.
   &                                                                            I  -to  tiait for the time promised to the patriarchs of
.,I-          M E  D I T A T-I.0  N'                                            !     old, the time of the promised redemption?
                                                                                1
  *~lo,ml,-s-clc~,-`-,,-`-~-~,-,-~,-,-`,-~,-`,-,,-~,-,,-~,-,,.~.                             : -Ah, `sp%ce  would fail us if w!e were to relate in de-
                                                                                     tail"the  `greatness wherewith Jehovah God magnified
  The V                                                                               `Moses and Aaron before the eyes of Pharaoh, king of
             oice  if  Jebovab   and  Contem&.  Rebels  .~~~p2;
                                                                                                   . . . .
                    "NC&   K&ah   .      
                                        `.  , with  Dathan   anvd   Abiram  . . .     - `~%en great and mighty plagues God brought upon
                took men and ,they r&e up before Moseqwith cer-
                tail!                                                                 Eiypt through the man  Moses.  Great and mighty
                          of the children of ~Israel . . . men of renown,
                and they assembled-themselves  dgainst Moses  aold                    signs the Lord  whrotight through this faithful servant.
                against Aaron . .  ,"  4um.bers   16:1-3                              He led `the peopl6  like a flock in tender care through
        VOX Dei !                                                                     -the R,ed Sea. `Wh& water fails Moses brings water
        .The voice of Jehovah, the  ~God  of Israel . . . . .                         from the Rock, striking it upon Jehovah's command.
  -  .~- Such is indeed the Word of God in this well-known                            The rriaima,  wonder br&d of <God, fallsas a manifes-
  passage in the  book of Numbers, wherein the- sacred. -t&ion   of  Jehovtih's faithfulness upon this  $aithful
  narrator records for us  -ihe. mighty  de,eds  of  Go&                              servant's word, with whom God talks  Fouth  to m6uth.
  wherein He caused all things .to work for the &van;                                 C.-X  -tiani?estly  and not ifi dark speeches !
  tage of His -church  in the wilderness ; as. He.- brings _ - He is th`e mouth of God to the congregation.
  His people into the, rest that remaineth  to- the people                                     The voice `of ,Jehovah,  the God of glory is this Mo-
  o f   G o d .                                                                      ses, with the glory of God upon his face . . . .
                                                                                             .Moses,  the faithful servant. of God.         .
        For the  P  ~3rd knows who  -are-  Hii'  o%rn,  .al;d-  let  '                         MoSes,  VOX Dei!
  `everyone, .&at ntimehh the Nanie of the LoEd -depart
  from  i?-ti@it$.  He knows who are  Hi$ own elect in
  the wbrld,  that is, who are His redeemed saints,  Jbut                              -.                          *  *  a  *
  He also knows who are His own faithful  office-bear-
  e~~illHis.house-,  .-1,  _.  ..  - --  _  --                                                 VOX: Populi !
        Does not  Jehov& God say  of. Moses  that,   he  was -The voice of-the -"people," who fear the Lord, enter
  t;he most meek of ail  tilen, and that he is faithful  in all                       into His courts .with praise, and who bless His HOlY
  His house? Shall he not behold the form of Jehovah? Name, his this Aaron !
  Should  no& a mortal fear to speak against My  ser-                                          Forsooth, the people, who fear Jehovah, and know
  valit?!! Has Jehovah God not called'Moses  unto this the joyful  sound~as this comes from the mouth of MO-
  vei'y task; having  sefiarated   hiin  *and prepared him                            ses,  (revere'  ihis Aaron, the appointed one of God to
  ~tmto  .the same from the womb of Jochebed  an-d from                               approacl?  intp the Holy place with tlie golden censor!
  the loins of  Amram?  Is not this  the beautiful  &Id  .They  tremble in the  ,beauty  of holiness when their
  that was born unto these parents who trusted in God,                                High-Priest,,  ,anointed  with oil  qf consecration brings
  that He would send deliverance in  the? serfdom and                                 the` sacrifice upon the .great Day of Atonement, first
  slavery in Egypt ? Is this not the Moses  who thotight                              fbr Himself  alld  then for the people.
  that the people would understand, that the Lord would                                 . Th,eir song is wafted heaventizrcl  to Him Who is
  deliver  Jerael  by his  Ihand? And, again,  is~ this not                           elithroned upon the praises of Israel. Hear  them sing
  the Moses, who must learn  -in  the school of -affliction                           on-  Java's   strands: Tremble before Him with  godly


  122                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                       . .

  fear. And angels bow in silent and audible &&ration            iti  trtith they know not. They are enemies of God
  beholding the manifold wisdom of God's glory in  wor-          and of the Cross of Christ.
  shipping saints; they watch and rejoice,  wheth'er  this           The fear of God is not before their eyes  !-
. be th,e church in Paran's barren wastes, or in Euyope's            They fear not to contend with  th.e Most High,
  Gentile  childrell  @. the  `f-new -world," called these       Whose ways are in the Holy Place, who says My
  Americas  ; .  .:i  +&..`~                                     C6unsel  shall stand and I shall' perform all My good
         For to this ieople of ,&d's elective love, those up-    pleasure. The voice of God is to their ears not the
  on whom God has mercjr  and shall have mercy, an               "joyful sound" since their hearing is not mingled
  avenues  to God is given in  tiope through the crying with faith.
  voice of Apron.                                                    The Sanctuary cloes not make their hearts thrill
     ,Ah, they know that- Aaron. has not taken this              with holy rapture.
  honor upon Himself.  He is set  aside by  Go& A-                  A veil is upon their hearts that are filled with
  mongst the people holy unto the Lord, a peculiar trea-         meamless and unbelief. The zeal of God's house has
  sure to God in all the earth, th'ere  is none like Aaron       never set their hearts aflame with joy unspeakable
  in his place. He is the shadow and  portirait  of the          and full of glory . . .
  Great High-Priest to come. He is appointed of Je-                 VOX populi, VOX Dei . . . . is the slogan !
  hovah.                                                            The "people" `who always again murmur in the
         The -Lord ~foreknew  Him unto this task bringing Church in the wilderness, against the Lord do so be-
  him forth from-the loins of  Amram,  Kohath, Levi.             cause they will not submit to the law of God. These
  The Lord prepared him unto this task in the home of            are they who have not the Spirit and are none of
  a mother in Israel, Jochebed by name, one of the               His. They are their own Lord.
  cloud of witnesses  that speaketh to us today, though             The voice of tlhe people is the voice of God . . .
  she be dead. And the Lord separated Him publicly                  So many people `cannot be wrong!
 b'efore all the people as the Lord, their God, Who- had            VOX Populi, VOX Dei!
 delivered them out of the house of bondage, in order
 that they might be brought unto Him through  A-                                       d  72  *  6
 aron'.s ministry . . .
     The  Lo1r-d knows who are His own servants!                    Now Korah , . . . with Dathan and Abiram!
     The people, who fear the Lord, acknowledge in                  They rose up before Moses . . . . they assembled
  hoi? fear and great joy.                                       themselves together . . ; .
     The way into the holy .place  is not yet dpenea  . . .         Ah, they did not do so in the name of the Lord, for
 but they have a voice in the temple, crying to Jeho-            they "took men". And it looked mighty convincing
 v&h, who is throned above the Cherubim . . .                    what they did. And they planned it with singular
     It is the voice of Aaron.                                   strategy of hell, of the Arch-Foe, Satan, that Old Ser-.
     The voice that cries for better things to come . . .        pent, the murderer of- men from the beginning, the
     The voice of God's chosen people!                           fath$er  of the lie; Tools these men were, They did not
     Aaron, Viox Populi !                                        possess their souls in holy patience, but were possessed
                                                                 with unholy impatience, for Satan had plucked the
                           *  *  zt  Tk                          Word of God from their hearts as it was sown by Mo-
                                                                 ses, th,e VOX Dei!
    Vox Populi, Vox  D.ei!                                          Now, Korah with Dathan and Abiram rose  up  be-
     Buch is ever the  ory of those, who have no fear            fore Moses? Yes, it was a day of great searchings of
 of ,God  before their eyes, and who trample God's holy          heart in Israel. It was one of the great offenses that
 ordinances under foot, and kill His servants, the pro-          must come in Israel, that they who are approved may
 phets  in'the house of  #God . . .                              be manifest. 0h;the offenses must come, but woe that
     Such  was ihe case with the people who would. not           man through whom the offense  cometh. It were bet-
 contend the "Common faith" delivered by  .Jehovah               ter that a mill-stone be hung about. his neck and that
 through Moses to the saints ; such it is with those             he were cast into the depth of the sea  ; it were better
 who are spiritual brethren of those, who always a-              that h.e had not been born . . . .
 gain perish iq`the gainsaying of Korah !                           Ah, Korah has beconie a by-word in Israel. This
     These are the men, who never see the glory of IGod,         happened to him that we should not walk in the same
 the glory of grace, the  glo?y of the Sanctuary, as this        sins. He dreamed  direams  of wicked grandeur and
 is not written simply upon tables of stone, but as              sinful ambition, he talked of humiliation while he
 this is written by the Ministry of reconciliation  in-the       trampled it under foot. Hear him vaunt, while pre-
 hearts q$ fle?h. TQbe  reconciled to God in spirit and tending to champion meekness, and that, too, against


 the most meek of all  ,God's  servants: you take too         --
 much to yourself, Moses; and who is Aaron? We                                            THE STANDARD BEARER
 too .are holy as is all the congregation.
     Ah, that was a catch-word- for "itching-ears" !                           Semi-monthly, except monthly during ]uly and August
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 He expressed exactly their feelings: He could preach              Communications relative to contents should be addressed to Rev. H.
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     Korah, who perished in  th,e gainsaying. Hidden
                                                                        Entered  ar Second Class matter at Grand Rapids, Michigan
 r~ks in your love-feasts are such, shepherds, that
 without fear feed th'emselves,  clouds without water,
 carried about by wind, autumn trees without fruit,           B
 twice dead, plucked up by the roots  . . . . for whom                                               -                    -
 the :blackness of darkness has been reserved forever!
   -Set for a sign in Israel . . . .                         1-~110~0~11-`11~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-~~~~~-`~~~~~,~~~~~,,-`,~`,~
     Now,.  Korah . . . . VOX Dei !                                                                       C O N T E N T S

                                                             MEDITATION-
                          x.2  *  4  A                                  The Voice of Jehovah and Contending Rebels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
                                                                               Rev. Geo. Lubbers
     Searchings of the heart!                                EDITORIALS-
    ISuch was this evil day .in Paran's wastes. Here                    Earmarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .       124
                                                                        TheCourtCaseandICor.6:1-8  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
 were the searchings of the heart that make separation                  Doctrine and Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
 between the two seeds in Israel. Here is the search-                          Rev. H. Hoeksema
 ings of th'e heart before the eye of the Lord, before       A s   T o   BOOK+
Whom  all things are naked and open.                                    Habrews-Dr.   ]ohn Owen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
     Dathan  and Abiram and Korah are consumed by                       Exposition of the Gospel of  John-Arthur W. Pink . . . . . . . . . . 130
                                                                        De  Toekomst  van Christu+Dr.  K. Dijk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
 the Lord. It is the sign and proof that Moses is VOX                          Rev. H. Hoeksema
 Dei and  Aalron is the VOX Populi. That demands a           FROM   HOLY  WRIT-
 ret& to.the  Word-  df the Lord by Moses or there `shall               Exposition of I Peter  1:18,  19 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
 be no dawn, but the  blackn,ess of darkness for-                              Rev. G. Lubbers
 ever . . . .                                                Iti  H I S   FEAR-
    But the evil men, the wicked  cannot be subject to                  Afraid of the Gospel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..*......s...... 133
                                                                               Rev. J. A.  Heys
 G o d .
    Wailing their lying death-chant, stubbolrnly  refu-      THE  VOICE   OF  OUR  FATHERS-
                                                                        The Canons of Dordrecht . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
 sing to acknowledge the VOX Dei in Moses, they go                             Rev. H. C. Hoeksema
 into darkness . . . . <And the earth swallowed them         CONTENDING   FOR  CHE  FAITH-
 up, and the fire of the altar mbureed  them to death!                  The Church and the Sacraments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
    All the evil of evil men- then reveals itself. They                        Rev. H.  Veldman
 rise up in revolt and would have the Lord of heaven         DECENCY   AND  ORDER-
                                                                       Ambulantes  Levine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . :. . . . . . . . . . . . . .                 139
 cast down. But  (God is on His Throne, and out of                             Rev. G.  Vanden Berg
 Sian the perfection of holiness. God shines forth. A        ALL  AROUND  Us-
 fire devoureth before Him, and it is very tempestuous                 Orders From Headquarters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                          141
 about Him . . . .                                                     Protestant Reformed Split Spreads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                             142
                                                                               Rev. M.  Schipper
    God spoke in  Paran's  waste, and did- not  .keep si-
 lence.                                                      CONTRIBUTIONS-
                                                                       Pertinent Quotations from the "Dogmatics" of Rev. H.  Hoekse-
    I am IGod, even thy IGod.                                          ma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .    143
    Joyful meditations of the h.eart . . . .                                   Rev. Geo. Lubbers
                                                                       Report of Western Ladies League .;........................ 144
    Forever !                                                                  Mrs.  Gee. Hoekstra,  Reporter
                                     -4eo.  ,C. Lubbers'     ulll`-ilQLI-`I-`-(-,,--"-"-,,-,-`-~,-~,-,-,,-"-,,-,,~


