                                        :          ,`
   -       V0L.UIv1E          xxx.           `%          &@RCH  1,  1951  -  GRAND  RAPIIIS,   MICHICA-N                              NUIvlBER   1    1


                                                                                  the ,nd must be captured  : by faith the walls of, Jericho fell
 I/~.                    -MEDI-TAT,10hJ                                           down, after they were compassed about seven days.
                                                                                            Israel's, path led directly to Jericho. A strong city it was,
                         Faith. and Jerichoyk  Walls                -:            with &pregnable fortifications. Jericho'5 walls were capable
                                                                                  of  keep>rig  out,any enemy that might appear at-its gates. And
                         "By faith the  walls of Jericho fell down, after they    Jerich6 is of strategic importance. It m&not be by-passed.
                   were compassed about seven days."              Heb.  11:30     If Israel is. to capture the land, she must capture Jericho
          Salvation is of the Lord !                                              first. If they fail before the walls of Jericho, they will never
          By faith the walls of Jericho fell- iown !                              succeed to.capture  the rest qf Canaan. If they succeed when
         The two truths are essentially identical. They stand not                 fhey stand  befbre  this key-city of the land, they certainly will
 at.odds with one another, but are in perfect harmony. Salva-                     not fail to take all of Canaan.
 tion of the Lad is necessarily salvation by faith.. And in the                             Alld  Jericho had heard of the approach of, the children of
 instance of the text upon  which we here meditate, this- is                      Israel. It is straitly shut up: none go in, and none go out'.
 expressed .in the not unimportant words,_ "after- they had                       Israel's reputation as those who are more than conquerors
 been  `@!mpassed  about  Seven  days."                     -                     has preceded. them, And in the natural reaction of the king-
         .And so yqu can include'in  the cloud bf those who witness               clonl~ of darkness, though they are afraid, they shut them-
 ;o the `glorious truth that salvation is of the Lord, by faith,                  selves up against the kingdom  of God. tAnd they are deter-
also the believing-host of Israel, by whose faith the walls of                    m&d to offer stubborn opposition.             I
 Jericho  ~fell. And heeding their witness,  rtin with patience                             Whit must Israel do  ? Must-  they burn the gates, and
 the race that is set before us, laying aside every  weight, and                  storm the. walls, and kill the inhabitants, and thus take pos-
 the `sin which  dot& so easily beset US.                                  _-     session ? Must they test the strength of their armies against
              .                       *  +  *  *:
                         .                                                        this fortified city ? Or must they, perhaps, lay siege to the
         Israel was to have the piomised land. Such was the great                 city, and patiently wait until famine and pestilence become
 promise `made to the fathers, and such had been the hope                         their allies within- the wails, so that the people are forced to
 of all the true people of God during all these'years that had                    surrender? Thus it is that the nations of the world fight
 passed since the promise first was given. That fact was as                       their `battles : they depend on an arm of flesh. But it is not
 certain- as the faithfulness of the unchangeable Jehovah,                        the plan of battle for the kingdom of God. For God's
 Whose Word never fails. There could be no doubt about it.                        people, for Israel; - and it makes no difference p&cipally
         But is must become evident that the promise is Jehovah's.                whether you speak of. Israel iti ,the old dispensation, or in
 It must b&come plain that the promised land can be received                      the new; whether the object of faith is the promise of God
 only  out of the hand of the covenant God. And for  this. in  -shadow-form,  or whether it is the promise of. God in its
 reason, Israel may and can and does take possession of the                       spiritual reality and fulfillment, - for Israel there is but one
 land of promise only in the power of faith. By faith <he walis                   method, a radically different method of battle, a method
 of Jericho fell.  .Salvation  is of the Lord . . . .                             which the world does not  knqw, which it cannot understand,
         By faith, - but emphatically, by fait/z,  - Israel takes the             which has never'arisen in the heart of man. It is the method
 promised land !                                                                  o f   f a i t h !
         Evident this is already in the  cro-ssing  of the swelling tide          _         By faith the walls of Jericho fell down. And it must be
 of Jordan. Without Jehovah they cannot enter the 15nd.  The                      emphatically  by jaitlz  !
 Lord Himself divides the waters before them, so that the                                   The Prince of the host of Jehovah makes  known  to
 entrance into Canaan is  tirade-  by Jehovah, visibly, as re-                    Joshua faith's plan of battle  ~against Jericho. He reveals,
 presented in the ark of the covenant. And so it is too when                      first of all, that the Lord has given into  Joshua's  hand the

                                                                                       .


2 4 2                                          THE_   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

city and the king and the mighty men of-valor. That must             faith-bestowing, sanctifying, and preserving Spirit is of Him
be-established  first. According  t-0 His Word, the  n@ter  is       in Christ ! He is the God of our salvation in the full se&se of
fi;ished and it cannot be changed. Jericho is alreadi>   `7 in       the word: It is all, absolutely, entirely of Him !
reality, in the reality of God's counsel, - before the .battle'is        -By faith,  - yes, by faith,  - the walls  sf Jericho fell
ever joined, in the possession of` Joshua and the children of        down. That means  :- the work was God's, all God's, most
Israel. The Lord had done that. He  wotild also realize it.          emphati&lly  and exclusively God's !-
They are m&e than conquerors. The victory is theirs before                All the details of  the "battle-plan" testify to this. They
they fight the battle. From Jehovah's hand they are to re-           all spell out that wonder of grace-which is expressed in those
ceive the city. And remember : this is the method of faith!          two words, "by faith."
    And only when He has established this firmly in Joshua's              There is, of course, synibolisitt  i;`these details of Israel's
mind and heart, does the Prince of  Isiael's host reveal to          march of faith. And the entire significance of that Old Testa-
Joshua the details as to the manner in which the city is to be       ment march of faith centers and culminaies  in the ark of the
taken. And what a strange way ! What a~ marvelous way !              covenant. It symbolized that Jehovah Himself was in their`
It  is the way of faith! No  $orming of the gates or scaling         niidst,  and that He was marching among His people as they
of the walls ; no bloody assault and terrible battle ; no ex-        went around the city. Without that- ark of the covenant not
hortation to the vqliant  men of Israel t? do their utnjost that     only was their  .marching  vain  ; it  was impossible. Not only
they may capture the city; none of all this is mentioned.            was it Jehovah Who, marching with His people, gave them -
    0, no : a plan  6f battle is revealed such as has never          the city. But you cannot from any human and natural view-
arisen in the heart of man. A plan it is, such as the Pentagon       point explain that march around Jericho's walls without
would reject as foolhardy. The host of Israel are to go              Him. What is Joshua, the captain of  Israel'S host, without
around the town one every day for six days in. `succession.          Jehovah ? His very names expresses it : Jehovah-salvation !
In'the procession they are to carry the ark of the covenant          What is  Jesu!, the Captain of our salvation,`.unless He is
preceded by seven priests carrying seven jubilee trumpets.           Jehovah ,the I ,4111,' come to tabernacle with His people and
On the seventh day they are  .to compass the city seven times.       to be a God unto them ?
And then the priests are to blow  their trumpets, and the                 Not only is Jehovah the center of that marching host of
people-are to raise a great and loud war-cry, and the wall of        Israel, and the object of their confidence. He tias the source
the city will fall down flat. Then Israel's host can press this      of the whole march. He was the source even of the faith by
imprtignable  fortress-city, and everyone can go straight for-       which Israel marched. Without Him it would all be a fiasco.
ward, and Jericho will be in their $ssession. It is this plan        You cannot, f&m any human atid natural viewpoint, explain
which is executed by the host of Jehovah, and according to           that-  mar`ch without Him. Imagine the armies of the world
which the city fell to Israel's possession.                          marching around a city, &stead of  agai,nst  it. Imagine an
    By  faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were        army before  a walled  and fortified city without battering
compassed about seven days.                                          rams, or cannon, or  bombs.  Jt is foolishness. It is idiocy.
                                                                     But not to faith !
                          *  *  *  *                                      For in that ark  IOU  have the presence of the Lord of
    That it might be by faith the -people may not take the           hosts, condescending in His grace and mercy to save His
city in their own strength at all, or by force of arms. Neqer        people, to fight the battle of .salvation  for them, and at the
must they be able to claim the land by their own effort.             same t&e to inflict judgment upon His enemies. Jericho, the
Never must they be able to say that they had conquered the           kingdom of da&ness,  the enemies of the cause of God, their
land, and could t+erefore also do with it as they pleased. Al-       measure of iniquity  beirig  full, must be judged. And the
ways it must be evident &hat Jehovah had given them the              Lord of Hosts will Himself uproot this kingdom of dark&s.
land by His pwn right hand. And at Jericho's gates this must         He will make place for His own kingdom of peace,. God in
be plain from &e very outset, that the Lord Jehovah gives            Christ  is the strength of His people Israel. And He alone
them as with His own hand the entire la+ The inheritance             destroys the kingdom of darkness, and perfects His own
must be a gift. It must be grace, all g-race, free grace, only       everlasting kingdom of righteousness.
grace !                                                                  fin harmony with all this are the other details. There
    And as it is in the age of shadows,  so it is too in the age     is the prominent number seven: seven days, seven times the
of'reality. As it is with the typical inheritance, so it is with     seventh day, seven priests, seven horns. -It is the number of
the heavenly land, the inheritance incorruptible,  atid &de-         the perfection  ~of God's everlasting kingdom, accomplished by
filed, and that never fadeth away. It is of grace, that it might     Him. There are  -the trumpet blasts, symbol of the mighty
be by faith. And it is by faith, that it might be by grace. God      voice of the Lord. They signalize His coming. They are an.
gives us our salvation absolutely freely, without any effort,        anpouncement.of the coming of the Lord to save His people,
without any exertion, without any merit pn our part what-            and to execute judgment upon the wicked.
soever. He-saves us while we are yet sinners. The Captain                 Ah, then there can be no question whether the `walls will
of our salvation is of Him  I The regenerating, life-implanting,     fall !


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R - E R                                                                                                         243

    But  you  say: where  was the faith? And what had that
faith to do with the fall of Jericho?                                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
    But do you not see now that this whole wonderful proce-                 Semi-monthly, except monthly  daring  July and  August
dure illustrates- the true nature of faith ? Israel was to re-             Published by the REFo~ED`   Faai  PUBLISHING   ASSOCTATION
ceive and enter Jericho and Canaan. But they were to                     P. 0. Box 881, Madison Square Station, Grand Rapids 7,  Mich.
receive and enter by faith. If the Lord had merely caused                                      Ed&w  -  REV.  HERMAN   HOEKSEMA
                                                                                                                                   .
the walls to fall down without any act whatever on the part              Communications relative to contents should be addressed to Rev.
                                                                         H. Hoeksema, 1139  FrankIin'St., S. E., Grand Rapids 7,  Mich.
of the people of Israel, the sacred writer could not in this             All matters relative to subscriptions should be addressed to Mr.
instance have pemled the words "by faith." For their faith.              G.-Pipe, 1463 Ardmore St., S. E., Grand Rapids `7, Michigan.
would not have been manifest. Faith does not mean that                   Announcements and  Obituaries  must be mailed to the above
the Lord puts His people to sleep and breaks down the king-              address and will be published at a fee of  $I*00 for each notice.
dom of the devil, and then causes them to tiake up after a               RENEWALS   : Unless a definite request for discontinuance is  re-
                                                                         ceivcd,  it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the subscription
while in the eternal inheritance. By faith the walls .of Jericho         to continue without the formality of a renewal order.                                                    "
                                                                                                                                                         c
fell down, after  they had been co,vtpassed  abolLt  seven days.                                  Subscription price  :. $4.00 per year
The power of faith is indeed active !                                      Entered  as Second Ch~s   ~nmtter at Grand  Rapids, Michigan
    But what, pray, .is the peculiar character of that power
and activity of faith ? What is its relation to the final realiza-
tion of the kingdom of God and the destruction of the king-
dom of darkness. Is it, perhaps, thus, that faith is the one-                                                C O N T E N T S
tenth that we must do after the nine-tenths that God per-
forms ? Is it our one-tenth, prerequisite to the -reception of        MEDITATION  -
the divine nine-tenths  ? But no : then salvation would not                 Faith and Jericho's Walls . . . . .._..................... . . ...241
be of the Lord! Peculiar to faith is that it receives, always                    Rev. H. C. Hoeksema
receives. Never can it do anything but receive. Even when
it is active, even when it is manifested in the fruit of all good     EDITORIALS -
works, it manifests.nothing  but that it receives.                          Reply to My Classical Censure.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
                                                                                   Rev. H. Hoeksema
   That faith was evident before Jericho's walls.
                                                                      OUR DOCTRINE -
   For do you not see that there was  absolutely'no  causal                 The Triple Knowledge.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , . ...246
and no visible connection between. the march of the- people                        Rev. H. Hoeksema
and the falling of the walls ? To the natural eye it must have
seemed futile, utterly foolish. What e.ffect  could that march-       THE  DAY  CIVF   SHALGWS-
ing- have upon the mighty walls of the kingdom of darkness ?                The  Prophecy  of Isaiah . . . . . . . . . . . . . .._........                                              . . . .253
   But the missing link in this case was the power of the                          Rev.  6. M. Ophoff
Almighty. His power destroyed the city. His power was
the source of the faith. His power was revealed  to Israel            FROM HOLY WRIT-
and in Israel.                                                              Exposition of I Peter 2:1-10..  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                                         . ...255
                                                                                   Rev. G. Lubbers
   That power their faith clung. It received the wonder of
grace: They laid hold on the promise of Jehovah, confident            IN  HIS  FEAR-
that His Word would surely co'me to' pass. And thus it came                 Walking in Error.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                              . ...257
to pass. The'trumpet blast is heard. The victor's cry rings.                       Rev. J. A. Heys
The mockery in Jericho's walls `is silenced. And faith is
crowned with success. By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after       CONTENDING  FOR  THE  FAITH -
they were compassed about seven days.                                       The Church and the Sacraments.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...259
                                                                                   Rev. H. Veldman
   Salvation is of the Lord !
   That salvation faith delights to behold.  To the strong            T.HE   VOICE  OF  OUR  FATHERS-
arm of Jehovah faith clings. And it loves to sing, and shall                The Canons of Dordrecht :. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                                        .261
sing to endless ages:                                                              Rev. H. C. Hoeksema
   They gained not the land by the edge of the sword,                 DECENCY   AND  ORDER-
  Their own arm to them could no safety afford,                            D e c i d i n g   t h e   C a l l . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .        .263
   But Thy right hand. saved, and the light of Thy face,,                         Rev. G.  Vanden  Berg
   Because of Thy favor and wonderful.grace.
                                                         H.C.H.


