                VOLUME xxx                                    SEPTEMBER 1, 1954 - GRA& RAPIDS, MICHIGAN                                                                    NUMBER  20
                                                                                                                                     3.
                                     _                                                         . -
                                                                                                                   Weil,  the texi  gives  us the answer, which is twofold. It
                        A4  -E  D'  1  `i  A T I  Q  TV                                                    says that we-were  at olle time alienated and also enemies in
`,  I : . . - -                                                                    II                      our mind by wicked wo&.                         .,
                        Aliens  crnd   Enemie;   RBconciled                                                      What do these terms mean?                       0
                                                                                                                   To be alienated from God means that we cannot possibly
                  .             "And. you, that were  .sonletime alienated and  ene-                       dwell in His presence.
                         rnies in your  nCnd  by wicked works, yet now has  He
 :                                                                                                                 It means that there is a great obstacle between  us  and
                         reconciled, in the body of His flesh through death,
                         to present you holy and  unblanieable  and  unreprov-                             God, and that obstacle is our sin and guilt.
 \                       able in  His sight."                           Cal. 1 :21, 22                             Wherever God dwells there is light, the light of His own
           And                                                          -                                  Being. And-this light is the swx  ,total of all that is good and
                       you !
         - The Apostle is writing  ;o the  Colosians regarding the. virtuous. That light  incllldes  His justice and His holiness,
glorification of Jesus Christ as the exalted  Heai of the His righteousness and His truth.
        c h u r c h .                                                                                             X?ut we, the Church, haire o&aged these virtues of -God
         _ Therefore he reveals to the  church  that this Jesus is through our sin and guilt. God's wondrous virtues forbid us
        according to God's election the Head of the body, the  ch&-ch.                                     to dwell in His presence.
        He  became  their  Read through God's election. And by the                                                 And So we are aliens.
      same token  .He is' the beginning, the  *first-born  frOm  the                                               &Ioreover,  we are enemies in our-mind 6y wicked works.
        dead so that in all things  I$e might have the preeminence.                                                It is not so that we stand far  away  frpm  OGod in tears
      a,: For, so it pleasecl. God that in Him all the  iulness should                                     and sorrow because we. would so gladly dwell in His pres-
 . . .-  .d%ell. And in Him -to reconcile all  things to Himself,  ence.
       ' whether they be things on earth or things~  in heaven.                                                    Oh n9, but we are entirely satisfied to have it remain so.
                Now that reconciliation shafi be fully revealed in the day                                 We hate God. When He cqmes to us with His revelation we
        bf Jesus Christ. At that time it shall be manifested that* all                                     shout in wicked anger : Depart fro6 me, 0 God ! For in Thy
        things which lay torn apart in the whole Universe',. are                                           ways I have no pleasure.
_ harmoniously united again in the L&d Jesus Christ.                                     -1                        We are enemies of dad in our mind .by wicked works. _
                But its  firstfruits  are now and here: Because the Apostle  :  ~ Behold-the description of all the elect  3s we are by nature. .
        says in my test :  And-you.!   Thg  Chullch of  our Lord Jesus                                            And here is the Gospel of my text: Christ reconciled US
        Christ reveals that they are reconciled now -already. God                                          from -that state and condition, and He reconciled us  com-
        hath reconciled them through the death in the' body-of Christ.                                     pletely.  That's the Gospel that is eternal.                    x
        And that for the purpose that Jesus might present the whole                                        3       That is, He took the obstacle out of the Way Which for-
        Chu&h to God as a holy commonwealth,  unblameable  and                                             bad  us  to  comn&ne  with God the  Father; and He entered
        unreprovable in  God'ssight.  This refers  to&he time when                                         -our*  hearts  -in order to take away our enmity and hatred
        the Churcti. is. the Bride -of Christ shall be manifested with-                                    against God, making us  His friends through regeneration
        out spot and  ..without wrinkle to the praises of the Triune                                       and  .conversion,  through sanctification and glorification.
       ~God.                    "                                                                          -~ That's the  Gospel.
           `.Ancl  you !                                                                                          And you! S                         _~
                You are fully, conipletely  reconciled.                                        -.                                          :k JF  z+ :k
                                           *-  ;i:  * :::
          0       .                                                                                              The  nest  question  to be answered' by `the text is : How
                And                              you!                        ~.                            di! Jesus do that?
                Who are  you,  apart from this word of reconciliation  ?                                        ,. In order to find the answer_ to that question it is perhaps
                                                                                                     .-                                        _I
                                                   -.                                                                                                                 I


 - 4                5    s                                      T H E   STANDARU   B E A R E R

          best to ask: what is that obstacle which keeps us from God's                 Must I thank. Jesus, that wonderful Jesus who died'for
          presence ?  What  is required in order to be reconciled to               me?
          God?,                                                                        That is the' way some say it. But it is not true.
              And here is the answer : the guilt of sin must be `removed.              You must thank the'Triun6 God for so great salvation.
              You see, God cannot and will not deny Himself. Recon-                    And why ?.                        _
          ciliation can only take place through satisfaction of the out-               Because $he dying of the Son of God is the gift of God's'
          raged virtues of. God. Reconciliation must be wrought along              heart. All these things of salvation are of God; of God
          the paths of justice and righteousness.                                  Triune. The  death of Jesus on Golgotha is the gift of His
              knd' the righteousness  a&d the justice of God demand                heart to you and-to me.
     <that  ,t$e sinne;  pay fo; his sins-and guilt. He must atonk, or                ,You see, God needed not to be reconciled. We had to be
          another must atolie  for him.                                            reconciled. And Jesus did just that. He removed the obstacle
              And atonement is first of all paying the price. And the              that barred the way to God,  .an obstacle which we placed
          price is. death, eternal death.                                          there in Adam. But the second Adam took it out of the way.
              But even then we have not said enough.                               And so we may boldly go to the throne of grace. The door
              The devils and. the reprobates pay too, but they never               of heaven is opened. Opened by -God *Himself;
          atone.                                                                       Now we have the right again to live in His presence.
              And here- is the second element of atonement : you must               And this  jtistification  is also the ground for the removal
          pay because you love God so much. You &ust love to pay.                  of our enmity. He seeks out all those for whom He died two
          It l!lust be your rejoicing to pay the price of-eternal death.           thousand years ago, and finding them, He enters their heart
          It must be your meat and your drink to do the will of God                and removes the enmity and hatred against God.  He  rec-
          even though this will would demand that you die the eternal              onciles us to God.
          death.                                                                    . And you!
             And if you can do that, then you can be reconciled to God,                                        * *  *  *
          _ But we cannot, and we will not do that !                                   And -you !
              But there is the Christ of God who not only was willing                  PrQmiscuous   you-?
          to do that, but who actualjy has done that.                -                 Oh  rio ! You are the foreknown, the foreordained from
             He, that is, the  Son of God in the body of His  `-Mesh               before the fouridation  of the, world. You are the chosen, the
          went to hell for  His sheep, and paid. the price out of  the             elect ones from all eternity. Your names are written in the         -
          pure motive of the love. of God.                                         book of life, and their number cannot be increased, nor de:
             That is exactly the way you must say it.                              creased, no, not even by one man or woman.
             The Son ,of God !                                                     . And that becomes evident in time.
             But in the body of His flesh.                                             So&e people go-to church, and seine  do not:
             The Son of God could not do it as the eternal Son of                   Some people sorrow with a godly sorrow to  God,. and
          the- living God, for God's nature cannot die the death.                  sQ?ne  say : what of it?
          Neither did the Divine nature sin. That would not answer                     Some people love God and some hate Him.
          to the rigorous demands of Divine Justice                                   -What of these differences-?
            And so we read that He, that is.God's Son, did it, but in                .*You see, Christ is very busy day and night; He is making
          the body of His flesh, the flesh of the children whom He                 saints .of sinners. He is very busy making you holy and un-
          came to redeem and save.                                                 bla&eable  and m&provable in God's sight.
             And so everythipg is Divinely correct.                          .-        The first two estates are spiritual and the third is a legal
     ,       And so He  .could die the death like no other. For  nd                estate.
          one could do this terrible deed but of such a pure motive of                 He mad:  you &reprovable through' His death and resur-
          love. He losed God as the Son of God.                                    rection. There is now  nd more charge against you.  l?aul
             And therefore He. merited  mYch more than a mere                      asks this question and there is triumph in his voice : who shall
          return to the first Paradise. His wondrous act of Divine                 lay anything to the charge of God's elect? Apd the answer
          love in redemption and salvation lllerits that we-now are in             is : no one ! All the `guilt of sin is removed.
          the bosom of the F&her with Him.                                             And He is very busy in making the church holy.
            The  kverlasting  Covenant of grace is realized through                    Holiness is that virtue where we are removed, cut away
          His wondrous dying.                                                      from sin and corruption, and dedicated, consecrated to that
             And you !                          .                    .  _          which is good, and that is God.
                                  :+     -*          *     *                           He did that -principally  when He came into your' heart
             And you !                                                             and renewed that heart. F.rolil fhen on you loved God, even
             Ar.e you ready to begin your eternal song- of thanks-                 though this  love--must for a time dwell in the midst of the
          giving ?                                              /                  movements of siti that still waf in your regenerated s&l.
             You ask me : Whom musf I thank ?                                          And through  sanctificatio?  He also makes  you  unblame-


                                                              THE~+I~~NDARDBEARER~~                                                                                              4 5 9

           abie,  And that is  an ethical concept. It means that when
           He is through with that libor you will have no stain or spot                                    .THESTANDARD BEARER
           on your whole being. It. follows a process which shall not be                        -Senti-lrtollt~~ly,   erccpt   monthly   dzw-htg  J~cly  a,nd  Az~gcst
           completely finished until the da-y of Jesus Christ when in                       Published by the REFORMED FREE PLJBLIS&NC  ASSOCIATION
           body and soul you shall be entirely beautiful and kind and                     P: 0. Box 881, Madison Square  Station, Grand Rapids 7,  Mich.
           good. Sons and daughters of God.                                                                    Editor- - REV. HERMAN HO&EM*
               I k&w,_ I know that there are very  many spots that still                  Communications  rdat'ive to contents should be addressed to Rev.
           plague you and me. And God knows that too. But we hate                         H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S. E., Grand Rapids 7,  Mich.
           our spots.                                                                     All matters relative to subscriptions  should be  ahdressed to Mr.
                                                                                          G. Pipe, 1463 Ardmore' St., S. E.,  &and Rapids 7, Michigan.
               And when we in sorrow go and tell the Lord how sorry                       Announcements and  Obituaries   musit be mailed  tO the above
           we are for. the spots which still are found on our soul and                    addres and will be published at  d fee of $1.00 for each notice.
           heart against our will, then He tells  us  in deepest night:                   RENEWALS  : Unless a definite  req&st  fo,r  disooatinua&z'  is re-
           As a father pitieth his children so I, the Lord,  pity them                    ceived, it  i's assumed  (that the subscriber wishes  rhe subscription
                                                                                          to continue without the formality of a renewal order.
           that fear Me! My child, I forgive all thy transgressions and                                         Subscriptian price: $4.00 per year
           I will continue to heal your soul from all spiritual diseases !
               Jesus told many poor sinners while He sojourned among                       Entewd  as Second Class  ~wmtter  at  Grand  Rapids,  Micltigajc
           us : Be `of good cheer, My son  ; be of good-cheer, My daugh-
           ter, thy sins are forgiven thee !          .
               How,great  is that good which God has laid away for His                                                    C O N T E N T S
           children !                                                                  MEDITATION  -
                                                                               G.V.        - "Aliens and En&es  Reconciled". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~. . . .457
                                      e--                                                             Rev. G. Vos
                                    Iti MEMORIAM                                       EDITORIALS  -
                                                                                             A Protest and Its Reply. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .460
              With our fellow-deacon, Sierd H. Schaafsma, we express our                             Rev. H. Hoeksema
          -. heartfelt sympathy in the decease of his father
                                  APA SCHAAFSMA                                        OUR DOCTRINE -                                                       .
           on July 6, 1954, and his grandmother                                              The Triple  Knomwledge  (Part III  -  of  Thankfulnffss) . . . .  .462
                                 MARTHA SCHAAFSMA                                                    Rev. H. Hoeksema
           on June  lj, 1954, in Grdningen, Netherlands.                               THE  DAY OF  SHADOWS-
              His  c&fort  in the hour  oft sorrow is derived from the knowl-             1 . T/he Prophecy..of  Isaiah. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .465
           edge that "our  Ahliighty God and Faithful Father turns what-                             Rev. G. M. Ophoff
           ever evils He, sends upon us, in this valley of tears, to our
           advantage."  (Heid.  Cat.  q. 26,  Remans  -1028).                          FROM          HO?Y           WRIT- .
             The Consistory of the Oak Lawn Protestant Reformed Church                       Exposition of Remans  1:14-17..  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ._. . . . . . .46R
                                                           G.  Vanden Berg, Pres.                    Rev. G. `Lubbers
                                                           J. Flikkema, Clerk          IN  HIS  FEAR-
                                                                                                "Walking in Error" (10) :. . . . . . . . . . . . : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .470
                                                                                                     Rev. J. A. Heys
                           W E D D I N G   ANtiIVtiRSARY   _
              On August 12, 1954 our parents                                           CONTENDING FOR THE  FAITH  -.
                                                                                             The Church and the Sacramepts..  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .472
                            MR. and MRS. PETER IPEMA .                                             . Rev. H. Veldman
                   celebrated their thirty-fifth wedding anniversary.
              We are thankful to our  g'racious  covenant Father for the years         THE  `Vkx  OF OER FATHERS -
(          they might spend together, and above all for the training, in-                    The Canons of Dordrecht  (Art. 11). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .474
           struction, and example they have given us.                                                Rev. H. C. Hoeksema.
              May their  remainilig time together be filled with the peace
           that passeth all understanding.                                             DECENCX  AND  ORDER-
                                         Their grateful children:         -                  Leave of Absence . . . * . . :. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : . . I . . . . . . . . . . .476
                                          Mr. and  Mrs. Peter A. Poortenga                           Rev. G.  Vanden Berg
                                          Mr. and Mrs. Cornelius  Ipema                ALI;   AROUND  Us-
                                          Mr. and Mrs. Louis Wierenga                        "A Paithetic  Picture". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . *. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .478
                                          Mr. and Mrs. James Triezenberg                             Rev. M.  Schipper
                                          Mr. and  M&. Henry P. Ipema
                                          Mr. and Mrs. Robert Hoving                   CONTRIBUTIONS  -
                                          Grace  Johanna                                     "The -Farme& Strawstack". . . . . . . . . . . ; . . . . . . . . . . . , . . . . . .479
     I                                    Patheresa Jane                                             George Ten Ebhof
                                          and. 18 Grandchildren.
          Oak Lawn, Illinois,