      i24                                 *Hg  .STANj)Al;D   g%AilBf:
                             ---__-_---                                                         .-----
                                           .' .
                                                                  his own lines, draws them in the wrong places, and
                                                                  tells  us that "the fathers" (the Canons) draw them
                                                                  th&$  !
                                                                      The line he draws is between repentance and active
                                                                  faith, on trhe one hand, the .rescuing out of the power
                                                                  of darkness and translation into the kingdom of dark-
                                                                  ness on the other. All with an appeal to "the fathers."
         It certainly is an earmark of heretics that they             Before I continue to quote him and  ,expose  his  ho-
     play hocus pocus with the ,confession  of the- church.       cus pocus, let me quote the passage of the confessions
         They  `do not hesitate to distort the clear language     in question. It is f,ound in Canons III, IV, 10.
     of the confessions in order to make it appear as if these        There the fatherS  teach that calling and conver-
     support theh false doctrines.                                sion "must be wholly ascribed to God, who as he has
     - Thus  did the Synod  of-  the Christian Reformed           <chosen his own from eternity in Christ, so he confers
     Gh_urch  in 1924 in order to find a basis in the con-        upcx   .them faith and. repentance, rescues them from
     fessions for their false doctrine that there is grace in     the power of darkness, and translates them into the
     the preaching of the gospel for the reprobate and that       kingdom of his own Son."
     the natural man can do good before God.                         In this De Wolf introduces the following order of
       And the same is' true of De Wolf  C.S. when they           time :
     make it appear as if the confessions teach that the              1. Active faith.
     promise of IGod is .for all on condition of faith, and
     that we must convert ourselves before we can enter              2. Then repentance.
     -into the kingdom of- heaven.                                   3. Then the being r&cued from the power of
         To prove this I  &as  quoting from one of the an-        darkness.
     swers to the-examination to  .which  De Wolf was sub-           4. Then the translation into the kingdom of God.
     jected when  hLe was still minister of the First Protes-        All this, mind you, to make the confession say that
     tant Ref,&med  Church of *Grand Rapids.                      our act of conversion is before we enter into the king-
        I will now continue the Same quotation.  .~Said he:       dom of God.
        "Now I know I am not trying to `dFaw ti necess&ry         And now I continue to. quote him:            ,~
     doctrine from this, but I maintain, Mr.  -Chairman;            "Now the question here is: What does this  transla-
     that no one else has any right to change t&is ,order 3ion consist in, and how does it take place? You have
     (repentance, active faith, followed by translation into      got to face this question. If it refers to regeneration
     the kingdom of God, H.H.), unless he can show very           alone, if entering into the kingdom refers to regener-
     plainly that  that is the way it should be, and that our     ation alone, then it,must take place before ,God  confers
     fatheps  are not right in having this order. That is         ;`aith  ancl repentance, because faith and  ,repentance
     the problem, Mr. Chairman. I am  simp!y trying to            are the fruits of regeneration. But notice that this
     present the problem. You can't just draw a line, and         article says first that  ,God  confers faith and  repen-
     sa,y it's that way on one side. First you are there.         tT.nce,  and that then  Hk translates them. You have
     -Now you aye on -the other side of the line, ahd that        the opposite order there. The translation, I would
     settles the matter. That is not  .so easy to do."            say, may refer rather to the act of God which takes
        The reader must know that  ;-lt a certain consistory      place after He has conferred faith and repentance,
     meeting I drew a line on the black,board  to  .indicate      and which is realized in man's act of turning, so that
     the antithesis between light and darkness, between the       it is conversion from the point of view of man's act,
     kingdom of God and the kingdom of the devil,  and            in that conversion as the fruit of the work of  (God
     to show that, not in darkness but only in the light,         that is referred to, here. So that then you would have
     not in the kingdom of the devil  btit only in the kingdom    this idea, while the elect are in the power of darkness,
     of God, can we ever convert ourselves.                       God confers -faith and repentance upon them, by
        Heretics do not like definite lines of demarcation        which they come to the knowledge of their depravity
     between the truth anh the lie.                               and bondage in darkness, and by faith trust in Christ,
        They draw their own lines, and  they &aw them at          turn from their sins-there you get that conversion
     the  wr,ong  places.                                         and so are rescued out of that power of darkness,
        That is what De Wolf does.                                and are translated into the kingdom of his Son. And
        Although he states that he does not want. "to draw        then conversion is a prerequisite to., enter into the
     a necessary doctrine  Erom this," and although he pre-       kingdom."
     sents the matter as if it were "a problem", yet he draws        `Bocus  ~poc'us !



L


                                      T H E   S T A N - D A R D   B E A R E R                                        125

    But first, dear reader, did De Wolf, 89 he said af-       thing else. It means entering, consciously entering in.
terward, refer only to repeated or continual cd&%%            There is an activity there that you cannot ignore, and
sion and entering into the kingdom when he preached           if you are going to say that regeneration alone is the
his  serm.on,  or did he really refer to the principal and    prerequisite to enter into  th$e  kingdom of heaven, as it
initial entering in and conversion? According to the          has been said here, you-simply ignore all these things.
above,  you say with me, only the Iatter  is true.            I have no objection to saying that regeneration is  pcl'e-
    Secondly, notice how De Wolf plays hocus pocus.           requisite  t,o entering the kingdom, but I deny, Mr.
    ic'lrst  he tells us bhat the order of time, according    Chairman, that  yegeneration  ever stands alone.  (God's
tq tlze fathers, is: 1. faith; 2. repentance; 3. rescuing     work is complete, with regeneration always comes
from the power of darkness; 4. translation into the           conversion, always. Its the very counterside of re-
lting~~um. Now at the  end, he says that  %o", i.e. by        generation. It is the result of r&generation, and if
conftirring  faith and repentance, they "are rescued          YOU spy that regeneration is prerequisite to entering
otit of the poive~ of d;tr'knesSj and translated  into the    into the kingdom of heaven, you must also say that
kingdom of his Son."                                          conversion is prerequisite to entering the kingdom of
    First he had told Us that translation into the king-      heaven"
dom  follows  tipon Ibeing rescued out of the power of           Hocus pocus!
da&ness and foll@vs upoil  eonferritig  of Faith  and re-        ,O, indeed, entering is active. But b,efore we per-
pentalIce.    Now, all of a sudden, the conferring of         form the a& of entering in (PRErequisite) we must,
faith and repenrance  are not followed by but are sl;         indeed, be "dragged in, pushed in, rolled in." I do
multaneous with, in fact, are the same as being rescued       not like this crude language. I suppose that when De
out of the power of darkness!                                 Wolf  llses such language many ignorant people like it,
  Do& De J@olf know what he is talking about? One             xx1 receive the impression that they must do some-
inight get the impression that he does not. But these thing, that we are no "stocks and blocks" and that our
answers were carefully prepared. ,A11 the questions           act of conversion is, indeed, a prerequisite to enter the
he had in &dvance,  in plenty of time. Hence, it is my kingdom of heaven. But the Bible does not use such
conviction that he made a desperate attempt to make           language, although the language of Scripture is much
the confession teach that our act of conversion is a  pre-    stponger than this. No, the Bible does not say that we
requisite to enter into the kingdom of God.                   are "dragged in,  pufihed,  in, rolled in", but it does say
    ~Ancl notice how even in this attempt he utterly          that we must be rescued from the power of darkness,
failed.                                                       illat we must be translated, we must be born from
    #As long as he dared maintain that the c6nfession         above, that we must be born of water and  ,of the Spir-
teaches the order : faith, .repentance,  rescuing out of      it, before we can ever perform the act of entering in.
the power of darkness, translation into the kingdom,            our  ac.t of conversion is no PRErequisite.
he could maitain his heresy. But as soon as he turned            .To maintain this is a most fundamental heresy.
around and ln&es  the `confession say (as it does, in-           Notice, too, how De Wolf plays hocus pocus with
deed!)  that  the conferring -of faith and repentance  & the terms r.egeneration and conv.ersion.
the rescuing out- of the power of da&ness  and trane-            Says he : "if you are going to say that regeneration
lation into the kingdom, conversion and entering in           alone is a  prerequisite  to enter the  kingclgm"  . . . .
are simultaneous and the PRErequisite falls away.                No one ever said that, surely not in the sense in
  A child can Understand this.                                which De Waif uses the term. For him the term de-
    Hence, the Canons in III, IV :lO certainly do not         notes an act of man that is required of him before he
teach bhe De Wolfian  time order, but teach that God          can enter into the kingdom of *God. I never  used the
sovereignly confers  fa.ith  and repentance upon His          term in that sense at all.
elect and by doing so rescues them horn the power of           ' It is  tru& that in my mimeographed sermon on
darkness and translates them into the kingdom of His
:Son.                                                         Ma&.  ,18 :l-4 I used the term in Tespect  to God, and,
                                                              therefore, improperly or loosely. But anyone can un-
   Our act of conversion, therefore takes place in the        d&stand that I used it thus. Strictly speaking, one
kingdom of God, and it is no PRErequisite to enter.           cannot speak of anything that is required of CGod be-
    De Wolf still continues to play  hocus  pocus with the    forehand. I quote the  pasage: "It is impossible for
c&fession to maintain his heresy. Says he:                    the natural man to fulfill any prerequisites to enter
    "Besides, Mr. Chairman, you have the  problem             into the- kingdom of heaven. There is only one pre-
here of entering, and entering is active. That does not       requisite. And that is not our act of conversion, but
mean being dragged in, pushed in, rolled in, or any-          God's grace and the application of that grace by His


                                                                  .
                                                    _.                                  ._



1 2 6                                          T H E   STAN.D.ARD   B E A R E R
 -                                 __I__-_____                                                             - - - - - -
regenerating Spirit. And that is not our prerequi-                               "Dare any of you, having a matter against another,
site but  Goci's,  and His alone."                                           go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints?
        When, therefore, De Wolf suggests that I taught                      . . . . If then ye have judgments of things pertaining
simply that regeneration is a-prerequisite to enter in-                      to this life', set them to judge who are least esteemed
to the kingdoni of heaven, he does not speak the truth.                      in the church. I speak to your shame. Is it so that
  -~iMore  about this next time, D.V.                                        there is not a wise man among you? no one that shall
                                                                - H . H .    be able. to judge between his brethren? But brother
                                                                             go&h  to law again& brother, and that before unbe-
                                                                             lievers. Now therefore there is utterly a fault among
                             -::---                                          you, because ye go to law one with another. Why do
                                                                             ye not &her take wrong ? Why do ye not rather suf-
                                                                             fer yourselves to be defrauded? Nay, ye do wrong
                The Coui-t Case and I Cm. 6:1-i                              and clefraud, and that your brethren."
                                                                                 But after further consideration of the case, also in
        The Consistory of the First Protestant Reformed                      the `light of the above named passage, the Consistory
.Chureh of Grand Rapids was finally compelled to ap-                         became convinced that the above mentioned passage
peal to th8. secular court in order to obtain justice                        is not applicable to their case. For this they have the
over against those that meant to rob them of their                           following reasons :
very name.
        By doing this, they acted according to the Church                        1.  T.hey certainly do no wrong  BF defraud when
:Oscles,  Art. 28 :                                                          they claim their rightful property. And this they
        "The consistory shall take care, that the churches,                  certainly do when they  claim  that the  name  F+st
f,oT the possession of their property, and the' peace .Protestctnt   Refomml Church,  the archives  df said
and  o$der  of their meetings, can claim the protection                      church, as well as the buildings belong to them and
of the authorities; it should be well understood,  ho;w-                     certainly not to  a  $rotip  0%  ochismw;tic~.
ever, that for the sake .of peace and material posses-                           2.  It is  ilot  a  questioil of  ~B matter of brother  a-
sion they may .never  suffer the royal govern.ment of                        gain& brother, but of the First Protestant  Reformed
Christ over His church to be in the least infringed Church against a group of schismatics  that intend to
upon."                                                                       rob them of everything: their name, the archives,
        At first, t&y were of the opinion that I.Cor. 6 :l-8                 and the  buildirzs.        Remember:
was applieable to their case.                  There we read, in
pa,rt : :!:-                                                                     a. The Consistory does not appeal to the secular
                                                                             court for any personal matter, for personal gain or
`>) -The  attitude of the con&tory -at the time as. well as the at-          filthy lucre but fox the wellbeing of the congregation.
titude of the schismntics  may be gather from the following let-             They have been called by God to seek the good of the
ter:
IBeloved  Congregation: When the enclosed letter was written                 church even, according to the'  Chuirch   (Order,  in  re-
Y-ur ,con+tory nlanned to occuny their-usual rightful place on               *yard  to their material possessions. In this ease, they
the  nulnit  of First  C.hurch.      Notice was given to  bhe  distiip-
lined office bearers of our intention in order to avoid confusion            would be unfaithful to their office if they did not ap-
and.  ,discord  in the divine  worship next Suadag.  We `had hoped           peal to secular court.
that some npaceful  settlement might be ma,de until proper  dis-
position  of.the  nr0pert.y  is made.  Howbvcr,  to our  request we              b. -The Consistory does not appeal to the secular
received the following reply:
        "We cannot  uossibly recognize your schismatic action                court against brethren, but against those that still
        and your illegal suspension  an,d  deposition of office              call, themselves the consistory of the First Protestant
        bearers  and  therefore  cannot   con,cede  you the right to
        bold   me&inxs  in our  midst.  We therefore notify you              Reformed Church but who are nothing but a group
                                                                        '
        that we will OCCUDB  the buildings until the proper dis-             of rebels who have disregarded all law  an& order.
   position of the building is made."  (w.s.) Cons. 1st Prot.                They refused to submit to discipline, even in the way
        Ref. Church.
%ICP  it  ifi very evident from the above reply that we are.  de-            of protest, and, thereby have lost all right of appeal.
fiantly and illegally cast out of our own place of worship it
wolald  be  necessary  for us to resort to the law to occupy the -Mo:~eover,   they refused to recognize the jurisdiction
building next Sunday. But rather than to do that, we would                   of.  Classis  East, which they promised to recognize.
heed the Word of the apostle Paul in I Car. 6:1,7b: "Dare any Tlierefol*e,  if they &till weye under the jurisdiction of
of you, having  2. matter  against another, go to law before the
unjust and not before the saints? . . . Why do ye not rather                 the Consistory of the First Protestant Reformed
t&e wrong?          MQy co ye not rather suffer yourselves to be- Church, they would be discipl.ined  and, if they did not
defrauded ?"
Usual services will  be heZd in the G. R. Christian High School              repent, they would be excommunicated. Hence, this
Auditorium at their regular time of  9:30 A.M., 2:00 P.M. and                is  not  a  case  of  brothelr   against   brothel*,  but  of  the.
7:OO  P.M. Plea!se  take your Psalters with you.
                               The Cons. First  -Prot;  Ref. Church          Consistory against a group of schismatic rebels.
                                     .G. Stadt, Clerk                            If a thief,&ters yoslr house and claims it to be his