244                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B'EARER

                                                                         on Friday last (April. 10) I offered my advice to the classis
11         EDITOdlAL$                                           .j why the protest of Mr. tcortering  should be treated at this
                                                                         present classis. For in that advice I `said the same thing as
                                                       s                 the Rev. Ophoff did in his document which he read .to the
       Seeing that at the time when this Standard Bearer leaves          classis in the forenoon of April 14. And I quote: "When this
the press, I expect, the Lord willing, to be in Lynden, Wash.            part of the protest is treated, it will, undoubtedly; appear to
and that, most probably I `will have little opportunity to               classis that the Rev.  Kok and his consistory of speaking some
write, I offer the following instead.                                    very serious untruths, not to  say.deliberate  lies, I need not
       .There was a moment at Classis  East in'Apri1  1953 when. ennumerate them here, but I will mention them when the
the classis felt obliged to censure me because of certain ex-           protest is discussed. I ask, brethren, must not the Rev. I<ok
pressions I made on the floor of the classis.                            and his consistory wholeheartedly confess these untruths,
       To this censure I replied in the following document.              which now have become public, before the Rev.  Kok can
       I am sure that, since the matter was quite public, there          even preach and lead his congregation in public  worship;and
is nothing wrong in giving it further publication here.                  before the consistory can properly .function  as overseers of
       Besides, all our churches are interested in what transpired the church in Holland ? Remember that, according to the
at Classis  East, and what I -state in the following document            Heidelberg Catechism, lying and slander belong to the very
about cesspools of corruption has since become more evident              works of the devil."
than ever.  -                                               Ii.. H.         The term untmth  and lie mean the very same thing, ac-
                                                 April 15, `53           cording to the dictionary, exept that the one is perhaps of
Classis East of the Ppot. Ref. Church~es,                                a little harsher sound than the other. Yet the classis let this
Convened in  Hudson&e,  Apil, 1953.                                     pass, and no one made a motion to censure me. In the
                                                                         second place, I want to call the brethren's attention to the
            `Reply To My Classical &nsure                              , fact that the term lie and lying is as such certainly not ob-
Esteemed Brethren :                                                      jectionable. The classis cannot possibly.ctnsure me for using
                                                                         that term as such. For in the first  place,"it  is a thoroughiy
       Apart from my suspension and deposition from the office           Biblical term, as Biblical as the very opposite, truth. And in
of a minister in the Christian Reformed Churches in 1924-25, the second place, it is a confessional' term. As `to the first,
it was the first time in my entire ministry, whether in the              I refer to Ephesians 4 :25 :
Christian Reformed or in the Protestant Reformed Churches,                                               "Wherefore putting away lying, ,1~ G
                                                                         speak every man truth with his neighbor : for .we are mem-  '
that I was ever censured. I want you to know,  .brethren,                bers one of another." And in `Col. 3 :9 : `<Lie not one to an-
that I consider this very serious. Any form of :ecclesiastical                                                                               ?
                                                                         other, Seeing that ye have  put off the old man with. his
censure is the beginning of excommunication. If, therefore,` deeds."
you are not playing with terms, and not making a mockery                          But I need quote no more.  -For you are all ac-
of church discipline, the  classis will undoubtedly have to              quainted with _ the fact that, the Bible frequently speaks of
continue the way which they commenced to follow  yesterda=y.             lying, and admonishes the people of God not to lie, either
And if I do not repent, which I will not, the  classis will              against the truth' or against one another. And as to  our
have to make the case pending with my consistory, and ask                confessions, I but quote to you Lord's Day 43 : "That I bear
that I be excommunicated from the Prot. Ref. Churches. I                 false witness against no man, nor falsify any man's words ;
.must also express my surprise that the classical censure                that I be no backbiter, nor slanderer; that I do not judge,  `+
was imposed upon me in such a cold, unchristian, and un-                nor join in condemning any man rashly, or unheard  ; but that,:
brotherly way. A mere motion- was offered and passed to                  I avoid all sorts of lies and deceit, as the proper works of
censure me, and the  classis through its chairman did not               the devil, unless I would bring down upon me the heavy . .
even address to me one single word of admonition, and try                wrath of  God.:' Hence, certainly the  classis can have no
to bring me to repentance for my sin. However, the censure               objection `against the use of the term lie;  lyingg,  or lies, as  '
was nevertheless imposed. And seeing- it is such a very                  such. It must be, therefore, that the  classis was  of. the
serious matter, I certainly have the right ~to defend myself             opinion that when I made that accusation,. I either had no
against whatever charge the classis  holds against  me; And              sufficient grounds for it, or was myself speaking an untruth.
seeing that I am the defendant in this case,' I beg the classis          The  burden.of proof, therefore, now evidently rests upon me,
to attend,unto my plea,, and let me finish it to the end.                although1  a`m convinced that after the reading of the minutes _
       The  classis  konsidered  `itself in duty bound to censure        of Holland's Consistory and the reading of the protest of Mr.
the undersigned: 1) Because he accused the Rev. Kok and                  Kortering,  the  classis  itself was certainly in a position to
his consistory of lying; and, 2) Because he supported the                know that when I made ,that accusation I spoke the truth.
Rev. Ophoff in his stateinent that our churches were in need                The question may be asked, first ,of all, what is meant by
of. a cleaning -out of cesspools of widkedness. Now, in the              &g, or to  l,ie? In general, I would say that a lie is not a
first place,  brethren,   i cannot understand why the brother            statement based upon ignorance of the facts or upon a mere
that moved it did not offer his motion to censure me when                misconception. But I would rather define it as a statement


                                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   - B E A R E R                                           245

      that pretends to be the truth while one knows that it is an          the charges which served as the grounds of Mr. Kortering's
      untruth. When, therefore, I accuse the Rev. Kok and his              portest. In a letter addressed to Mr. Kortering, and dated Jan.
      consistory of lying, I must prove to the satisfaction of classis     26, 1953, the consistory states : "Whereas the consistory was
      that they knew the truth, but deliberately misrepresented it.        given but one evening in which to discuss and weigh the
      As to the statement of the Rev. Ophoff which I condone, that         justice and righteousness of your demand, namely at its
      we must clean out cesspools of wickedness, or of corruption.         meeting of December 18th." I quote this from the answer
      if we would prevent our churches from going to the rocks,            by the consistory of Holland, which was read in our classical
     there certainly can be no objection to that language as such          meeting in the forenoon of April 8, 1953. This is evidently
      either. By a cesspool I understand a cistern or vault that           not true. `For Mr. Kortering himself states, and I quote from
      is constructed or designed to receive some filth or sedimentary      his protest of December 12: "And since after repeated warn-
      matter. The figure therefore means a collection of moral             ings by  us as individual officebearers, as well as other sources
      corruption that is permitted to accumulate and to rot, and           in the midst of our churches, brother  Kok still insists on
      that must be cleaned out. I am also convinced that it is             preaching and teaching his conditional theology as we have
      high time that we began to clean out such cesspools among            revealed in this protest, as well as his public writings in our
      ourselves.                                                           church papers." And from his protest to the classis I quote
          And now for my proof. I wish to point out the following.         the following : "These brotherly warnings and admonitions
        1. The Rev. Kok and his delegate lied when they left the           by the elders took place on what Rev. Kok was publicly
      impression upon the classis  that the consistory had decided         writing in these papers, during the period following. the
      that the protest of Mr. Kortering was not legal because the          adoption of the Declaration by our synod, and before Sept.
      consistory had not had sufficient time to treat it.                  7th, 1952. On Sept. 7th Rev. Kok openly took this same
         3I. I claim that the Rev.  Kok was lying when on the              controversy, which was still continuing in these papers, to
      floor of the  classis  he said that the whole consistory was         `our pulpit.
      amazed and dumbfounded and that it struck them as a thun-                "That, brethren, must be clearly understood.
      derclap out of a clear sky when on the 12th of December
      Mr. Kortering lodged his protest with:  the. consistory and              "Therefore, on Sunday morning, Sept.  7th, 1952, im-
      demanded the suspension of the Rev. 1~01~.                           mediately after the service, I objected to Rev.  Kok intro-
         3. I claim that the Rev.  Kok and the cpnsistory  -are            ducing to our pulpit, his conditional theology controversy,
      lying when they emphasize that Mr. Kortering had a wrong             which He did that morning by expressing his own opinion.
      conception of church polity, so that he was of the conviction        My objection caused division among the elders and the
      that the action of suspension of a minister must not initate         pastor, as to what Rev.  Kok said in that sermon. Because
      with.the  consistory, but with classis and synod.                    of my objection, and the division that resulted, Rev. Kok
         4.  J claim that the Rev.  Kok started a cesspool of cor-         himself issued the statement hereinafter referred to, and de-
      ruption  rwhen in the old country he sold our Protj Ref.             livered copies of it to all the elders.
      Churches down the river.                                                 "I received a copy of this transcript, shortly after dinner
        5 . I claim that the Rev. 1~01~  added to the same cesspool        that same Sunday from the hand of Rev.  Kok himself. I
      when later he constantly agitated for Liberated doctrine and         studied this transcript, and immediately proceeded to ground
.     against the Declaration of Principles.                               my objection, by submitting to consistory for study, examina-
         6. I claim that the Rev. `Kok added again to the cess-            tion, and consideration, my written opinion, on what Rev.
      pool when, probably in conjunction with others, he searched          Kok had preached that morning, and as he gave it to us in
      all my writings to find  pasages  in which I mentioned the           writing. This document was officially received by consistory
      term condition, although I can plainly prove that from the           a few days later on Sept.  12th, 1952. This written opinion
      very  start of my ministry till the present time I never believed    was the ground why I objected to Rev.. Kok introducing his
      in conditions.                                                       conditional theology controversy, in the official preaching on
         7. And finally, I wish to make a few remarks about a              our pulpit. This document after being received for informa-
      cesspool of slander especially,about  me in terms that some-         tion was given -in the hands of our pastor for study and
      times smell literally of the cesspool.                               examination till our next elders' meeting held on Oct. 9th.
                                                                           This was practically a whole month. The document was
                                                                           returned to consistory on the Oct. 9th elders' meeting, with-
                                                                           out any comment from our pastor. After this the Oct. 9th
         First of all, then, I claim that the Rev. Kok and his             and the NOV. 13th elders' meetings were  spent in discussing
      delegate  lied when they made the  classis in its January            conditions, with the pastor taking the defensive, and con-
      session believe that the consistory had decided that the pro-        tinuing to defend his conditional theology. In between these
      test of Mr. Kortering was illegal because the consistory had         two elders' meetings, at which only elders vvere present, we
      not had sufficient time. In the first place. it certainly is not     had our regular consistory meeting at which the deacons are
      true that the consistory did not have sufficient time to treat       with us, this was on Oct. 3rd 1952. This meeting was the
                                                1.


246                                              THE  STANDAReD   B E A R E R

     Sunday before the celebration of the Lord's Supper. At this
meeting during~censura  morum, I told the consistory, that in              I OUR- DOCTRINE II
partaking of communion I reserved the right to protest on
the basis of my opinion in the hands of the consistory for
consideration at that time."                                                            THE TRIPLE KNOWLEDGE
            I will quote no more. From the document read by the               _  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  HEIDELBIXRG   CATECHISM
Rev. Ophoff on the morning of April 14 we heard. how very                                PART  III  -  OF  THANKFULNESS
serious the objections of Mr. Kortering were. So serious                                           LORD'S   DAY  40
indeed that if the pastor were guilty of the charges laid                                             C h a p t e r   2
against him by Mr. Kortering, suspension and. deposition The Sword-power and the Sisth  .Commandment  (con'td)
would surely have to follow if the pastor did not repent. All                 And this position of the Reformed  confesSions  is certainly
these charges were therefore present at the consistory since               based on the Word of God. Scripture certainly does not sup-1
September- 12th, and discussed repeatedly, so that certainly               port the position that war as such is always and- necessarily
it is not true that the consistory had but one evening in                  sin.  n/Iark you well, we do not take  up  a defense for the
which to di&uss  and weigh the justice and righteousness of                wars of the world. It certainly is not our position that the
Mr.  Kortering's  demand. It is therefore not true that they               wars of the world are always justified, that they are never
did not have sufficient time to treat the matter in hand.                  sinful. But it certainly cannot be maintained in the light
            Besides, we have heard from the minutes that the con-          of the Word of God that war as such is always to be con-
sistory could go no further, that they were deadlocked, and                demned. That the sword is given to the magistrate certainly
that therefore as far as the consistory is concerned the case              implies that it has received from God the power to kill. And
certainly was finished, and the only thing Mr. Kortering                   as the Reformed confessions have it, this also implies that
could do was appeal to classis.                                            the magistrate has authority from God to wage a just war.
            Finally, it is certainly not true that the consistory by an    Of David it is said that he waged the wars of Jehovah. And,
official decision had declared that the protest of Mr.  Kor-               the same is true of all the wars that were waged by the
tering at the classis.was  illegal  on the ground that they had            pious kings of Israel against the enemies of the people of
not had sufficient time to treat it. There was no such decision            God. Nor is it true that the New Testament in this respect
of the consistory whatsoever. And therefore I maintain that                produces a different sound from that of the Old Testament.
when the Rev. Kok nevertheless took it upon himself in the                 When- the soldiers c&e to John the Baptist with the ques-
presence of his fellow elder to state that this was the decision           tion, "VC'hat  shall we do ?" he does not enjoin them to quit
of :the consistory, or. to leave the, impression with the classis          the military service,  +s if it were necessarily a sinful and
th& the consistory had so decided, he and his fellow elder                 ungodly occupation,  put  .he says to them:  "DO violence to
`&et-e guilty of a statement. which they knew was not true.                no man, neither accuse any falsely  ; and be content with your
      .'
~           The same grounds I offer for my second claim, namely,          wages." It was a centurion, an officer in the Roman army, of
that the Rev. Kok lied when he stated that when Mr. Kor-                   whom the Lord Jesus testified that He had not seen so great
tering offered his protest to the consistory, the whole con- a faith as was manifest in this man even in Israel. And also
sistory was amazed and dumbfounded and that it came                        Qrnelius,  `mentioned in Acts 10, was a centurion of the band
as a thunderclap out of a clear sky. .I really cannot judge                called the Italian band. And .of him the Scriptures testify
about the amazement and dumbfoundedness of Rev.  Kok                       that he was "a devout man, and one that feared -God with all
and his consistory, for that is a subjective matter. Some                  his house, which gave much alms. to the people, and prayed
people are more easily amazed and dumbfounded than others.                 to God, alway."  And he became one of the*firstf&its.  .of the
But that the protest of br. Kortering came as a thunderclap                kingdolti   of heaven from among the heathen. The  f&ar.lof
out of a clear sky is an objective statement, and is certainly             ,God, therefore, is not necessarily in conflict with  m$~ryWX   ,.
not true. And not only so, but Rev. Kok and his consistory                 service. And war as such is not to be condemned.  *
both know that it is not true. In the first place, this is evident            This, however, raises anbther  question. If the magistrate :. ,-
from the very serious .charges  which Mr. Kortering lodged                 may wage war ; and if war as such, in the light of Sdriptme,  " 1' '
                                                                                                                                                  -
against his pastor shortly after Sept. 7th. And secoridly, this            cannot be' condemned ; anu yet it be also true that wars B&
is also evident from the fact that on Oct. 23rd Mr1 Kortering              by no means always just, on what basis and when may the                     '
announced to the consistory on the occasion of  censura                    believer in the world participate  iri war and have no objet-
n%orum that he would reserve the right to `protest against the             tion to military service  ? May we take the position of an-
Rev. Kok. ,It is possible that the R.ev. Kok atid the co&istory            other class of  con&ientious  objectors, who refuse to be
did, not take these things seriously. But Mr. Kortering                    drafted and to take part in any war as long as they individu-
evidently did. And it certainly is not true, but quite contrary            ally cannot see the justice of a certain war? It ought to be                     s
to fact, that the protest of Mr. Kortering, when he finally                plain that on the basis of such ,a negative position no Chris-
lodged it with the consistory, came as a'thunderclap out of a              tian can ever consent to be drafted for military service. The
clear sky.                                                                 average individual believer cannot possibly be expected to be