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

                                                                                 synod without denyitig  the truth or the church order. Ayticle
                     EDIBOWHALS                                                  31 of the Church Order reads : If anyone complain that he
                                                                                 has been wronged by the decision of a minor assembly, he
                                                                                 shall have the right to appeal to a major ecclesiastical as-
                         A Protest  and.its  Reply                       -       sembly, and whatever may be agreed upon by a majority  vote
             From Mr.  John..Meninga-of Kalamazoo,  Mich.,  we re-               shall be considered settled and binding,  sunless  (underscoring
      ceived a protest which he had filed w&h his consistory, the                by the consistory  ..__  ..__._.  :..  __.___.. this "unless" in the article
      former consistory of the First .Protestant Reformed Church                 does not bind every one to a decision of classis "until" it be
      of Kalamazoo, with the request to publish it together with;               proved contrary to the Word of God and the Church Order,
      the answer he received from that former consistory.                        but allows disagreement and unconformity with a decision
         This, we propose to do, at the same time offering our                   without violation of the truth or the Church Order) it be
      comment on the answer.                                                     proved to conflict with the Word of God or with the articles
          The protest is father  brief but, in comparison, the reply             of the chtu-ch order, as long. as they are not changed by a
      is very lengthy. We deem it preferable, therefore to publish               general synod."
      the material in ir&allments,  and let `each installn?ent  be fol-              2. That- when the delegates of the consistory disagreed
      lowed immediately by our critiscism.                                       with the  class&  in seating schismatic- and improper delegates
             Here, then, follows the first installment of the protest and        they did-n&t leave-the truth and fhe Church Order, but were
      its reply :                                                                exercising the right given them by the Church Order as it
             "Protest to the Consistory of the First Protestant  <e-             was their conviction that the  Classis  was doing the wrong
      formed Church of Kalamazoo, Mich.                                          thing as stated in their motivated  n-egative  vote."
          "The undersigned protests against the consistory of- the                 Comment :
      Prot. Ref. Church of Kalamazoo, Mich.                                       1. Indeed, the mandate `of the delegates from Kalama-
          "That our delegates to  Classis   East which was held on              zoo, according to the classical credentials, was that they
      Oct. S, 1953 were not instructed that they had to stay.by  tile            should "take part in all the deliberations and transactions of
      truth, namely, by the Word of God, by the Confession, by                  clasgis."
      the Church Order, and by the Declaration of Principles                         But I am amazed that the delegates from Kalamazoo,
      which give us an interpretation of the Protestant Reformed                through their consistory, `had the sad courage to refer to
      truth and of the confession, in the matter of the  doctrin4               this part of their mandate, for this important part of their
      dispute in the case of the Rev. De Wolf."                                 mandate they never heeded  At. least, as often as I was
          The answer of the consistory to this.part of the protest              present at the sessions of classis, neither Rev. Knott nor his
      reads as follows :                                                        elder took part in the deliberations and discussions on the
          "A. In reply to your assertion that dur delegates to the              floor of the  clasis.  They hardly opened their mouth at all.
      Classia  held ,at Fourth Church in Grand Rapids on .October               The Rev. Knott was me&ber of the committee that produced
      S, 1953 "were not instructed that the delkgates had to stay               the well-known majority Report in the De Wolf case. But I
      by the truth and the church order in the  niatter  of the                 never heard from him one word in defense of his own report.
      doctrinal dispute in the case of  Rey. De Wolf," the consistory           As. far as taking part in the deliberations w%s concerned, the
      would  da11  your attention to two things:                                Rev. Knott and his elder might just as well have remained
          1. That our delegates were instructed to do the very                  in Kalamazoo.
      thing which you mention, namely, to stay with the truth and                   Hence, I say once more that I am amazed that thdse
      the church order..                                                        delegates, through their consistory, have the sad co&age to
          a. The Classical  cyedentials  which are given to the                 quote this part- of the classical credentials.
.     delegates read as  fbllows :"The Consistory of the . . . . . . . . . .        They were unfaithful to a very important, part of their
      Protestant Reformed Church, has appointed the brethren                    mandate. For deliberations and discussions on the floor of
                            and elder _.     ._     _.      . We hereby in-     the  classis always precede and form the basis of the final
      struct and authorize them to take part in all the deliberations           conclusions.
      and transactions of  classis regarding all matters legally                  2. The consistory's answer to the protest of  Mr:
      coming before the meeting and transacted in agreement with                Meninga also refers to Art. 31 of the Church Order. This
      the Word of God according to the conception of it embodied                has become quite a habit of late. It seems that, according td
      in the doctrinal standards of the Protestant Reformed                     the interpretation of this article given by some, also by the
      Churches, as well as bin harmony with our church order."                  consistory of Kalamazoo (what  wns the consistory),  woulcl:
          b. That, however, in the v&y Church Order itself, provi-              leave a Father large loophole for the introduction of anarchy
      ~sion is made, on the basis of settled conviction that the clas-          in the Church of Christ.
      sis or synod has erred or is proceeding on a course con-                      Let me quote the article:
      trary to the Word of God and the Church Order, for those                       "If anyone complain that .he has been wronged by a de- '
     same delegates to differ with the decisions of a  classis or a             cision of a glinor  assembly, he shall have the right to appeal


                                               THESTAND~~RDBEARER                                                               9 461

  to a major ecclesiastical assembly, and whatever may be              the authority to demand that I express agreement with the
  agreed upon by  *a `majority `vote shall be considerecl. settled     "Three Points."
  allcl binding, unless it be proved to conflict with the Word             c.  Sd much about Art. 31. But what about the inter-
  of God or with the Articles of the Church Order, as long as          .pret&ion  by the former consistory of Kalamazoo? It exactly
  they are not changed by a General Synod."           .,               violates this article. It is anarchical. Thi.s is evident already
      Notice that in this article:                                     from the introductory sentence: f`That, however, in the very
      a. Mention is made of cases of appeal. Say that one has,         Church Order itself, provision is made, on the basis of settled
  been wronged by a consistory.. He then appeals to classis.           conviction that the  classis or synod  has erred or is proceeding
  The decision of classis  is to be considered settled and bind-       on a course contrary. to the Word of God and the Church
  ing: But suppose.that  the wronged one still considers himself       Order, for those same delegates to dift'er tiith the decisions
  wronged and cannot agree with the decision of  classis.  Then,       of a  classis or a, synod without denying the truth or the
  he can still appeal, this time to synod. If- the synod agrees        church order."
  with the decision of classis, the matter is definitely "settled          Note the clause : "on the basis of a settled conviction that
  and binding."                                                        the classis or synod has erred." This surely is anarchy; It is
      b. But,  you say, there is an exception -to this rule of a       surely in violation of the Church Order. One may differ ori
  decision being "settled and binding, for Art. 31 itself states       the basis of a settled conviction ? That is pure subjectivism,
  vet-y  definitely that the matter shall l&considered settled and     individualism,  pelagianism.    That surely  rs not Art. 31. It
  binding "unless `it be proved to conflict with the Word of           does not speak of a "settled conviction" but of proof from
  God or with the Articles of the Church Order." Thatis true.          the W&d of God and from the Church Order. And proof is
  The question now is : when, and before whom is this proof to         something fpr more objective than a `fsettled conviction." It
  be Submitted? The only possible answer to this question k :          is not something vague but very concrete. It is something
  at the time when the minor and- major asseigblies  meet and          that can be put black on  white. It is something that  can'be
  before them. Just consider once more the concrete case of            submitted to the judgment of others, that can be accepted or`
  an appeal. One considers himself wronged by a consistory.            rejected. And this is what Art. 31 demands.
  What will he do? Will he simply  say that he is convinced                This is  tile same  cdrruption  on which  Kok has been
  -that the consistory is wrong ? Of course not. He will write         acting  f?r years  .ancl which always wrought havoc in the
  a  prbtest based on Scripture, the Confessions and the  Church       churches. I refer, offhand, to the case dealing with the Rev.
  Order. In other words, he will furnish sbund proof that he           H. Danhof, to the case of Byron Center, and, last but not
  is right and the consistory is `wrong. If his proof is  noi!         least, to the  case of his  anti De Jong's dealing  with  the,
  accepted as valid by. the consistory, he will appeal to classis.     Liberated in the Old Country. It is this  sallie  corruption
 -The  classis will exam&e his protest- and its proof. If  the         which  he tried to defend in- the Superior Court  in Grand
  classis  also finds that' his `protest is not based on sufficient    R a p i d s .                                             a
  grounds and, therefore, agrees with the corisist&y,  and the             This corrupt interpretation of Art. 31 is also evident
 e "wronged one" is-not satisfied, he may appeal to synod and,         from the sentence in the above quoted part of the answer by
  present his proof there. .And if alsb the synod'does ilot agree the former consistory which is-put  ifi; parentheses : "This -.
  with him, he is at the end, and can either  submit  or leave         `unless' in the'article does not bind every one t_o a decision
  the church.                                                          of  classis `until' it be proved contrary to the Word of God
     One more question, What must one that considers him-              and the Church Order, but allows -disagreement and un-
  self wronged by  a, minor assembly do in the meantime, while         conformity ,with a decision without violation of the truth or
  his case is pending. May he go his own way, refuse to sub-           the Church brder." Note the intentional implication of this
mit to the consistory, follow his own head and make open               sentence. Classis  or, in fact, Synod has  made a certain
  propaganda for his case in the church ? By no means. That            decision. No one has ever proved, or even attempted to
  would   be anarchy indeed. In that case, he would become the         prove that such a decisiqn  is contrary to the Word of God or
  proper object of discipline. While  he presents his proof, in        the Church Order. But "until" this is done  or. not done,
  the meantime, he must walk orderly and abide by' the deci-           nothing is settled and binding. Ever-y one may go his own
  sions of the ecclesiastical assemb!y  concerned.                     sweet way. Perhaps, someone has a "settled conviction" that
     This is the  nleaning  of Art.  31 and  _the proper way of        the decision  is `wrong, but has as yet no proof for such a
  appeal.                                                              convic&on. Perhaps, later he will try to find and produce
     You  say, perhaps. that we violated this very way and             proof. In the meantime, he may not be bound by such a
  principle in 1924 when we refused to abide by the decisions          decision. In iact, he may violate it `<without violation of the
  of  Classis  Grand Rapids  East? This is not true. -Our case         truth or- the Church Order" according to the answer of the
  had been finished by the synod of 1924. They never con-              former consistory !
  demned me, still less advised discipline, nor demanded that           We have still more about this part of the answer by the
  I sign the "Three Points." They declared me  Reformed.               consistory.
  Hence, Classis `Grand Rapids East. could not possibly have               But this must wait till our next issue.               H.H.