 own, you surely do not properly proyide for your own               article 4, quoted above, i.e. those  memtbers  that recog-
family but are worse than an infidel (I Tim. 5 :8), if              nize-the  ,Consistory  declared to be the legal Consistoky
 you leave him  the:re. The same is true of  a`.consis-             by  Classis East. That is the only 4Consistory that can
 tory  in relation to their congregation.              ,            call a congregational meeting. Only under direction
     3. This is not a matter for arbitration as the -a-             of that' consistory can the congregation, by majority
 postle enjoins in a case of brother against br,other, for :        vote, decide  tipon the question regarding the property.
     a. As -has already been said, this is not a case of                 Under the lezrship  of the schismatic rebels many
 brother against brother. We are not even together in               of the congregation have severed their connection with
 the First Protestant Reformed Church, nor  could  any-             the legal Protestant Reformed Church before the
done ever be appointed as arbiter in the case.                      question regarding the property was determined. They
                                                                    certainly no longer worship "according to the disci-
     b. Classis  East has already g<ven us t+ie. name of            pline, rules and usages of the Protestant Reformed
 First Protestant Reformed Church. To arbitrate with                Churches in the United States of America as from time
 the rebels that disregard the  juridiction  of the  classis        to time authorized and declared by the  Classis  of said
 would be the same as denying the jurisdiction of the               churches." They have no voice in the `matter.
 classis  ourselves.                                                     I conclude, therefore, that, in the present case we
    `c.  Even so, we gave them an  opportunit$  to seek             do not violate the injunction of Scripture in I Cor.
 arbitration. and settle the matter outside of court.               6 : 1-8.
 Before we appealed to court, we sent them a letter,
 addressed to De Wolf and De Young whcm they claim                       Rather  .would  I apply that other injunction of
 to be their minister and  clc~*k of the consistory. In             Scripture that is found in Rom. 13 :3, 4 : "For rulers
 this l'etter  we claitiled~the $1 ig;it to th,e name, the arch%    are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt
 es,  tind the church. They never even replied to the               thou then not be ifraId of the power? do that which is
 l e t t e r .                                                      good, and thou shalt have praise of the same:  For he
                                                                    is a minister of God to thee for good."
     4. Not only -according to Church  Qrdep, but also                   Even Paul appealed to Ceasar.
 under the law of Michigan, we are obliged to take this
 step, For  und'er  the latter we are incorporated as the                I Car. 6 :l-8 is not to be generalized into an open
 First Protestant Reformed Church of Grand Rapids.                  injunctiorr  against all appeal to the secular court.
 There cannot be and thlere  are not two First Prdtestant                Calvin writing on this passage, is of the same opin-
 Reformed Churches in Grand  Rap<ds, and since they,                ion. Writes he:
 the  schisniatic  rebels, insist on  using that name, jn                "I acknowledge, then, that .a Christian man is al-
 spite of the decision of the classis to the contrary, we'- together prohibited from revenge, so that he must not
 have no other choice than to appeal to court.              A       exercise it, either by himself, or by means of themag-
     5. Article 4 of ~the Articles of A.&sociation  reads i' i&rate,  nor even desire it. If,  theref,ore,  a Christian
 "The members of said church or society shall worship               man wishes to prosecute his rights at law, so as cot
 and labor together according to the discipline, .rules             to .offend God, he must,' above all things take heed
 and usages of the Protestant Reformed Churches in                  that he does not bring into court any desire of revenge,
 the United States of America as from time to -time                 any corrupt affection of the mind or ariger, or in fifie
 authorized -and declared by the  Classis of said  $hur-            any other pbison. In this matter love will be the best
 ches."                 ._.                                         regulation."
   This article assigns all  the~~p&op&ty  to. those  mew-               And then he continues to give fouy `reasons why
 bers that are united -under the C&fe&ion and Church                it is not evil in itself to bring anything before the se-
 Order, that, therefore, recognize the legal Consistory             cular court.
 according to the decisidti  of Classis  East. Hence, the                If, therefore no overtures for arbitration are pre-
 schistiatic  rebels have no right to  ,&he  property.              sented to the  legal Consistary, we shall be -obliged to
     Art. 7 of the above Articles of -Association reads             litigate if  necesary  even to the supreme court.
 was f 0lloWs  : "All matters and questioris  regarding the         F                                                    - H . H .
 use, control and right to possession of the real property
 of said church, shall, at all  timks, be determined only
by-a  maj.ority  v&e of  thk members of the Congrega-
 tion of said church."                                                                 -::::
                                                                           .o,,..

   1 By "the members  .,of the  congregati.on  of said
 church" are -mea@ the same as those mentioned in


                                                  -.                                -'
                                                         ;  1.    t,     -





                             D                                                Blankespoor (who, I surmise, composes this bulletin) .
                                  octrine  qnd  Life                          The  .complete  announcement ran as follows :
                                                                                  ??he Hope School Board must conduct a financial
               These two are inseparably connected. -                         drive which will be done the evening of Dec. 2. $1,000
               Depart from the truth, and you are bound to leave              or more must be paid on the money we loaned. Also
           the straight path of  .God!s precepts. Then you disre-             we have expensive bus repairs, which has sadly de-
           gard all law apd order, you no longer speak  th,e truth            pleted our school  -operating furid. We trust you will
           in love, you soon care not how you lie or Slander by               receive those who call on you pee.  2 and help for this
           `word of mouth, by letter, or in print.                            needy cause."
               Of this I could quote many glaring examples on the                 But  Blan_kespoor  and his group evidently do not
           part of  th.ose that still call themselves by the name of          consider Protestant. Reformed education a worthy
           Protestant Reformed Church, but are neither Protes-                cause.
           tant Reformed nor a church, but simply a schismatic                    Compare this with the following announcement on
           sect.                                                              the same bulletin:
               But this is not my purpose in this brief editorial.                "The Chr. High School Campaign is as yet con-
               My attention was called to a couple of announce-               siderably  sh,ort of its goal. Many of our members
           ments that appeared in the bulletin of the schismatic              have neglected to return their pledge cards. We urge
           remnant  ,of the Second Protestant Reformed Church                 every one to make  wolrk of this promptly. Surely,
           of  &Grand Rapids, Michigan.                                       this cause is worthy of the support of everyone."
               The first concerned with the needs of the Hope                     You see which way the wind blows, dear reader.
           Protestant Reformed School.                                            The worthy causes recommended by the schismatics
               In the bulletin of Nov. 22, 1953, the following an-            ire the so-called Ref,ormed  Guardian, which, evidently,
           nouncement occurred :                                              thinks that it must  "guard" the truth by means of all
               "The special collection this morning will be for the           kinds of  untlruths;  and the Christian High School,
           Hope .School."                                                     which is also supported by our Protestant Reformed
               Notice especially two items in this announcement.              people, but is nevertheless, not a specifically Protestant
               1.  Instead of announcing the real name of the                 Reformed institution.
           school : "Hope Protestant  Reformed  School" it merely                 But the cause of Protestant Reformed education
           mentions the Hope School.                                          does' not belong to those worthy causes.
               2.  But"~what  is- much  worse  is that, although it               i am not surprised.
           was well known that the need of that school is press-                  pne of the causes of the split in the First Protes-
           ing, especially at the present time, not one word is               tant Reformed Church of Grand Rapids was the cause
           added to recommend. that collection to the congrega-               of Protestant  Ref'ormed  Education. The majority of
           tion and to urge them to give liberally.                           .the  congregatiori  always was opposed to this cause.
               This is especially striking in view of the  f.ollowing         We finally succeeded to establish a school of our own
           announcement that occurred in the same bulletin .and,              in spite of the opposition. When parents asked for
     -     in fact, in the same paragraph as that. about the school           baptism blanks, the consistory even always asked
           in Hope :                                                          them whether they would promise to send their chil-
               "Next Sunday the special collection will be  for the           dren- to our own Protestant RefoTmed  Bchool. But the
           Reformed Guardian,  .a little paper which in our opin-             opposition remained.
           ion is worthy of our whole-hearted support."                         - Why? How can any person that calls himself Pro-
              Btriking, don't you think?                                      testant Reformed be opposed to specific Protestant  Re-
               In the next bull&in of the same schismatic group               fdrmed  Education?
           another announcement occurred about the same Hope                      Th$ answer is: they never were Protestant  Re-
           -Protestant  Refoirmed  School as follows:                         f,olrmed.
               `The Hope School (sic !) will have a financial drive               I vividly remember how the Rev. B. Kok once deliv-
I         - on this coming Wednesday evening. This drive will                 ered a speech before th,e Auxiliary, a ladies society
           be for t.he building fund, a payment being due, and                that faithfully labored for the cause of Protestant Re-
           for the operating fund."                                           formed Education when no school of our own as yet
               Again : "Hope School."                                         existed. Ifi that speech Kok vehemently opposed the
               &gain  no word of recommendation. And this in-                 cause of a school of our own.
          spite of the fact that the board of Hope Protestant-Re-                 Why? The answer is the same: he never loved
           formed School sent in an announcement which evi-                   the Protestant Reformed truth.
           dently was arbitrarily mutilated and apocopated by                   When I consider the names of the men that, at the


          .::.          2     __         I'HE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                            -     -    -    -                  129
                                                                                                                             -
 iast meeting of the schismatic remnant ,of the First              *Corrupt  doctrine and a corrupt life
 Protestant Reformed Church of Grand Rapids, were                  They are inseparable !
 elected to presume the role as `elders, I am  con$nced                                                                             - H . H .
 that the decision of the consistory to ask the pa@nts
 that wish to present their children for baptism whe-
 ther they will send their children to our own school                             -    -    -         - El
 will not be maintained.
       Those- eldera never evinced any love for oulr Pro-
 testant Reformed  EdUcati.on,
      Why not?                                                                  A S   T O   B O O K S
       The answer is the same: they never were Protes-         HEBREWS (the epistle of warning), by Dr. John Owen.  Ere-
 tant Reformed.                                                  .gel Publications, Grand  Rapi,ds,   Mich.   Prke $3.00.
      ILife is inseparable from doctrine.                        T.he exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews is too
                                                               well known to require an introduction or even a re-
                                                               commendation. `On the whole, it is marvellous work,
       To one more striking item on the bulletin of the        expounding the original text thoroughly and pains-
 schismatic  I*emnant  of the Second Protestant Reform-        takingly.  T,he  origcnal work which comprises eight
 ed Church of Grand Rapids,. I must call your atten-           big volumes may, perhaps, be regarded by some as
 tion,                                                         being too elabo?ate because Dr. ,Owen  adds many ob-
       It, too, reveals that those who depart from the         servations to his exposition of the text, yet even these
 truth in doctrine  also depart from that same truth in        "observations" are often valuable and rich in thought.
 l        i        f          e     .                              However, the work reviewed here and published
       In Ref,ormed  churches it has always been the es-       by Kregel is a condensation of the original eight
 tablished rule that the  tabie  of communion be  access-      volumes by Dr. Owen in one volume of 238 pages.
ibie-only to the members of the congregation that are          By publishing this volume, Kregel, undoubtedly, ren-
 sound in doctrine and upright in walk. If outsiders           dered the general reading public a valuable service.
 are to be admitted  f,or,  certain reasons, they must make    They, of course,  a&' not interested in the original
 special application to the consistory.                        text nor do they have time to study such an elaborate
       And what a sound rule that is!                          exposition of the epistle to  th,e Hebrews as is  con-
       The preaching of the Word as a means -of grace          Mined in the original eight- volumes. The present
 is inseparable from the administiration  of the sacra-        I-olume is eminently fit to prepare, for instance, for
 ments.                                                        a discussion on the epistle to the Hebrews in our so-
       Where the one is kept pure the other is too ;. where    cieties.
 the one is corrupted  the other is corrupted.                      The volume does not inform us who is the author
      t But  realiziqg,  evidently, that it is no longer a     of the condensation. On the whole, it is rather well
 church but merely a crowd, and motivated, evidently,          executed, as  .a comparisdn with the original (which I
 by the desire to make that. crowd as large as possible,       made on certain passages) will  sgow.                              ,Often even
 the schismatic group above mentioned, principally,            the very language of Dr. Owen is preserved.
 adopted "open communion."                                         Yet I must add a word  or two of criticism. In the
      Just read the following announcement:  .'  .             fir.st place, I do not like  ihe addition to, tbs. title : "the
       "The Consistory also invites all communicant mem-       epistle  pf warning." This I consider a rather severe
 bers from Hope and `Hudsotiville  who ~worship  with          limitation upon. the cotit&&  of- the epistle. _ True, the
 us regularly and intend to join in the near future to-        Hebre:ws is also an epi$e of warning, but it is much
 the' table of the Lord."                                      mqre than that. Secondiy,  I found that the condensa-
       Do they know whether the invited communicants           tion does not always o justice to the original and
 are sound in d,octrine and upright in walk?                   tihat,                            1
                                                                          too, sometimes i  ,;imptirtant  Irespects.  One il-
      No, they don't.                                          lustration of this I head offer. On  the-~phrase  "the
       Fact is that they are by no means.                      immutability of His colinsel"  in 6 :17, the condensed
      All this is characteristic of schismatics. They are volume has :
 no longer under any  ,rule or jurisdiction of a larger            "The counsel of God is the eternal purpose of his
 gathering. They can do as they please. There is no            will : in this particular pl%e it was His holy, wise pur-
 long& any law or order.                                       pose to give His Son to be the seed of Abraham for
      Doctrine and life !                                      the salvation of the heirs of the promise."
      True doctrine apd a life.,in the fear of the Lord!           But in the original w.e read :


130                                      I'HE     S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

       "In particular, the counsel of `God in this place, is             gives to the text a spiritual meaning which it does not
t.he holy, wise purpose of His will, to give His Son' even suggest. Of this I could quote numerous exam-
Jesus-Xhrist  to be of the seed of Abraham,  fo"r the                    ples, `but  I-will  refirain  from doing so. Partly, this
salvation of all the elect (I underscore, H.H.1, or heirs                is; perhaps, due to his premillennial views.
of promise."                                                                    Hence,  1. recommend these volumes to the reader
       The omission of' "the  el,ect"  in this particular place          b.ecause  they contain much excellent material  ; but at
is not only very important, but must also be regarded the same time, I want to warn the reader to study this
as intentional. -H.H.                                                    commentary critically with a view to its allegorizing
                                                                         atid falsely spiritualizing tendency.  -H.H.

                                                                         -                          -  :-- :----

EXP.OSITION   -OF THE GOSPEL OF  JOHN, by  Apihur W.
 Pink,  Pubiished  by Zondervan Publishing House,  G,rand  Ra-           DE  TOEROMST  VAN  ,CIERJISTUIS,  (,The Coming of Christ),
  pids,  Mich. Three volumes. Price per volume $4.50, for the            - by Dr. K.  Dijk. Published by J. H. Kok, N.V., Kampen,
 set $11.95.                                                                   tbc  Net.he&nds:   P,rice  f. 7.50.
Pink is no stranger to many of our Protestant                                   This is the  .third  volume of a trilogy. The first
Reformed peopl*e, chiefly because of his emphasis on                     volume I discussed some time ago. The second vol-
sovereign grace and unconditional election. In this ume I never r,eceived, although I would still like to
respect, they will not be disappointed in  him when                      liave it. I hereby call the attention of the publisher
they study his exposition of the Gospel: according to                    to this omission.
John;  IAn illustration of his proper emphasis  tin
electon and reprobation and, at the same time, Of his                           In this -thipd VO~WW, the au&d? treats of the p.e-
honest dealing,with.  the text,,  rr@y be found in his in-               turil of  Christ and the related subjects: the resur-
terpretation of 10  :26 :                                                rection of the dead, the  -last judgment,  -everlasting
                                                                         punishment, eternal life, and the giving over of the
       " `But ye believe  Ino&, because ye  ;Llle not of  my             kingdom on the part of Christ to the Father.
-sheep, as I said unto you.' (lo :26).  Unspeakably SO-
lemn was this word. They were reprobates, and now                             In a closing chapter, Dr. Dijk reminds us that it
that their chwacters  were fully .manifested,  the Lord -was not his purpose to offer a critical theological trea-
did not hesitate  ~to tell  them so. The force of this                   tise on eschatological subjects, but simply to present
awful -statement is definite and clear, though  men. in                  to his yreaders  tvi atever Scripture teaches concerning
thei+  unbelief  have done their best  to  b'efog it.' Al-               the doctrine of the last things. Judging of the work
most all the. dommentators  have expounded this verse                    in this light, i.e. of volumes I and II, I am of the opin-
as though its &uses  hid been reversed. They  simpli                     ion that the author certainly realized his purpose.
make #Christ  say here to these Jews that theyywere  un-                 He certainly let Scripture speak without paying too
believ&s.       But the truth is that  the  Lord  said far               much attention to all sorts  .of human philosophies
more  than that.. The comnientators understand `the                      abovt   ."%he  power  and  .comifig"  of Christ. Besides,
sheep'- to be nothing m&e than a synonym for born Drl Dijk writes a very lucid style, so that, both as to
again and  juktified  persons, Whereas in fact it is e,qui-              forti find content, I am glad to l;ecommend  this work
valent  to ,God's el,ect, as the sixteenth verse .of `this to the general reading public in as far as  th,ey are able
chapter clearly shows.' The Lord did not say `Because                    to read the  Hollaild language.
ye, are not- of my sheep, ye believe snot," b&, `Y.e be-                        ,Of course, this does not mean that I would not dif-
lieve  not. because ye are not of my-sheep.' . . .  He- fer from Dr. Dijk in the interpretation of some of the
Christ is not &!y chtirging  these Jew.s  with unbelief, Scripture passages quoted and discussed in the book.
but He also  egpltiins  why. faith had  `n.ot.been  granted              One of these passages is I Cor.  X:24-28.  Another
unto them-thley were not `of his sheep' : $h,ey were                     is that which mentions "the sign of the Son of man in
not among the .favored  number of- &d's- elect . . -."                   the heavens." But all these things concern a matter
       Nevertheless, although Pink maintains and strong-                 of -exegesis,  into which we can hardly be expected to
ly emphasizes the tlruth of sovereign grace, total de-                   enter in detail in a review of this nature.
pravity, and unc&ditiohal  ele&dn,  this ought not to                           I heartily yecommend  this book to our readers.
close our eyes to .some of the bad features in his corn--          .,                                                     - H . H .
mkntary. By `no means does he always characterize                   `-
himself as one that deals honestly and soberly with
the text. Oft,en he wildly -allegorizes, i.e. arbitrarily


                                                    ._
                                           -                    .'     :.
                                                          :.