                                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                 247

       SO  thoroughly informed about the causes of modern wars that        from the principle of obedience to the government. Both
       he is able to pass sentence On the justice of them. Hence,          say to the government: "I will obey if I can see that your
       he must necessarily always be a conscientious objector.             cause is not unjust, or at least that I cannot see that it is
          Of course, you understand that the basis upon which this         unjust."
       conscientious objector defends his position is. that every in-          These both implicitly deny that the government only has
       dividual citizen is responsible for any act he performs in          the authority and power to wield the sword. Both proceed
       obedience to the authority of the governmenf,  even though          from the supposition that the individual citizen is responsible
       that authority be exercised strictly in its own proper domain,      for the way in which the government wields the sword. The
       such as in+ the declaration of war. .Hence> before he obeys,        only difference is that the one is uncertain. And therefore,
     . he is under obligation to determine whether a given act of          according to the Synod of  the Chr. Ref. Church, he must
       the government is morally justified or not. And upon the            fight. The other is certain, and therefore he must not fight.
       result of this individual determination it must depend              With this we cannot possibly agree. It is the principle of
      whether any citizen is in duty bound to obey the govern-             individualism, and therefore, really the principle of revolu-
      ment or to refuse obedience. Of course, if one adopts the            tion.
      principle from which this coriscientious objector proceeds,              Notice that the Synod speaks of "intelligent and adequate
      you will have to grant that in this last stand he is right.          grounds to be convinced that the given war to which he is
       In any moral question it is certainly wrong to reason thus :        summoned is an unjust war." Intelligent and adequate, we
       I am not certain whether it is right; therefore I will do it.       ask, according to what standard ? No doubt the Synod will
       If war is a matter of individual responsibility, I must be          say:. according to the standard of the Word of God. But the
      certain of the justice of a given war before I fight. He that        question remains, nevertheless : who then is to be the judge
      doubts if he eats is damned because he does not eat out of           to determine whether these grounds are intelligent and ad-
      faith. Much more so, if one fights if he doubts, if it be true       equate and according to the standard of Scripture  ? Certainly,
      that war is killing people,- and, we may add, innocent               not the church: for she is not the final judge in the matter,
      pedple as far as the war is concerned, whether they fight on         But who then ? The- government? T-0 be sure, if the "Testi-
      the j&t or on the unjust side of the war, and .whether  they         mony" of the Chr. Ref. Church is also intended as a basis
      be soldiers or civilians, -and if every individual citizen is        upon which the government must act and excuse certain
      personally responsible for this killing of people, then certainly    conscientious objectors, it is she that must judge of these
      no one may engage in warfare as long as he is uncertain              grounds and determine whether they are intelligent and ad-
      whether the cause for which he is fighting is a just one.            equate. But this is out of the question, for the government
      No one can kill people unless he is certain that it is the will      declared the given war, and if she would decide that the
      of God. And if the  ifidividqal   Chri'stian is responsible for      grounds of these conscientious objectors were intelligent  cand
      his killing of pebple in war, he must be certain that the war
                     .                                                     adequate to convince anyone that the war is unjust, she
      is just.  :                                                          would have to retract the very declaration of war. Besides,
          This is really the stand that was. taken by the Christian        if the government should decide that the grounds were ndt
      Reformed Churches in 1939. At that time a "Testimony"                intelligent and adequate, such a decision would riot change
      was adopted, from which we quote the following paragraph:            the mind of the conscientious objector himself. He would
      "The only conscientious object?? to military service whose           still be certain that the given war is unjust. In the last
      claim the church cannot  repugiate  is he, who recognizing his       analysis, therefore, it must-be the conscientious objector him-
      duty to obey his governme<t  a;nd to defend this country in          self that determines the intelligence and adequacy of his own
      response  c,to his call to arms, has intelligent and adequate        grounds for considering the given war unjust.
      groun& @ be convinced that the given war to which he is                 This leaves it to the decision of the individual citizen
     '  sutimoned  is an unjust war. When he is absolutely certain         whether or not in its own proper domain the magistrate shall
      id'tIle  ,iight of the principles of the Word of God that his        wield the sword and wage war.
      coulltry is fighting for a wrong cause, he cannot morally               On this basis, it stands to reason, it will be quite impos-
      justify his participation  iz the given war. War is killing          sible for the government to wage war. For many will be the
      people. And for, anyone to engage in such killing of fellow-         conscientious objectors that have intelligent and adequate
      men when  he is convinced in his heart that the cause for            reasons in the light of Scripture to refuse to participate in
      which he is fighting is an unjust one, this procedure cannot         a given war. Some, indeed, have intelligent and adequate
      be justified before the tribunal of God and His Word. The            objections against any war; and they also appeal to Scripture
      only course open to such a person is to resort to passive            for their stand. If you grant the right of citizens to deter-
      resistance and to refuse to bear arms in that given war."            mine whether a given war is just, why deny them the right
          This, of course, is based upon identically the same prin-        to take the sfand that all war is sinful, and that therefore no
      ciple as the one that motivated the type of conscientious            Christian can participate in any war. Others, perhaps, will
'     objector referred to above. Both judge of the justness of a          consider a war of self-defense the sole war that is justifiable.
      given war. Both act upon this individual judgment, not               Still others may take the stand that it is our solemn duty to

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

 fight on the side of democracy and against totalitarianism and      the part of the government that summdns him. One may, to
 communism. Besides, what is really a just war? How often            be sure, even lodge his protest, with the grounds upon
 is justice wholly with the one side of the, conflicting nations,    which he considers the war unjust, with his government.
and unjustice wifh the other? And suppose that one reaches           But obey he must, as long as it concerns the authority of
 the certain conclusion that there is at  l.east also unjustness     the. magistrates, exercised in the domain of the civil state
 on the side of the government? Must he obey the summons             or commonwealth.
 to fight? It is evident that if we give the  `right to the in-          If, however, the same government to  khich we are in
 dividual citizens to judge whether a war is just and reason-        silbjection  as long as she uses her sword-power in her own
 able, the government will always be handicapped and power-          domain, should attempt to wield that sword in a sphere out-
 less to wage war.            .                                      side of the civil commonwealth, -a domain over which she
        qn the basis of the Word of God and our Reformed.con-        ,was never set in authority by God,  - we must refuse to
 fessions, there is but one position possible with regard to the     acknowledge that authority. In such cases it is not the ques-
 Christian's calling when the government summons him to              tion whether we shall be obedient to the government or to
 military service.                                                   God, but whether we shall obey God or man.
    -As long as the govertiment  wields the sword given her             Thus the apostles answer the council when the latter for-
 by God within her own domain, that is, the civil state,             bid them to preach in the name of Jesus. To preach  `the
 whether it be within its own borders and with respect to its        gospel belongs to the Christ-given calling and authority of
 own citizens, or over against other governments and statr+          the church. The authority of the government does not ex-
 she alone has authority. And the .citizens  must obey uncon-        tend into this domain. Hence, when the Jewish council
 ditionally. However, as soon as the civil government would          usurped this power over against the apostles, the latter,
 attempt to exercise her authority in the domain of the church       through Peter, reminded them that they transgressed the
 and would turn her God-given sword against Christ and His           boundaries of thiir.  authority by saying that they must obey
cause, the government would move in a sphere in whi&.she             God rather than men.
 has no authority whatsoever, and therefore is no longer                This; therefore, is the proper stand in the light of Scrip-
government? buf mere man. And the principle would have               ture and the confessions.
to be applied that we must, obey God rather than men.                   Capital punishment is certainly demanded in Scripture
    This implies that the individual Christian is not.morally        as the only proper punishment for the murderer. And war,
responsible for the justness or unjustness of the war that is        although not always just,  i,n fact, although frequently unjust,
declared-by the government. Nor ii he responsible for ai!y           cannot be condemned in the light of Scripture. Nor can
act which he performs in strict obedience to the government          refusal on the part of the citizen to obey the summons of
as such when he is called to the colors and summoned to              the government when it calls him to the battle or to engage
military service.                                                    in any military service be sustained in the. light of the Word
    The hangman is not responsible when, in obedience to             of  !God. We do not deny that the church, as well as `the
the proper magistrates, he executes the sentence upon the            individual Christian, has a moral calling with regard to any
man -that is legally condemned to death. The sentence may            war. But we do deny that the individual soldier is responsible
be a mistake, or it may be grossly unjust.- `The executioner         for the justness of a given war. And the Christian must
may be absolutely convinced in his own mind that the con-            always obey the summons of his government to arms.
demned man is innocent. But he ~does not act, or refuse to                                        *  *  *  *
act, on the ground of his own individual  convictidn.  but                                     -.
merely in obedience to the proper and responsible authorities.                                    Chapter 3
   The same relatidn holds when the citizen is called to arms.                     Love of the Neighbor's Person
    God will have every s,oul in subjection unto the powers             This, namely, hat we love the neighbor's person as we
that be. We may not resist. The magistrates bear-the sword           love our own person for God's sake, is the positive idea of
in the name of God. That sword symbolizes the authority              the sixth commandment.
to punish evildoers within her own borders, but it certainiy            This the Heidelberg Catechism explains in  the 107th
also implies'the power to declare and to wage war. And to            question as follows : "But is it enough that we do not kill
no other that sword is ever given. The government  oniy              any man in the manner mentioned above ? No : for when
has the right to determine whether it shall be war or pe2.ce         God forbids envy, hatred, and anger, he commands us to
She only is responsible for the way in which she makes use           love our neighbor as  .ourselves  ; to show patience, peace,
of that God-given authority. The individual citizens cannot          meeknes, mercy, and all kindness, towards him, and prevent
possibly be responsible, or even co-responsible, with  the           his hurt as much as in us lies ; and that we do good, .even
government for the latters handling of the sword.  And               to our enemies."
therefore, the duty of the citizen is to obey for conscience'           Here, however, there arise several questions. The first
sake. One may have his doubts as to the justness of a given          and principal one of these is, no doubt: what in the light
war. One may be convinced that a given war is unjust on              of Scripture, is love ? In close connection with this principal


                                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                 249

       question is this other one : is love of the neighbor the same as     one expressing a tender affection, a fondness, which is
       love of the brethren ? In other words, can we love all men           rather emotional than volitional  ; the other, however, denoting
       in the same sense ? Again, in close connection with the              a love that is rooted in the will and is thoroughly spiritual
       former question is this further one : how can we possibly love       and ethical. It is well-known how both words are character-
       our enemies? Suppose that these enemies also be enemies              istically employed in John 22 :15-17, which narrates the
       of God: how then is it possible to love them as our neighbor,        restoration of Peter after he had denied the Lord. The
       even as we love ourselves, for God's sake?                           Lord inquires of His sorrowful disciple whether he loves
           First of all, then, we must discuss the question: what is-       Him, twice using the stronger word, that expresses love
       love ?                                                               proper, the last time employing the weaker word, that
                                 -                                          denotes a tender affection and' no more. The apostle, how-
         When we turn to the Word of God for instruction with               ever, dares not use the stronger word, conscious as he is of .
       respect to the meaning of the word love., we discover, first         his recent manifestation of selfconfidence and miserable
       of all, that in the Old Testament there are especially two           weakness.
       words used to express the idea of love, though with dif-
       ferent shades of meaning. The first word we have in mind                In Col. 3 :14 we read : "Above all put on love, which is
       has the root meaning of "to join, to fasten." It is also used        the bond of perfectness." It would problaby be over-em-
       intransitively, so that it means "to adhere, to stick together."     phasizing the real value of this text if we should say that
       With respect to love, therefore, it emphasizes the idea of a         here we have a Biblical definition of love. Yet it approaches
       bond of fellowship. It also expresses the notion of delight.         the nature of a definition very nearly. Love is the bond of
       The latter idea as an element in love is related to the first,       perfectness. By this phrase, "bond of perfectness," we must
     probably as the cause to the effect. One delights in another,          understand a bond or union that is characterized by perfection
       and the result is that he longs for the object of his delight,       in the ethical sense of the word, ethical goodness, such as
       seeks it, and-having found it, he cleaves to it. According to        truth, righteousness, holiness, justice, faithfulness, and the
       this word, then, love is that bond of fellowship between two         like. Love, then, is-a bond that can exist and be maintained
       persons that have delight in each other. Thus the word is            only in the sphere of ethical or moral perfection. There is no
       used in  Dem. 7 :7  ,of the love of God : "The Lord did not          love in darkness. And they that love darkness do `not love
       set his love upon you (that is, delight in you, seek you, and        one another in the positive sense of the word. If love, as
       cleave to you), nor choose you because ye were more in               we gathered, is the union or bond that is caused by the de-
       number than any-people J for ye were the fewest of all people."      light of one person `in the other, by the longing of the one
       And also in Ps. 91:14 the same word is used: "Because he             for the other, by the seeking of the other by him that loves,
       hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him." The        then we now learn that the reason and object of this delight
       second word employed in the `,Olcl Testament to express the          is ethical perfection. He that loves in the true sense of the
       idea of love rather denotes the living action of love than the       word delights in perfection, in ethical goodness, in truth and
       essence of it as a bond of fellowship. It has the root meaning       righteousness, in the light. Hence, love requires a perfect
       "to breath  after,>' and thus, "to long for and strongly desire."    subject and a perfect object. Both he that loves and he that
.      It is the word that is used in Deut. 6  :4 : "And thou shalt love    is loved must be perfect. Since love is the bond of perfect-
       the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy mind            ness, it is the bond that only unites perfect parties. Love,
       and with all thy soul and with al lthy strength." God, as            therefore, is preeminently an ethical virtue. It is an attribute
      the highest good, therefore, must be the chief and only object        and act of the will. It requires a person to love. And it
      of our desire. It is the language of love when Asaph sings            requires a person or an ethical quality to be the object of
      in Ps. 73 :25 : "Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there            love. Hence, we must not use the word for animals and
     is none upon earth that I desire beside thee." And David               things. It is true that in Scripture the  word- is employed
       sings -in Ps. 42 :13 : "As the hart panteth after the water          as referring to the very opposite of ethical perfection, as
      brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, 0 God." The word               when it is said that men love darkness rather than light,
      is also used to espress the love of God for His people, as in         John 3 :19, and that they love the praise of men more than
       Deut.  4:37: "And because he loved thy fathers, therefore,           the praise of God, John 12  :43. However, this merely em-
      he chose their seed after them, and brought thee out in his           phasizes the very perversion of love in the natural man.
      sight, with his mighty power out of Egypt." And also -in              Even as it is not love, but adultery, when a husband is un-
       Isaiah 63 :9 : "In his love and .i-n his pity he redeemed them ;     faithful to his wedded wife and is said to love another wo-
      and he bare them and carried them all the days of old." If            man. Love is the bond of perfectness, that unites the ethically
       we combine the various elements expressed by these terms,            perfect as such. For that reason it implies a choice of the
      we may say that love is a spiritual bond of fellowship in             will, and is the very antithesis of hatred. A man cannot
      which two or more parties adhere to one another, a bond               serve two masters. He will love the one and hate the other.
       which is the result of the delight these parties have in one         Matt.  G:24.  God has loved Jacob, but Esau hath He hated.
      another, which causes them to desire and to seek one another.         Rom. 9  :13. Love is also the fulfillment of the law. Rom.
          Also in the New Testament there occur two words, the              13 :lO. And the love of God is the first and great command-