   &jz-                  ,                            T H E   .ST'ANDARD   B E A R E R

                                                                         other's  sins: They shall purpose together to bring forth the
          _' -a  O U R  Q(WJRlNE                                         church of Christ in future generations,  and. bring  ~11)  their
        -                                                                children in the fear of the Lord. And thus they shall look
                                                                         forward in hope to the realization of the promise, when with
                    THE TRIPLE KNOWLEDGE                                 their children they shall rejoice in the marriage of the Lamb,
             ill  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  HEIDELBERG  CATIKFIISM            and Christ shall present I-Iis bride to the Father without spot
                     P A R T   III-OF   T H A N K F U L N E S S          or wrinkle in everlasting heavenly beauty.
                                LORD'S  DAY  41                                                         LORD'S DAY 42
                                   Chapter 3  "                                         Q. 110. What doth God forbid in the eighth  com-
   . .                         Chastity (cont.)  .~  -_=1-e                       _       mandment        ?        -
                                                                                        A. God forbids not only those thefts, and  robberies,
           Z~ncl- hearing this Word, and knowing his own sinful                         which are punishable by the  nlagistrate;  but he
  nature, he" humbles himself daily before God, with the prayer                         comprehends under the  nanle of theft all wicked
  of: the publican  on his lips, "God, be merciful to me, a-sinner."                    tricks and devises, whereby we design to appropriate
  J?fe implores the God of his salvation daily. for the forgiveness                     to ourselves the goods which belong to our neighbor :
   of  ail  his transgressions, also of the sin against the seventh                     whether it be by force, or under the appearance of
                                                                                        right, as by unjust weights, ells, measures, fraudulent
   commandment. And he implores his God in Christ Jesus                                 nrerchandise,  false coins, usury, or by any other way
   our Lord` for His grace and Spirit, that he may truly hear                           forbidden by God;, as also all covetousness, all abuse
 theseventh  of the ten words,' even in its prohibitive form,                           and waste of his gifts.
   and heed its ever timely warning: "Thou shalt "not commit                            Q.. 111. But what doth God require in this  com-
  adultery."                                                                            nlandment ?  `.
                                                                                        A. That I  pronlote the advantage of  .n~y neighbor
  _.       Hearing this Word, he will tight, by the grace of God,                 . in every instance I can or may; and deal with  hint
  to keep his garments clean: He will flee not -`only from the                          as-1 desire to be dealt with by others: further also
  actual sin of adultery, but from all that may lead up io its                          that I faithfully labor, so that I  lnay be able to relieve
  corruption. He will avoid and condemn all unchaste actions,                           the needy;
  whether in wedlock or outside,  all uncleanness  in- speech
  or gestures, in dress and appearance, in pictures and litera-                                           Chapter 1
  ture. The young man will look for his future companion in                                      Christian Stewardship
  life not in the movie or theater, not in taverns or roadhouses            The eighth commandment, like the two preceding ones, is
  or on the street, but in the midst of the church. And  -the            very brief : "Thou  shalt not steal." Positively, this means
  young woman will not let herself be found by an adulterous             that we shall love the neighbor for God's sake, in Christ
Philistine or Edomite, but seek the companionship of fellow              Jesus.our Lord, in his earthly possessions.
  believers in Christ.. For it is absolutely essential for a Chris-        Although' very  ,briefly, the Heidelberg Catechism treats
  tian marriage that the bond of faith and of fellowship in              this eighth commandment rather completely and thoroughly. i
_:. Christ unite them and sanctify their union. Be ye not  un-           both from its prohibitive,` or negative, and from its positive
  equ'aily yoked together with unbelievers. Weil may  our                faspect.  From the-negative aspect it mentions that the eighth
  Christian youth constantly have this exhortation of the Word           commandment forbids all direct stealing. of theft, not only,
  of God in mind as t.hey  seek their companions for life, lest          but `also all indirect stealing by tricks, deceit, wicked devices
  they experience the sad consequences of disregarding this.             of any kind, and that moreover it forbids. the principle of
  admonition when it is forever too late.                                all these violations of the eighth commandment, which is un-
          Positively, the seventh commandment instructs  us -to  live    doubtedly covetousness. And finally, it explains that the
  in all modesty, chastity, and virtue, motivated by the love of         eighth commandment also forbids all abuse or waste of the
  God in Christ Jesus our Lord, whether in wedlock or in                 earthly possessions which the Lord gives unto us. Positively,
  s%gle   life; It reminds  US,  as we contemplate it in the  light-     the instructor of our Heidelberg Catechism explains that
  of the gospel, that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit.         the eighth commandment requires, that wherever that is pos-
  We shall not make the members of Christ members of a                   sible and permissible, we shall seek the advantage of our
  harlot, nor defile the temple of God by .bestial  corruptions.         neighbor, that we shall deal with our neighbor in regard -to
  When the .Christian young man and woman have pledged                   his earthly possessions as we desire to be dealt with by others,
  their vows, and entered into the sacred covenant of matri-             and. finally, that we shall faithfully labor and take care of
  mony; it shall be their aim to make their married life a re-           the needy.
  flection of God's covenant, of the relation between Christ                When we read these answers of the Heidelberg Cat-  -
 and His church. The husband shall love h$s wife as his own              echism,. we cannot help but think that the world has changed
  body: giving honor to the wife. as the weaker vessel. The              not' principally, but in form tremendously since the sixteenth
  wife shall respect and be obedient to her -husband in Christ.' + century, when the Catechism was written. This is especially
  They shall bear each other's infirmities, and forgive `each            true of the. last century,. and more particularly of the- last


                                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEA,RE'R                                                  463

                  few decades. When we consider the language of this fdrty-          of the earth. and of all things that are therein. He called
                  second Lord's Day, `it looks to us as if it were written behind    them forth. out  -of nothing. Apart from God's creative act
                  the counter of some little grocery store. It speaks of unjust      there was nothing. He was not limited in His act of creation
                  weights, ells, measures, fraudulent merchandise, false coins,      by some kind of material that existed and upon which He
                  et  .cetera.  That is the way in which people used to steal,       wrought creatively. All things are the product of His omni-
                  when the world and society had not yet assumed the gigantic        potent will alone. He called the -things that are not as if
             measures it has today. People do not plug weights any more              they were. Hence, as the Creator, God is the only proprietor
                  to steal a penny, or even half -a penny. We have become            of all things. "The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness there-
                  too big for this. The world has become gigantic in industry,       of; the world, and they that dwell therein. For he hath
                  business, and commerce; and this requires gigantic stealing,       .founded  it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods."
             as, it is committed on a large scale today. But although tha            Ps. 24  :l, 2. And in  Ps! 50: 7, ff :. we read: "Hear, 0 my
                  world- has developed, and has become big in every respect,         people, and I will speak ; -0 Israel, and I will testify against
             essentially it has not changed. Morally and ethically things            thee: I am God, even thy God. I will not reprove thee for
        have not changed one whit.- All the troubles and unrest in                   thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings; to have been continually
             society, the oppression on the part of those that are rich and          before me. I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he
             the revolutions and strikes of those that are the poor, plainly         goats out'of thy folds. For every beast of the forest is mine,
             testifies that the world is still motivated ~by. that sin which         and the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all the fowls of
             leads to the violation of the eight commandment in every                the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine.
             respect. For this there is no cure except the grace of the              If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is
                  Lord Jesus Christ. The form  of. society, may change  ; the        mine, and the fulness thereof." The gold and the silver are
      system of society may change from slavery to feudalism,                        the Lord's. And there is no capitalist that can claim any
             from feudalism to capitalism, or even to socialism and corn-            as his possession. In Joel 3 : 4; 5 we read of Tyre and Sidon :
             munism; but no form of society can change the greed and                 "Yea, and what have ye to do with me, 0 Tyre, and. Zidon,
             covetousness that is in the heart of sinful man. -You cannot            and all the coasts of Palestine  ? Will ye render me a re-
        `cure a cancer by putting on a plaster. You cannot very well                 compense ? And if ye recompense me; swiftly and speedily
             cure a well by washing the pump handle. And so you can-                 will I return your recompense upon your own head  ; Be-
             not cure the evils of society by changing the form,  o.r eveq. cause ye have taken my silver and my gold, and-have carried
             by legislation, as long as the root of the evil is in the heart         into your temples my goodly pleasant things." And in
             of man. There is no cure except the gospel of our Lord                  Haggai 2 :8 we read: "The silver is mine, and the gold is
             Jesus Christ and the grace of His Spirit. Nevertheless, it              mine, saith the Lord of Hosts." As the Creator of the
             is the calling of the Christian'in the midst of the present             heavens and of the earth, Who called forth all things out
             sinful world to love the neighbor as himself for God's sake,            of nothing, IGod is the only- and absolute proprietor of all
             also in respect to his. earthly possessions. And this means             things.
             principally that the Christian, whether he is rich or poor,                Besides, as the Creator He is also the sustainer and the
             regards himself and lives in the midst of the world as  a               governor of .all.things.  From moment to moment He causes
             steward.
             c                                                                       the creation which He formed in the beginning to continue
             1       This is undoubtedly the most fundamental principle of           to exist by `His almighty power and providence. -It is He
             the eighth commandment. To this positive subject of Chris-              that "sendeth the springs into the valleys, which run among
             tian stewardship we must first of all call your attention. This         the hills. He watereth the hills from his chambers : the earth .
             principle implies, in the first place, that God is the only             is satisfied with the fruit of his works. He causeth the grass
             and absolute proprietor of all things, and that we, as His              to grow for the cattle, and herb for .the service of man : that
             stewards, receive. all things from Him; Negatively, this                he may bring forth food out of the earth; and wine that
             means that we do not desire or crave anything in our                    maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make. his face to
             possession of which we cannot say that we acquired it of                shine, and bread which strengtheneth man's heart." Ps.
        `God. In the second place, Christian stewardship implies that                104  :lO, 13-15. "Thou,  makest darkness, and it is night:
             the believer in Christ Jesus manages all his earthly posses-            wherein all the beasts of the forest do creep forth: The young
             sions in the name of God and as before His face. He regards lions roar after their prey, and seek their meat from God.
             himself as in God's employ, and as His servant. And in the              The sun ariseth, they gather themselves together, and lay
             third place, it implies that as stewards of God we expect               them down in their dens. Man goeth forth unto his work
             our reward, both in. this life and in the life to come, from_ and to his labor until the, evening. These wait all upon
             God alone.                                                              thee ; that thou mayest  give them their meat in due season.
        '            These three elements we must briefly discuss.                   That thou givest them they gather: thou openest thine
                     God is the absolute and only proprietor of all things.          hand, they are filled with good." Ps.'  104:20-23, 27, 28,
      - He is such because He is the Creator of the heavens and                      as if man were still in the state of .his original righteousness,
     _  a

        ;
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  464                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

         And what is true of the brute creation is no less. true      change that because God has ordained it ,so. But even apar
  of man. He also was created by God, and the Most High is            from that, in a sinful world God is still the Lord. And  Hc
  his absolute proprietor and governor. And as a being that           still dispenses to everyone his earthly property. But  thiz
  was created after the image of God, the Lord gave him               does not mean that man in general, apart from Christ, ha:
  dominion over the beasts of the field, over the fowl of the         the right to anything in the world. Nor is it so that  Got
  air. and over the fish of the sea,  - dominion  over all  -the      in His grace bestows that right upon the reprobate sinner
  works of God's hands in the earthly creation. In the first          Although man certainly exists, and must exist, for  God'r
  paradise He put man to keep and to dress the garden of              own purpose in the midst of the world, as long as it stands
  Eden. He was God's friend-servant; and as such he stood             he is no `longer God's  stewtird. He has no right to live  ir
  as God's steward in the midst of the world. From Him and            God's house. He has no right to have dominion over al
  in His name he received the earthly creation in his trust and       things. He has no right to life itself. Apart from Christ  he
  possession, not to do with it as he pleased, but to have            is under the wrath of God, and therefore under the curse
  dominion over it ancl manage it according to the will of God        If you wish &speak of a common mandate, this is true-only
  and to His glory.                                                   as far as the  must,  the obligation, to be God's steward in
         Thus it was originally. But thus it is no more.              the midst of the world, is concerned. He must serve God
         Sin entered into the world. This is often forgotten in       with all things, also with his earthly possessions. He must
  the'discussion of the eighth commandment, and the relation          .have dominion over all things in the name of God. HE
  between man and his material possessions is often presented         must acknowledge God as the proprietor of all things. HE
,, and as if man were still a steward of God with respect to          must recognize Him as the one from whom he receives all
  his earthly possessions.                                            things. But if you  wish to include in the common mandate
  But this is not the case. There is no common grace.                 also  *the right of the sinner to his earthly possessions, you
  Neither can we speak of a common mandate.. If there were,           are mistaken. Man has that right no more. He is deposed
  it would indeed mean that man in general, apart from the            as God's steward. He.is discharged from the house of God.
grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, is still a steward of God             I-Ie may not even enjoy the privilege of serving God as
  with respect to  ally things earthy. It would mean not only         steward with his earthly possessions.
  that God is  .still the proprietor of all things and that He            But there is no more.
  dispenses all earthly possessions according to -His sovereign           Not only does man in general, the sinner, damnable
  &I, but it would imply that man still recognizes God as             before God. in his state  of`sin in the midst of the world
 the Lord over  .a11 things. To be God's steward implies,             have no right to live in God's house and be His steward ;
in,".the  first place, that man has the  rig& to his earthly          but neither does he have the power and the will to be
 possessions,, that in the state of sin and guilt he still has        steward of God in regard to his earthly possessions. To a
 the ,rig/zt  to have dominion over all things .in this world, and    mandate belongs the  `may,  the  can, the  will, as well as the
 that God still gives him that right. This right `belongs to the      m11st.    But with the exception of the  must,   man has lost
common mandate. But this is not the case  with the sinner,            all the  elemZnts  of his original mandate. He  Pas no right
 that stands damnable before God. He has no right to any-             to be the servant of God and to live in His house. But
 thing. To be sure, God is still the proprietor and the ruler         neither does he have the power, the ability, and the will to
 over all things in the world. He still causes the human. race        be God's steward. He may not, and can not, and will not,
 to .develop  organically, so that in the organism of the human       and cannot will to serve the Lorcl his God with all his
 rack men are not all alike. -He still governs all the earthly        material possessions. For he is dead in trespasses and sins,
 possessions of men, so that every man receives from Him              incapable of doing any good and inclined to all evil, unless
 whatever he calls his private property, whether he .is rich          he is regenerated  .by the grace of God. He is a rebel in
 OK poor, capitalist. or laborer. It is God, and God alone,           God's house. As far as he is concerned, he dethroned the
 that sovereignly dispenses to every man his earthly posses-          Most High and stands in enmity against Him. His mind
 sions.. Communism, or socialism, in whatever form it may             is darkened, and his will is perverted, so that he does not
 appear, is based  upon  a fundamental mistake, the denial            know God,' will never recognize Him, cannot serve Him and
 that the human race is an organism and that it develops
 organically. According to  Marxian  socialism, which is the          will not serve Him and cannot will to serve Him, least of
 same as communism, men are all alike. The earth belongs              all with the earthly possessions which the Most High be-
 to no one, or rather belongs to -all. All and all possessions,       stows upon him. He is principally a thief, a thief with
 all the earthly resources and goods belong to all men in             respect to God, and hence also a thief in relation to -his
 common, and they should possess  them all alike. But the             neighbor. And therefore we must never speak of a general
 human race is not an aggregate of individuals. It develops           stewardship, or even of a commqn  mandate, of the sinner in
 organcially, and there is an organic distinction between the         respect to his earthly possessions.
 different members of the ' human race. It is impossible to?                                                                   H.H.