  .~~,-,H,ro-a-,,-,,-,,-,,-`,-,,-,,-,,-`,-`,-,,~~,-,,-~,-,,-~,-.:.           lives. The sense of guilt pursued us, and there was no
          F R 0 M. .a ,(-j L.y ,w'R i $' ,' --I satisfaction in. our mind and heart except that we
                                                          .
.:.,-1,-111,,3n,-,,-,,-,,-,,-,,-,,-~,-~,-~,-,,-,,-,,-~,-,,-,,-,,-,   ,$. perpetrated evil. We could not' liberate ourselves from
                                                                             the- dominion of sin, because legally sin had a rightful
                                                                             claim upon us. We belonged to the r,ealm whereu the
               Exposition of I Peter 1:18, 19                                power (authority) of darkness reigns. We could not
                           (Continued)                                       deliver. ourselves, we might not run away, and we  cou1.d
                                                                             not will to run away from sin. Legal chains of dark-
      Repeatedly we have called attention  in these ser'es                   ness  bomld us. We were held in the chains of lGod!s
  of the Apostle that the- Church, th,e believers in Christ wrath ! We were in the .prison-house  of sin's bond-
  Jesus stand in a new .Status  Quo to ,Chri& and ihere-                     age in Egypt. And the prison-bars would not be open-
  fore  td all things.  ,Old things  ar.e passed  awqy  and                  ed. Powerless we were and unwilling.
  all things have become new for us.                                             But that is now past!
      The "golden-chain" of elective love and grace are                          We have been redeemed. A great price was paid
  the beginning and end of our great -and sure salva- for us by our Redeemer-God, in the flesh. He came
  tion. The elective love ,of God is the car ecciesti,  the                  not to be ministered to,  btit to, minister to our needs,
  heart&eat of the church. This ,elective love of God is                     to give His, soul a ransom for m&y. We are not our
  the very heart-beat of our only and solid comfort in                       own any more, but we belong to our Savior+God,  the
  life and death! And such is the clear teaching of the                      Mighty God, the Everlasting  Fath'er, the  Prince.-pf
  Apostle here in this section of Scripture we are di.s-                     Peace. . And the government is upon His shoulders.
  cussing.                                                                   He will save  us  to the very end and finally set us
      For let it be clearly understood:.&e  are not Tender                   with Himself in heaven's glories and perfections a-
  law, but we are  zbnder grace!                                             bove, and that, too, forever!
      All -attempts at trying to mingle these two in-                            It was a very precious  price that was paid ! This
   evitably  leads  to a devaluation of grace.  IGrace  -is                  means, that the price is high on the scale of real val-
  then no more grace. iOur glorying in the Lord our                          ues, that it is outside of anything  "undgr  the sun,"
  Righteousness dies upon our lips. We have no  So&i                         ati this world is apart from  iredemptioa.      It is so
  Deo  Gloria'  left! We  h,ave  no  incendive   to perfect                  great in value that it could never rise in the hearts of
  sanctification- in the fear of God, for then all hope of                   man:. It simply cannot "be touched" by anything that
  seeing  `God has died in  our breast.  .Once more we                       any mortal can  offcer. It is nothing less than the per-
  have turned unto "dead works" instead of standing                          fect ,obedience  of the Son of God in the flesh, learn-
  in  Covenanit fellowship with God, serving the living                      ing obedience from what He suffers.        It is perfect
  `God in great and. true jqy of  ,heart.  Then we can                       obedience under the wrath of God, in the inexpres-
  chant the doleful chants  of the ascetics, and we have                     sible anguish and pains of hell!
  -the de pro$~&is  of the Jews &t their walls of wail-                          (And this he suffered that in our greatest assaults
  ing, or have the pride of Pharisaic accomplishment,                        we shtiuld  have a strong and abiding consolation in
  but then we do not have the real spiritual jqy of heart                    God. We must s.sing : unto Him that loveth us and
 that counts all things but loss f,or the -excellency of                     loosed (washed) us from our sitis b$ His blood, and
  the knowledge of Christ Jesus our ILord !                                  made  us  to be a Kingdom, and made us to be priests
      Wherefore  let us lift up the feeble hands and                         unto His IGod and -Father, to Him be glory and do-
  strengthen the weak knees and stand in the grace in-                       minion, forever and ever. Amen! Rev. 1:5, 6.
  to which -we have been. called !                                               There was nothing l&king in the sredemption  price.
   For we are no longer  %laves"   but. we are "free                         It was the full price, and it  was of the right kind. It
  -born sons" of Sarah, the Jerusalem above, the mother                      could touch our redemption. It was the proper l&r&
  of all the elect-believers.                                                of redemption coin., It was the blood of the Lamb,
      Such is the clear teaching of Holy  W!rit here. in                     $&in- from the foundation of the earth. It is the
  verses 18, 19 of I Peter 1. We wish to call attention blood of whom angels  .and saints chant in ,glad strains
  to the foll,owing  -elements :                                             of heavenly music, singing a new song saying : Worthy
      In the first place, we should notice that Peter teach-                 is the Lamb! He is the Lion out of Judah's  tzribe,
  es us that' our redemption .is ari aceomplishecl fact,                     the root of David. The Lamb  of  God is He. He is
  once and for all. We have been redeemed with a gr'eat                      worthy to lift up our sins and bear them away 6n His
  and  preci.ous  price. That we have been redeemed                          mighty shoulders outside the camp of Israel, so that
  means that we once were the slaves of sin under the                        they are no more. And we sing: Thank, God! my
  righteous wrath of God ; sin ruled in our hearts and                       sins a,re gone . . . .


    -It is the blood of Him Who, was led as a Lamb to          greek: pro-egnoosmenou) yet in these last times, of
  the slaughter, and as a sheep is dumb bef,ore its shear-     which prophets through the Spirit of Christ spoke, he
  ers, so he  opeeed  not His mouth ! Thorough  the: eter-     has. been %nanifested  once and for all as the-Lamb  that
 nal Spirit He offered Himself without "blemish" to            pays the  rasom price, our mighty and faithful Re-
  cleanse our consciences from dead works to serve  &he        deemer, This is manifestly set forth before the eyes
  living God in spirit and in truth. He fulfilled the          of the entire world in the Cross and resurr.ection  of
  just demands of  the law. The Mediator of a new              Jesus Christ.     There stands that Cross, towering
  Covenant is He, so that we might receive the promise         o'er the wrecks of time.  l't towers over all the  cul-
  of th'e eternal  inheritanoe.                                tu:al developments of man. These all crumble into
      ISuch is the glad tidings of the Gospel.                 w?eck  and ruins. Their speech is in their mute evi-
      God has reconciled us unto Himself in Christ Je-         dence that all is corruptible h.ere  below; that we, the
  sus. We need not  f?ear,  for herein is love, not that       redeemed elect, look for the inheritance incorruptible,
  we loved  IGod, but that He loved us and sent His Son        and that fadeth not away. We look for that incor-
  a propitiation for our sins. We have been redteemed!         ruptible  rdnsom price of the blood of Christ.  ,Such
  It is finished and nothing can ever be added.                is the manifested love of God in Christ in these last
      And this redemption price, is not an after-thdught       times for us, whose hope and trust is more and more
  on the part of God. The redemption price is the great        into this electing and redeeming God !
  price wherewith the predestinated  ,Church must be re-          Peter says : Knowing all this ! And this knowledge
  deemed.  IGod so lovgd the woyld. He never loved us          is' the incentive to a godly walk of conversion. And
  in any other way. Sophists may dispute about what            there is no other incentive. For the law works wrath!
  would have happened if Adam had not sinned, and-they           --But someone may inquire  : what  .if I do not know
  may  write  "Eearned  dissertations" about the "moment"      this grand truth. of the gospel with such conscious
  and many dabble in such inquires as to the "ultimacy"        faith. What must I do then? I answer: the  Scrip-
  of that which  belongs to that which is past finding'out,    Itu'res teach  .us that God gives  this faith to all His
  but the godly saints whose hope and faith is ever more       shints, and that the assurance is wrought in our
  into (eis) ,God,   find "solid comfort" in the assurance     h-earts in His own time.
  of Holy Writ, that the Christ "was foreknown"  as the           Surely the  do&brine of election, of the enmity which
  Lamb. to be slain from before, the foundation of the         Cod-has  caused to be present  between  the "seed of the
  iyorld ! For -such is the clear teaching here of Scrip-      Serpent," aned the "Seed of the woman"-is justly ter-
  ture. They do not speculate about  thje contents of the      rible to the wicked. It is  jusU$ terrible as long as
  glory  ,of the  ,Gospel,   but- they drink its message in    we do not seriously turn to God in spiritual sobriety,
  faith, and put it in their mouth and eat it as the Bread     giiding up' the lbins bf `our minds. It.is terrible for
  of life !                                                    the hypocrites, who Pharisaically try to make a vain
      Yes, thle .saints eat the Full-counsel of God `as the    show of $ety b,efore- God. And as long ai they walk
  Bread of Life !                                              in-such  sins it n&& be told them that they do not in-
   What we eat is not simply the "whosoever will"              herit the Kingdom of God. Thus the preaching of the
  Go.spel, but the .~full-orbed  Gospel,  whch is anchored     `Ward is the Key of the kingdom of heaven. For we
  in the  f.oreknowledge  of God the Father, who worketh       do  hot enter the way of thinking in godliness by spec-
  all things according to the Counsel of His Will. No,         ulating about `it, and  ,curiously inquiring into the
we do then  snot try to put this  "foreknowle`dge"  on         seer-et  things of God, but by observing in ourselves
  the back-ground, but it is the "heart-beat" of the Gos-      with  holy~  joy the fruits of faith  -and ,election.
  pel'! ,Herein is love, not- that we loved God, but that         But if we do not yet  -expe&ence  a lively faith in
  He loved us, and sent His foreknown  Son a propitia-         Christ,  $n assured  confidenoe  of soul, peace of con-
  tidn for our sins. And He blesses us with all-spiritual      science, and do. `persist earnestly in the use of the
  blessings in heavenly places, even as He elected us,         means which God bath appointed for working these
  from before the  f,ouadation   6f the  .world, that' we      graces in us, we ought not to account ourselves with
  should be holy and blameless before Him in  love.            the-reprobate, but  iyith ardent desires humbly and de-
  Then we do not segregate Canons II, 5 as a mere a-           voutly wait for a season of richer grace.          For God
  phorism (een brokstuk) from. the strong consolation          finishes  His  town  work. Be not terrified! And if you
  given in the elective love of God. We .rightly  divide       earnestly aesire to live a more holy life, and cannot
  the Word of truth, being workman ,that need not be           reach that measure of holiness after which you aspire,
  ashamed !-                                                   believe that God will not quench the smoking flax, but
    For always Christ was in a complete state of being         pr&s forward with renewed vigor, knowing who has
  foreknown, (notice the perfect passive  particip1.e  in      redeemed you !                         -Gee.  ;C. Lubbers


                                                                  $rez& Christ crucified. And we also preach predes-
                                                                  tination unto adoption, as Paul speaks of it in Ephe-
                                                                  siaiis  1:5..
                                                                      If you say that in all sincerity-and we believe
                    Afraid of the Gospel                          thajt there are a few who might be able to say that-
                                                                  then you are a poor deluded, deceived soul who has
                                 (8)                              not yet seen the inconsistency of such  a  philosc'phy.
                                                                  iShal  we try it out once? Listen ! God promises every-
     `Conditional, theology !                                     one of you that if by His grace you believe, you will be
                                                                  saved! That is not the way Rev. De Wolf said it. He
     .Ghristless sermons !                                        left that "by His grace" out. And in doing so he left
      These go hand in hand. Hand in- hand they must              Christ out. It was in that respect already a Christless
 g o . For conditional  th'eology  wants us to believe that       sermon. But look at the statement as it now stands.
  th@e are works of men that precede the works of                 `God is going to give you grace in order to believe. He
  God and for which God waits, either before saving               is going td give that to you so that you can fulfill the
  us or before He can and will give u,s the next install-         condition which is necessary for your salvation. You
  silent  <of salvation. We must believe, so the particular       say that He will have to give it to us before we can
  phase of  condilti.onal  theology which  w.as smuggled in- believe. You say that you believe that unless He does
  to the Protestant  Ref,ormed,   <churches declares, before g?ve that grace you cannot perform the act of faith.
  the. ppomise sf ,God  to save us will go into effect. ,God      Fine! So far we agree. And we seem to have the
  pfromises salvation- to everyone who hears the gospel           same doctrine. For thus far we have not yet that
  on  th,e `c'ondition  that they believe. They must, then,       miserable conditional theology.        But look again!
  first -believe, and then the promise- is for them. Be-          Christ must give me grace before I can perform the
  fore that it is not for them. And so, this particular           act of faith which is a pre.requisite,  a condition to sal-
  brand  of conditional theology maintlains, it-  is~ also fdr    vation ! But what nonsense we have then ! Is it not
  man after he has been  brought by God into the king-            so very, very plain ithat the moment God gives me that
  dom by .his act ef believing. Then  hi$ receiving and           grace to believe He has already given me salvation?
  enjoying of the blessings of that kingdom  &ill de-             Hi. has given me Christ, when He gave me grace to
  pend upon his doing something befor~e  God will give            believe.  And can I have Christ and not salvation?
  the next installment. He must convert .himself bef,ore          Can I receive grace outside of Christ?
  <God  will send to him  that blessing of the kingdom,               But you say that the grace to believe and the act
  !?am&y,  the joyful. experience  ~of being in it, the com-      of believing are simpltaneous.  Chronolo,gically,  that
  fort, the peace of mind of being a citizen of it. M&n's         is as far as the itime element is concerned, that may
  work~is  prerequisite to iGod's  work! Let them not say         very w.ell be. Logically that is not so. `But even then,
that they do not mean that! ILet them rather convert              even if the grace to believe and the act of believing
  themselves  and become like little'children and confess `occur -at the Isame moment of time, then it is also true
  th.at the word prerequisite does not fit in Reformed            that our salvation occurs at that same moment of time
 Theology when we are speaking of th,e good works to              and our act of believing is not first, is not the condi-
  which  ,God  calls  us.                                         tion to our being saved. Our act of believing is part.:
      But taking  the stand and maintainink  it as they do        of that salvation. Our act of believing is Christ wprk:'
tl:$t  `God promises  coeditionally  and that something           ing in and through our hearts an'd minds. That is &t
  is required of us before we enter into the kingdom .Christless  preaching, that is the gospel of Jesus Christ.
  either inititilly or daily in our consciousness, their ser- Christ in and through us as well as for us!
  mons must  become Christless.  H&e. Who is The  qre-                Let us look at that second statement also. Let us
  requisite  deman,ded  and supplied by God without any           put it this way, Our act of conversion is a prerequi-
 of our work must be relegated to the background and              site (which we by ,God's  g&e fulfill) to entering the
  presently in the line of generations of this philosophy kingdom. Once again, even when you say that this
  be l&t as the complete Saviour that He  i.s.                    refers to those already in the kingdom and refeps.  W
      Rut I  hear voices raised in protest! We do not             their consciousness and. conscious enjoyment of `the
  3,ay  .th&  man's~.work   preceeds  the work of  (God. We       blessedness of being in the kingdom, the addition of
  say that there are conditions that man fulfills by God's that phrase "which we by God's grace fulfill" makes
  grace. That  ,surely  is putting God's work first! We           the whole thing meaningless. Had Rev. De Wolf sai'd,
  say that without the grace of God man can never                 or even corrected it after his attention was called to
  fulfill these  cqnditions.  We do preach  Christ.   .We.        it  .repeatedly,  instead of maintaining it in its lit,eral
               .