                     i


250                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                                              Y
ment, while the lov', of the neighbor is like unto it. And ihe        Himself, and eternally finds- Himself, has fellowship with
                    3
ethically perfect character of love constitutes the basic note        Himself, lives the life of perfect love, Of the Father, through
of that well-known eulogy of love which we find in I Corin-           the Son, and in the Hoiy Spirit.
thians 13. Love rejoiceth not in iniquity, but it rejoiceth in
the truth. I  Co; 13  6.                                                 `God, therefore, is not in need of any-creature to have ati
                                                                      object of love, nor to be the object of love. For He is suffi-
       If we bear this thoroughly ethical character of love in        cient in Himself. Yet, it pl'eased God to reveal His love in
mind, we are not surprised to read in Scripture that God is           and to a people .whom He has chosen from all eternity. For
love, I John 4  :8  ; and that love is always of God, that is,        the Scriptures speak of -"the beloved according to the el&-
wherever you may find -true love, even among men, it' has its         tion." Rom. 11 :2S. It teaches us to rejoice that hope maketh
origin in God, I John 4 :7; and that God is the God of lo+,,          not ashamed, because the love of God hath been shed abroad
II Cor. 13  :ll  ; for God is pure perfection. His very Being         ii our hearts, something which undoubtedly means that we
is the bond of perfectness.' God is a light, and there is no          have been made to possess and experience the love of God
darkness in Him'at  all. He is righteousness, He is truth, He         to us. Rom. 5 :5. The apostle John frequently speaks of this
is knowledge and wisdom, He is purity and hsliness,  He is            love, particularly in his first general epistle. He calls upon
goodness, the .highest  good, and the overflowing fouritain  of       us to admire the wonder of that amazing love,  w&en he
all good. Hence, God loves Himself. All the love and. de-             writes : "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath be-
light of His perfect nature is directed to His own  irifinite         stowed upon us, that we shoul-d  be called the sons of God."
perfections. Also in this respect God is perfectly Self-suffi-        I John 3  :l. The same apostle points to the real nature of
cient. He has no need of men's hands to be served. He needs           love, when he explains : "Herein is love, nbt that we loved
not man's heart to be loved. He is in no need of any creature         God, but that he loved us," meaning that such is the very
outside of Himself in order td love. For God is Triune, One           character and operation of love that it proceeds from God
in Being and Three in Persons. He knows Himself as pather             af&e: Not from us to Him, neither mutually `from Him to
through the Son and in the Spirit. Constantly, eteinally,  He         us  &id from us  to Him, but from Wim it proceeds to us ;
beholds His own.perfections  and delight: in them: And the            and our love is but a response to His love, the return of God's
Three Persons of the Holy Trinity are united in the bond of           own  l&e: through our hearts to Him. I John  4:lO. He
divinely, infinitely perfect love. Hence, we read that the            reminds us that God so loved us that He sent His Son to be
Father loves the Son. John 3  :35. And Christ would have              the propitiatjon  for our sins. I John  4:10, 11. God does not
the world know that He loves the Father. John 14:31.                  only love  himself, but He also extends the sphere `of His
       Hence, on the basis of Scripture,  we may mention the          love outside of His own Being and triune life so as to in-
following elements as essential to love. In the first place, it is    clude also us.!v, .,His people according to the election of grace,
a bond of fellowship that unites, draws, and fastens. In the             But  there,ls  moie. Not only do the Scriptures speak of
second place, it is ethical in nature, and therefore requires an      this love of God' to us ; they also emphatically speak of the
ethical subject and an ethical object. Love requires an ethical-      love `of us to God. Love may be onesided,  purely divine in
ly perfect subject and an ethically perfect object : both he that     nature and origin and manner of operation. The effect of
loves and he that is loved must be perfect. If in Scripture           this operation and manifestation of the love of God is surely
we are admonished to love our enemies, to love them that              that we also love God, so that th+e is a bond of fellowship
persecute us, the meaning is not, therefore, that we are ex-          between Him and His people. For indeed, He loved us first,
pected to have fellowship with them. The bond of perfectness          and all love is out of Him. But we also love Him, because
in such a case cannot possibly exist. The meaning therefore           He loved us first. I John 4:19.  In  fact,  that we love God is
is that we shall bestow acts of love on them, such acts as            the heart of the law. That we love Him with all our heart
would tend tb draw them into the sphere of perfection. To             and mind and soul and strength is the first and great com-
this we will return later. And finally, love, as an act of'&          mandment. This love of God, both as it is manifested as
perfect subject towards the perfect object, is delight in per-        God's love to us and as it is our response to the love of God,
fection, and therefore the longing for and the seeking of the         is a love of God in Christ. For that reason the Word of
object, in order to cling to him when found. In other words,          God teaches us to shout with victorius joy that nothing can
love is that spiritual bond of perfect fellowship that subsists       separate us from the love of Christ. Ram. 8 :35. But immedi-
between persons that are ethically perfect. and dwell in the          ately after, it reminds us that this love of Christ is the same
light, and that because of their perfection mutually  ,delight in     as the love of God, when the same chapter of the epistle to
one another, long for one another, seek one another, and cling
to  6ne another. `As such Go dis love ,the God of love; and           the Remans  concludes that no power in heaveri or on earth
all love is of God. In Him love is absolute and self-sufficient.      shall be sible  to separate us from the love of God which is in
He is its subject, the one that loves with an infinitely per-         Christ Jesus our Lord. Rom. 8 :39. And concerning our love
fect love  fro& eternity to `eternity. And He is its object,          to God the Lord tells His disciples: "If ye love me, keep my
the one that is loved, God, being the implication of all ethical      commandments." John 14 :15. ,4nd again, "If a man love me,
p&ection,  has an infinitely flerfect delight in Himself, seeks       he will keep my words." The reason is that the Word which


                                            T H E   S T A N - D A R D   B E A R E R                                                251

He speaks is not His own, but the Father's which sent Him.          adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according
John 14 ~23, 24.                                                    to the good pleasure of His will. Eph.  1:s. We  must re-
    And lastly, Scripture speaks not bnly of God's love to us,      member that God `is immutable, and immutable also is His
and of our love to God. But it also teaches us Jthat by the         love. God does not fall in love ; He loves eternally. And this
power of this love of God in our hearts we also love one            do& not merely apply to His divine Self-love, but  aIso to
another : "He that loveth God loveth his brother also."             His love to His people in Christ Jesus.
I John 4 :21. ,4nd again : "A new commandmerit I give unto              What does this imply ?
you,  that ye love one another." John 13  :23. For "he that             First of all, .that eternally God willed to reveal Himself
loveth his brother dwelleth in the light." I John 2 :lO. And        in that which we might, humanly speaking, call the very
in this the children of God and the children of the devil are       highest of .His divine Being and life, His love. In the second
distinctly manifest, that the child of God loves his brother,       place, that therefore from all eternity He divinely and sover-
and he that loveth not his brother is not of God: "For this         eignly knew, that is, conceived and willed a people that
is the message that ye heard< from the beginning, that we           could be the object of. His delight and love and that would
should love one another." By this even we know that we have         taste and acknowledge His love and have their delight in
passed from death into life, that we love the brethren. For         Him. In` the third place, that therefore He cqnceived  of this
he that loveth not his brother abideth in death. I John 3 110,      pebple  .in His .eternal  counsel as perfect, even as He is per-
11, 14. Everyone, then, who loveth is born of God. I John           fete for love is the bond of perfectness, and God cannot love
4:7. If a man say, I love God, and hate his brother, he is a Jhat which is imperfect,  sinful, and corrupt. In `the fourth
lier, "for this is the commandent  which we have from him,          place, that He eternally knew His people, not merely as per-
That he who loveth God love his brother also." I John               feet, but as perfected through the deep way of sin and grace.
4 :20, 21.                                                          For in order that His love might be manifested all the more
    Now the question arises: if love is the bond of perfect-        gloriously, an.d they might taste the blessedness of that love
ness, how is it ever possible that God should lqve us, .&ho         more fully and deeply, God determined in His eternal counsel
are by nature dead in trespasses and sins ? Secondly, again         that His people should reach  the highest perfection in the
if love is the bond of perfectness, how come that  we ever          way of sin and by the power of grace. They are therefore
love God, we who are by nature enemies of God? Thirdly,             eternally before Him in His divine counsel, not as corrupt,
if love can never exist in the sphere of darkness,, but only in     neither merely as perfect, but as the perfected, the redeemed
the light, how can we possibly love one another `i`- And in the     and delivered out of the world, the adoptd children, washed
fourth place, if love is the bond of perfectness, aid therefore     from their sin, called and justified and sanctified and glori-
cannot possibly exist as fellowship between  the godly and          fied. Thus it is in Rom.  8:29, 30. Hence, it is necessarily so
the ungodly, in what sense pf the word do the children of           that -the object of .this love of God are the elect, and the elect
God love their neighbors in general, and even love their ene-       only. And again, it follows that God beholds His people
mies, who are and manifest. themselves at the same time as          eternally in Christ Jesus as their Head, Whom He ordained
enemies of God ?                                                    as such, and to Whom He gave His people. Well, then, if
   The first question is and can be answered only by the fact       we thus conceive of the people of God, of the object of the
of God's eternal election. God from everlasting conceived of        love of God, we can understand that love is the bond of
His people as perfect before Him in Christ Jesus our Lord,          perfectness, that it requires a perfect subject and a perfect
and as such He loves them with an everlasting love: "The            object, and that nevertheless God can love His people though
Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have              in time they are sinful in themselves, children of wrath as
loved thee w'ith an everlasting love; therefore, with loving-       are also the others. For thus we read in Numbers 23  :21:
kindness have I drawn thee."' Jer. 31  :3. Therefore, "the          "He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen
mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon           perverseness in Israel  ; the Lord his God is with him, and the
them that fear him, and his righteousness. unto children's          shout of a king is among them." He knows them, beholds
children." Ps. 103 :17. Jacob hath he loved from eternity, for      them eternally as perfected in Christ through the way of sin
this, was said unto Rebecca before the children were born,          and death, and as such they are the eternal objects of His
neither had done good or evil, that the purpose of God ac-          immutable love.
cording to the election might stand.  Ram.  9:11-13. More-             Hence, in the fulness of time God gloriously manifests
over, "whom he did foreknow (that is, with a divine, causal,        His love in the sacrifice of His Son. Christ is Immanuel,
and eternal knowledge of love) he also did predestinate to.         God with us, the Son of God come  i&o the flesh. And in
be conformed to the image of his Son," He also called, justi-       Him, in the bloody tree of Calvary God reveals most  glo-
fied, and. glorified. Ram. 8 :29, 30. For He blessed us with all    riuosly the love wherewith He loved us from before the
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, "according        foundation of the world. For therein is the love of God
as he hath chosen  us in him before the foundation of the           manifested, that God sent His Son into the world, and sent
world, that we should be holy and without blame before him."        Him into  our, death, to be a propitiation for our sin. God
Eph. 1 :3, 4. it is in love that He predestinated us unto the       reaches out in everlasting love for the object of His love


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 into the. lowest part of the earth, even into the depth.of hell,    ness into the fellowship of His perfection. The exalted
 when His Son in human nature cries out from the darkness            Christ received the Spirit. And through that Spirit he re-
 of Golgotha : `%Iy God, my God, why hast thou forsaken              turned to His church, dwells in them, and operates in them.
 me ?,' - By that death of His Son He Himself brings the             It is by that Spirit that He regenerates us, and makes  us
 sacrifice for our sins, which we could never bring, nor even        partakers of His own perfect life of the resurrection. It is
 thought of bringing. By that death of His Son He recon-             by that Spirit that He opens our eyes, that we may see  ;
 ciled  us, that is, the whole church of all ages, all the elect,    our ears, that we may -hear ; that He- calls, and through the
 given to Christ by the Father, unto Himself. For He jus-            Word draws us unto Himself. It is by that Spirit that we,
 tified them in His blood. And therefore, He further mani-           on the one hand, are made .to see the misery of our sin and
fests His love when  qnce more He reaches out into the               darkness and .enmity against God ; and, on the other hand,
 depth of the death of His Son, and raises Him as the first          are made to thirst for the living God as He revealed Him-
fruits, gives Him glory, eternal life, lifts Him up on high in       self in all the beauty of His perfect love in Christ. It is by
Heaven, and exalts Him at His right hand, our Lord Jesus             the Spirit that we are led to the cross, that we appropriate
 Christ is the central and highest manifestation of the love         the love of God, the forgiveness of sin, righteousness, and
of God because He died fo.r us while we were yet sinners.            eternal life. It is by that Spirit that the love of God is shed
And through His death God reconciled us with Himself                 abroad in our hearts, so that we know and taste that He
while we  were, yet enemies.                                         loved  us  with an everlasting love. And, it is by that Spirit
       The second question is : how is it possible that we, who      too that the power of the love of God, which is love of per-
are by nature sinners, dead in trespasses and sins, can love         fection, or rather, love in the sphere of perfection, causes. us
God  ? The answer is : because God perfects His love through         to love Him, to have our delight in Him, to seek Him, to
Christ Jesus in our hearts. Love is always of God,, whether          thirst after Him, to desire to be pleasing to Him, and there-
in God to Himself, in God to us, or in us. to God. How do            fore to flee from the world and from the corruption of our
we come to taste and experience, to know the love of God             sin and to do His commandments. It is this truth which is
to  us  ? And how do we come to love Him  ? Is it perhaps            always emphasized in Scripture, and especially in the first
thus, that God merely manifested His love to us as a love            epistle of the apostle John: "And hereby do we know that
to sinners, as a -sacrificing love, that He  (has that love to       we know, him (that is know Him in love), if we keep his
sinners proclaimed promiscuously to all that hear the gospel,        commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth
and that by the-mere proclamation of that unfathomable love          not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
the sinner is moved and attracted and persuaded to love              But  whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the-love of God
God ? That the matter is thus we would gather from much              perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. He that
sentimental preaching about the love of. God. God  .loved            saith he abideth'in  him ought himself also so to walk, ever
you so wonderfully : will you not love Him in return ? But           as he walked." I John 2:3-6.
such is not the case. This might be the case if love were, as                                                                        H.H
it is most generally presented, a sentimental feeling for
sinners as such, a sentimental longing to bring them to
heaven instead of to hell. But that is not the case. Love is
the bond of perfectness. It requires a' perfect subject and a                                I N   M E M O R I A M
perfect object. God, the eternally perfect Subject, loved His           The consistory of the Prot. Ref. Church at  Edgerton,.  Minn.,
eternally perfect people in Christ Jesus as He beheld them           hereby wishes  toexpress  its heartfelt sympathy with our Pastor
in His counsel. But this people cannot taste the love of             H.  Veldman  in the loss of his mother,
God to them, neither can or will they love God, until they                                 MRS. J. VELDMAN
also are made perfect. By nature they are corrupt, that-is,             May our God abundantly comfort the bereaved by His Word
                                                                     and Spirit and powerfully strengthen them in the hope of the
with all their mind and will and heart they stand in enmity          saints.
against God. For the carnal  mind.  is enmity against God.                                                 J o h n   Dotter,  VicePresident
It is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.                                                 Ray Brunstiug, Clerk.
Rom.  8  5-8. We have no delight in God as the only good
and perfect. We hate Him. We do not seek Him. We flee                                       I N   M E M O R I A M
from Him. And by nature we love sin and hate perfection,                The  Men'sa  Society of the First Prot. Ref. Church wishes"to
and we do not want to be delivered from the pollution of             express its heartfelt sympathy to our president, Mr. M.  Swart,
sin. Hence, we will have none of Him, though He manifest             in the death of his brother,
Himself to us in the face of Christ Jesus. He that hateth                                  M R .   JOHN  S W A R T
God hateth His Christ, and will crucify Him anew.                       May the God of grace comfort and sustain  him in his sorrow
                                                                     and  may hc experience abundantly the consolation of the Holy
    Now it is the same power of the love of God that is              Spirit.
manifested in Christ that' reaches out into our hearts and                                            Dan Van  Alten, Vice President.
draws us with cords of love out of the mire of sin and dark-                                          Dick Teitsma, Secretary.