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                   465

         THE,~Y OF                                                    to quiet the conquered peoples and to destroy in them the
                                    SHAD~W/S                          hope of regaining their' land and freedom by revolution.
                                                                         Lest Hezekiah tempt them by his insistance  that the Lord
                   The Prophecy of Isaiah                             will deliver them, Rabshakeh asks them to consider whether
                                                             .-       any .of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the
Elinlzim~s  mqzrest; RabslaaFzelz's,~eaction.  Isa., XXXVI:ll-20.     hand of the king of Assyria ? Where are the gods of Hamath
  There now  occured  an interruption in the blasphemous             and  Arphacl  ? Where are the gods of  Sepharvaim   ? And
ranting of Rabshakeh that was caused by a request of Eliakim         have they delivered  Samaria  out of the hand of his king?
and his companions that he speaks  to them in the Aramaic,           Who are they among all the gods of these lands, that have
seeing that they understood that language, and to refrain            delivered their land out of his hand, that' Jehovah should
from speaking the Jewish tongue in the ears of the people            deliver Judah out of his hand (vss,. 18-20) ?
on the wall, lest they be discouraged (vs. 11).                          The logic here seems to be flawless and -must have so
    Qn the wall. - Here Hezekiah's troops would be stand; -impressed the apostates on the wall.
ing on guard. Here a large number of people would as-                   `No god of all the nations has been able to deliver his
semble to,see the ambassadors of the Assyrians and to hear           land out of the hand of Assyria's king. -If all the other gods
their message.                                                       mare that impotent, why not Israel's God just as well ? Why
    Hearing their request, Rabshakeh was sorely  disaphointed        should He be the lone exception ? Isn't it sound reasoning
and provoked, as could be expected. He had hoped for a               to conclude that he can no more deliver "the city" than the
different reaction. It was plain that Eliakim and his com-           other gods were able to deliver their lands out of the hand
panions were unmoved. But might it not be different with             of his master, the king of Assyria  ? And this leads to the
the people on the wall ? They were particularly vulnerable,          conclusion' that his master is tlte God that doeth all his good
as he had  just heard Eliakim intimate. So he resolved to            pleasure-and that, as compared with him, all the other gods,
turn his attention to them. Why shouldn't he, seeing that,           including Jehovah, are vanity. Sennacherib is  the  god. If
as he explained, his master had not sent him to speak to             they serve him, they shall eat the good of his. earth ; but if
their master -meaning Hezekiah - but to the men that sat             they be unwilling, they shall be devoured by .I& sword. For
upon the wall that they might eat their own dung with them           kis mouth has spoken it.
(vs.  12)' meaning that, if they hastened not to surrender               The apostates on the wall may say that this is good logic,
but continued to resist, they would soon be driven to that           a real scientific thought process. But it is not the truth.
extremity by hunger.                                                 It is  the  lie. Jehovah, Israel's God,  ,is the one exception. He
    But the king of Assyria, as Rabshakeh had just admitted,         is God and none else. All other gods are vanity.
had certainly meant his message for Hezekiah. But  Rab-                  The king of Assyria was dreaming the dream of the anti-
shakeh was now decided to- work on  .the people on the wall.         christ, whose type and forerunner he was -the  anti-Christ,
Evidently his purpose- was to strike a breach between them           that man of sin, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts
and their king.                                                      -himself above all that is called God, or that is. worshipped ;
   `So bracing himself and crying with a loud voice in the           so that'he as God sits in the temple of God, showing himself
Jewish language, he exhorts the people on the wall that they         that he is' God (2 Thess. 11 :4).
hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria. His               As to Eliakim'and  his companions, they kept silence and
word to them is, that they must not allow Hezekiah to                answered Rabshakeh not a word. Such had been the instruc:
deceive them; for he shall not be able to deliver them.              tions of Hezekiah. And with reason. Their silence told
Neither must they allow Hezekiah to make them trust in the           Rabshakeh, better than words could, that they despised his
Lord, saying, Surely the Lord will deliver us: this city shall       proposal and that his blasphemies grieved and horrified them.
not be given into the hand of Assyria. They must `not hearken        But should they not have pointed out to him his great sin ?
to Hezekiah. If they do, they will be choosing disaster for          Then they would have been casting pearls before the swine.
themselves. How unspeakably foolish that would .be, seeing           For Rabshakeh knew that he was blaspheming the true God.
that abundant life is theirs for the mere choosing. For let          His people had been living too close to Israel for him not
them consider whHt the king of Assyria is saying to them.            to know that. Through all the ages of the past the Lord
His mandate to them is, that they make an agreement with             had demonstrated through all His marvelous works that He
him by a present, and come out unto him and eat every one            is  the  God. The.  Lord  will rebuke Rabshakeh and his master.
of his vine and every one of his figtree  and drink every one            Heaelziah  laments; He  5wqblo+es   Isaialz   to  pray for  them
the waters of his own well ; until the.king  come and take them      axd  is comforted. Chapter  I~XXl~I:22-~XXXVII:7.
away to a land like their own, a land of corn and wine, a               -Eliakim and his companions came to Hezekiah with
land .of bread and vineyards (vss. 13-17). . .                       clothes rent and reported to him the words of Rabshakeh
   This was the policy with the Assyrians and later with the         (vs.  22).  When he had heard, he rent his clothes, and
Chaldeans. -They transported the natives to another district         covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of
.of the empire and put others in their place, purposing thereby      God. Besides, he sent a delegation to Isaiah including Elia-
                                                                                               -
                                                                                                                                      . .


          4%                                           T H E   sTANDARD  BE.ARER

     kim, Shebna the scribe, and the elders  of the priests. They              That was not his attitude. It `could not be. For if he was
          came to the prophet-covered with sackcloth  (27:1, 2).               to.see God in the land of the living, sing praises to His name
                And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day          forever-and that was `the desire of his heart-he and the;
          is a day of distress, and of rebuke, and of derision: for the        "city" had to be saved. But rebuking the. blasphemer was to
          children  are corn& to the birth - Hebrew ; to the mouth of          save the "city," so that in praying for the former the king
          the matrix-but there is no strength to bring forth  (.vs. 3).        was at once praying for the latter.
                Day of d,istl-ess. -they had reference to the hopelessness        "Though the Lord already had `promised to heal him and
          of the plight of the "city" from a human'standpoint,  and to         to save the city, he again asks, for he had need of being
          their great anguish of  soul  that the contemplation of the ~reassured, seeing that it was a day of distress and of rebuke.
-  plight   c a u s e d   t h e m .                                            ?hat blasphemer had since appeared upon the scene, and he
                It was a day of distress indeed. The whole land of Judah       had need of telling the Lord about whim.
          has now overrun with Assyrians and the city `was  sur-                   We  wmst now attend to the Lord's  reply (71s~.  6, 7).
          roundCd  with them. If the. Lord did not step in to save the
          "city" by a wonder df His grace, they were lost, doomed ta               The Lord had the prophet  tell Hezekiah that he  must
     pecish,  like a woman in travail that, for want of strength,              not be afraid of the words that he had heard, wherewith ti;e
     cannot  bear, bring forth the child of her womb, is doomed                servants of the king of Assyria blasphemed him ; `that by a
     fo  de'ath.  Such  w&now their lamentation, their confession              report that the king would hear, the Lord would cause him           .
     and their plea before God.                                                to resolve. to return to his own land (Hebrew - put a spirit
            Of  ?&z&e.  - the great  .distress  was the rebuke, i.e., it       in him);where he would  .fall by the sword (vss. 6, 7).
     was a word of God to the effect that He was chastening them                  To understand &hat is recorded in the verses that follow
     for their sins by, the Assyrian, the rod of His anger -( 10 6).           it must be born in mind that while Rhabsakeh  and the army
                Of  derisio~n.   - The terrible blasphemies of Rabshakeh,      under him was laying seige to Jerusalem, his `master  Sen-
     the likes of which they had perhaps never before heard. As                nacherib was warring against Lachish  and later against
     ai `expression of their grief and amazement they rent their               Libnah a Canaanite city. What it meant is that at the time
     garments.                                                                 the kipg of Assyria  gad two armies in the field, one at                 "
           ,_  The  child?ex   are  COUZE   to the  b&h.  - To discover how    Lachish and Libnah under  iis own direct command and
     this metaphor is to be applied is not  cask.  The figure as               another at Jerusalem under the command of Rabshakeh.
     such is plain. It is that of a woman-in travail, who, for want               It' must have been. while Sennacherib was occupied with
     of: &rkngth,  all of &ich has been spent in her labors, camlot            the seige of Libnah, that he received a report-it may have
     bear  th: child of her womb, though  .it is brought to the                bken -a mere rumor-that  Tirhakeh   the king of Ethiopia
     mouth of the matrix. Doubtless the matter signified is, that              was on the march to do battle with him (vs. 9a). This was
Jerusale&,  like the woman in the figure, must perish, unless                  the fulfilment  of the first part of the promise of deliverance,
     the Lord Himself, by a wonder of His grace, saved the city.               "An-l I  ,till cause him to hear-a report (or rumor)." For
     This is a good explanation. It is true to fact.  Jerusalem's-             the text states, "So Rabshakeh returned" (vs. Sa) ,  th&t is,
     plight was hopelesss. The Lord must act or the city is lost.              under orders of- Sennacherib, it must have been, he lifted the
B            But there may be more truth concealed in this figure. But         siege of Jerusalem and returned to his master with his whole .
     for the present, we won't explore it any further.                         army to help him against the new oncoming foe. He `had
             We have yet to take notice of Hezekiah's petition to the          heal'd that his. master had departed from Lachish and was
     prophet, It reads, "It may be the Lord thy God will hear                  now'warfing  against Libnah. Here is `where he also found
     ihe  words of  Rabshak&, whom the  k+g of Assyria his                     him (vs. Sb).
     master hith sent to reproach the living Go& and will rebuke                  Though the text of the Scriptures does not literally state
     the. words which the Lord thy dad hath heard: wherefore                   that Rabshakeh returned with his army, yet. this is plainly
lift',up thy  prayec  for the  remant  that is left  lvs. 4).                  implied, it seems to me. First there was the promise to God's
             It may be.  - As coming from the king this was not a. distressed- people that Sennacherib would hear a rumor
     form of speech by which he voiced doubt as to whether the                 (vs.  7;). Then we read, "So Rabshakeh returned (vs. Sa).
     Lord  &as actually willing to send deliverance. But he was                Why  did he return? The following verse (vs. 9) gives the
     humble and contrite. The conviction that he and his people                answer. For he (Sennacherib) heard say concerning Tir-
     had by their  sins fqrfeited the Lord's help was strong in him.           h&ah king of Ethiopia, He is come forth to make war with
     Hence his, It may be.                                                     thee." This was the rumor that Sennacherib  &as to hear.
            If  grieved  him that the Assyrian had reproached, scorned,        The implication is certainly that it caused him. to send word
     derided the living God.  &oving  God, he couldn't stand `it               that Rabshakeh immediately lift the seige of Jerusalem and
     that such befouling of God's name, that alone is glorious, go             hasten to join his forces to those of his master for the im-
     unrebuked.                                                                pending war. Whether this war was actually fought is not
     _      This did not mean that he` cared little whether the Lord           known. The rumor may have been a false one. Yet it had
     save lziliz and the "city," if only He rebuked the blasphemer1            served its purpose.