       f,orm: "dur &et of con!version  is a requirement which         not that they or Classis  East felt personally offended
       we by God's grace fulfill to enter the  kingdoti'-`_he         by-those  &t&tements.    The offense in them is that  they
       would at least-  have had Christ  th'ere in the word           aye an insult to Go,d! They (relegate Him to the back-
       "grace". But he did not, and by his maintainence of `ground ! They put man before Him !                     That is why
       the literal form he excludes Christ. And the result is         Classis  East said that they must be condemned. Rev.
       Christless preaching. It would change the whole idea           De Wolf, take away those insults to God ! If you love
       of his atatment to &dd the suggested phrase. It would          God-and.we do not want to believe that you do not-
       surely demand the wit_hdrawal of the "pre", the "be-           then fight with us against such statements which deny
       fore" idea in his statement.  But when you try to              that he is God!
       straighten it out without withdrawing that obnoxious,             You have ,erred.  Nothing strange about that. We
       heretical prerequisite element and by addjng  "which           all do. John says that "if we say that we have not
     we fulfill by God's grace", you make it ridiculous.              sinned, we make Him a liar." Nothing strange for
       You put a prerequisite to a  prerequjsite.  You make a man in an important office such. as you occupied
       ,God's  grace prerequisite to our act of conversion.           in what  we call the "mother `Church" of our denomin-
       That is fine! And there we again agree. -But do not            ation.    Men in higher positions erred. David did!
       make  tGod's  grace a prerequisite to a  Drerequisite  that Peter had to be rebuked to his f,ace by Paul because
       man must fulbll. You become confused by such thhe-             of a grievous error! But the strength of these men
       ology. The minute you add "which we by (God's grace            was not that they miaintained  themselves in their er-
       fulfill" you put God's work afiead of that ,a$ of con- !rors. Th.eir ,&ritual strength was in this that they
       version and  ,automatically  take  the "pre" from the          broke away from their errors. May God grant you
       prerequisite.       IGod grant that the erring brethren        that spiritual strength and courage !
       would  still receive courage to do that! Put (God.  fjrst
     noX  &an  !                                                         We were told that you preached a Protestant Re-
         We had more to say about this  relegatini  df Christ,        formed sermon on  "Predestin,ation  Unto Adoption"
       The Word of IGod become flesh to the background in             based on Ephesians 1:5. ,Give  us  ~a11 the benefit of
       the preaching o$ the- Wor;cZ, but it cati wait till later.     tha`t sermon. U.se this department and on its pages
                                                                      hold that wonderful truth b!efore  our eyes, and show
          Let us pause and.plead  with Rev. De Wolf even now          us that because of this wonderful truth, which does
       after all the sad history that has tr.anspired  since he       not relegate )God and His Christ to the background,
       refused to retract his  unbiblical  statements.          We    those  -<statements   .of yours cannot stand, and that
       would urge him in the' lbve of -IGod and in the love .of       $0~ are convince,d  now that they must be condemned
       the truth to use this department and tell US that he will      as elevating man to  ,a positiion~ where he may not  ,and
       no lotiger maintain thpse statements in their literal          cannot stand.
       form.
         It is not too  late-  to do that! And all truly  Pro?           Do that in His fear.
       testant  Reformed people  would   love him for it and             In His fear you will have nd fear of what men may
       thank ,Go,d for it. There still is room for him in the         say and do. In His fear you will have  j,oy and peace.
       P!rotestant  Reformed IChurches without his datemerits.        In His fear you `can, ,by (God's  grace, perform a great
       Alid he would find out, too, that-if he condemn&d those        work, a  bl(essed work.     You can lead many erring
       statements and would cast-them from him, those who             sheep back to the fold of Christ an,d bring peace and
       love the truth would not gloat over his having be&n            joy to many confused mind's.
       humili'ated  into an acknowledgement of error, but that           The Word of God is uncompromisingly  c&&n&t.
       they would receive him as a blrother td whom `our gra-         And  ;the  distingui,shing marks of the true Church,
       cious IGod has in His mercy given an exceeding `great          also according to Art. 29 of the Belgic  ,Confession,
       measure of spiritual strength. How could they gloat            show an exceedingly distinct Church. In the fear of
     over his being humiliated. It is  tiot humiliating  .to          Him who is Himself a distinct God, lead His people
       confess sin and error, it is`a sign of spiritual strength.     back from a movement that seeks to cut off the sharp
       Confessing .error is not weakness. Maintaining ,error          corners of Hi's antithesis. He is ,a light and in Him
       is weakness.  .-                                               is no shadow ,of turnirig. And He says, "Be ye holy
          Incidently, he need not be concerned about the              even as I  ,am holy." THAT  X-3 A VERY  DLSTINCT
       feelings and attitude of those who protested against           .CHURCH ! .lAnd your text of Ephesians 1:5 preaches
       these #statemen&  which he made. The idea never was,           a- very distinct truth and a distinct Church.
       as some-who  ought to know better-so  naivly  put it,             Be not afraid to do things in His fear.
       that he must make a "conciliatory apology" to these                                                      -J. A. Heys
       men. It was not thei? feelings that w&e  hurt. It was



L


                                                                          quainted with the fact that through this ministry men
                                                                          are. callticl. to repentance  and faith in Christ cmci-
                                                                          j`iecl...  All this the fathers substantiate by quoting the
                                                                          Iyell-known passage from Romans  10:14,  15.
                                                                             From  .the very outset, therefor,e,  it is ,emphasized
                                                                          in the Canons that the gospel of our salvation, and,
                              PA?RT  TWO                                  therefore, our salvation, is entirely IGod's. The most
                      EXPOSITION. OF THE CANONS                           joyful tidings of which Atiicle 3 speaks are, of course,
  FIRST                                                                   in brief the tidings spoken of in the previous article,
            HEAD OF DOCTRINE, OF DIVINE PREDESTINATION                    namely, that  ,God  manifested His love by sending His
                                                                          only begotten Son into the world, that whosoever  be-
               Article 3. And that lien may be brought to believe,
               God Smercifully  sends the messengers of these most        lieveth on Him . . . might have everlasting life. And
             joyf,ul   .tidings,   -to whom he will and, at what  time    of this Son of God as the manifestation of IGod's love
               he  plea.seth;  by whose ministiy men are  cabled  to
               repentance  a.n.d faith in Christ crucified. Rom. 10:      toward us there is no knowledge  possib1.e  for mere
               14, 15. -"How  then shall they call on him in whom         man. He cannot be discovered by the power of human
               Ithey have not  belieLed  ?  Atid  how shall they be-
               lieve in him of whom they have not heartl ?        And     intellect and `reason. He cannot  b.e found  ou% from
               how s&all  they hear without a preacher? And how           <God's revelation in the things that ,are made. In all
               shall they  preaoh   eircept  they be sent?"               the things that are made is, to be sure, the  irevelation
    Step by step our Canons are  mlfolding  for us the                    of  IGod's eternal power and  godhe&. But apart from
 truth concerning our salvation, and at the same time                     the light of the gospel of Christ crucified, there is in
 carefully leadirig  up to the  su<bjeet  of divine predestin-            that speech ,of IGod in nature only the testimony of His
 ation, which is the main sulbject of this first chapter.                 wrath. There is in it no  speec,h of divine love. And
 `First of all, the `principlti was laid down that ,God is therefore, if the love -of God is to be known by men,
 not obligated to save anyone, but that  H,e might justly                 He Himself must make it known. And He does so
 have left all men in their sin  an'd condemnlation.  Se-                 by sendipg  preachers, heralds. We have here, there-
  condly, it was pointed oui that nevertheless it was                     fore, the  f,ollowing  truths: 1) The gospel, the good
  God's purpose to save some, that He manifested His tidings, are strictly  IGod's. The gospel is not of man
love -in the sending of His only begotten Son into the                    whatsoever. Even when that  gospel  is preached, it is
 world;  `(that whosoever  b&lieveth  on him  should not                  not man's gospel. Men'are but heralds, messengers of
 perish, but  haves  e`verlesting life."             The question, the good  ti,ding+ And characteristic of a herald is
 therefore;  that is' of immediate  impoi%ance  is: how do                exactly  the fact that he functions as  `a servant of him
men come to believe in  (God's  only begotten  Sol:?                      Who sends him, that his  m.essage is not his own, that
 And, as we pointed out at the end of our discussion                      the authority of his message is not his own  authotity,
 of  Aarticle  i,  -this  question,  i.s- crucial, for it is. only but that both the  Icontent  of his message and the
the believers who "shall not perish, but have ever-                       authority of the message  are of the  sencter.       2)  A
 lasting life.?' The. present article begins to furnish                   preacher must be sent by [God, This is quite common-
 us with the answer to this  crpcial  question. It an-                    ly overlooked in our time, both in so-called. evangeli- ,
 swers the question: by what means are men brought                        cal circles where it see?.s  that almost anyone can be
 to believe? If men are  -to believe in  LGods'  only  be-                r&ognized   as. a preacher who has a "hankering" to
 iotten  Son, there must be some point of contact be-                     preach, and also in Reformed circlks,  where too often
 tween Him and them. They must know of Him in                             the calling and sending of a preacher is, I .am afraid,
 .order to believe in Him. And this third ,article gives                  viewed as purely the work of the congregation that
 us to understan,d  in gener,al that the preaching of .the                extends a call, sends a preacher forth, and supports
 gospel is th.e Means  whereby some are brought to be-                    him. It must be Iremembered,  therefou;e, that the call-
 li&e.           -                                                        ing and sending of a preacher is God's, and that only
     We niay distingui.sh  several elements in this article.              there do you  have preaching of the gospel where it
In-.the first place, it teaches us  tihat the preachers                   pleases  [God Himself to have someone called unto that
  (pruecones,  "criers," heralds) of- the `gospel are sent                task by His  .chureh.  3) In this same connection we
by  ZGod. In the second place, we are instructed that                     may call attention to the fact, which receives more em-
 ,God sends them mercifully (Dutch : goede&eren@k; phasis in a differ,ent  context in th'e Canons, that in ,or-
 Latin : clementer)  . In. the third place, the article                   der to believe you must hear Christ! This is precise-
 teaches us that even the time and the scope of this                      ly the point  .in the quotation from Romans  10:14.
 gospel-preaching is strictly a matter of God's good                      Thk correct translation there, as has been frequently
 pleasure: He sends these -preachers "to whom he will                     pointed out, is ,not,  "How shall they believe in him of
and at what time he pleaseth." An,d finally, we <are ac-                  whom'they have not heard?" but, "How shall they be


       lieve in him  whom  they have not heard?"  Unl,ess                History teaches us, of course, that the vast major-
       Christ Himself is heard through the preaching of the          ity `of mankind never even come into contact with the
       gospel, faith can never be the result.                        gospel. All through the long ages of th.e old dispen-
           This sending of the preachers of the gospel is in it-     sation there were,  comparitively  speaking, only a few
       self already a great mercy. And to this, too, the Can-        who heard the promise of the gospel prociaimed.  For
       ons dzraw our attention. There are some who under-            many centuries that gospel was limited for the most
       stand this as meaning that this sending is a manifes-         part to only one nation, the people of Israel. And in
       tation of (God's favor toward the preachers. Others           the new dispensation it is no different. The proclama-
       take it to mean a manifestation of  #God' mercy toward tion of the  ,gospel  follows a certain definite course.` In
       the hearers of the gospel. We may quite safely in-            general we may say `that the path led ever westward,
       clude both.  .And then we must  understan'd  this as          from Jerusalem to Asia Minor, from Asia Minor to
       meaning that even the procZumati.on  of the gospel has        Europe, from southern Europe to aorthern Europe,
     its reason not in the righ,ts  of fallen man, but <only in      and from Europe to America. Many were the millions
       the pure goodness of God. Just as in Article 1 it was who never heard the gospel preached from the dawn
       maintained that God might justly have left the entire         of the new dispensation even until now. Just recently
       race in sin and condemnation, so here it must be re-          I heard it claimed on one of these radical evengelical
       membered that  ,God  might justly have withheld from          radio programs that there are still today as many as
       the entire race the preaching of the gospel. That at          two-thirds of the inhabitants of the earth who have
       t,his point the objects of this mercy of God are not          never so much as heard of Christ. Why is this? Is
       further defined `does not mean that the preaching of          the Lord ,God  short-handed? Does He not have enough
       the gospel is grace'to all who hear it. For we know           men to proclaim His gospel? Is it the fault of men,
       that later on the Canons make very clear that God's           who are disobedient to the calling to preach the Word?
       grace is only for the ,el,ect. It may also be said that       Will the result be that some places in the house of many
       God has the gospel preached to some in His wrath.             mansions will go unoccupied? No, the answer is very
       Here,  however, the question as to the objects of God's       simple. It never was IGodrs will that all men should
       favor is-not in the picture.                                  hear the gospei. It was His purpose that the vast ma-
                                                                     jority of mankind should never even come into contact
          The most striking-~element  in this article, and at        with the Christ. The sending of the preacher is all
       the same time the most telling blow,  against the Ar-         of. Him. How shall they preach, except they be sent?
       minian view, is .the truth that even the scope and- time      If it pleases the Lord God not to have the gospel pro-
       of this preaching of the gospel are strictly determined       claimed to any other .nation than Israel for century
       by  `God Himself. What an entirely different note this        after century, who shall countermand that order? If
       is than  that which  is  sounded only too frequently by ,it pleases Him that the proclamation of the `gospel
       present  ,day  "eva.ngelists."   To,day we hear  muc,h of     shall not become universal until the day of Pentecost,
       the lie that Christ has made salvation possible for all       who shall prevent the realization of His purpose? And
       men, and that now it is ud to men to see that t,he gospel     what is true in general is-true in every  individual case.
       of Christ reaches as many men as- possible, so that           Every  chil,d of Adam who comes into contact with the
     ' they all may have the opportunity to believe in Christ.       ,gospel  of Christ crucified does so exactly according to
       We are pointed to the vast millions w.ho have never           God's sovereign determination, even as far as the exact
     heard about Christ. And we are vehemently urged                 moment is concerned. But how foolish in the light of
       to evangelize the world, to gain as  malny  souls as  pos-    this fact-and there are numerous Scriptures to sup-
       sib1.e  for Christ, and even to hurry'because time is run- port it-is the Arminian contention of a general grace
       ning out on  LX. If so many millions go lost having           of- salvation.- How utterly insane in this light is the
       never heard the. gospel, it will really be our fault.         claim that Christ died for all and every human being,
      PSuch is the spirit of our age. Now, to be sure, it is true    when it was never (God's  intention that. they should
      that the church has the calling to preach the gospel know of the Christ! It must be, then, that it was
      to every nation, and that under the guidance of the            ,God's eternal purpose to reject some, and that too, in
      ISpirit this calling must be carried out. But it is de-        such a way that they would never have the Arminian
      finitely not true that it wa.s  ever the ,divine purpose       f`chance"  to be saved !
      that all men shoulsd be in Icontact  with the gospel of
       Christ. Nor is it  true that it is up to men to see that         The purpose of this preaching, positively speaking,
     the gospel reaches as many men as possible. Even                of course, is that some should be called to repentance
     ' this is a matter of God's sovereign purpose: He has           and faith in Christ crucified. This calling is not fur-
       His gospel preached to whom He wills and when it              ther defined. But even here we may note that the
      pleases Him.                                                   very f,orm of the words at least implies that the preach-