                                             T H E   STA-NDARD-`.BE-&RER                                                         253

                                                                     always more light on the promise-in order that, as things
         THE DAY OF.SHADOWS>. should co&e to pass, God's believing people might be in the
                                                                     possession. of the indisputable evidence, valid, of course, only
                                                                     for faith, that the course of history is indeed directed by
                The Prophecy of Isaiah                               Him, the God of their salvation, that He does all His good
    The judgments of God  ,in  the whole  e&h.  Clzapfns             pleasure, and that therefore His promise to His people can-
XXIV-XXVII.                                                          not and will not fail but shall surely come.
    Our prophet has for&old the judgments, of God against                And so this tendency. of prophecy to be obscure with re-
the nations that formed the world-power of Israel's own              gard to. the things whereof it speaks only establishes that it
limited world. But he cannot be allowed to put the period            is prophecy in the true  sensk and not human speculation
here. For this world-power would continue to reappear                based on human experience `or observation. Thus it shows
through the ages under different names. If therefore proph-          -does this obscurity-that the knowledge of these things
esy was to afford real comfort to God's oppressed people, had its origin not with a man but with Him to whom all the
it had also to come with the gladsome  message that one day          future is as an open book in that He works all things ac-
this world-power would be swallowed up in victory, that is           cording to the counsel of His will.
made to pass away with such finality aS to be gone forever.              Let  us  now return to  the thread of our prophet's ar-
And's0 our prophet by the vision that is now given him next          g u m e n t .
prophesies -of things that shall come to pass in the last day,           The devastation of the surface of the whole earth. Chap-
the Gospel period. of the world. The reach of the `prophecies        ter sxIv :l-12.
of these'chapters  again extends to the end of time. Certainly          The Lord empties, lays waste, depopulates the whole
if God's prophets spake God's own word and not their own,            earth (ver. 1) : Bnd the inhabitants are swept away without
there could be no reason that they could not foretell what           respect of persons (ver. 2). And this destruction shall be
even the remotest future holds in store for the church and           complete; for so has the Lord spoken (ver. 3). The inan-
for the whole earth and all its inhabitants.                         imate creature mourns and the proud of the earth are dis-
   It is true that their discourses are lacking in that definite-    pirited and fade away (ver. 4). All this is to be expected  ;
ness that characterizes written history. The total of their          for the earth has been corrupted by its inhabitants through
predictions are like a glass in which we behold but darkly           their sins (ver. 5). Therefore has the earth been devoured
what is to be  `;he working of God through the ages. This            by  -the curse and the inhabitant, with the exception of a
in part is due to the fact that in the point of view of time         remnant, consumed (ver. 6). The choice f&its of the ground,
the prophets did not space the events that they foretold.            such as the wine have vanished and with them all joy from
The result is that in their  disdoiu-ses  these events, the near     the `earth  (vers. 7-9). The "city of confusion,"-Babylon,
and the far, flow together, so to speak, and are seen as one         the  anti-Christian  world-state,-is in ruins  ; its houses are
event,-the near such as for example the destruction of the           closed and unoccupied (ver. 10). Its streets resound with
Chaldean world-power of the prophet's day and the turning            crying for the excellent products of the earth such as the
of Judah's captivity, and  the  far event-of  which  the near        wine that makes glad the heart of man and all joy is departed
was the prophetic type--the final passing away of the world          (ver. 11 j. Nothing but desolation is left in the city and its
at the appearing of Christ and the gathering of the church           gate is destroyed (ver. 12).    '
in this Gospel period culminating in the appearing of the-              The second stage of the ca,tastrope : the destruction of the
church in glory at the return` of Christ.                            globe of the  ea&. Chapter XXIV: 13-23.
   But it is also due-is this enigmatical  characte; of                But there are a few men that are  not harmed. They are.
prophecy-to the fact that in the prophetic discourse these           the remnant according to the election, and they appear in
last things are set forth in the symbolical-typical language         the vision under the image of olives that have remained on
of the prophets own land-the holy land-and in the lan-               the tree after the shaking thereof, and of grapes that are
guage of his own experience, age and world. It is the only           still found on the vine when the vintage is done (ver. 13).
language that he knew and understood. Hence it was also              They sing praises to the Lord God of Israel and glorify His
through the  instr&entality of this language-God's own               name for His majesty. Their shouts of jubilation are heard
creation-that He communicated to the probhet the thoughts            from the uttermost parts of the earth ; and the theme of their
of His heart. It was through this language that God spake            song` is : Glory to the Righteous One (vers.  14-16a). This
to the prophet of the heavenly things of Christ's kingdom.           is the signal for new woes. So terrible is now the vision that
   Prophecy therefore was bound to be relatively obscure.            the strength of the prophet wastes away. But the destruc-
put the purpose of the prophetic vision was nevertheless             tion must go on because of the perfidy and- faithlessness of
always fully achieved. And this purpose was not to satisfy           men (ver.  16b). The second catastrophe will consist in a
men's curiosity by a detailed unveiling of the future, but to        succession of different acts, and they that survive the first
set forth in broad outline the sovereign decrees of God for          Ltroke will certainly be destroyed by the second or the third.
all the ages to come,-definitely the purpose was to shed             For as at the time of the Deluge the windows of heaven are

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

open and the foundations of the earth shake (vers. 17, 18).             salvation they have waited and now rejoice in. And His
The globe of the earth is shattered. It dissolves. It moves             hand will rest in this mountain to sustain and perpetuate
violently. It reels like a drunkard and swings- like .a ham-            it forever (vers 9,  10a). But He shall tread down Moab as
mock. As overloaded with its transgression it falls never               straw is trodden down in preparation of its being cast on
again to arise (vers. 19, 20). implying  that there shall be new        the dunghill. And Moab's pride shall be humbled as also
heavens and a new earth upon which shall dwell righteous-               the spoil of his hands. His fortresses shall be levelled  to the
ness.                                                                   ground and reduced to dust (lob, 12).
       These judgments will overtake `the devil and his angels,            The  stvoxg ctiy and the nation that  enters  in. Chapter
"the hosts of the high ones that are on high," as well as the           XXVI :l-11.
kings of the earth that; are hostile to God. All shall be shut
up in prison, cast into the abyss. But after the expiration               The prophet recites a song that in that day the redeemed
of a certain time they shall be visited (vers. 21, 22j." Then           will sing in Judah. Its teaching is this : God's people have a
the moon and the sun shall be darkened. But during the                  strong city. Its walls and bulwarks are the salvation of
process of the fulfillment of these prophecies of doom, the             their God. Its gates are open only  to the righteous nation
Lord-`of hosts shall reign in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem               that keeps truth,  whbse mind is stayed on the Lord, and
(that is above) and to His ancients, that is his saints, shall          that trusts in the Lokd as understanding that in Him alone is
be glory.                                                               everlasting strength. This nation the Lord will keep as cer-
                                                                        tainly as He debases them that dwell on high, lays to the
       OUY  pl-ophet's  song of praise  for  de&aerance,  Chapters      ground and crushes to the dust the lofty city that it may be
XXV:l-5.                                                                trodden by the feet of the poor and the needy, His afflicted
       Mindful of the fact that the Lord's counsels are faith-          people. (vers. 1-6).
fulness and truth and that thei-e is no limit to His power to              Seeing that the way of the just (nation) is uprightness
save, and accordingly contemplating the final deliverance               -and this the Lord, who is  uprig&  well knows, as He
of the church as already accomplished, our prophet exalts               weighs their path-they, the just, have waited for Him in the
his God and praises His name for the wonderful things set               way of judgments; the desire of their soul is to His name
before his eye by the vision. The Lord has made cities, re-             and to His remembrance ; with all their soul they desired
garded impregnable, a heap and a ruin, so that they shall               Him in the night, -and with their spirit they seek Him early,
never be rebuilt (yers. 1, 2). He has thereby even prepared             also because when His judgments are in the earth the world's
for Himself praise in the mouth of His vanquished enemies               inhabitants learn righteousness, much to the delight of the
(vers. 3). But to His afflicted people He has been a strgng-            just (nation), they  ,being righteous (vers. 7-9).
hold and a refuge from the storm (ver. 4). And He has
silenced the raging of their enemies against them (ver. 5).                But this does not apply to the wicked (reprobate). He
                                                                        always deals unjustly, even in the land of uprightness, and
       Zion shall be a place of feasting for a.11 nations, but Moab,    even though favor should be shown him. He will not learn
here  representahve  of the hostile  woyld-power;   shall   be  des-    righteousness. He will not behold the majesty of the Lorcl.
&oyed. Chapter XXV  :6-12.                                              When the Lord's hand is lifted up, he will not see. But
       In Mount Zion the Lord shall prepare for all people a            he shall see to his shame the Lord's zeal for His people.
feast of the choicest products of the ground (ver.  6). In              And fire shall devour him (them) the Lord's enemies (vers.
this mountain the Lord will remove the vail of unbelief that            10, 11).
.is spread over the heart of all people and nations. Death                 On the other hand, the Lord will establish peace for His
shall be swallowed up in victory so that it shall not anywhere          people, `the righteous `nation, as He has wrought all their
be found anymore in all God's holy mountain. Tears shall                works for them, performed the thing-that they could not do
be wiped away from their faces. And the reproach of God's               themselves, that is redeem them (ver. 12). There had been
people shall be taken away from the earth. And however                  other lords, sin, death,  satan,  the world and its devil-gods
incredible from the point of view of nature, all shall come             -lords to whom His people had been in bondage and whom
to pass. For the Lord'has spoken it (vers. 7, 8). And in                they had willingly served ; but the Lord had destroyed them
that day it shall be said, Behold, this is our God, meaning             all and made their memory to perish and thereby delivered
that they who thus speak will want to know, serve and love              His people. Therefore they now make mention of His name
Him only in rejection of all other deities-Him for whose                only (vers. 13,  14).

                                                                           The Lord has increased the (righteous) nation  ; He
                                                                        has extended (its) boundaries to the end of the earth, called
* This is an obscure statement not understood perhaps by our            the church from the four corners of the earth in the Gospel
  prophet himself. It may have reference to the loosing of Satan        period of this dispensation (ver. 15).
  out of his prison that he may go forth to deceive the nations
  that are in the four corners of the eaith (Rev.  20:7).                                                                       G.M.O.


                                                    T H E   STAND-ARD~-`BEARER                                                               255

                                                                              children of God must "grow." We must grow in the grace
       11  ` F R O M   KOLY  W R I T                                       11 of Jesus Christ, by growing in the "knowledge' of all the
                                                                              graces in Christ. II Peter 3 :17, 18. Hence, Peter places the
                      Expjosition  of I Peter 2:1-10                          .churches  under the nurture and admonitions of the Lord.
                                                                              The Lord, our Savior's admo.nitions  are very good ; they are
                                       I                                      very useful and to our profit. In these admonitions we taste
           These first ten verses of Chapter 2 of first Peter are a
       continuation of the Apostle's instruction in the former Chap-          that the Lord is "good."
       ter. There the Apostle had instructed the churches of their               The church thus viewed, under the pedagogy of God,, is
       new Status in -Christ by virtue of God's elective grace as             admonished to long very much for the entire preaching of the
       this was realized through the power of the resurrection in             living and abiding Word of God. And the aim of this long-
       their hearts, so that they are reborn unto a living hope. Old          ing for the Word must be to grow thereby. They, who are
       things have passed away and all things have become new.                such, that they posses (have tasted the Lord's goodness) will .
       And in hope we look for the renewal of all things in the- day          receive more, and taste more of this goodness of Jehovah,
       of our Lord Jesus Christ.                                              as this is ours in the reasonable milk, which is without de-
          Hence, we must gird                                                 ception and guile. In this reasonable Word we have the
                                  up the loins of our mind in spiritual
       sobriety. We must live perfectly in the hope of the Gospel,            administration of the Father's testament to us the children,
       and live in the holiness that  becometh  the children of the           calling us out of darkness and constituting us fully men and
     new obedience. Always we must bear in' mind what Christ                  women in Christ.
      has performed for us on the Cross, redeeming us  not with                  Peter proclaims a very definite "admonition" in the text.
      corruptible things as silver and gold from our vain con-                The form in which he states this admonition is a peculiar
      versation, but with His own precious blood, as of a Lamb               one in I Peter. We refer to the. relationship of the participle
      without spot or blemish.                                               and the finite verb in this admonition. The sentence con-
          And our loins of the mind must also be girt up `in the             struction is as follows:  `I. . . . laying aside all malice . . . .
      constant remembrance, that God has made us His regen-                  desire the sincere milk of the Word." We have the same
      erated ones out of incorruptible seed through the living and           type of construction in Chapter  1:13, where we read "girding
      abiding Word of God. Only with this great reality of our               up the loins of your mind . . . . hope perfectly," and in 1:22
      new birth in mind, shall we be spiritually fit for eating the          where we read : "having purified your souls in the obedience
      only food that can nourish us in the grace and knowledge of            to the truth . . . . love each other fervently." Notice, that this
      Jesus Christ. Only thus will we grow into all the wonders              is the same type of construction, it. expresses the same kind of
      of God's grace, as this grace constitutes us a spiritual sacri-        relationship. This relationship is not that of a pre-requisite
      fices unto God.                                                        condition. The thought is not that, to use the words of
          Hence, we read in I Peter 2 :l-3 the following : "Wke~e-           Huther  (Meyer's Commentary)  which is "equ>l  to postquam
      fore  laying aside  all  malice  and all guile,'  kypochcies  and      deposuistis (after ye have, fulfilled the demand) but expresses
      envies, and a,11 evil-speakings as newborn babes desire the            the continued purification of the Christian." Compare Eph.
      sincere  milk of  the  word, that we  may  gj-ozv thereby:  if so      4 :22-24 ; Hebrews 12  :l and Colossians 3  $3. Here we do
      be ye have tasted that the Lo+d is gracious."                          not have the relationship of what is before and afterwards,
       * We here call attention to the following elements:                   and then too that the "before" is a command that first must
          In the first place, that, shall we understand the Apostle's        be finished before the latter can begin,- but it is the relation-
      argument, we must bear in mind some pery important facts               ship of concomitancy.  The longing for the pure milk of the
      of Scripture. We must not lose sight of the fact, that Peter           Word, the positive life of holiness and of the new man is
      is here not addressing a mixed gathering of potential can-             only possible and real where the old man of malice, envy
     . didates for heaven and hell; he is not addressing "mankind            and guile and evil speaking is put off completely and con-
      in general," some "esteemed readers." He is writing to a               stantly.  .Unto this putting off of the old man and the hunger-
      definite group of churches, who have the living hope, wrought          ing of the new man we are'admonished in this text.
      by the power of Christ's resurrection in their hearts. He is              It is an exhortation that comes to us in the ministry
      writing to a people that have clean garments of righteousness,         of reconciliation. We are admonished to walk'in  the recon-
      and who must keep themselves unspotted from the world.                 ciliation wherewith God has reconciled us to Himself in the
      Children characterized by the new obedience of faith they              redemption in Jesus' blood. That means that we cleanse our-
      are. Peter preaches unconditional salvation to a definite and          selves in the obedience to the truth of the Gospel. Our "soul"
      concrete address and says: Grace unto you and peace be                 must be purified from all filthiness that makes the pure living
      multiplied !                                                           together in the fervency of brotherhood impossible. The ob-
        - Let us clearly see this all-determining point !                    stacles of sinful flesh must be removed by the children of the
         Then, too, we must not lose sight of the fact, that these           kingdom. They are removed when we obey. Let us beware
e     churches are viewed by Peter as to their standing in this              how we give heed to this admonition! Be not carried away
      world  in  ,need  of  noul-islzment   in the faith and hope. The       from the steadfastness of obedience in the deceit of the stub-