                                            - T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                      467

    So was Jerusalem now delivered. But  tilight  not  Sen- - the idols of the nations. The Lord therefore by the mouth
nacherib return with his whole army when the Ethiopian               of the prbphet  let him know immediately that He will save
menace had been removed  ? Such must have been  hiS in-              him and the city.'
tention. But he also mu& have reasoned that. he would not                                                                             G.M.O.
have to  ieturn at all to fight against Jerusalem, if only he                                 e-+-s-
could still make H'ezekiah  see that, in view of the hopeless-                               CHURCH NEWS                                 `.
ness of his plight, voluntary surrender of the "city" was the           ,2nd oE GRAND RAPIl?S - Reverend M. Schipper has
only sensible course for him to pursue. If Hezekiah could            accepted the call extended to him. He will be installed on
only be persuaded. Sennacherib decided to make another               the 2nd and will preach his inaugural sermon Sunday morn-
attempt.                                                             ing, September 5.          '
    $0 he assailed Hezekiah  with- another barrage of blas-              HOLLAND  - Reverend J.  McC01lum  -has begun his
phemies.  Ye sent  li?essengers  to tell him that he must not        labors with us following acceptance of our call. His examina-
allow his God- to deceive him by saying that Jerusalem shall         tioli will be held in the October session ,of Classis.
`not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. Hezekiab
must have heard what the mighty kings of Assyria'had done                SOUTH. HOLLAND  - The Consistory  seiected   thq
to all the lands by destroying them utterly  ; shall he be           following Trio: Reverends G. Vos, C. Hanko and G. Vandeti
                                                                     B e r g .
delivered ? Have the gods of the nations delivered them that                                                                   - :
his f&hers in the throne destroyed, such as Gozan and  Haran            -HULL  - The following Trio was selected by the Con-
and Rezeph and the children of .Ed& that were in Telassar ?          sistory : Reverends G. VoS, C. Hanko and G. Lubbers.
Where is the king of Hamath and the king of ArPhad  and                  RANDOLPH  - The Consistory, in behalf of the Prot-
the king of the city of  Sepharvaim,   Hena, and Iva.  (vss.         estant Reformed Church of Randolph, Wisconsin, wants  tb
1 0 - 1 3 )   ?                                                      take this opportunity to  thank  all-those who have helped her
    Having received and  reaa the letter, Hezekiah took it           during the period when she was without a minister and
with him into -the house of' the Lord, where he spread it be-        undershepherd. For almost six months,. Randolph was de-
fore His face (vs. 14).                                              pendent  upon ministers who faithfully fulfilled their Classical
    It  was a  meaningfd  act  expfvssive of the  jostzhve of his    appointments, students, and candidates, who supplied her
heart as this comes oxt in the p'a.yev that lte now zcttms (vss.     pulpit. In all this time -especially during the trying period
15-20).                                                              of the controversy and the preparation for scheduled court
                                                                     hearings, Randolph, with only one or two interruptions, was
    The petitioner sets out with acknowledging that the Lord         supplied by those who canie and ministered the Word and
of hosts, God of. Israel, that dwells between the cherubim,          the Sacraments. For this, tie are most grateful  - that our
is .the God, even He alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth.        need was supplied in spite of distance, inconvenience, and in-
And the evidence? He has made heaven and earth (vs. 16).             clement. weather, at times.
    This is his  confe'ssion.   M'ade under' the constraint of a         We also wish to thank our Moderator, the Rev. G. Van-
living faith in Christ's God, it forms the  foundatiogl  of  the     den `Berg and the Consistory of .Oak Lawn Church  ; the Rev.
rest of his prayer.                                                  Vanden Berg for his untiring labors among us and the Con-.
    Let the:Lord i&line His ear and hear; let Him open His           sistory of Oak Lawn which graciously made him available
eyes and see all the words of Senfiacherib  that he has sent!        to us in our need.
to reproach the living God (vs. 17).                                     Once again; as the Lord has  becii pleased to  send us a
    This is praise in the form of a request. It is thus a            pastor, it is our prayer that we may experience the faithful
decl&ation  of faifh that  tile Lord-does hear and see, He being     and fruitful ministry of the Word - even as in the days of
the living God, and that He will surely' rebuke all revilers         our former pastors, and that the Lord be pleased to keep us
of His name. And so the petitioner also  yants it. Such is           - Pastor, Consistory, and Congregation, faithful to the high
his request. For the love of Gdd is in his heart.                    and holy calling whereunto He has called us.
    True it is that the kings of Assyria have  l&id  waste all .                       The Consistory, Protestant Reformed Church
the lands and their countries, and have cast their gods into                                         Randolph, Wisconsin.
the fire. But this only proved that they were no gods, that                                    *  * *  *
they were the work of mep's hands, wood and stone: That
:is the reason for their having been destroyed (vss. 18, 19).                                  NOTICE
    But the Lord-is  not wood and stone.. He is the God.              Classi's  West will meet, the Lord willing, Wednesday
    Let Him therefore save them from Sennacherib's hand,             morning, 9 A. M., September S, 1954, in  Doon, Iowa. The
that all the kingdoms of the earth may -know that He is ,the         consistories are kindly requested to consider this as an of-
Lord, He only (vs. 20).          _                                   ficial notification.
    So does Hezekiah, under the impulse of God's  1oSe  in                                             Rev. H.  Veldman
his heart, take God's side over against Sennacherib and all                                            Stated Clerk of  Classis  West


468                                              T H E   ST.ANDAtiD   - B E A R E R                                                -.-.. -
I/.                                                                           First of all.  -we  belieire,  it is- necessary to state clearly
             FRO-M HOLY  W.RiT                                       II what the idea and content of the Gospel is. As to the idea
                                                                          of the Gospel we may learn from the term in the greek that it
                                                                          means : good message. The term is euaggelion. It is the good
                Exposition of Remans 1:14-17                              message of God to poor sinners in all their poverty and
        No one can preach the Gospel of Christ except he be               wretchedness, their blindness and hopelessness, their being
called of God ; .only when one is separated unto the Gospel of            dead by reason of their trespasses and sins, children of wrath
Christ can one `stand in strength, can he be fearless in  ihe             even. as the others. For such it is "glad-tidings of the good
knowledge that God is with Fim.                                           t&is  !,of God's Covenant, the new Testament in Christ's
       Such is Paul's constant boast. He never magnifies his              blood. Since the content- of the Gospel-tidings is always .
own person, but he constantly magnifies his office. By virtue             again this.covenant  of gr&e, this new Testament in Christ's
of. this office he is called to serve God  in his spirit in the           blood, written not upon the tables of stones, but upon the
preaching of the Gospel. And his being a debtor is especially             tables of the heart through the Spirit of Christ,' it is called
to the Gentiles. He is a chosen vessel of God to preach the               the Gospel of Cl$st.  Its whole subject  matter is Christ the
Gospel to the Gentiles. God wrought effectually through him               iMessiah,  prophet, priest and king. He is Christ Jesus, the
`unto the Gentiles. He labors `in the consciousness of being a            Crucified One. The subject matter of this Gospel is briefly
debtor to the Gentiles, whether-they be Greeks or Barbarians,             summed up in the Twelve Articles of Faith, the Gospel
ivhether  they be learned in the knoivledge  of the schools or            `revealed by God Himself in paradise, afterwards proclaimed
whether they be unlearned men. Paul is called of God to                   by patiiiarchs and piophets,  portrayed in ,the shadows and
preach to every class of men amongst the Gentiles. For the                ceremonies of the law and finally fulfilled in God's Only Be-
Son of God gathers His church out of the whole human race,                gqtten  Son in our flesh. Thus, in one grand sweep, Paul
ele&unto everlasting life in the unity of the faith. and know&            views the Gospel unto which he has been separated for  many
idge of the Son of God.                                                   years in Remans  1 :l, `3, where we read : "Paul, a servant of
7~' And what  i.s more ~Paul is  not ashamed as far as he is              Jesus Ch&st  a called Apostle, separated unto the Gospel -of
&cerned &t all of the Gospel of Christ.                                   God, which  He before @opv&ed through the prophets of Him
`. `Of t`his wonderful boast  of Paul in the Gospel of Christ' in Holy Scriptures concerning His Son, who became out of
<ve will see more specifically in the Scripture passage which             the seed  of David according to the flesh, but was set forth the
we have chosen for the -next two issues of the Standard                   Son of Goh in power. according to the spirit pf sanctificatioti
Bearer in this rubric  -, "From Holy Writ."                               out of  the resurrection of the dead." Such is the Gospel
       This passage we translate as follows: "Urn+++  the Greeks          ha? in mind when he speaks of the Gospel of Christ.
atid to the Barbarians, both to  the wise nnd to the unlearned                Now this Gospel, this glad-tidings in Christ is a power of,
a debtor I am. Thus according we the pzwpose  is also unto                God into salvation.
you  zwlao   are  ,in Rome to p~cnch.  For I am as  wpects   wqself          The question is : what does Paul here have in mind when
I  a.m not  a.slza.mcd   ,upon the Gospel of Clwist.   For  fiozver of    he- speaks of salvation ?
God ,it is into.salvation  fog eveyy,onc  believing, the Jeti first          We believe that the term "salvation"  (:soteria)  refers
nnd ahi; the Gqpeek, For rigltteotuness  of-God in the sawze  in          really to the whole of the work of Christ for us on the Cross.
~a&-overed  o& of faith into faith, even as is written: the just. Yea,  to this work of Christ not only on the Cross, but also for
Au.11 live out of faith." Remans  1 :14-16.                               us  in His resurrection, ascension, and glorified state in
Paul tells the readers in this passages  ?n a series of                   heaven, as the Christ who is our prophet, priest and king in
reasons why he, as an ambassador of Christ, is not ashamed                heaven. Salvation is then what Christ does for us and .also
pf the tidings that he brings. He does this in a series of                in-zls, that is, in our hearts now, and what `presently will be
reasons, each introduced with the particle  "for,"  "gar"  in             finished in the ressurection. Christ is our Savior. He will
greek. This series goes as follows:                                       save his people from their sins. He is indeed our Soter. His
       1. I am not ashamed of-the Gospel of Christ - for poewer           salvation implies then :
of God unto salvation it is.       I                                         1. That He delivers us from the deepest woe of our sin
       2. Power of  Gbd unto salvation it is for righteousness            and death, our guilt and shame, our sin and corruption. He
of God is revealed in the same out of faith into faith.                   breaks the power of the'devil  in us as our adversary at law,
       3. And since the Gospel is, such power unto salvation,             and also- breaks the works of the devil in  us,  sin's dominion.
such an efficacious message, Paul is not ashamed of it, yea,              Both legally and ethically we are set free.
he is exceeding willing to press. himself into the service df                3 Positively, He is our Savior in that He makes
                                                                             I.                                                            LIS
Christ, even in Rome. He has nothing to loie but is always                full of His grace, writing His law in our hearts ! He makes
the victor. He will thus surely confer some spiritual blessing            us sincerely willing to.live  before and unto Him, ancl assures
in the church to their confirmation in the faith, and mutually            us  that He will continue to perfect His work in us  until in
be comforted together with the believers in the one faith.                the ages to come we shall stand before Him without spot or
       .Let LIS attempt to see a bit more of this.                        wrinkle or any such thing.