L


                                                 T H E   STANDARU  BEARER                                                      i37

ing is but the means, whi1.e the calling is- out ,of `God                 may be said of the baptism of the proselytes. Prose-
and takes place through the preaching. The. Canons lytes were baptized as a sign, together with circum-
have. more to say on this later.                                          cision, of their incorporation into the Jewish nation.
    `One more remark is probably in order in  .this con- And also this indicated that baptism as such was by
nection, It is this. To conclude from this article that                   no means an unknown rite or ceremony.
our  fathers believed in a. mediate regeneration is un-
warranted. The distinction between mediate and im-                           In the second place, we would call attention to the
mediate tregeneration  is simply not under discussion                     baptism of John. The Roman Catholic  `Church  denies
here. While it is perfectly correct that faith as a con-                  that the Baptism as administered by the Baptist is
scious activity of the soul is wrought through the                        of equal significance wit.h that of the baptism of Jesus,
preaching  of the gospel by the Holy Spirit, it is nev-                   and declares that everyone is accursed who is ad-
ertheless true that the power or faculty of faith is                      dicted to that conception. Others, too, refuse to as-
implanted in the heart immediately, that is, apart                        tribe this significance to his baptism.      To support
from the preaching of the gospel.                                         their  ,content,ion  they call attention to Acts 19 :l-6,
                                             -H. C.  Hoeksemn             asserting  that this passage clearly teaches  us  that
                                                                          there were those who, having been baptized by John,
                                                                          were rebaptized by the apostle, Paul. For a clear re-
               ---`@                            `,                        futation of this interpretation of Acts 19  :l-6 we again
                                                                          refer  our  readers to Rev. Hoeksema's book: Baptized
                                                                          into Christ, psges 99-101. If, in this passage of Acts
.~,,UI-`IIO-,III,H,-~,-`,-,,-,,-,,-~,-,,-~,-,,-~,-~,-~,-,,-~-,*~          19, verse 5 does not belong to the speech of Paul, these
1 Contending For The  -Faith  f men were indeed rebaptized by the apostle. However,
.~.I-II-I-(IOIICbll-,~-,,-,,-~,-~,-~,-,,-~,-~,-,,-~,-,,-,,-,,-,,-~,~~.    if verse 5 must be understood as rlso belonging to the
                                                                          speech of Paul, then the apostle simply declares that
          .-The Cliurch and the Sacrammts                                 these men were baptized by John in the name of the
                                                                          Lord Jesus after they had heard him declare that they
    EARLY  VIEWS OF THE  SACRAMENT  6~  BAPTISM                           should believe on Him which should come after him.
    Before we begin our `discussion of the early views                       When identifying the baptism as administered by
of the sacrament of baptism as `entertained by the                        John with that of the Lord Jesus it must be conceded
Church in the first centuries of the New Dispensation,                    that the sacrament of baptism was not formally in-
it will probably not be amiss tom call attention to the                   troduced until the ascension of Christ when the risen
Jewish washings, the baptism of John, and the institu-                    Lord commands His Church to go and teach all na-
ti,on of  Baptis.m.                                                       tion, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and
                                                                          of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. The sign of cir-
A few general, observatic5ns                                              cumcision was still in-effect at the time of John's min-
    Discussing the historical development of the sacra-                   istry and wasnot  ;replacecl  by th$e sign of baptism un-
ment of Baptism, it will  .probably  not be amiss as we                   til later. Besides, the baptism of John was limited to
remarked in the preceding paragraph, to cal,l attention                   the Israel of the Old Dispensation and apparently con-
to the period of transition from the Old to the N,ew                      fined to adults. Nothing is mentioned of the baptism
Dispensation. In the first place, then, we would call                     of infants during the labour  of the forerunner of the
attention to. the washings and purifications which were                   Christ. And we may certainly conclude that the Bap-
already prevalent in Israel prior to the, dawn of the                     tist himself, although- standing upon the threshold of
New  Testqment.           The Rev. H. Hoeksema calls  at-                 the New Dispensation, nevertheless b,elonged  to the
teption  to. these Old Testament rituals in his book on, Old Dispensation. However, one can hardly deny the
the ~Heidelberg  Catechism, entitled : "Baptized into                     significance-of the baptism of John. In the first place,
Christ." These washings were instituted by Divine law ;                   Scriptur.e  . certainly teaches LW that the baptism as
and in a sense, therefore, being thus ordained, they                      aclministerecl  by the Baptist was instituted and com-
may be said to be foreshadowing the sacraments of                         manded by  ,God.  This appears from John  1:33 and
Baptism. At least it may certainly be said that, when                     Matt.   21:25, and we quote: "And I knew Him not:
the sacrament of Baptism was instituted, the idea that                    but He that. sent me to baptize with  .water,  the same
washing with water symbolized a spiritual -purification                   saicl unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit
was not strange to Israel. However, these washings                        descending, and remaining on him, the same is He
had no sacramental value for the simple reason that                       which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost . . . The bap-
they were not instituted to be observed by the whole                      tism of John, whence was it? from heaven, or of men?
Church but merely regulated special  -cases-the same                      And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we


shall say, Fiom heaven ; he will say unto us, Why did           near to Salim,  because there was much water there ;
ye not then believe him?" The thrust of  the  .first            and they came and were baptized . . . When there-
passage  quoted  here  spelks  for itself. Atid,  wh&i we. foYe the ILord knew how the Pharisees had heard that
read the question in the second passage: "If we shall           Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John
say, from heaven,`? the implication is, of course, that         (Though Jesus Himself baptized not, but His disci-
if the baptism of John is from heaven it has  heavenly          ples) ." These  verses  speak of the baptism as admin-
sanction, originating in heaven and therefore author-           istered by  ,Jesus' disciples and by the disciples of
ized by the  ljving  (God Himself. Secondly,  it- was a         John, and they do not draw any distinction between
baptilsm of repentance for  (l&rally  i into) the re-           the two baptisms. In the fifth place, Jesus simply
mission of sins. We-read in Mark 1:3 : "The voice.of            recognized the ,disciples who had been baptized-  ,by
one -crying in the wilderness, Prepare -ye the way of           John and did not rebaptize them.. This appears from
the Lord, make His paths straight." And- the same is            1:37 and Acts 18 :25, and we again quote: "And the
piedieted  of the ,baptism  of the New Testament, ac-           two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Je-
cording to Acts 2  :38 .and I quote; "Then Peter said           sus . . . This man was instructed in th.e way of the
tinto them; Repent;.and  be baptized every one of you           Lord; and being fervent in the spirit, he spake and
in  the name of  .Jesus Christ for the remission of sins,       taught diligently the things  o$ the Lord, knowing on-
arid ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." That         ly the baptism of John.!' The first of these passages
John's baptism was a "baptism of repentance  for. (in-          refers to two of John's disciples who had certainly
to) the remission of sins" signifies that it was a bap-         been baptized by the Baptist, and had followed Christ.
ti#sm characterized by repentance which  besto;wed  up-         We do not read of their rebaptism. And the second
on or led the .believer  into the conscious forgiveness         passage  refer,s to Apollos and informs  LIS  that he
of sins. We repeat: this is also stated of the baptism          knew only the baptism of John. And neither is his
of the New Dispeesation.     Thirdly, Jesus Himself Was         rebaptism recorded in the Script&es. Finally, Jesus
baptized with the .baptism  of John and therefore ire-          does not institute a new baptism in Matt. 18:19, but
cognized ~this ,baptism  of the Baptist. The water of           simply expands the baptism of John, as it were, so
John's baptism. was, of  .course,  -symbolic of  .the blood     that it henceforth will embr,ace all peoples. The bap-
of the  Lamb~of  Calvary. That. Jesus &onsente,d  to the        tism as administered by the Baptist had been limited
baptism of John does not mean, of. course, that He              only to the people of IGod of the Old Dispensation, and
Himself was a sinner. He, we kno%, knew no sin, was. only to adults; it is now expanded to embrace all na-
spotl&sly  holy and undefiled. But it did mean that             tions and peoples.
He, too, could enter into the Kingdom of Heaven alon,e             We conclude, therefore, that the sacrament of bap-
through  .the Blood of the cross. For Jesus, alth,ough          tism was  principally instituted by God when He  corn-
Hims&f  sinless and  perf,ect, was the Head of the              manded the Baptist to baptize with the baptism  ,of re- .
elect; those  given  Him by the  .Father  from. bef,ore  the    pentance  unto the forgiveness of sins, and that this
foundation ,o$ the world. Hence,  all, the ,sins of the         institution of baptism. was sealed for the entire
elect were upon him, not, we~understand,  in a spiritual        Church  ,of the New Dispensation by the specific com-
sense of the  wqrd  -which  wbuld render the Christ             mand of Christ as expressed in .Matt. 28 : 19, where we
sinful and- corrupt, but- in a judicial sense  .so that He- read : `(Go ye, theresore,  and teach all nations, hap-
was responsi,ble  fqr their pay-m&t befou'e the. tribunal       tizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the
#of  (God. A-nd these sins must be` paid  aocording  to         Son, and of the Holy `Ghost."
Divine justice and righteousness. Jesus was baptized.
by John at the beginning :of His public ministry and              .Besides calling the attention of our readers to the
thereby set His f.ace toward Jerusalem atid Calvary             Old Dispens,ational  washings and purifications in Is-
at the very outset of His ministry and assumetd full            rael and the baptism as  administere.d  by John, the
responsibility for the cross.  IAnd- this certainly  im-        Baptist,. we would  also mention the Baptism Formula :
plies that Jesus, permitting Himself to be baptized by          "I baptize thee in the Name of the Father, and of the
John, set His seal -of approval upon it. This lies in the       Son, and of the Holy Ghost." This Baptismal Fmm,
very nature of the case. Fourthly,  Jesus certainly did         we understand, is based on Matt. -28 :19. However,
not distinguish between  -the  babtism  as administered         we do not regard Matt. 28  :19 as' a Baptism Formula.
6Y His disciples and as administered .by the Baptist.           We. do not believe that this ve.rse gives us a formula
                                                                for the administration of the sacrament of Baptism,
This appears from John 3 :22, 23, 4 : 1, 2, and we quote:       that Jesus gave us these words with the intention that
"After these things  c&me Jesus and His disciples into          they should be used at the time when the sacrament
the land of  Jndaea  ;- `and there He tarried with them,        of baptism was administered. We believe that these
and baptized, And John also wa's ,baptizing  in. Enon           words  exprless  the heart and'.essence  of baptism, that


                   ,


                                                .,     -            .     .           .I      :      `-      c     .:-,     ..I     J
                                                             ._                  .

                                                                               .--


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                   139
                             --.----
                                     .-                                                                                                  -    -
 baptism is really and actually a being baptized into                                       hem in eene  bepaalde  plaats stelle . .  ." Especially
 the Name of the Father and of the Son and .of the                                          the .phrase, "without his being stationed in a particu-
Holy Ghost, and that, therefore, the sign, correspand-                                      lar-  place" leaves the impression that the  article sanc-
 ing to what Baptism essentially is, should be char-                                        tions the bishopric or Methodistic form of church gov-
 acterized by the pronouncement of these words. How- ernment according to which the individual clergymen
 ever, the Lord -willing, we `will -have opportunity to                                     are stationed in various  pla& as it may seem fitting
 call attention to  ou'r Baptism Formula in subsequent                                      to the higher bishop. Certainly this was not the in-
 articles.                                  -H. Veldman                                     te.ntion  of the composers of the church  order  as is
                                                                                            clear from Article 3 and 4 where we learn that the
                                                                                            minister is not "stationed by men" but is "called to
                ---~                                                                        the office through and by  the particular church." It
                                                                                            would,  therefore, have been better to state the thrust
                                                                                            of this article thus: "No one shall be engaged in the
                                                                                            Ministry of the Word without his being called by a
                                                                                            particular congregation to be her pastor."
              DlkENCY  a n d  ORDER  1                                                              Thns understood the article refutes the  (error of
                                                                                            vesting  Classis or Synods with power to call or or-
                                                                                            dain men to the ministry. This was not always clear.
                                                                                            In 1581 the Synod of Middelburg ruled that "no one
                                                                                            not stationed in a particular place shall be allowed to
     The above caption is a L,atin  title,by  which a group                                 engage ,in ctrcuit preaching without the consent and
of  self-appointed itinerant preachers of the sixteenth                                     authority of Classis  or Synod." The intention of this
century  were  call.ed.  The phrase means, "walking                                         ruling was to allow for certain forms of itinerant
Levites."   -It r&her  appropriately fits this class of itin-                               preaching but that whether this was necessary and
erant preachers  $because  they refused to be minis-                                        proper was not to be decided by individuals, but left
terially connected with any particular church but  tra-                                     to the judgment of the Synod. No doubt some of this
yelled  about from place to place aS they saw fit. They                                     work was necessary in cases, for instance, where chur-
claimed ,the authority in themselves to minister the                                        ches had been broken by persecution and the people
word and the sacraments and even  appea1e.d  to  the                                        of God scatter or as a metins at that time of gather-
examples of the Apostles and early evangelists- al-                                         ing and organizing believers who had seceded from the
though they ignored the fact that the apostles and                                          Roman Catholic church. Yet, this could not justify
their helpers occupied a special and temporary office                                       the  ~Syfiocl's assuming an authority to send out a pre+.-,
in the New Testament church during the years of her                                         scher for this authority belongs only to the particular
in&ncy.                                                                                     church.
   The Reformed Churches Corre.ctly  .maintained  over-                                        Likewise did the  church& in the province of Fries-
against these  "ambulantes  levitae" the sound and fun-                                     land in former years ordain men at their Synodical
damental principle expressed in the .sixth  article of                                      or Classical gatherings without their having received
the church ordeAr and of which we wrote the la& time.                                       a call from a local  c11~n*cl~   This was wrong and in
That principle is "+at no one can be engaged in the                                         conflict with proper order. Later this was se& and
work of the ministry wi,thout the lawful calling and                                        these churches also then conformed themselves, to the
without being connected to the local church." This                                          true Reformed principle governing this matter.
follows because the authority of the ministerial of-                                                The important thing to take note of here, there-
fice does not repose in any individual but in the                                           fore, is that the individual, local church be regarded
church itself which Christ gathers and institutes' in                                       as` the only `body that has the right $0 authorize men
the world. This same  plrinciple  forms the basis for                                       to engage  in. the labors of the office' of the ministry of
the seventh article of .`our church order which  readIs the Word. No more than another body has the right
as follows :                                                                                to ordain elders and deacons can .any other body or-
    -"No one shall be called to the.&Iinistry of the Word,                                  dain one in the office of the ministry. f$d so it also
without his  ~being station&d in a particular place,  ex;                                   follows that only those who are called to a particular
,cept he be sent to do church extension work."                                              place and ordained by a particular church in a parti-
    We may notice, firstly, the formulation of this art-                                    cular office have the right to perform the  labors of
icle for which tlTere  is; in our opinion, room for im-                                     that office. This right of- the church belongs to her
provement. The  dutch has: "Niemand zal tot den                                             autonomy. The negative side of this right is then
Dienst des W.oords  beroepen worden,  zonder dat men                                        that only the particular church has the prerogative