 256                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                                                      -
  bornness of sin and the flesh ! The Lord is not mocked. Her&                 What a fine motivation to long for this milk of the Word.
  too a good tree brings forth good fruits. From a regenerated               But there is more in the text to stimulate the church to
 people must proceed such a walk of godliness and true                     eat. There is also this element to whet the spiriual appetite
 brotherly love which clearly reveals itself in a longing for              of the church, to wit : that they have already  tasted  the good-
 the pure preaching of the Word, in order `to grow thereby.                ness of the Lord in this Word. Writes the Apostle: "if you
  How good and how pleasant it is when brethren dwell to-                  have tasted that the Lord is gracious." The "Lord" here is
 gether in broth&hood. It is like the precious ointment of                 the same as "Jehovah" in Psahn  34 :S. Only here it refers to
 consecration that wholly permeated the clothing of Aaron ;                Jesus, the Son of God in the flesh, as He is the Stone indeed
 it `is like the dew of Hermon. It is the refreshment of the               placed by God in Zion, but rejected of the builders. He is the
 fresh winds from heaven in a dry and thirsty place !                      Covenant God, as He dies for His people, becomes from God
        Does this mean a peace at any price ? It means peace               to us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and complete re-
. except when the very foundations of such a life of peace and             demption. He spells for us the forgiveness of sin. He moulds
 growth in Christian graces are destroyed. For when these                  us more and more after His own image. He breaks down our
 are destroyed, what can the righteous do? The growth of                   sin and pride, and cloths us with meekneess  and true god-
 God's people may not be stunted because the logical milk of               liness. 0, He is good. He is not simply good in the abstract.
 the Word is adulterated. It may not give the church spiritual             He is good in the most concrete sense. He is useful, bene-
 indigestion, upsetting them, disturbing them no end, so that              ficial to us. He is  (lchreestos) good, mild, helpful, full of
 they no longer heart the sound of Jesus' Word that says : Let             pity and endless goodness for us. One taste of the riches of
 not your heart be troubled. Ye are a peculiar people, a royal             this goodness, which will be an endless and boundless portion
 priesthood, a holy nation. When this  is not heard, all pos-              of the saints in the ages to come, and we will desire nothing
 sibility of fervency of brotherhood is impossible.                        better. Then we sing: One thing have I desired, that I will
     Wherefore, we must not lpng for any kind of "inilk,"  but             I seek after! I will seek the good Word of God, put it in my
 it  mtist be milk that has two characterizations.                         mouth and eat it, so that it may be health to my navel, afford
     In the first place it must be "milk." It must be such that            the rock-bottom joys in my life. that shall never fade away.
 it is nourishment for the children of God in their life of faith.             Someone interrupts and says: Doesn't Peter say "if you
 It must be such a Word that it feeds the sheep, and gives                 have tasted . .' . ?" We full agree. The "If clause" here is a
 suck to the lambs. It is the Word that must be so preached                first dlass conditional sentence. This means that in the mind
 and applied to the needs of the children that the hunger is               of the writer it is assumed that the church has "tasted" the
 stilled ; the anxious questions must receive the answer that              goodness of the Lord. The sense can almost be given in the
 gives peace in the blood of the Cross. The spiritual "stom-               paraphrase  "`Since  ye have tasted." However, in the "if ye
 ach" of the saints can only digest such a message and be feed.            have tasted" there is the warning finger of the Apostle to the
 Spiritual health will then be ours. And when we grow old                  children, warning us of the seriousness of not eating, also of
 we will still be fat and flourishing  ; we will proclaim the              the joy that haS been ours in tasting that the Lord is good.
 goodness and usefulness of the Lord's dealings with us as                 Thus in this warning we are stimulated to spiritual appetite.
 His children . We will sing: the Lord is my portion forever.                 For God works grace through admonitions, precepts of
 He is my Rock, my High Tower, my Great  Defence.   -Such                  the Gospel! Let it not be overlooked, new-born babes, says
 is the nature of the milk for the new-born babes, the entire              Peter.  Also  through these admonitions the living and abiding,
 church as long as she is not yet in the full manhood of                   Word of God is sounded forth whereby we are concretely con-
 heaven's perfection.                                                      stituted regenerated ones and reborn children in a healthy
     For we should not overlook the fact, that in the text                 state of spiritual growtn.
 here under consideration,. the churches are expressedly ap-                  Yes, we must long for the logical unadulterated milk.
 pealed to in their being "new-born" children. When Peter                  Just what does this imply. It is more than a  satisfiction of.
 says  "as new-born children" he is not simply comparing them              mere intellectual curiosity to make .an inquiry into the mean-
 to new-born children of natural birth, so that the thought is :           ing of this nature of the milk. Earlier in this essay we
 as new-born children desire milk! so long ye for this pure                pointed out that this milk has two characteristics. These two
 milk of the Word. The Apostle is here referring to the                    are :  1, That it is a reasonable,  .logical milk. 2. That it is a
 essential character of the believers by virtue of the regenera-           word that is  .so unadulterated, that if never traps us into
 tion which is theirs out of incorruptible seed and through the            doing the wrong thing ; it never leads awy from the chief
 living and abiding Word of God. "As new-born babes" in-                   Cornerstone, Christ Jesus. It shines more and more unto the.
 dicates the essential nature of the Church from which must                perfect day.
 needs follow their hunger for the pure' milk of the Word.                    Next time, then, we will D.V. call attention to the nature
 You never have,  a longing for the Word of God with a view                of the milk for which we must long, and why we will then
 to spiritual growth or you have to do with a new-born babe.               Surely have to put away all the leaven of the sin of malice
 Such hunger is an evidence of the new life in Christ and                  and envy and all evil-speaking from our souls.
 of the living hope upon His final return.                                                                                              G.L.


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                                 I





                                                                          sema  against his consistory.  The same is true of the Rev.
                   I N   H I S   F'EAR                               11 Ophof's protest.
                                                                              What does all this mean?
                       Walking in Error                                       It gives the correct answer to the deceptively presented
                                                                          question as to when the case of Rev.. De Wolf became the
         False doctrine and a corrupt life!                               case of his elders, and as to why they had to be deposed. We
         Heresy `and schism !                                             say that this question has been deceptively presented, because
         The lie and sin!                                                 those who asked the question knew very well that the protest
         Since the day that the devil approached man in paradise          was against the consistory and not against Rev. De Wolf.
     till this very day these have always gone hand in hand.              It became the case of these elders the moment the Rev. H.
         Defending conditional theology and defending lawlessness         Hoeksema and the Rev. Ophof filed with that consistory their
     are inseparably -connected !                                         protests. which they intended to send in to Classis  East. That
         Deceiving with the lie of false doctrine and deceiving with      is why  Classis  East decided that all the elders who were
     misrepresentations of the facts go hand in hand!                     walking in the error of those three points of protest had to
         A corrupt doctrine and walking in error belong together !        apologize as well as Rev. De Wolf, the author of the state-
         We like to `have you see that as we begin to write con-          ments. We hope to write more on that subject  .too, a little
     cerning the church political side of the conflict which under        later, the Lord willing, but let is be stated here that in this
     God's providence and grace had brought about a purfication           Classis  was not guilty of "stipulating the whole course of
     of the Protestant Reformed Churches, And walking in error            action." It did not do any more than it was called upon to
     is not living in His fear. He who is afraid of the gospel and        do by the protestants. They  asked for a judgment upon the
     feels safer with the arminian  approach - sometimes called           elders as well as upon Rev. De Wolf and his statements.
     the "pedagogical approach" -- cannot walk in God's fear.
     He must walk in error.                                                  Another fact which is silenced by those walking in error
         One thing that has deliberately been left out of the facts       is that on the consistory meeting of June 1 the motion to
     that were presented (that is, left out by those who wani to          adopt the advice of Classis  carried by a unanimous vote. To
     defend and to- be defended in their stand for conditional            be sure the eleven elders that wanted to defend Rev. De Wolf
     theology and schismatic action) is that the Rev. H. Hoekse-          with his heretical statements did not vote either for or against
     ma protested to Classis  against his consistory, the consistory      the motion  ; and for that reason it was the unanimous vote of
     of the First Protestant Reformed Church of Grand Rapids,             the eleven elders, who stood for the truth, against not one
     Michigan. He did not protest to  Class& against Rev. De              single negative vote. But that in no way alters the fact that
     Wolf.  ,That he did to his consistory,  atid when his  con-          the motion'carried and that unanimously.
     sistory upheld Rev. De Wolf'in his heretical statements, the            From that moment on these eleven men were under dis-
     Rev. H. Hoeksema protested to Classis  against his consistory.       cipline and might never vote- again in the case. In fact the
        `We do not have at hand his protest, since we are at this         Church Order declares that they might not even vote on
     writing serving the congregation  05 our Protestant Reformed         that meeting of June 1 in regard to adopting the advice
     Chuich  at Redlands, California. And we were not sent here           of  Classis.   For, as tie pointed out above, `they were per-
     by the Rev. H. Hoeksema, as a recent Concordia article               sonally involved in the case ever since the Rev. Hoeksema
     would have it. The Rev. H. Hoeksema is not the evil man              and  the Rev. Ophdf filed their protests with the consistory as
     of Rev. De Wolf's cross-bill. He  do& not meddle in the              protests to  Classis  in regard to their behaviour. Article 33
     affairs of other congregations `and take a man out of his own        reads, "Those who are delegated to the assemblies shall- bring
     congregation and send him across the country to a group of           with them their credentials and instructions, signed by those
     people as a lawless dictator. The undersigned was requested          sending them, and they shall have a vote in all matters, ex-
     by the  consistory  of the  Redlands  Protestant Reformed            cept such as particularly concern their persons or churches."
     Church to labour  here, aild undersigned's consistory, realiz-       And article 29 calls the Consistory such an ecclesiastical as-
     ing the need, graciously consented to his coming down here           sembly. There is one way in which they Might be allowed to
     to serve in that need.                                               vote at that June 1 meeting, and that is, they might be given
        But, even then, we remember very clearly that the docu-           the opportunity to vote  for  the  a,doption   `of the advice of,
     ment he sent to  Classis  East contained three points of protest.    Classis  in order thereby to reveal that they, after the thor-
     He protested against (1) lais con.sistory's action in defending      ough discussion of the matter by  Classis,  were now convinced
     the first heretical statement of Rev. De Wolf. (2) He pro-           of their error and u-ould not walk in it anymore.
.    tested against the consistory's  action in defending the second         Now it is claimed that these men were intimidated and
     heretical statement of Rev. De Wolf. And (3) he protested            were under undue pressure, and that they did not vote be-
     against the action of his conssstovy in taking a stand contrary      cause of this fact. That is a misrepresentation of the facts.
     to a former decision without first retracting that former de-        Beside the fact which we just pointed out that they had no
     cision. Besides, the very minutes of Classis  East, we recall;       right even  then  to vote against the advice of  Classis, this
     read to the effect that a protest is read of the Rev. H. Hoek-       thing stands out in bold relief that all the actions of those


 25s                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

 men that evening revealed the very opposite of intimidation           them to .be wrong. They know too that the Church Order
 as does the speech of the Rev. G. Vos as he explained to these        demands that if they think that they have been wronged that
 men the decision of Classis.  That speech of his is a full of         they must appeal to a higher body and meanwhile submit to
 brotherly love as man could ever make his speech. He pleaded          the decision of the majority. BUT THEY CHOSE TO
 with them. He showed them that he `still had confidence-that          WALK IN THE WAY OF ERROR!
 they would do the.right  thing. He warned them. Indeed ! In                And therein is revealed the  hypocricy  of Conditional
 love he warned them not to take "to their bosom" those here-          Theology. It falsely clamors time and again: "Tell  us  what
 tical statements.. He showed them that he was seeking their           WE must DO. Tell us what God has done. But, by all
 good and not threatening them  .with any evil that he or              means, tell us what WE MUST DO !" Don`t you believe it.
 Classis  would bring upon them. He warned them of God's               Those addicted to conditional theology do not want to be
 judgment but not of man's retaliation.                                told what man must do. They choose to walk in error. `They
        And these men were not frightened one bit by his words.        insist on preaching the law as a condition to salvation. But
 Facts show that. After his speech, and even though the whole          they do not intend to walk in that law. They will make
 committee was there to witness it, one of Rev. De Wolf's              their own church order. Conditional theology is not  God-
 supporters made very boldy and rebelliously a motion to               centered, does not seek the glory of God in all -and it there-
 adjourn. the meeting as soon as the committee had presented           fore walks in the way which cannot glorify God. It makes
 the decision of  Classis.  Intimidated  ? Under undue pressure ?      a church order that will seek to glorify man. And when you
 Not at all! Nor did this end their boldness. When the mo-             show them their error, they try to hide behind the false claim
 tion -was then made to adopt the advice of Classis, one of            that to call one's, attention to his evil walk is not to love that
 these elders who defended Rev. De Wolf still dared to make            indi-vidual. That to, let one continue in his sin. is not love to
 in all boldness and rebellion a motion to .table the matter.          God against whom they sin, they conveniently ignore, be-
 Frightened men do not behave that way. M.en under undue               cause Conditional Theology is not concerned with God's
 pressure are not psychologically able to make such moves.             glory but with an erroneous idea of MAN'S salvation.
        Indeed, these men were afraid. They had fear in their               Conditional theology always asks what the conditions are
 hearts, but it was not the fear of the Lord. They feared for          for man's salvation. It does not begin as its starting point
 their own position and honor among men. They were not                 nor have as its goal the glory of God revealed in Christ.
 afraid either of the ,Classis or of the committee sent by the         It is man centered. Therefore it always asks the question,
 Classis  to acquaint them with its decision. They were not            what must I do to be saved ? And that it is a man-made
 intimidated. They were not under undue pressure. They                 theory and lacks the power of the truth of God ought now
 invented this idea later on in order to deceive those who did         to be plain. For though it has been presented to Protestant
 not know the facts.                                                   Reformed membership as essential that man may be kept from
        Besides, here is another fact that the Conditional-walkers-    being careless and profane, Rev. De Wolf  - whom they
 in-error will hush and cover up. The eleven faithful elders           have let be their mouthpiece and scapegoat - has, with his
- together with the Rev. C. Hanko  and the Rev. H. Hoeksema            evil cross bill as well as all his walking in error with his
 in the presence of the committee sent by the Classis gave Rev.        elders and followers, shown us that such a philosophy only
 De Wolf and his elders time to cqnsider  the matter and to            leads to walking in error, to more carelessness of walk of
 decide whether they would apologize. They even gave them              life than our churches had ever seen in their midst before.
 permission to meet as a group to discuss and to decide what           The conditional theology of Rev. De Wolf and followers
 they would do. This was definitely wrong. Such permission             (instigators' also) lead to all the walking in error which
 should not have been given them.  A&d they should not have            followed since June 1.                                      J.A.H.
 been allowed to function in their offices while they took the
 time to decide. But it does show that they were not  put'mlder
 undue pressure and were not intimidated at all.
        Had the consistory sent these eleven men and Rev. De
 Wolf out of the meeting  - as is frequently done in discipline
 cases - and then called them in one by one to ask each ,one
 whether he would apologize, we could understand that they                                       I N   QIEMORIAM
 might make the claim of undue pressure and intimidation.                   The Ladies Aid of the Protestant  Reforrued  Church of  Edger-
 Understand well that such procedure would not have been               ton, Minnesota, expresses its deepest sympathy to our president,
 intimidation or undue pressure, but we say that we could              Rev. H.  Veldman,  in the loss of his Mother,
 understand that they would interpret it as such.                      /                       MRS. J. VELDMAN
        Now it is a plain case of walking in error in order to         on January 17, 1954.
 deend themeselves and to maintain themselves in their false                                         Mrs. Ray Brunsting, Vice President.
 doctrine. They know that they were the ones against whom                                            Mrs. Henry Huisken, Secretary.
 the protest was lodged. They know that  Classis  judged


                                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B.EA.RER                                                    259