                                                           TH&STANDARD   B.EARER                                                                        469

               Such is the salvation of which Paul here speaks.                   have stated it thus. He did not. That should command our
               In this Scripture passage Paul emphasizes that the Gospel          greatest alertness to try to see what the meaning of the Spirit
           is  poz~e~ of God  &to salvation.-                                     is in this text. Then, too, it should be obvious that in thus
               Notice the following here:                                         Paraphrasing the text we would exactly have a Gospel  qf
               1. Firstly that the Gospel is here viewed then not as to           which a ,preacher  is ashamed, because it has a conditional
           its content, but that the con,tent, the message of the Gospel is       power. It is power of God only- if we believe. To say that
           ej%acio~ts  ~)OZU~Y,  as it confers, breaths and infuses the be-       it is a power of God in  Me,  if I believe, is another matter.
           lievers in such a way that it is unto salvation.           -           Then it makes my believing an indication that Gqd's power
               3I. That the idea is not simply that the Gospel-message            is in me. But I cannot say that the Gospel ii a ~)OZUEY  of God,
           of all that is in Christ in us and for us, is simply leading us        if we believe. We therefore cast this possibility aside as so
          unto;  up  to  salvation, but rather that it leads  us  into  (eis)     iiiuch corruption of Scripture.
           salvation. It leads the believer  n&e  a.nd  1+zore  &to all  tlza         2. That the text says that the Gospel is a power of God
           mysteries and glories of Christ. It is the picture of the oak          in every  bne believing is  very noteworthy.-
           tree that &nds its roots down-ward and its mighty branches                 a. In the first place, because it is the hiye twtlz of the
           upward. And thus it causes us to be comforted in `the only             Gospel on this point. It does not simply state  ,what  the
           comfort in life  an-d death in all the  works   of  Christ  for us     believer must do, nor what the believr actually does, but it
           and `in us now, and in the hope of the future glories that             includes. both what the.  object of the power of God in the
           a b i d e .                       -                                    Gospel is (believing one) and what he actztally  does tiy vi&be
               3. That this Gospel message' is such because it  js simply         of being such a believing one.
           I)oWeT  of God. The original does not read  "the  power of                 b. Secondly it espresses  that fhe believing one is exactly
           God. The apostle does not wish to single out this power here;          a believing one `because of this power of God, the Gospel of
           in distinction from other power, but rather wishes to  describe        Christ. Exactly because the Gospel is power of God into sal-
           this power as he pmd~icatcs  into the Gospel. The Gospel as.           vation, the believer is a beiieving one. Such one has the
           means of grace is a power, it is  ejjsicaciorts.   11 is  Di-          Spirit of Christ.
           vi&y   efficacious ! There are other manifestations of  the               c. Thus too we see the folly, not to speak of the refined
           power and Divinity of God in the works of God's creation.              error, of the statement that the text does not say "elect,"
           That too is God's power, But it is not a power that is                 every one that is "elect." I grant the form@ fact, but I deny
           efficacious into salvation. Th&t is only true of the Gospel ;          the implications ! One must then  ,not come with the lame-
           it alone is power into salvation. It is a most positive, healing,      duck reasoning that this has "nothing to d6 with election."
           correcting, instructing,  admonitive  power because it is  life-       One  does not speak thus who has  seen the genius of the
           giving and life af?ording  power. As a power it is in no wise          Canons of Dort ! Exactly  the elective grace of God is the
           dependant  upon the preacher who brings it. It is solely  -a           guarantee of the power of God into salvation of every one
           dynamic which finds it energy in `the Dynamo- God in                   believing ! For this grace makes believers  ; the preaching
           Christ! Thus our fathers spoke of the wonderful `Mystery               makes believers as power of God and also causes these be-
           of faith that it is worked by the Holy Spirit through the              lievers to persevere in the faith. Kept in the power of
           preaching of the Gospkl!                                               God we are through faith by, the power of God, the Gospel
               Of such a Gospel Paul is not ashamed. The need of                  that is efficacious !
           shame is never to be based and founded upon what the Gospel                                      (to be continued)
           in  .its implicit nature, whereas it. is most efficacious in en-                                                                            G.L.
           lightening the sin darkened mind and bending the will. True,                                                    .~.
                                                                                                               --'
           we Cannot trace out this work of God, we cannot fully com-
     .     prehend this dynamic of-the, Gospel; But such it is according
           to the clear testimony of Scripture, and we believe it to be                                WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
           thus !                                                                    .On September  11th our dear parents,
               Now n&ice that the` Gospel is not such a `power in the                        MR. and MRS. OTTO VANDER WOUDE
           hearts and lives of all who hear it proclaimed. It is such not         hope to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary, D.V.
           for every  Jew and Gentile to whom God in His  good-                      We are thankful to our God who'has seen fit to give them to
           pleasure se& the Gospel. The text says that the Gospel is              us and our prayer is that He may bless them in the way that
                                                                                  lies ahead and that they may experience that there is no peace
           suc11  power in "every  on,e that believes."                           apart from God.
               Notice the following matters in this connection:                                            Their grateful Children :
               1. That one cannot paraphrase the text in the following                                                 Mr. and Mrs. Tom Redder
           manner and retain the sense of the Spirit in this passage.                                                  Mr. and Mrs. William Corson
                                                                                                                       Mr. and `Mrs. Eugene Byker
           One cannot thus paraphrase as follows :  "the Gosple is a                                              J o h n   V a n d e r   W o u d e
           liower  of God into salvation  for  eve?-y  om,  ,if they believe."                                                          and 4 grandchildren.
                                                                                  936 Prince St., S. E.
           First of all, if Paul had meant to  eqress  -it thus he could          Graiid Rapids, Michigan.




L


4 7 0   -                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

II  .-                                                                 lawyer one who oppos,ed the Rev, Hoeksema in 1924 ? Why
               I N   ` H I S   F E A R                                 did they have to hire for lawyer one who ,did so much harm
I'                                                                     to the Protestant Reformed constituency in 1924?  Could they
                                                                       not find a lawyer that would suit the case better? Why did
                      Walking in Error                                 this one fit so well, if they love the Protestant Reformed  -
                                (10) .                       '         churches ? He did us much damage then. Are they seeking
                                                                       a repitition ?
      Twice, under oath in the Superior Court. of the City of             And Rev.  Kok knows that the Rev. Hoeksema stated
Grand Rapids, Michigan, Rev.  Kok stated that he considered            time and again, also-under oath in court, that he has only  -
it to be immoral of the Rev. H. Hoeksema to change his!                a few years to live and that he is not interested in the
church political views since the court case began.                     "brick." But he is very much interested in the name, `Prot-
      In the Concordia of July 15, 1954 he dared to write that         estant Reformed Churches; which name Rev. Kok dragged
the Rev. H. Hoeksema would "rather sacrifice-the truth                 iii the mire in the Netherlands. Let  us  readers, especially
than to give up his claim to the properties."                          those out West, remember that the advice of the late Prof.
      These brazen lies have forced us to expose more of his           Holwerda in that letter was exactly that the Liberated should
false -testimony under oath in court. .We do- so reluctantly.          join our churches if they were allowed, and then from within
Would to God it were not necessary. We have no desire                  destroy our churches by spreading the Liberated litkrature~
to quarrel with him personally and find no joy in exposing             of the Covenant and of Conditions and to "help disseminate
his walk of error. But the honor and good name of-the Rev.             the dogmatical wealth of Holland in the Protestant Re-
Hoeksenia  demands it and the honor and good' name of the              formed. -Churches." What dogmatical wealth? The Condi-
Protestant Reformed Churches which Rev. Kok still claims               tional Promise of De Wolf, the Prerequisite of our act of
to represent, demands it. Nor may we allow Protestant Re-              conversion to enter the kingdom etc. etc. And Rev.  1~01~
formed membership to be deceived by it.                                stated on the floor of our  Classis  in May, that he does not
      Rev.  Kok makes bold and evil statements without one             rememb&  ever writing Prof. Holwerda to set him straight
,iota.of proof (or does he intend to give us, pretty soon, some        on these things. And when, as  Classis,  we asked him to
more partial quotations, as he did in court, to make it look           publish what he told his consistory and congregation about
like what he wants it to look?).                                       that letter, he refused to give the -promise that he would.
      We will`give,  as in the past, cold, hard facts that cannot      He refused to give the Rev. H. Hoeksema the permission to
be denied.                                                             publish it. Was he afraid to have the people in the.Nether-
      First of all, let it be borne in mind that all his talk about    lands read it?
the autonomy `of the local congregation and all his appeal to             Does he care about the name Protestant Reformed ? Ha
24 were entirely out.of place in this court trial.                     does only in as far as he feels that it is necessary in order
      `It is not a question, and it was not a question in the          for him to keep the property which he knows he IS going'
court room, as to whether the consistory of autonomous First           to lose. HE said repeatedly.in court that no one could take
Church of  .Grand Rapids, Michigan can be penalized and                their property'away and that no one would. The Rev; Hoek-
have its property taken away from it because it did not abide          sema never spoke that way. Who is after the property, Rev.
by the decisions of a broader' gathering. That was 1924.               Kbk ?
This time the consistory accepted the advice of the Classis.              Besides, no one ever said that these men did not have the
It is rather a question, first of all,. as to whether' a group in      right to form their own denomination, since they could not
the autonomous consistory may refuse to submit to the disci- agree with th_e.decisions  of Classis  East. Had they done that
pline of that. consistory  -and then set itself  up as the  con-       and chosen their own name, we could have friendly relations
sistory and claim its name. Remember  - Oh, how Rev.                   with them. Now by assuming our name,  ~lzey  made the
Kok et al like to have you forget  - June 1 when the                   court case necessary  to. secure the name. That is what we
autonomous,  1,ocal.  consistory of First Church decided  by- are after. To that name we have a right. And only by a
majority vote that Rev. De Wolf and the elders who sup-                civil court can we obtain that. Now they have forced  us
ported him should apologize or be suspended. They refused              into the position wherein we now find ourselves: opposing         _
to submit to this ruling and set themselves  up as the con-            each other.
sistory instead, and claimed the name. Rev. Kok was wise                 In the second place the whole property matter rests, not
enough not to. try to defend a thing like that in court. He            on the Rev. Hoeksema's interpretation of the Church Order,
knew, and his-tactics evidence that he knew, that no such              nor on the interpretation of anyone else, but on the fact that
case could stand. So he tried with all the rest, no doubt with         autonomous, local churches drew up articles of incorporation
their attorney's advice, to turn the attention away from this          in ,which they specified that the properties belonged to those
matter and rather to the autonomy of the local church. Is              who remained loyal to the Protestant Reformed Churches..
that also why these engineers of the Schism of `53; who had            By this the civil courts will be governed.
been waging the "Hate Hoeksema" campaign, hired for their                 But let  Rev..  Kok not sacrifice the truth for a claim to


                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                   471

   the properties. Let him publicly declare- he may use our              Hope Protestant Reformed Church. Why, Rev.  I<ok, did
   department for it-that he is going to  defend his stand,              you address us as. though we have no right to that name ?
   also  after  the court case is  settled;   that he is not going to        Did you change your church political views since the
   change his church political views to save the brick for some          court case began  ?                 .          .
   of his colleagues`; and that if they try to behave differently            Let us for argument's sake assume that you could win
   from what he maintained in court under oath, he will register
   his negative vote after fighting tooth and nail against them.         the  cotirt case, when the Supreme Court of the State of
                                                                         Michigan has ruled two or three times  EXCLUSIVE  OF
      Let us explain.                                                    `24 - which, as we said, does not fit here - in our favour, in
    Rev.  Kok testified under oath that the local church can             far stronger cases than yours. But should you win, could we
   retain the name of the. denominatian  after disagreeing with          call on you, Rev. Kok to get on the witness stand to maintain
   the  Classis  and after either being put  out or after leaving        that we could still keep the name, Hope Protestant Reformed
   the association. It, the local autonomous church, cannot              Church ? Or would you change again by that time  ?
   be penalized any further than to be put out  of'the association,          Would you tell those who would like to get our property
   if it disagrees with the  de`cisions  of the  .broader  assembly.     that it is immoral  ? Would you uphold the autonomy of THIS
   It may not be deprived of its property. What is more, as a            iod church  ?
   local, autonomous church it was incorporated as  a'  Pro;-
   estant Reformed Church, ancl it cannot be penalized by the                And, Rev. Kok, what advice HAVE- you already given
   Classis  by having this name taken away. As he  said,~ his            to a group in another one of our churches where the con-
   group in Holland  .may still  .call itself the' First Protestant      sistory is intact, where no split occured,  certain members of
   Reformed Church of Holland, Michigan. He maintains this               which church make a long trip to you for advice and even
   even though his consistory refuses to abide by the decisions          for services on Sunday, which members in their folly are
   of Classis  East of the Protestant Reformed Churches.                 worried about who will play the organ for them when ( ? ? ? ?)
                                                                         they get the property ? Did you tell them that in the autono-
      Under oath he said things along this line.                         my of the local church, this consistory may retain the name
      Does he intend to practice it? -                                   and the property ? Is that why these members do not take
      Then HE has changed his church political views SINCE               their names off the role 1 Why are they waiting to separate
   LITIGATION BEG-4N as he accused the Rev. Hoeksema.                    themselves from that congregation until the.i-e is a decision
      We  can prove that!                                                from the court? Have you advised them to wait?
      He simply states it of the kev. Hoeksema.                             Be honest, Rev. Kok, and tell the whole world that you
                                                                         stick to your church political views which  you. presented
      We will prove it.                                                  under oath in. court. Tell all those who come to you for
   Undersigned's consistory has in its files a letter  signid            advice that the  loca_l autonomous churches may retain the
  by this Rev. Rok in which we are addressed as the "Hope                name, Protestant Reformed, and that therefore when their
   Protestant Reformed Church."                                          articles of  incorpora.tion  read that the  prbperties  belong  tot
      Why the cluotation marks, Rev.  Kok ? Why do you say               those who remain faithful to the Protestant Reformed
  with these quotation marks that we simply call ourselves this          Churches,, these local autonomous churches shall retain their
  but actually are not? Why do YOU take the name away                    propeity,  regardless of  whi.ch Protestant Reformed  Classis
  from  us. Let  us assume that you  men in what you called              and which Protestant Reformed Synod it is to which they
  the reconstituted Classis  East are the real Classis  East. This       belong. For you claimed in court that  yoil  could'also  have
  you surely are  not. And Judge  .Taylor  told you that you             `that name ; ancl you call yourselv'es  such,
  are not, and you know this. People out West please take                    Do  ,not sacrifice the truth for a claim to the property,
  note ! He had some very uncomplimentary things to say also             Rev.  Kok.
  about that which calls itself Classis  West and is not Classis             You  suffered much for the Protestant Reformed cause
- West. Rev. Gritters will never forget what he said. More of            when yoq were our missionary, Rev. Kok. ,4nd for that you
  that later.  Ancl- it is ALL in the court records. Better not          have your reward. But what has made you change so
  appeal to the Supreme Court, for then it will all be published.        radically from those days?
  It should be anyway.                                                       We understand that your intense hatred toward the Rev.
      But let us assume that this .group is the real Classis  East       Hoeksema moves you to accuse him of sacrificing the truth
  and our congregation wants nothing to do with if.  (You  do            for a claim to the property. But will you tell us what moves
  not have to assume that last part. That is a fact). But such is        you to go to court to claim t%e @operty for one who under e
 the. situation then. Our congregation is not split. A few fam-          oath swears to tlie SAME church political view of which
  ilies asked to'be dismissed from- us. But there is no one else         you unjustly accuse the Rev. Hoeksema ? .
  that claims to be the Hope Protestant Reformed Church.                   i' REV.  KOK, YOU CONDEMNED REV.- DE WOLF ! '
  There is no other bdcly  that cl&x to be the consistory of-the                                (`Co&uud  -0s  page  480)