140                                    TliE  STANDARD   B E A R E R
                                  -                                                         .-
to  liemove  one who  ,reveals  himself unworthy from         a mission order. This means that all the churches
that  ofice.                               .                  unite to perform this work through the Synod by
       This important fact rests upon the truth that each     designating one or more particular church to carry
congregation is in itself a manifestation of the body         out the function of calling and sending forth men to
of Jesus Christ. It makes no difference whether she           ,do church extension or mission work. This is per-
is large or small. A small church is as complete and          fectly proper and in accord with the principles of
as really the instituted  body of Christ as one that num-     Ref. Church govermnent as long as the missionary
bers hundreds of families. To the church is given the         is sent out by and placed under the supervision of a
tiinistrg of the Word alld Sacraments together with           particular church. If this is not done the one going
the  key-powes  of  christian- discipline. Nowhere out-       out becomes a "walking levite" doing his work without
side of the el~urch are these things found and, there-        proper authority . . . without the authority of the
fore, to use them one must be lawfully placed in the          church and so also without the authority of Christ.
office by that body.                                          Without that authority the word preached has lost its
       Two things must be considered here yet. Filrst  of     power and cannot be useful toward the extension of
of all this article does not imply nor express that a         the  church  or Kingdom of God. Hence, the  fu~da-
minister placed in a certain church may not minister          mental rule is that all ministry of the Word proceeds
the Word or Sacraments in another church of that de-          from the duly instituted church of Christ and whether
nomination. The article itse;lf  does not touch upon          one, therefore, la,bors  in the ministry in a particular
this directly (but merely stat&  the principle that one       place or established church or whether he is sent into
who is not joined to a local church has not the right         various fields to proclaim the gospel, he must labor
to preach. Otherwise stated we .might say that one            and can labor only upon the authority of the church
who is joined tom a local church does have the right          which sends ,him. The right to preach the gospel is
to preach and the bond`of agreement or unity between          vested in no individual.
the churches allows him to do so in any of the chur-             It must be noticed yet that this article speaks of
,ches where he may be called whether for one service          "church extension" work. Among us this is usually
or for a. longer tim.e.                                       considerecl.as  referring to any form of home mission
       For this reason it may be added in the second place    endeavor  in distinction from foreign mission work or
that &lough the Classis  and Synod may not call or            wo1~1~  among the heathen.    Osriginally the article read
ordain men in  t.he office,  thky do render advice to the     "except he be sent to  ga;ther churches here and there"
churches as to who shall  and who shall not be admit-         and referred to the gathering of the "refugees" whose
ted (See Art. 4). This is because' the ordination of ,churches   hacl been  ,de&royed  through persecution and
a minister in rng local church is a matter of ,denom-         the  gat.hering  of believers in Romish lands. Th,e ori-
inational interest and concern. Likewise the removal          ginal reading, therefore, was rather broad and sanc-
of any minister from a particular church is done with         tions the policy of sending men to gather believers
the advice of other churches but the power-to execute         from the erring and apostate church, as well as send-
the removal  *remains with the local church itself.           ing them into all the world to preach the Gospel. No
   In the seventh article there is also an, exception         matter what form of mission work may be practiced
clause., It reads: "except he be  sent to do church           it must proceed from the church and otherwise it is
extension work." This does not mean that mission-             not worthy of the name.
aries are "ambulantes levitae" who have no connec-               In conclusion it is worthy to note that Arts. 3-7
tion whatever with a local church and are, therefore,         inclusive of  OIX-  church order properly emphasize that
under the jurisdiction of no consistory but are at            the  ve:ly authority which Rome vests in the person of
liberty to go about c?s they please. Rather the clause        the Pope is an authority which rightly resides in
means that those engaged in this work are not to be           the church  ai the instituted body of Christ. The
confined to one pai-titular  place. They too are to be        right to call, to ordain, to preach, to transfer to an-
called by a particular church (not the Synod) and             other pastorate is the right which  ,Christ gives to His
by that church are ordqined  and sent out. The field          church and to her alone. When this right is removed
or place where the missionary is to `labor may be             the very foundations of order and decency are shaken
changed  froni time to time according to the discretion       and any structure built upon  a tottering foundation
of the church.                                                will come to ruin though it may for a time appear
   This does not mean that two or more churches               mighty in the eyes of men.
may not do this co-operatively. Nor does it contra-                                                   G. Vanden  Berg
dict Art. 51  which~  states that the mission work of the
churches is to be regulated by the general Synod in


                                              .  :.





                                                                    "nefariocs  action" of mine without making one at-
                                                                    tempt to correct  .me. If the Rev. De Jong  should say
                                                                    that I was talking to others at that time and he didn't
                                                                    watit.to intkrfere, he certainly knew where I was stay-.
                                                                    ing, and could have talked to me alone. Yes, he even
       Orders FroA~ Headqua~*t.em                           -_      could have asked me by phone to come to see him.
          In the November issue of  Conco~~clia the  ne.ws          Bllt all he said to me in the six weeks I was in Hull was
       item of Hull particularly struck our attention.' Be-         "Good  Morning." And mind you all the while it was
       cause the name of the  undersigned  was used in it,          not a good morning for him.
      and because he with the people he servedin. Hull were            But maybe the Rev. De Jong would argue that it
      puL in the wrong light, we wish to comment on it now.         wouldn?  have clone any good to talk to Rev. Bchipper
          We  qcote the following from the item: "Most--of          because he was only there in Hull to follow up "in-
       odr  ch&hes have gone and still are. passing fhrough         structions from headquarters." By the latter term I
       a crisis,`and  there is much sad news in many .of our        suppose he means, well, -what does he mean? He
     churches as is well known  to all of us and as has been        doesn't tell ys where heaclpuarters is located, nor who
      published rather in detail in this paper, the  Stan&&         the persons are who run it. He simply concluded that
     Bearer,  or,"`The   Guardian."   and Hull also shared in       Rev. Schipper `with the congregation for which he
      this sad news. Here, too, we have had our ultimatums,         preached had no mind of their own. They were the
      --.ivaikcut,  -action. By this time a sizeable  pai% of       simple dupes of some commanding officer or ofEcers
      OL& congregation has left us and meets separately on          stationed in another place.
      the Sabbath. And from all appearances and actions                Nvw  that is not a very nice conclusion to make con-
      they  are finished with us. They have chosen a  con-          .cerning a man who has a mind of his own and knows
      sistory,  have made a trio to call a minister, and the -how to use it. And even if he was so simple as to be
      Rev. M. Schipper  has labored  here In Hull with the a-       the dupe of an imposing "headquarters", what about
      v&wed  purpose t-o widen the breach. -They  undoubted-        those people in Hull whom he' served? According to
      ly consider. t.his church;destructive  work' as "building"    Rev.  D.e  .Jong they must be dupes too. But I found
      the church. . They call us the "schismatiCs,"  a term         them to be people who were not  .so simple as the Rev-
     `which so aptly applies to those who have left us and          erend would h,ave you think. They are the dupes of
      acted according.  tom the instructions from-  "he'adquar-     nobody. I have never met people whom I could re-
      ters." However sad as this history -may be we will not        spect more f.or having minds of t#heir own and knowing
      enter -into any  detaiU  at present. Besides, all was not     how to use them. It is true they are people who were
      sadness either..  Fudhermore,  we are glad to know            afraid to do t.he wrong. thilig, and that is why t'hey
      t$hat our God in His providence  does not only "uphold"       didn't reveal their stand any sooner than they did:
     all things but that His very conserving is at the same         They knew for the last  thr6e years at-least that some-
      time "gqverning."     And also for all these things we        one was trying to dupe th&n. Someone who used dic-
      all must ,give  account to Him Who judges right&sly tatorial powers to make them cease speaking their
      both  th.e  ou.twayd  deed and the very motive of the         mind, someone who tjried desperately to mold their
      heart." So far the article.                                   minds into hatred for the Standard Bearer and per-
          The?`e is much in t*his  paragraph on which we could      sons who defended "unconditional" theology in the
      comment which would make it as l"idiculous  as it really      Protestant Reformed Churches. Someone, who when
      is. But the part on which I wish to reflect, as I said,       l>e did not succeed in this method, used the method of
      has to do  wi$h the undersigned and the people whom           discipline on those who dz.red  to disagree with what
      he served for six weeks-recelitly  in the Hull alrea. Rev. -they heard from the pulpit. Of this, I learned the
     Schipper,  so it is said, "has labored here in Hull with people in Hull were fully aware. They even knew that
      the avowed purpose  .to widen the -breach.". Suppose,         if they came to  Classis  with their grievances they. did
      for a moment, .that this were true. Why .&hen  didn't         not have a chance. This they patienly endtFred for as
      the Rev. De Jong come to see me and warn me of this           long as they could stand it. And when finally that
      ".sin"  ? Why didn't he come up to me when he spoke  to. aCla.ssis  yode  ,rough-shod  over all  .deceney  and order
      me on& day while I was .&anding.in  front of the-Post         and  macle  itself guilty of schism, they took  ctheir stand.
     -- Office and.call  my attention to this "diabolical thing"    ,Orders from headquarters? Oh no! -And.  .Rev. De
      -my "avowed purpose .to widen the breach"? Wouldn't           Jong after being with these people for more than three
      that have  .been  the way of brotherly love? The  op-         years certainly knows better.
      positjon  is  always  talking about brotherly love, you          It seems to me that the writer of the news item
_     know. But no, he must simply publitihd before all this        from Hull gives vent to two emotions of his when he i
                                                       .


                                     --                    --

 he is rid -of these "trouble-makers", and,, he is sorry        may leave a  denomjnation  of churches, but the ,church
 wrote as he did. He shows plainly that he is <glad that        never splits. And this is exactly what has happened
 for himself because in the whole mess. which he                in- the Protestant Reformed Churches. There are those
 brou,ght  upon himself he lost a flourishing congrega-         who have separated themselves from  us,  but the church
 tion. As far as the undersigned is concerned, he is            is still intact. And we will go on without them who
 glad ,he could go to Hull and learn first hand of con-         have chosen to differ with us until they repent.
 ditions which he  cdu-ld not possibly have imagined               Rev. Van Tuinen is correct that we had only two
 could exist in Protestant Reformed Churches. Mere ru-          Classes and that the one is now separated from the
 mor could n,ot have convinced him. The split iti Hull          other, and therefore there will be no Synod in which
 was not only necessary but it was also good. And the           the Schismatics  will be able to appeal. This is not be-
 congrgation  -for which he preached will prove this to         cause we have no regard for Artic1.e  31 of the Church
 all in due time when all the facts are known.                  Order, as Van Tuinen suggests, but this is simply due
                                                                to the fact that our  Churches of the past were so con-
 Protestant  Ref owned Split Spreads                            stituted. If we were composed of three or more Clas-
     Rev. Peter  Vkn Tuinen writes under the above              ses as the Christian Reformed Churches are, this situ-
 htiading  in his department                                    ation would not obtain.
                                 ofThe Banmecr of November                                      -And we are sure that we will
 6th. We will not quote his entire  article, but only `never be so composed again if and when the matters
 give you the thread of thought running through it.             which are now troubling  us  are settled. Either we
     He tells                                                   will  -have to go back to our original set-up of one Clas-
                  us  there are "unfortunate developments in
 our somewhat estranged but near relative and close             sis (without Synod) or, we will have to have three or
 neighbor, the Protestant Reformed @hurches,  during            four Classes if we would have a Synod.
 the past months." The-"rift in Fir,st Church, . . . has            One more remark in closing. Rev. Van Tuinen
 spY;ead throughout the denomination, and has toi= the          does not  tell  us  that the Schismatic  ,element  in our
 Church beyond any apparent hope of repair."                    (Churches lost the right of appeal  ,and recognition when
     "The hopelessness ,of the split is apparent from           they <became  schismatic. This may not be forgotten.
 the `fact that it will be impossible to hold a General         Had the Rev. De Wolf and his elders submitted to the
 Synod which will be composed of delegates represent-           decision  df the consistory and then appealed, that
  ing both sides~ of the issue." According to the Rev-          would have been their prerogative. But this they
 erend, (because our Synod is composed of two Classes,          would not do. They continued their schismatic way.
 and because one  Classis  is opposed to the stand of the       Had  Classis  West gone the church-political way in-
 other, and deems  the other schismatic, no Synod will          stead of schismatically jumping the gun, the grievan-
 b;e possible. And this means that there can be,no op-          ces it had-might have come to Synod for disposition.
 portunity to appeal either the doctrinal or church-po-         But Classis  West separated itself from the commun-
 litical; matters involved.                                     ion of the Protestant Reformed Churches, and thus
     He concludes with the  f.ollowing  paragraph. "It          the faithful Church  mu.st go on without them. Those
 is obviously not incumbent on an outsider to pass              in the Protestant Reformed Churches that are  not
 judgment on the merits of two opposing positions. But          schismatic  can  ,lide under the order of Article 31 of
 it is  evident  that something has gone wrong.         The     the Church Order. No doubt about that.
 "Protestant Ref,ormed  Churches" as a whole has not                                                             - M .   Schipper
 had bppol;tunity  to speak its mind on the dispute. Nor,
 according to the precedent set'in Classis  East, will it                            -       - :-- :--
 be able to. IOne sector of the Church has declared it-
 .self to be the Church, thus closing the door to proper
 synodical  action, and virtually cancelling  the right of
 appeal. `i T&his  looks like an overthrowing of the Church                                IN  M~EMOBIILM
 Order's safeguard against the fallibility of minor as-            The Priscilla Society of the First Prot. Ref. Church, Grand
semblies (Church Order, Article XxX1)  ."                       Rapids, expresses its heartfelt sympathy to one of its members,
                                                                Mrs. G. Geers, who was suddenly bereaved of her husband,
     In commenting on this article, we recall a statement                                 ~GE~RRITT   GEESRS
 of .one of our ministers made in a sljeech  at the last        oa Monday, November 23, 1953.
 special meeting of Classis  East. He made the state-
 ment to  -the effect that  ~"the Church never splits, and         May the God of all grace and comfort,, console her heal-t  in
                                                                the knowledge that all things work together for good to the
 we didn't have a split either." I shall never forget           glory of His name and our salvation.
 that remark, and I don"t thiuk others who heard it will                                              Mrs., H. Veldman, Pres.
 ,either.  .It is true that .individuals, and even churches                                           Mrs.- R. C. Ezinga, Sec'y.