                                                                            his face to his face, and the limbs of Elisha were spread over
                                                                            and joined- to each of the limbs of the child, and his feet to
        I        Contending For The Faith . .                               his feet.  If: this thing be considered with respect  to. the
                                                                            inequalty  of our birth and our body, an infant could not be
                  The Church and the Sacrcim@nts                  '         made. equal with a person grown up and mature, nor could
              `EARLY  VIEWS  OF  THE  SACR.AAIENT   OF  BAPTI&              its little~limbs  fit and be equal to the larger limbs of a man:
                                                                            But -in that is expressed the divine and spiritual equality that
   The  question of infant  lxzptism  (contina~ed)  .                       all men are like and equal, since they have been once made
             Having called attention in preceding articles to the views     by God ; and bui- age may have a difference in the increase of
   of the Church Father, Tertullian, with respect to the question           our bodies, according to the world, but not according to God ;
   of infant baptism. we wish to conclude this particular phase             unless that very grace also which is given to the baptized is
   of the question of infant baptism by calling attention to the            given either less or more, according to the age of the re-
   views of Origin and Cyprian, two of the most prominent men               ceivers, whereas the Spirit is not given with measure, but by
   among the early Church Fathers.                                          the love and  merc:y of the Father alike to all. For God, as
             With respect to Origin, considered the most brilliant of       He does not accept the person, so does not accept the age ;
   the early Church Fathers, we merely wish to remark that                  since He shows Himself a Father to all with well-weighed
   he definitely calls infant baptism a usage derived from the              equality for the attainment of heavenly grace. For, with
   apostles and therefore `sanctioned this- Christian practice. In          respect to what you say, that .the aspect of an infant in the
   fact, infant baptism was considered to be a usage derived                first days after its birth is not pure, so that any one of us
   from the apostles in many large sections of the Church al-               would still shudder at kissing it, we do not think that this
   ready during the third century. Already then the appeal*was              ought to be alleged as any impediment to heavenly grace.
made to the rite  of infant baptism as customary. This im-                  For it is written., "To the pure all things are pure." Nor
   plies that already then it was recognized as a custom.                   ought any of  LIS  to shudder at that which God hath- con-
  ,_         Cyp'rian  certainly maintained the sacrament of infant bap-    descended to make. For although the infant is still fresh
   tism. He believed that baptism should be administered to                 from its birth, yet it is not such that any one should shudder
  children as early as possible ; it should not even be delayed             at kissing it in giving grace and in making peace ; since in the
   until the eighth -day .as some in the African church would               kiss of an infant every one of us ought, for his very religion's
   have it on the basis of a comparison with the rite of circum-            sake, .to consider the still recent hands of God themselves,
   cision in the Old Dispensation - we recall that the law in               which in some sort we are kissing, in the man lately formed
 =the Old Testament required.the circumcision of all male chil-             and freshly born, when we are embracing that which God
   dren upon the eighth day. The following quotation from                   has made. For in respect of the observance of the eighth day
   this eminent Church Father, concerning the baptism of in-                in the Jewish circumcision of  the~flesh,  a sacrament was given
 . fants, -should be of interest : ""But in respect to the case of          beforehand in shadow and in usage ; but when Christ came,
   the infants, which you say ought not to be baptized within               it was fulfilled in truth. For because the eighth day, that is,
   the second or third day after their birth and that the law of            the first day after the Sabbath, was to be that on which the
   ancient circumcision should be regarded, so that you think               Lord should rise again, and should quicken .us, and give us
   that one who is just born should not be baptized and sancti-             circumcision of the spirit, the eighth day, that is, the first day
   fied within the eighth day, we all thought very differently in           after the Sabbath, and the Lord's day, went before in the
   our council (Cyprian refers here to a church council which               figure; which figure ceased when by and by the truth came,
   was attended by sixty-six dignitaries of the churches-H.V.)              and spiritual circumcision was given to us. For which reason
   For in this course which you thought was to be taken, no                 we think that no one is to be hindered from obtaining grace
   one agreed  ; but we all rather judge that the mercy `and                by that law which was already ordained, and that spiritual
   grace of God is not to be refused to any one born of man.                circumcision ought not to by hindered by carnal circumcision,
   For as the Lord says in His Gospel, "the Son of man is not               but that absolutely every man is to be admitted to the grace
   come to destroy men's lives, but to save them," as far as we             of Christ, since P,eter also in the Acts of the Apostles speaks,
   can, we must strive chat, if possible, no soul be lost, For what         and says, "The Lord hath said to me that I should call no man
   is wanting to him who has once been formed in the womb                   common or unclean." But if any think he could hinder men
   by the hand of God ? To us, indeed, and to our eyes, accord-             from obtaining grace,`their more heinous sins might rather
   ing to the worldly course of days, they who are born appear              hinder those who are mature and grown up and older. But
   to receive an increase. But whatever things are `made by                 again, if even to the greatest sinners, -and to those who had
   God, are completed by the majesty and work of God their                  sinned much against God, when they subsequently believed,
   Maker. Moreover, belief in divine Scripture declares to us,              remission of sins is granted - and nobody is hindered from
   that among all, whether infants, or those who are older, there           baptism and from grace-how much rather ought we to
   is the same equality of the  .divine gift. Elisha, beseeching
   God, so laid himself upon the-infant son of the widow, who               shrink from hindering an infant, who, being born after the
v was lying dead, that his head was applied to his head and                 flesh according to Adam, he has contracted the cont$gion of


     260                                          T H E ,   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

     the ancient death at its earliest birth, who approaches the        leaders of the Church of God that the early Church Fathers
     more easily on this  very~  account to the reception of the        certainly ascribed great significance to the sacrament of bap-
     forgiveness of sins-that to him are remitted, not his own          tims, connecting with it the grace of God . In fact, one gains
     sins, but the sins of another. And therefore, dearest brother,     from Cyprian the idea that the sacrament ,of baptism is in-
     this was our opinion in council, that by us no one ought to        dispensable unto salvation, that every effort must be put
     be hindered from baptism and from the grace of God, who            forth to baptize the child as soon as possible because it must
     is merciful and kind and loving to all. Which, since it is to      be our striving that, if possible, no soul be lost;, yea, they
     be observed and maintained in respect of all, we think is to       speak of regeneration and the second birth in connection with
     be even more observed in respect of infants and newly-born         this sacrament. In the third place, it also appears from this
     persons, who on this very account deserve more from our            quotation of Cyprian that he seeks the ground for infant
     help and from the divine mercy, that immediately, in the           baptism in the innocence of the infants.' This appears from
     very beginning of their birth,, lamenting and weeping, they        the following remarks in this quotatiqn, and again we quote:
     do nothing else but entreat. We bid you, dearest brother,          "But again, if even to the greatest sinners, and to those great-
     ever heartily farewell."  - end of quote.                          est sinners, and to those who had sinned much against God,
                                                                        when they subsequently believed, remission of sins is grant-
            In connection with this rather lenghthy quotation of the    ed . . . how much rather ought we to shrink from hindering
     learned and eminent Cyprian, we wish to make a few ob-             an infant, who,-being lately born, has not sinned, except in
     servations. In the first place, the thought has probably           that, being born, after the flesh according to Adam . . . .
     occurred to us that this eminent Church Father certainly must      that to him are remitted, not his own sins, but the sins of
     have entertained an arminian conception of the love and grace      another." Hence, whereas Tertullian regarded the innocence
     of the Lord. He writes, does he not, that "by  us  no one          of infants as an argument to reject the baptism of infants,
     ought to be hindered from baptism and from the grace of            Cyprian uses or sees in this innocence an argument to reject
     God, who is merciful and kind and loving to all." We cannot        the baptism of infants, Cyprian uses or sees in this innocence
     declare with certainly at this time whether this learned           an argument' to substantiate the baptism of infants. And,
     leader of the early Christian Church believed in a general         finally, this eminent Church Father urges that infants be
     love and mercy of `the Lord and therefore in a desire of God       baptized as soon as possible and that the Church of God'
     to save all men. We realize that such a conception of the          should not wait until the eighth day according to the practice
     general love and mercy of the Lord, as revealed by the Lord        in the Old Dispensation when the sign of circumcision was
     in connection with the baptism of infants? is entertained to-      administered to all the male children upon the eighth day.
     day'by the Liberated who advocate that the sacrament of            And it is not difficult to understand how the Romish Church,
     baptism is a sign and seal by the Lord of His promise to           especially in the light of what one may read in the writings
     every child who is baptized, and that this sign and seal is        of such an eniment Church Father as this Cyprian, should
     bestowed upon each child in His mercy and love. But we             advocate the administration of the sacrament of baptism to the
     are not prepared to say whether also Cyprian believed in           the children as soon as possible. Neither, is it .difficult why
     that general love and mercy of the Lord. We do well to             children as soon as opossible. Neither is difficult to see why
     bear in mind, and none, I am sure, will dispute this state-        the Romish Church, also in the light of what these Church
     emnt, that the knowledge of the Scriptures was certainly and,      Fathers wrote on the significance of infant baptism, should
     necessarily limited during the New Testament infancy of            ascribe to this sacrament the significance which it does. The
     the Church of God. However, the statement which we have            Church Fathers certainly laid great stress upon this sacra-
     quoted from the writings of Cyprian does not necessarily           ment. This can hardly be denied.
     proclaim and teach a general love and mercy of the Lord.               \                                                       H.V.
     The possibility exists that the infants must not be deprived
     of the sacrament of baptism inasmuch as the Lord is merci-                                     -            -
     ful and kind and loving to all ages, and therefore also as
     including the ages of infants. In the second place, it did not
     *escape  our attention, I am sure, that Cyprian, also in this                             I N   M E M O R I A M
     particular quotation, lays great stress and emphasis upon the        The Young People's Society of the  Edgerton  Prot. Ref. Church
     sacrament of baptism. He writes, for example, and we again         expresses her deepest sympathy to our Pres. Rev. Herman
4    quote: "But we all rather judge that the mercy and grace of        Veldman,  in the death of his Mother,
     God is not to be refused,to  any one born of man . . . . The                            MRS. J.  VELDMAN
     Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save
     them ; as far as we can we must strive that, if possible, no         That God through His Word and Spirit may comfort the
     soul be lost . . . . And therefore, dearest brother, this was      bereaved, is our prayer.
                                                                                                             The Young People's Society
     our opinion in council, that-by us no one ought to` be hindered                                         Wm. Buys, Vice President.
     from baptism and from the grace of God." One can hardly                                                 Arlene Bleyenburg, Secretary.
     escape the conclusion, when reading these passages of these


                                   '
                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                              261

                                                                       cussion and criticism of the two views. We .merely  wanted
            The Voice of Our Fathers.--- - 11 to call attention to the fact that the Cano,ns are infralapsarian
                                                                       in-their presentation of the doctrine of predestination. And
 1'                                                                    whatever our position may be in this respect, we do. well to
                 The Canons of Dordrecht                               notice that -the Canons speak very reverently of this decree
                             PART-TW.0                                 as being  `iprofound." That one word speaks volumes con-
                   E                                                   cerning -the proper attitude of the child of God toward the
                     XPOSITION OF THE  CANONS           .              truth of divine predestination. That profound decree of God
       FIRST  HEAD OF  DOCTRINE OF  DI~~~NE   PREDESTINATION           must not be lightly thought of and spoken of by the- child
                         (Article  6, cont.)                           of God. Nor, by the way, must the profound things of God
        It need scarcely be mentioned ,that again the Cmons in         be ignored. But it behooves the. elect child of God always to
 this connection are infralapsarian, at least by implication.          approach' this truth in amazement and awe and reverent
 Strictly speaking, this article speaks of God's work in time,         worship.
 of the fact that in time He graciously `softens the hearts of
 the elect, and that in time He `leaves the non-elect in His               In passing, we may also remark that the Canons  !erLve
                                                                       no room for a position which men frequently adopt, even in
 judgment to their own wickedness and obduracy. Neverthe-              Reformed circles at times, I refer to the attitude that the
 less; it cannot escape our attention that this work of God            decree of predestination belongs to the secret things of God,
 in time comes forth from His eternal decree, and that there-          while "the revealed things"
 fore by implication the  Can.ons present the infralapsarian                                           are for us and our children.
 conception of the decrees of God. And while it is true that           Those who assume this attitude, with a .mistaken  appeal to
 we may say that the order of history is "infralapsarian," but         the oft-quoted passage of Deuteronomy 29 :29, claim, then,
 that the order of the decreesis supralapsarian, so that history       that we must not proceed from predestination in the preach-
 unfolds in exactly the opposite order than the order of the           ing,  mu.+ not preach about it,  - at least not often,  - in
-decrees (what is last in history,namely, the glory of God in          other words, the Reformed heart-beat of predestination must
 Christ and in the elect church, is first  in God's counsel),          be a weak and scarcely noticeable heart-beat. And those who
 nevertheless-from all indications this is not the viewpoint of        do not agree with this attitude are then accused of "prying
 the Canons. They teach that God elects and reprobates f&n             into the secret things of God." However, the Canons here
 men, not merely fallible men. They teach that the logical             teach us literally that God's discrimination between men is
 order in God's decrees is such that the decree of predestina-         "displayed" in time. And they also emphasize that the decree
 tion follows`the decree of creation and the fall. According to        of election and reprobation is revealed in the Word of God.
 election He raises men out of their fallen state, while ac-           In `other words, the  Canons  literally deny that predestination
 cording to reprobation He leaves them in their fallen state.          is to be classified among the "secret things" of God, and they
 God discriminates between men equally involved in ruin. The hold no brief for that sickly "hands off" attitude. Still more:
 supralapsarian position, on the other hand, maintains that            in the light of these first six articles of the First Head of
 the decree of predestination logically precedes the decrees           Doctrine, it is very plain` that our fathers insisted that the
of the fall and creation, In harmony with this position the            gospel of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ cannot be
 Canons also present here  the. conventional infralapsarian            properly understood, or preached, apart from this truth of
viewpoint, that while election serves the manifestation especi-        predestination. Never must a -Reformed man, therefore, take
ally of God's mercy, reprobation is necessary for the'display          the position that we have nothing to do with the divine decree
of I&is righteousness. And while it is true that God's right-          of predestination. Nor must a Reformed man assign to this
eousness is displayed in the accomplishment of the decree              decree of predestination a separate little niche in the museum
of reprobation, it is not true that reprobation is necessary           of Reformed doctrine, from which niche the doctrines of
unto this end, or even that reprobation is the clearest and            election and reprobation must occassionally  be removed and
highest manifestation of the divine virtue of righteousness.           have the dust of fortgetfulness blown off them in a rare ser-
Certainly, in the cross and resurrection of our  Lord Jesus            mon..- It  .is simply not Reformed to use an  accztsation,  a
Christ the righteousness of God is maintained and revealed             demerit mark, the fact that a man proceeds from the truth of
in the -highest and most positive mamler  conceivable.                 predestination in his theology and preaching. For the Canons
                                                             FLIJT-
the;, in harmony with this infra  .position  is also the ex-           teach.us  here exactly that the work of salvation, God's work
pression "leaves" the non-elect, as well as the fact that the          of salvation, proceeds from and according to His eternal
Canons refer very negatively to the phenomenon that some               decree. And if that be true,  - and it is true, then it also
"do not receive"' the gift of faith. Supralapsarianism wouid           behooves those who proclaim the glad tidings of salvation to
. speak much more freely of a positive act of reprobation, and         proceed in their preaching from that same decree of election
also of a hardening process (the counterpart of the irresistible       and reprobation. Not to do so, and to assume a "hands off)'
calling), as the revelation of that decree of reprobation. How-        attitude toward this truth, is a flagrant departure from one's
ever, we do not intend at this stage to digress from our main          Reformed confessional basis.
subject, the  Canolzs, in order to enter into a detailed  dis-            Finally, and in-close connection with the preceding, the