472                                           T        H    E      S?`A.NDARTj.BEARER

                                                                    &$y thing, or phantom is incapable of.a figure. If, however,
  *        Contending -For The Faith                                (as  Ma&ion  might say), He pretended the bread was His,
                                                                    b&use  He: lacked the. truth of the bodily substance, it fol-
                                                                    lows that He must  hdve  givein bread to  us.  It would con-
            The Church aid the Sacraments                           tribute very well to  the  supPort  of Marcion's theory of a
                                                                    phantom body, that bread should haye been crucified! But
          EARLY  VIEWS  ON THE SACRAMENT  OF THE'                   why call His body bread, and not i-ather  (some other edjble
                         LORD'S SUPPIlR                             thing,  sap) a melon, which  Marcion  must have had in  lieu
                           (Continued)                              of a heart! He did not understand how ancient was this
                                                                    figure of the body of -Christ, who saicl Himself by Jeremiah:
These views  in tlzti e@yly Chztrcl'z  (continued).                 "I was like a lamb or an'ox that is brodght  to the slaughter,
       We concluded our preceding `article with the observation     and I knew not that they devised a device against me, saying,
that the North African -Church revealed rather clear t&den-         Let  us cast the tree  upon His bread  (this is the translation
ties toward what is called the Reformed view of the sacra-. in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old  Testa-
ment of the Lord's Supper. Among the leaders of the North           nlent by the Seventy - H.V.), which means, of cburse,  the
African Church are men as Origin, Clement, Tertulvan,  and          cross upon His body. And thus casting light, as He always
Cyprian. Origin, it  i$ claimed, is the  only one. among the        did, upon the ancient prophecies, He declared plainly enough
Antenicene Fathers (the Fathers prior to the  _ Council of what He meant by the bread, when He called the bread His
ANicaea;  325) who decidedly opposes  those.who take the ex- own body: He likewise, when mentioning.the  cup and niak-
ternal. sign in the Eucharist for the thing itself. He wrote,       ing the ne-m testiment -to be sealed "in His blood," affirms
for example, and we quote  : "As common meat does' not              tlie reality of His body. For no blood can belong to a Yiody
defile, but rather unbelief and the impurity of the heart,          which is not a body of` flesh. If any sort of body-were pre-
so. the meat.which  is consecrated by. the word of God and          sented to our view, which is not one of flesh, not being
by prayer, does not by itself sanctify those' who partake of fleshly, it would not possess blood. Thus, from the evidence
it. The bread of the Lord profits only those who receive it         of the flesh, we get a procif of the body, and .a proof of the
with an undefiled h'eart and a pure conscience." Of Origin          flesh from the evidence of the blotid. In order, however, that
it is said that he developed, in his conception of the Lord's,      you may discover how anciently wine is used as a figure for
Supper, in the merely symbolical line of Zwingli, and did not       blood, turn to Isaiah, who asks, "Who is this that  comet11
attach as much significance to the actual participation of the      from Edom, Bosor with garments dyed in red, so gldrious
Lord's Supper as the other fathers.                                 in l%s apparel, in the greatness of His might? Why are thy
  Tertullian certainly distinguishes between the signs in           garments red, and thy  raiment  as his who comes from the
the Lord's Supper and the  ,body of the Lord Jesus Christ.          tr.eading  of the full winepress  ?" The prophetic Spirit con-
Replying to the  wick&d and slanderous attacks upon the             templates the Lord as-if He were already on His way to His
truth by a certain, Marcion,  Tertullian writes concerning the      passion, clad in His fleshly nature ; and as He was to suffer
Lord Jesus Christ as follows: "Indeed, up to the present            therein, He represents' the bleeding condition of His flesh
time, He has' not disdained the water which the Creator             under the metaphor of garments dyed in red (a metaphor is
made wherewith He washes His  peopl&   ; nor the' oil with          an implied simile,  as for example : he is an ox, meaning that
which He andints them; nor that union of honey and milk             he is like an OX - H.V.)) ai if reddened in the treading and
wherewithal He gives them  tl@ nourishment of the children  ;       crushing process of the winepress, from which the labourers
                                                                     -
nor the bread by which  He represents  His own proper body,         descend reddened with the wine-juice, like men stained in
thus  reqlliring  in  I!& very sacraments the "beggarly ele-        blood. Much more clearly  St?11  does the' book of Genesis
ments" of the Creator." Tertullian, in this quotation, speaks       for&e11 this, when (in the blessing of Judah, out of whose
of the bread as rejwesent~ing  Christ's own prop&-.body.  Else-     tribe Christ was to come according to the flesh) it even then
where, also refuting the wicked Marcion,  .Tertullian  continues    delineated Christ in the person of that patriarch, saying, "He
to speak of the elenients  in the Lord's Supper in the same         washed His garments in wine, and His clothes in the blooc!
vein, and we quote: "When He so earnestly expressed His             of grapes" - in His garments and clothes the prophecy
desire to eat the Passover, He considered it His own feast;         pointed out his flesh, and His  blood in the wine. Thus did He
for it woulcl have been unworthy of God to deiire  to partake       now consecrate His bloocl in wine, who then [by the patri-
of what was not His own. Then, having taken the breacl'and          afch) used the figure of wine to describe His blood." - encl
given it to His disciples, He made it His own body, by say-         of quotation. We have already observed, in parenthesis, that
ing, "This is my body," that-i-s, the figure of my body (notice     Tertullian speaks of the bread as a figure of the body of
that Tertullian here speaks of the bread as the  figzl?*e  of       Christ. We quoted the rest of this writing of Tertullian
Christ's body - H.V.). A figure, however, there could  not          because of the interesting manner in which he refutes M'ar-
have been, unless there were first a veritable body (`Marcion       cion's terrible c&ception of `Jesus' phantom body. That fact
denied that Jesus had a  real_ human bpdy - H.V.). An               that he, in opposition to the heresy of. Marcion,  speaks of'thei


                                                   - T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                              475
                                                                                                                                   .-
       bread as a figure of the body of Christ certainly indicates an        stand, in the light of this quotation, that seeds were sown
       essential distinction between the consecrated elements in the         dul'ing  this early period, for the later development of the
       Lord's Supper and the Lo?d Jesus Christ Whom we spiritu-              Roman Catholic doctrine of Transubstantiation, although -it:
       ally eat and drink. On the other hand, however, Tertullian            must be  -added  that also. here nothing is said of the  change
       must not be understood as merely teaching a symbolical                of the bread and wine into the body and blood of the Lord
       presence of Christ, inasmuch as he, in other places, speaks           Jesus .Christ.
       of an eating of the body. of Christ, and this indicates that              Before we Proceed with our next observation the follow-
       Tertullian viewed the holy Supper as more than a merely               ing may be interesting in connection with the celebration of
       symbolical observarice.                                               the holy Supper during the early period of the Church. Only
          Turning our attention to Cyprian, we note that we have             baptized Christians could receive this sacrament of Com-
       already called attention to his exposition to the effedt  that        munion, this was a universal principle from the very begin-
       water and wine must both be used in the celebration or the            ning. This, of course, also applies in our present day. Here-
      Eucharist. Interesting, I believe, is this short quotation of          tics,  schismatics, and unreconciled penitents were also ex-
       this learned Church Father : "Let us also arln the right hand         cluded, though, we are told, it was sometimes given to the
       with the sword of the Spirit, that it may bravely reject the          lapsed when dying. Interesting, I am sure, is the observa-
       deadly sacrifices ; that, mindful of $65 Eucharist,. the hand         tion that it was the general practice  to give it to children.
       which has received the Lord's body majr  embrace the -Lord            This, I say, is a most interesting observation. The under-
       Himself, hereafter to receive from the Lord the reward of the         signed has often wondered why children in our present day
       heavenly .crowns." This passage certainly indicates that the          shoulcl partake of all the means of grace except the sacrament
       Eucharist was at this time received by the hand of the com-           of the Lord's Supper. They are baptized, attend Divine
       municant, and not placed in his mouth by the minister, as             .service,  and therefore the preaching of the Word. partake of
       some have pretended was the original mode of the administra-          the various means of instruction (in the home, school, and
      t.ion of this sacrament. When Cyprian writes, and we a&in              church), but are barred from participating in the sacrament
       quote him, "For because Christ bore us all, in that He also           of the holy- Supper. And I believe that we may say without
      bore our sins, we  see that in the water is understood the             fear of contradiction that the children were permitted to
      people, @t in .the wine is showed the blood of Christ, "the            partake of the Passover in the Old Dispensation. The custom
       implication is very. clear, that  he did not identify the elements    of placing it in the mouths of dead persons must have been
       of the Eucharist with the Lord Jesus Christ., He declares             deeply rooted, to judge from the number of church councils
      that if water be offered alone, the people are dissociated  fron>      which discussed this practice, and found it necessary to
       Christ, and, if wine be offered alone, Christ is dissociated          prohibit  -it. Much emphasis was laid, following Lev. 7 30
      from the people. Hence, if the mixture of  the wine and                and 1 Cor. 1137, upon purity of body and soul as a prepara-
      water also symbolize the people, how, then, is it hossible  to         tion for Communion. Chrysostom, who is especially strong
      conceive of this element of the holy Supper as identical with          on this point, .requires  a particular preparation by penance,
      the Lord Jesus Christ. Cyprian, therefore, surely advocated            prayer, almsgiving, and spiritual exercises lasting for days.
      the symbolical significance of the bread and wine. However,            As to frequency of celebration, the most which can be said
      he did not advocate-a merely symbolical presentation of the            for this primitive age with any certainty is that it occurred
      elements of the Eucharist, inasmuch as he, too, speaks of an           at least every Sunday, and there is plenty of proof for this
      eating and drinking of the body and the blood o$ Christ. To            in the second century. Our Church Order specifies that it
      eat and drink the body and the blood of Christ surely em-              shall be observed not less than four times and not more
      phasizes a real contact with the Lord Jesus Christ and not             than six time`s a year. One wonders  whither  the Lord's
      merely a feast of remembrance..                                        Supper should be celebrated more than four times a year as
                                                                             is the custom prevailing in our present day. Being observed
          From another of  .the Ante-Nicene fathers we offer the             at least every Sunday, the tendency was toward greater
      following brief quotation : "Aftei this let the sacrifice follow,      freq&nci. Daily celebrations became customary in the West
      the people  standjng  and praying  silent19 ; and when the obla-       by thk beginning of the third century in Africa, as evidenced
      tion has been made, let every rBnk by itself partake of the            Iby Cyprian  ; in Rome at least in. the time of Jerome (died
      Lord's body and precious Plood in order, and approach with             near Bethlehem in 420 A.D.  j.  or much earlier if certain
      reverence and holy fear, as to the body of their king. Let             documents are to be accepted as genuine. At Caesarea in
      the women approacli with their heads covered, as is becoming           Cappadocia the rule was four times a -week, and the leaders
.     the order of women ; but let the door be watched, lest any             of the Church were eager to celebrate it more frequently.
      unbeliever, or one not yet initiated, come in." This passage           The Lord willing, in our following article, we  wilL,call  at-
     ' certainly shows, in the first place, the profound reverence           tention to the idea of the sacrifice which was prevalent in
      which characterized the early Church in its celebration of the         the early Church's presentation of the Eucharist.
      Lord's Supper. And secondly, it  is not difficult to under-                                                                     H.V.