                                          I  T H E  Sl`.A.,NDA.R?   B E A R E R                                                               143
                                   ---_

                                                                        ple -with all spiritual blessings.
             C O N T R I B U T I O N S                                     "God has blessed Christ. He has pronounced His word of
                                                                        blessing (eulogia) upon Him. He has exalted Him on the
                                                                        Frouanld of His perfect obedience and  deep humiliation. He has
  PERTINENT  QLIOTcATI~ONiS   FRO,M THE "DOG-                           raised Him out of the dead, clothed  an,d  filled Him with dori-
                                                                        ous, new and etern'ql  life: Him  He has exalted at His ownhght
  MATICS" OF kEV. H. HOEKSEMA                                           h&d in heaven, and He has given Him Dower over all creatuyes
                                                                        .in heaven and on esrth. (quoted are Phil.
                                                                                                      _                     2:11, 12 and  Eph.1:
      It has becoliie a. rather common h-bit of the Rev.                19, 20)
  B. Kok to .qgote  the Rev. H. Hoeksema as if this theo-                  "But  t.here   is more. F e   1~~s   also  wrPnrht   tFe  spple   rrrent.
  logian taught a Dogmatics the warp and woof of which                  mower  in Christ, whereby  He has raised Christ from the dead.
                                                                        (een eneergeeken en too Christoo) So that the living opera2ion
  is, that faith is a condition of salvation. Now I have                of  bhe  :life-pivinE   prnd  exaltinq   Dower now also works in  G'htist
noticed  ail the while that brother Kok  clid  n.ot ever                .Tnws   a.s  thee  n&d of His  ,Ch&h. This  ,God  performed when
                                                                        He gave His Holy Spirit to Christ as the exalted Head of His
  quote  fr& the  "no&" clictated by Rev. 1-I. Hoeksema,                Church, by which Christ became the  Life-,Giving  Spirit. By this
  dictated  by the tatter in,class  also to the Rev. B. Kok,            Spirit Christ constantly receives from the Father that quicken-
                                                                        ing and exalting Divine energy. whereby  He imparts the bless-
- who then was y'et "but a student". l&tellectual  hones-               ;l?.~q of  sa!vat;on  to  pis  C,hnrch   Fou.&t with a. precious price.
  ty would seem to ,dictate that such be done. However,                 In the receiving of the  spiritu31  bemefits  spoken of in Soteri-
                                                                        ology  the operation along the entirti  line from Regeneration to
  the quotations given bjT Rev. Kok are calculated to                   GIorifi,cation  never  proceeds from  m'an.  Where such is the case
  leaye  a very wrong impression of the teaching of Prof.               one is a Remonstrant. Thk  Savior Himself bestows as the Medi-
  Hoeksema.  And these wrong impressions may not go                     ator `snd  Head of His Church all the spiritual blessi?gs to those,
                                                                        who were given Him of  tihe Father. (Quoted Acts  2:33;  Eph.
  unchallenged by the facts.                                            2:x-10\
      I  Ibelieve that  I.may say that I have sat at the feet              "Objectively God has given all the spiritual blessings to His
                                                                        people in thus blessing our Savior, for Christ is the Heacl and
  of Rev. Hoeksema twice as long as the Rev. `B. Kok.                   the Church is His body according to Divine appointment. The
 .He sat at k;is teacher's feet but three years. I have                 blessings that are given to the Head are already of the body,
                                                                        even though it be true, that they are not yet fully imparte,d  to
  enjoyed that  singular  privelege for six years. Maybe                the body. For faith does  niot receive the salvation in  ,Christ
  that is why I have f`soaked up" a little bit more of his              in piece-meal  fashio,n.  in  orddp_r  in that way to finally  aptly to
                                                                        themselves the full Christ. On the contrary, it appropriates the
  teachings  than did brother Kok. At any rate, the lat-                full ,Christ and in the fellowship of this full Christ, it .constantly
  ter has not had the graciousness to quote from these                  increases in a richer possession of the spiritual blessings, un-
                                                                        til we shall have *attained unto the perfkct  fellowship of God's
rather important and pertinent "notes" of our former                    Covenant.
  and esteemed Professor.                                                  "These  suiritual  blessings, which the Church possesses ob-
      I shall quote from time to time from the Dogmatic                 jectively in C!hrist  a.re wrought in her through His Spirit. (Acts
                                                                        2:33  See above) He pours out the Spirit. in the Church, dwells
  Notes given by  Prof: Hoeksema during the early and                   in her through that same Spirit, and causes the life-giving pow-
  happy years of our Seminary. They  were  then  die-                   er of the resurrection and exaltation to work in her. Thus He
                                                                        imparts the Divine Grace to $11 His own. Sirnice this grace is
tated  in the Dutch language to the entire student body,                not imparted in the  entire   fulness at once, but in the.way of a
  and these were put by the students into mimeographed                  process and steas, therefore we can speak of the Order of Sal-
                                                                        vation in Soteriology.
f o r m . Rev. Kok has these notes in his possession un-                   "Furthermore, Ephesians  11:3,  4 also point out the deepest
  less he has lost them. If he has he can obtain a copy                 origin cf the blessings of  salgation  for Christ and in Him for                .
  of the same from the  und:er.signed.  Then he can check the `Church to be: God's  etern'al  election. He has blessed us in
                                                                        Christ even as He has elected us from before  th'&'  foundation
  up on my translation and findings. Let his and my                     of the world. All things find their purpose and end in God's e-
  motto be : Epi Pasan Aleetheia !                                      ternal Decree. God has willed  20  reunaite   all  things in heaven
                                                                        and on the earth in Christ. It. never 1ga.s His plan and purpose
      This time I wish to quote and translate the "In-                  t? glorify and  $erfe,:t   ,a11 things in the first Adam. A.11 things
  troduction" to the Fourth Locus of Dogmatics, Soteri-                 must be exalted in His S0.n..      The Covenrmt  must be perfected
                                                                        in Him, and al1 creatures must be united and' e&ted  in heaven-
  ology. (The doctrine. of applied salvation),             I shall      4y glory un,der  His dominion. All things in God's  ,Counsel  are
  first quote this introduction, and then I shall make .a               subservientt  to this great pumose. And all things in time must
  few  obser+ations.                                                    serve that purpose, sin and the godless, the Devil $and  hell, in-
                                                                        cluding all the powers of darkness. For to  re'slize  that pur-
      I quote the following:                                            pose Gqd has willed  to prepare for His people the deep way of
                                                                        suffering. Indeed the so-called Covenant of works is raised up
     ".Soteriology  treats  qf the  work of God, through Christ         with the fir& Adam but according to God's Decree and Adam's
  wherebv He realizes His Covenant of  Gra,ce  in the hearts of         guilt the Batter falls away and do& n.ot  remain stanlding  in that
  His elect people, by causing them to partake in the benefits of       Covenant. God, however, causes His Word to stand, realizes
  His Covenant, merited by Christ.  W%h  this belongs  mo.st na-        His Counsel  ,and maintains His  eCoven.ant.      Of this better Cove-
  turally the treatment of the  ordo   salutis  (order of salvation)    nant  i=hri.st  is the Head. As such He has come to fulfill all
  and the separate benefits, which  ,God  causes to come out  and       things through His suffelirrrg  land perfect obedience and as the
  through Christ to His ueonle.                                         Head of the Covenant now *also  realizes the spiritual Covenant
     `LTuhe  point of  ldep&tu>e  for us should be, in the treatment    by shedding  forth the blessings of salvation in the Church.
  of  Soteriologk  what the apostle so beautifully expresses in E-
  phesians  1:3,  4. (quoted in Greek)                                     "Only thus  *do we arrive in Soteriology to a right  concep-
     "For verily in this passage, first of all, it is emphatically      tio,n   of things, and are  we protezted from  %,I1 kinds of errors,
  stated, that all the spiritual blessings which are spoken of in       which also press themselves to the foreground in this matter
  Soteriology, come to us solely out of Christ and  in fellowship       of applied salvation."
  with Him. .The fact of the matter is, that God has blessed                We would like to  n!gke   .a few observations  her& at
  Christ as the Head of His Church, which is His body, and that
  by means of this blessing Christ He has also enriohed  His peo-       this point.             .'


  %`iPst bf $1,. ndtice:th&t  Rev. Hoeksema is ilot phil-                   that God's ,grace is sovereign or- particular, that the
 osophical  in his "point  ,of departure" but  that.  he is                 promise is particular. To continue in that faith im-
 \~er~'   e x e g e t i c a l   thrdugliotit.   -  .'                       plies that we have-that ~faith, wherein we have the
  Secondly,.  &at he  -he&. the line  of-  t& "golden ~living spiritual knowledge whereby  we hold for truth
 chain" of the lC,anons of Dort, tracing all- things b&k                    all that  `Gocl has revealed to us in His Word, and  .also
to- the fountain and -origin,  .the will of God's Decree.                   a hearty confidence that our sins are forgiven, and
And that, too, according to the Supralapsarian scheme                       that then we cling to Christ and find comfort,  having
..oi, .Ephe'si&,,!.  i :3:i4, *..     .'           -'                       that gospel Concerning salvation. Continuing in that
   - Thirdly, tl&t-Rev;  Ho&sel>ia  allows man' no part                     sphere in which there is harmony  betzween  you and
 ill ,saving  hini6eJf,.  eV<ii iii tiie n&&t&  of-ap&&l salva-             that object of the Scriptures it becomes manifest in
lioli. He- carefully maps  I$ ihe. course to  : avoid  .a11                 your confession as. believers, in your actions, in your
Renlolistrant  conceptions-.                 All is  *G$d's' efficacious    walk of life. Walking so that the sovereign grace  ;of
pdwer  in Christ.'                                                          ,God  is revealed ,an! you crucify your' own human na-
      Finally, that in this framework, as'here  set forth &re, etc. Why this is necessary ; for the truth's sake,
.by Rev. Hoeksema, there. i$ no .rooni left for faith as                    the church must maintain truth without exception
being a condition, or .prerequisite:  It will be perf,ectly                 because mall- is sinful, and,if  he once departs, he keeps
cl&r. that faith w&s, for `Rev. H6eksema  in 192S,.`sim-                    going farther and farther from the truth. How this
ply the  ,GodAwrought  means in Christ, whereby the                         is done ; essentially we cannot continue in the faith,
bles'sings are imiarted  unto us even as .God  ilected u.s                  we have nothing to boast but it is a gift of God. `God
in  -Christ. unto holiness and blamelessness. Profes-                       causes us to continue through different  `means:  1.
sol-Hoeksenia  Sto3.d  f.oursquare  in the tiay.of Dort in                  Means of grace, 2. Means of the League, first pur-
this "Introduction" to Soteriology,  and he, being a                        pose to meclitate  on Scripture,            3. Means of Societies,
careful  ~builder,  does ,not fall into the sin of Remon-                   4. Means of personal  IScripture  study, 5. Means of
strant&m, whic~i' defines faith as a condition or cause                     instructing children, etc.             "In `so doing thou shalt
and requisite.                                                              save thyself and those that hear thee". .God  grant it!
 ,~  Thus taught  the Rev..  H.  I-foeks&ma  in  192&Q,                          After the speech, Edgerton  gave a musical number,
when Rev. B. kok was yet a stude&!                         '        .       then an offering was t.aken for the Stanclccrcl  B:emer.
   >;  `.                 -:-::-                         y:.                Our question hour was also conducted by Rev. H. C.
  I  _-                                                                     Hoeksema, questions having- been brought in by vari-
R E P O R T   (OF  W E S T E R N   L.ADIES  L E A G U E                     ous Societies. Hull gave a musical number, meeting  w.as
     With enthusiasm and  knowl:edge  that,  ~6.  a?e con-                  clbsed by singing the doxology and prayer by Mrs. H.
.$nuing  in the faith, the women :of t&e Western League ,C. Hoeksema. ILniich was served by the Doon Society,
df Prot. Ref.- Churches met in the ruditorium  of the                       and so a  very pleasant afternoon was spent.
`Doon   Chul-ch   oii  Nod;  18. Meeting   opened by sing-                                                   -Mrs. Geo. Hoekstra, Reporter
ing a few Psalter numbers and prayer by our Vice-
Pres., Mrs. H. C. -Goeksema.`and  Scripture I Tim. 4                                                 -  :  -- :-
read.  After a short business. meeting, our speaker
for  t&e afternoon, Rev. H.  C. Hoeksema, addressed us                                                ANNOUNCXMENT-
on the theme, !qC~ontinuing  in th.e Faith;`! He brought                        C!as%is  East  -will meet on  Wed;n.esday  morning, January
but- the following  poir&.  1. What does that  .metin?                      6, 1954, a,t 9 o'clock at. .Hudsonville,  Michigan. will the  Con-
.2.  why should  we&do`-that?   .3. How should we do                        sistaries  resorting in Classis  East kindly take note..
that?  He first explained the term faith in the sub-                                    .^                       .Rev. G. Lubbers, Stated Clerk
jective and objedive  seiis& Also brought  oui how                                                     ANNOUNCEME~N~
false  te,achera  -brought out various false doctrines.                      Our  &urchks.`are,   no doubt, acquainted with the decision of
,Then  brought  6ut'how the  Pro&. Ref. Church since                        CXassis East, "To request our churches to take up free-will of-
`1924 interprets faith over against  the- error of  the                     ferings for a special furnd in the prese&  emergen,cy  in our chtlr-
Three Points, and over `against the  errqr  of the cbndi-                   ches to  p,-y the  traveVng  expenses of our ministers and can-
tional promise of today.                The faith that our text             didates who preach in our vacant -churches." "Also individual
speaks of is Christ crucified, as it centers yn the Cross ~gifts  and donations fbr this present n.eed  will be deeply appre-
                                                                            ciated."
of Christ, wheT,ein we have total depravity, un'condi-                      -' Please send all `correspondence to: Peter  .J. Lubbers, Box
tional salvation, limited atonement, irresistible grace,                    -276,  Hutdsonville,   tiich;
preservation of  -the saints.  That faith wherein we .                          All monies to: Richard  Bloem,  4630  Riverbend  Drive S.W.,
know that salvation is df the Lord, that God is God,                        .Route 5, Grand Rapids, Mich.
                                                                                               The  Class&al  Emergency  Fin,ance  Committee