262                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B ' E A R E R

Cartoss  make a very practical observation in the concluding       solation of this blessea truth in the way of unholin&s and
statement of this article. They teach us,  on. the one hand,       impiety. Just as men who are perverse, impure, and un-
that perverse. impure, and unstable men distort this doctrine      stable distort this doctrine, and in tlze way of their perverse
to their  own destruction. This distortion can take place in       distortion go .to destruction ; so it is only in the way of holi-
various ways. The false prophets of Arminianism distorted          ness and piety that this ineffable consolation of the truth of
that doctrine of predestination very deceitfully by maintainig predestination is attained by God's people.
that they too believed in predestination, and in the meantime                                                            H. C. H.
&hanging  the Scriptural presentation of that truth. The dis-
tortion of that doctrine also takes place when men attempt
to reduce the truth of predestination to fatalism, and present
the well-known argument that if it be true that our eternal
destiny is determined sovereignly from all eternitjr  by God,
then it makes no `difference anymore how we live and how                                I N   `MEMO&AM
we walk. If we are saved,  we are saved  ; and if we are
damned, we are damned. It makes no difference how much               The  collsistory  of the Prot. Ref. Church at Edgerton;  Minn.,
or how little we sin ; it makes no difference either whether       hereby wishes to express its heartfelt sympathy with  ok  brother,
                                                                   consistory member, deacon J. Verhey in the loss of his mother;
or not we strive to walk in all good works; it does not even
make any difference whether or not we believe (if we have                             MRS. ARLE VERHEY, Sr.
faith, we have it; and if God does not give us faith, we cannot       May the bereaved experience  the comfort of our covenant God
believe anyway).. We can be as careless and profane as we          in His promise of eternal life.
please. Such also is a very wicked distortion of this pro-                                             Rev, H.  Veldman,  President.
found_ truth. -The Casozons classify this distortion correctly,                                        Ray  Brunsting,  Clerk.
when they say that it proceeds out of a perverse,  ililpure,
and unstable mind. And it is certainly also correct to say,
as do the fathers, that such distortion can lead only to de-
struction. It tends to destruction exactly because it is a           -.
perverse and impure distortion of the truth as it .is in Jesus
Christ, the truth of God. Would that the children of our                   JEHOVAH REIGNS, LET'EARTH BE GLAD
fathers would consistently maintain this same attitude, in-                    Jehovah reigns ; let earth- be glad,
stead of their frequent and sentimental coddling of such                         And all the isles their joy make ktibwn ;
distorters of the truth.                                                       With clouds and darkness He is clad,
                                                                                 On truth and~justice  rests His throne.
       And, on the other hand,  tq holy and pious souls this
truth affords unspeakable consolation. The truth of pre-                       Consuming fire destroys His foes,
destination' is for a truly Reformed believer no museum piece,                   Around the world His lightnings blaze  ;
no mere dead, dry doctrine. It certainly is not simply a sub-                  The trembling earth His presence knows,
ject for academic discussion and debate. But it has a very                       The mountains melt before His gaze.
high practical value. It affords unspeakablt consolation. In                  The heavens His righteousness. proclaim,
the midst of our sin and darkness, in the midst of weakness                      Through earth His glory shines abroad  ;
and imperfection, it affords the unspeakable consolation of                    From idol-worship turn with shame
the  absqlute  certainty and unchangeableness of our salvation.                  And bow b'efore  the living God.
And to the church in its proclamation of the gospel (and
especially to those  tiho are called to that ministry in the                   Thy Church rejoices to behold
church), when it becomes evident, either  6n the mission field                   Thy judgments in the earth, 0 Lord;
or in the established congregation, that there  are some, many,               Thy glory to the world unfold,
who do not obey the gospel, it affords consolation because                        Suprenie o'er all bq Thou adored.
then the church may remember that also the fact that some do                   All ye that truly love the Lord,
not believe is determined by God Himself. And when that                           Hate sin, for He is just and pure ;
Word has been faithfully proclaimed, those who proclaim it                     To saints His help He will accord
may rest then in the knowledge that the fruit of that preach-                     And keep them in His love secure.
ing, whether the faithful be few  or. many, whether the gospel
preached be a savoi of life unto life or a savor of death untd                 For good men light and joy are sown
death, is not in their own hands, nor determined by the free                      To bless them in the harvest-time;
will of man, but is strictly in the hand of the decreeing God.                 Ye saints, your joy in God mike known
And mark you well, this consolation is for "holy  and pious                       And ever praise His Name sublime.
souls," and for them only. It is impossible to enjoy the con-                                                             FsALM   97


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEA.RER                                                       `263

                                                                           J;V& this practice right? We think not but, nevertheless,
             DECENCY  aid ORDER                              .:]I      it &ntinued: unabated until about the middle of the seven-
                                                                       teenth  `c&t;iry.  Without  attempting to justify this practice
                     Deciding The Call                                  (for we think it was wrong), we may try to explain it. We
                                                                       must remember that during this period many ministers in
     In our last article we stated that we believed that the `the Reformed churches were guilty of wrong doing. Some
current practice of permitting the minister to decide calls            of  then; began to preach without an examination and without
 received from ofher  churches is correct. We base this upon           a calling. Others were self  mad&  intinerant preachers. Still
the fact that the call is addressed to him and not td his con-         others, stationed in a particular place; grew tired of their
 sistory. It is a call for his person, gifts, talents and services.    labor. there and without the consent of the consistory and
 The calling church  through its call-letter urgently requests         without notifying the  classis they would simply leave as they'
 him as an individual servant of Christ to come over and               saw fit. Though they did not receive another call they would
 help them. To that request he, and he alone, can and must             go out and seek greener pastures for themselves and so be-
 respoxid according as. the King of the church speaks in his           canie affiliated with another congregation. It was particularly
 heart, "go here" or "go there." If this were not the case the         against this last mentioned abuse that the tenth article of our        ,
 form and content of the call letter would be a hoax.                  church order was composed. Later many thoughtful men in
    We also `stated that the consistory must have a  vdice             the Reformed churches saw that the article was not altogether
 in the matter. Hers is the prerogative to either grant or             competent and that the treatment afforded many ministers
 refuse her minister the right to consid&  a call from another         under it was unjustifiable. The need for some change was
 church. In the event of an acceptance of the call she must- felt. This became evident in 1771  .when the following declara-
 issue -the- necessary credentials of dismissal. The consistory        tion was incorporated in the "Compendium of -the Eccles-
 must sever the bond between pastor and the congregation.              iastical Laws of Vriesland" :
 In the event local circumstances are such that this would be              "dat het een beroepen dienaar vrij zal staan, zijne con-
 improper and contrary to good order, the .consistory must             ditie te stellen in het aannemen zijns dienst  (zoo hij eenige
 refuse the right to even consider a call elsewhere.                   heeft,  die der  wille:GodS en Zijn Woord gelijkvormig zijn)
  . It was -also stated that in the process of considering a           en in zulken  g&al zal men een vroom dienaar niet bezwaren
 call mutual consultation between the pastor and the consistory        in zijn conscie-ntie,  als hij billijke reden  van vertrek zal heb-
 of the church he serves  is very necessary. The matter vitally        hen.`? ("that a called  ,minister shall be free to stipulate his
 concerns the congregation and her interestst and well-being           condition (that is, if he has any, confromable.to  the fiord of
 may not be by-passed  in the minister's consideration of a new        God and His Word), .and in such a case one shall not burden
 field of labor. This danger is` ever present and especially so        the conscience of a pious minister, if he  Shall  have a just
 when labors in a certain place are difficult  and somewhat dis-       reason for his departure.")
 couraging. Then  consistory, therefore, should lay befdre the           Although this' rule did not at one radically alter the
 minister what she  regar,ds  as best for the congregation.            practice of letting the consistory decide the call, .it was the
 Through prayer and good counsel a proper decision will be             beginning of a change that gradually transferred the right
 reached.                                                              to decide the-call from-the consistory to the minister. Thus
    We also wrote last time that this procedure was not +I:            writes Ds. H.  Bouwman  in his "Gereformeerd  Kerkrecht,"
 ways followed in Reformed churches and for that: reason the           pi. 445:
 original `intention of the tenth article of our church order'            "Het reeht  eener kerk of van een- meerdere vergadering,
 was quite different frbm  the interpretation we now give to           o& het aanvaarden eener roeping  te keeren, was tot aan het
`it. When this article was composed, the consistory or the             einde der 17de eeuw onbetwist. Daarna veranderde de be-
 classis  decided the call instead of the minister. Examples of        sch&wing.   .Men erkende, dat men  tech een dienaar niet
 this may be cited. In 1601 Rev. Vosculius of Epe wanted to            tegen zijn zin kan dwingen." ("The right of a church or of
accept a call from Steenwijk but the classis resolved that he          a broader gathering to stop the acceptance of 2. call was un-
 should stay and so he did. In 1604 William Crynsz,  minister          disputed until the end of the 17th century. After that the
af Maasland, accepted a call frc& Den Briel. The church of             conception changed. One acknowledged that one could  n&
 M'aasland  and the  classis of Delft resolved that he should          force a minister against his own conviction (zin) .")
 stay. It was not until Crynsz had ga'ined from the synod of              Then later in writing about the `fconsent"  of Art. 10 the
 South Holland a reversal of the decision of the two afore-            Prof.--has  the following tb say: "Welk karakter draagt deze
mentioned bodies that he left the congregation to which  he            bewilligirig ? In de 16e en 17e eeuw, zoo hebben wij gezien,
was connected. Rev. Hanecopius of  Breda  acepted  a call              lag de beslissing feitelijk in hand& `van de kerkeraad en
from Go&la in 1620.  Contrary to the advice of the particular          cla&is,  maar sedert de tweede helft der 17e eeuw wer'd aan
 Synod of South Holland,  B;eda insisted that their pastor             den dienaar al meer de vrijheid van beslissing gelaten. Dit
shbuld stay.  Breda's resolve was honored. Hanecopius did              is ook noodig. De dienaar des Woords zelf is de geroepene,
not leave for `Gouda.                                                  en hij is- voor God en voor de gemeente verantwoordelijk,


                                        ----   ------___----   --._-~--   ~~  ~.
        ,264'                 `_           :  "      TRE.  S T A N D - A R D   B E A R - E - R                 -.

        dat hij in deze  roeping   niet  willekeurig handelt.  Fen dienaar,        Perhaps this, too, was `common practice in the churches
        ,die leeft voor des Heeren kerk, zal het niet licht  opnemen,          a few centuries ago. Yet, the question arises as to whether
        wanneer eene' roeping  to hem komt, en zal niet alleen over-           it is proper and-whether it does not vest in t&e  classis a power
        wegen,  &at voor hem zelven goed .is; maar  ook wat tot het            that does not belong there.-  It is not the current practice in
        welzijn der kerk dienstbaar is. Een beroepen dienaar zal de            our Protestant Reformed Churches we know. ..The classis  is
        zaak der roeping  stellen VOOY  bet.aangezidht  des Heeren en          not asked to approve of the acceptance of calls nor is jt in-
        van Hem smeeken  licht en wijsheid,, opdat hij `eene rechte            formed of these accepta&es  before. they are officially made.
        1teUze   kan doen. Hij- zal ook, indien de v&h&ding goed is, When a minister accepts .a call, the consistory dismissing him
        raadplegen met zijne  kerkeraad." ("What character does                sends the credentials to the Classical Committee or if Classis
        this consent bear? In the 16th and 17th century we saw. that           is about to meet to the.Ciassis  i&elf. This is done aft& and
        the decision lay factilally in the hands of the consistory and         not before the acceptance of the call. The classis (or through
        the cla&,* but since the second half of the 17th century the           its. committee) ( finding these credentials in order approves
        liberty of the decision was left more and more with the                them and sends them to the calling church `with this additi-
        minister. And that was also necessary. The servant  Qf the             onal credential :
        Word himself is the one that is called, and he is responsible,            "The classical committee of Classis                       having
        both to God and the congregation, that he will not act arbit-          examined the above credentials, approves them and herewith
        rarily. A minister who lives for the Lord's church shall not           authorizes the counselor of the church of ___ __  ___._.  . to
        take it lightly when a call is  extend?d to him, and shall             proceed to the installatidn.
        not only consider what is good for himself, but also what will                              The aboved named classical committee."
        serve the wellbeing of the church. A minister receiving a call            It appears that this procedure is neither giving consent
        will bring the entire matter of that call before the face of           nor dissent, approving nor disapproving of the acceptance
        the Lord and. will supplicate Him for light and wisd& in               of. the call. It is merely expressing satisfaction that the'
        order that he may be able to make a correct choice. He. will           credentials  given  by the  dismis&ng  consistory are in good
        also, that is, if the -relationship is harmonious, enter into          order. Thereupon it can advise to proceed with installation.
        consultation with his co'nsistory.")                                   Neither does it appear rjght  that a classis exercises the right
             With- this we heartily agree. Neither is it necessary that        of approbating, the acceptance of a call. The aforementioned
        the present article of  .our  church  order be changed. In its         commentary states as a reason .for which classis should have
        present form it is capable of this interpretation  as we showed        this opportunity the following :      .                      ._:
        in our last article. We must remember that if the consistory'             "Because  then  classis has a very  defiriite  interest  ,ih-  the
        decides, an unreasonable consistory may easily do injustic_e           matter. There may be so  many vacancies in the  classis.  or
        to a pious minister. If, on the other hand, the minister has           in  the. neigborhood of the church which the minister con-
        the sole ,right  to decide, an unscrupulous minister abusing           cerned is serving, that in the estimation of the  classis he
        this privilege does injustice to the church. And these things          carinot well be spared at that time.  Classis  may also judge
        are simply actualities which exist  in this present world of           that the continued labors of that particular minister are very
        sin in which the church. fbr a time must abide. The only safe          desirable in the church which he is serving."
        course, therefore, as we see it, is that the consistory~ decides          With this we disagyee.  Classis  is an advisory body. Only
        the right to consider and that the minister, given that.?ight,         in instances when there  is sharp disagreement between a
     r has the responsibility of the  dedision.                                .consistory  and minister in this matter may she express her-
             In concluding our discussion of this article we map' take         self. Then  she is requested to do so; Apart from such cases
        note that it stipulates that acceptance of a call shall be done        she must confine herself to "esamining.the  credentials." The
        "with knowledge on the part of the classis." In the  dut'ch            rest  ljys outside her jurisdiction. If  Classis  does more, it.
        this is "viorweten," prior or for&knowledge. Just what does            would seem she would also have the right-to extend calls
        this mean  ?  :                                                        which she never does except through a particular consistory
             In  the  comnientary  of  Monsma and Van  Dellen  this is         and congregation.
        interpreted to' mean that "the minister who desires  to accept                                                                   G.V.D.B.
'       a call to another church must, therefore, seek consent from                -.                   -                 -
        his consistory not only, but also the. approval of the Classis.
        And that before he notifies the calling  church  that he has                                         NOTICE.
        accepted their call." The minister then coufd send `a provis-             The Synod of the Protestant Reformed Churches of 1953
        ional letter of acceptance to the church concerned. He should          will  ' resume its sessions, Wednesday  .morning,  March 10,
        notify the consistory of the calling church that he has deter-         1954 in the Fourth Protestant Reformed Church at 9:00
        mined to accept the call of their church; that his present             A.M. The Consistory of ~the calling Church, the First Prot.
        consistory has given consent; ahd that he is seeking classical                     '    Ref. Church of Grand Rapids,  Mich.
        apprbval."                                                                                                             J. M. Faber, Clerk.