     474                                              ` T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R  _

                                                                                them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one."
              The Voice of Qur- Fathers                                   ' Plainly, according to these verses, Christ's sheep, the elect,
                                                                          II are- imperishable. To the unbelieving Jews Jesus declares -in
                                                                                John 6 :37-40 : "All that the Father giveth me shall come to
                         The Ccmom of Dosdreiht                                 me ; aiid -him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.
                                     PART  TWO  *                               For I came down from heaqen,  not to do mine own will, but
                           EXPOSITION  OF THE CANONS                            the  will of him that sent me. And this is the Father's will
                                                                               = which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I
                    ,       FIRST  HEAD  OF  DOCTRINE                           should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last
                           OF  .DIVINE  PREDESTINATION                          day. -And this is the will of him that sent me, that every
                   Article 11. And as God himself is lnost wise, un-            .one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may. have
                   changeable, omniscient, and onmipdtent, so' the elec-        everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day."
               tion made by him can neither be interrupted nor                  James 1 :17 emphasizes the unchangeableness of the Father
                   changed, recalled or annulled; neither can the elect         in bestowing `His good gifts upon His people in the follow-
                   be cast away, nor their nulnber diminished.                  ing language : "Every. good- gift, and every perfect gift is
.        In `the above translation the word "annulled," while it                from above,  and cometh down from  the'  Father of lights,
     perhaps conveys the general idea of the original, can hardly               with whom is `no  variatileness,  neither shadow of turning."
     be  adnlitted  as an accurate rendering of the Latin n~ru?@i.              And, to quote no inore,  there is that most beautiful passage
     The Dutch  "ufgeb~oken" (broken off) is more correct. For                  in Hebrews 6 :16-19  : "For men verily swear by the greater :
     the rest the translation is  .correct. -1                                  and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of `all strife.
        Also in this article there is no fundamental advance in                 Wherein God, wiliing more abundantly to shew unto the
     thought over Article 7. For the main thought of Article 11                 heir8 of promise the immutability of his  councel,  confirmed it
-is that election is unchangeable, which thought was main-                      by- an oath : That by two immutable things, in which it was
     tained in Article 7 when it taught  that' "election is the un-             impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation,
     changeable purpose of God," and again in the  same  article;               who have fled for -refuge to l&j hold upon the hope set before
     when it declared that God decreed to-give the elect to Christ,             us : Which hope tie have as an anchor of the soul, both sure;
     to be saved by Him, etc., "and having powerfully preserved                 and stedfast, and which entereth into that within thk veil."
     them in the fellbwship  of his Son, finally, to glorify them for           It may be,  tbn,   tliat the available Scriptural proof was  so
     the demonstration of his mercy." Hence, the present article                abundarit  and"so  transparent that it was thought unnecessary
     is simply an elaboration of the same thought, and a very                   to quote it. On the other hand, however, we may notice that
     beautiful one too. In one brief and concise statement the                  the argument of this eleventh article is inescapably logical.
     fathers connect the  imm@ability  of the decree of election with           Anyone who  wantS  to maintain the least semblance of
     the attributes of the decreeing God.                                       orthodoxy will have to grant the truths of God's wisdoni,
        The question may arise here: why were not the  Sdrip-                   immutability, omniscience, and omnipotence. When  theses
     tures quoted to support the contention of this article ? More              are granted, then the immutability of God's election inevitably
     than one reason may be given for this. Certainly it is not                 fBllows. To maintain the former implies that you must
     true that no Scriptures can  .be found which present the above             maintain the latter; and to deny the latter cqnstrains you tti
     thought. For the passages are numerous. We may m&tion                      deny  the former.
     the passage in Remans  S :29, 30, already cited in Article 7,                There is, to be sure, one underlyi.ng  principle which forms
     which surely teaches the infallible realization of the purpose!            the foundation of wh?t this article teaches. That principle is
     of election: Malachi 3  :6 is also applicable here: "For I,                that God is One and simple, which implies that there is no
     Jehovah change not; therefore ye, 0 sons of Jacob; are not                 separation of. His attributes : all God's attributes are one in
     consumed."          Isaiah  49:15, 16  -instructs   us  Concerning the     Him. And God's works being the revelation of Himself,
     Lord's constant mindfulness of Zion, His elect, even *when                 they are all characterized  by.His unspeakable virtues. When,
     they complain of being fdrsaken  and forgotten in the follow-              therefore, God chooses some for the demonstration of His
     ing language: "Can a woman forget her sucking child, that,                 mercy, and for the praise of His glorious grace, then is not
     she should not have compassion on the son of her womb ?-yea,               only His mercy and grace revealed. But all God's attributes,
     these may forget, yet will  not I forget thee, Behold, I have              as it were, go-into action. His mercy and grace are character-
     graven thee upon the palms of my hands  ; thy walls are                    ize.d by u-nchangeability,  wisdom, omnipotenec, omniscience,
     con&ually before me." The Lord Jesus  Himself teaches us,                  as well as by all the divine virtues. Such is the principle of
     according to John 10 :27-30 : "My sheep hear my voice, and                 thiS article.
     I know, them, and they follow me: And I give unto them                         Now iet us talte note of the details.
     eternal  iife  ; and they shall never perish, neither shall any               <God is most wise. This means that God always chooses
     ma% pluck them out of my  .hand. My Father, which gave                     the- best means to attain the highest possible purpose. That
     them me, is greater than all ; and no man is able to pluck                 highest possible purpose is God's own glorification. And to'


                                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                               475

      that purpose God~always adapts -His whole counsel and all           God or disappoint Him, for the simple reason that His
      things: and adapts all things to one another with a view to         knowledge is before the event.
      the same purpose. And we must remember too that we, are                 Finally, the article speaks of God's omnipotence. That
      speaking of the wisdom of God, Not only does this imply,            God is almighty is patently Scriptural. But this power of
      accorcling  to Scripture, that this wisdom has nothing to .do       God is never set forth in the Scriptures  as a mere abstract
      with what `the world calls philosopl~y,  but is an ethical idea,    omnipotence. God's claim to  po!ver  is not a philosophical
      so that for the creature too "the fear of the Lord is the           claim to be able to do all things. This would lead to such
      beginning of wisdom." But God's wisdom  3s absolute.  Hk            foolish speculations as those 05 the scholastics, who woul<
      is the only  tiise God.  Ram.  16:27;-I Tim. 1 :17. He is wis-      philosophize about the question whether God was able to
      dom. His wisdom is  I self-existent, eternal, infinite, and         make twd mountains without  :a valley between them. and
      unchangeable. That God chooses the best possible means              such like. The Scriptures always present God's power con-
      does not mean, therefore, that God's wisdom is limited what-        cretely as it is revealed in. the works of His hands. They
     soever.    When man has a certain purpose in mind, he is             present it as a living energy and ability to accomplish things.
      limited to the means at hand. He does not devise the means,         Here too we must remember that God's power is strictly
      but he chooses  .from a whole al'ray of possil$e  means. His        unique and divine energy  and power. It is distinct from any
      wisdom is causal and determinative. Furthermore, God can            power in the creature.' God always performs" what is im-
      never make a mistake. He needs never to retrace His steps           possible for the creature to accomplish. He is the God that
      and try  anothe;.  path. Never can it be said of  God's way         does wonders. And His power is characterized by absolute
      that there is a better way.. Always with infinite perf&ctioQ        freedom and sovereignty. God's power is not restricted by
      He adapts all things both in kternity arid time to themselves       any power outside of Himself. It is causal and`creative.  W&
      mutually and to the attainment of the highest purpose. It is        may very briefly define it as that attribute of God according
      this same wisdom that characterizes God's election.                 to which He does whatsoever He pleases.  Hente,  too, we
          In the second place, the article maintains that God is un-      cannot speak of any power alongside ,of God's power, even
      changeable. This virtue of God is revealed in- the name             though it be not as great as  His. God's is absolutely all
      Jehovah  ; God is the eternal I Am. The creature, that exists       power; and apart from Him there is no power whatsoever.
      in time. and space, can never say "I Am." The moment hei            He holds all creatures in His hand, so that apart from Him
      attempts to say it he has already moved on, and is no more          they have no existence, and cannot  so mpch as move.
     whit he was. put God is the I Am, the Immutable One. He                 Now when we apply these attributes' of God to His
     is all that He is in all the infinite and constant fulness of        election, we come to the  folldwing   conclusiomO  First of all,
     His Being, eternally. God does not grow older; He does not           election can never be interrupted. It cannot be that we are
     jncrease  or decrease in being or in power, dr in glory. He is       now elect and then reprobate. No enemy can interrupt elec-
     fro& eternity to ,eternity  the sa~ile in essence and in all His     tion, for all the movements of the enemy are known-tn ~0~1.
     virtues. His mind arid will, His thoughts and decrees are            determitied  by Him,  devisecl  by Him as means to an end,
     eternally the same.  Never, therefore, does God change His           and-are in His sovereign power and control. We ourselves
     mind.  Known unto Him are all His works from the begin-              cannot interrupt it by fulfillment or non-fulfillment of con-
     ning of the  .&orld.  As far as God's counsel is concerned,          ditions.  For not only is our faith and perseverance unchange-
     which is the reality of all things, all things are, finished from    ably out of God's election, but all our weaknesses and un-
     eternity, and God has `all His works eternally  before-Him.          faithfulnesses  ancj failures are known unto Him, in His
         The Third attribute of God mentioned in this article is          power, and under His direction. Further, in His infinite
     God's `omniscience, that virtue of God according to which            wisdom God also uses even our weaknessei  and shortcomings
     He knows Himself and all things. Surely; this implies thati          for the demonstration of His power and to the-attainment of
     nothing exists and nothing happens unbeknownst to Him.               the purpose of  elect&. In the second place, election is
     But it implies much more. For also here we must keep be-             unchangeable. We cannot change it. And God does  not
     fore us the distinction between  the creature and the Creator.       and will not change `it, no matter what may betide. God's
     Not only is our knowledge ,limited  in every way, so -that we        mind is made up from eternity, and He never' retraces His
     know only a small portion of that which may  .be, knqwn, and         steps for any reason whatsoever. Nor, in the third place, is
     so that we cannot' possibly see things in thei; relation. to all     election ever lecalled. God does never devise a n&v plan, a
     other things, w-hile God knows all things perfectly. But we          substitute plan, a better plan. And finally, election is never
     are dependent in our knowledge  upon the thing  knotin.  Wi&         broken off and destroyed and put. to nought, neither by us
     us the thing must exist before we can know it. With God              and our sins nor by the powers of darkness in their enmity
                                                                          against God and His counsel.
     this is not the &se.  God' knows all things because &te has
     determined what shall be and what  shali happen. His knowl-             God's election is absolutely unchangeable. Because God
                                                                          is unchangeable, it -cannot be changed. Because He is most
     edge is independent and sovereign and determinative.. Hence,         wise, it need not be changed. Because He is omniscient, it
     in His,dealings  with the children of men nothing can suprise                            (Co&wd.   on  page  480)




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4 7 6                                                T H E   STANDARD   B E A R E R
       ~ -.._.__

  II                                                                       It appears, on the other hand, that this interpretation is
                                                                          designed to fit current practices and ignores the historic
  I'                                                                      circumstances out of which the present article arose. Because
 `,                                                                       of this there is a conflict here with the first part of the
                       L e a v e   O f   Absenke                          article. That part speaks of "compelling circumstances which
                        Article   1    4     
                                             (Con?)                       make it necssary to ~discontinue the labors of the office for a
          We were l&idiscu&ing  matters that pertain to the grant-        time." Where these exist it is hardly conceivable that a con-
ing of ministerial leaves of absence. In the preceding  issue-            sistory could  01 would call the minister back into active
       of the Standard Bearer we pointed out sonie of'the reasons         service. If a man obtains a temporary release  froin his church
for which leaves are granted  ; we mentioned  the correct                 to persue  some other labor or to engage in advanced studies,
  procedure to be followed in obtaining a  leave  ; and we stated         the consist&-y might find it necessary to recall  h&l to labor  ia
  that it was quite essential that the consistory and minister            the congregation before the time of his leave is  kxpired.  Hard-
  concerned have a definite understanding concerning certain              ly` could this be the case, however, if one was on leave be-
  things at the time the leave of absence is-granted.                     cause of some`serious illness or was separated from his flock
          This time our attention is to be directed to the meaning        through severeQpersecution.  `The article was originally writ-
       of the last pact of Article 14 which states : "He [the minister    ten tiith a view to these latter cases where certain providen-
       requesting  a  leave)  shall nevertheless at all times be and      tial visitations made it compulsory to lay down the work of
       remain-subject to the call of the congregation."                   the ministry for a time.
         The exact meaning of this part of the article is rather             `It `seems, theiefore, that  the composers of the church
  perplexing.. It lends itself to a variety of possible interpreta-       order  had  something'else  in mind. To understand the part
  tions. There are  some, for example, who point to the very              of the article in question, we must not lose sight of the
  old Dutch Church Orders which speak of "congregations"                  historic  picture,  We stated before that persecutions, which
       (gemeenten) and on the basis of this plural aver that the          dispersed the flock.or separated the minister, were the pri-
  article merely expresses  thar a minister on leave of absence is        mary causes foi which leaves were granted. These conditiond
  at any time eligible to receive a call from any of the churches.        validated, without any. question, the temporary cessation of
  This- is a very simple but evidently incorrect interpretation.          the ministerial labors but they did not'~break  the bond that.
  Both Dr.  Bouwman,and  Dr.  -Rutgers  point out  .upon good             joined pastor and church. They did not put the former out
  authority that  the word "gemeenten" in the older  dutch is             of office. He remained  mi&ter  of the Word so that when
 not a plural at.all but is the forill  for the singular, possessive      the persecutions subsided he could again resume his labor
 case. "Het  Goord- gemeenten is hier in het  enkelvoud   be-             iti the church  frGm which he had been  t&porarily separated.
  doeld, wijl het was de Jweede  paamval van de zwakke ver-               Remaining subject at all times to thk call of the church, the -
  buiging.`,'  This being so, the very basis of this interpretation       minister would thus be protected in his  ofice in these ab-'
 is removed. Furthermpre,  it would be rathkr superfluous to              normal times.
  say fhat ministers on leave of absence are eligible for a call.          On the other hand these  circul~stances  did not give the
 This is naturally then case and generally would be assumed               minister free lance. He might not use these occasions to
 to be so. It needs no special mention.                                   release himself from a c&iain church and her authority. He.
         Others explain this to mean that a minister on leave of          might not begin to preach elsewhere and assume a new charge
 absence can be `re'called at `any time by the particular &urch           without first being' properly  releasecl   fram the church to
 that htis granted, him the leave. According to this view the             which he was bound by the lawful call. He remained subject
 tie between the minister and the congregation is not severed             at all times to that call. If then, for valid reasons, he could
 during this time. The minister is still under the jurisdiction           not perform the duties incumbent in that call, he could be
 of the consistory and is bound by his vows and firomises  to`            temporarily releaskd from all `duty but the consistory, never-
 fulfill his office. Although for the time being the consistory           theless, continued to have sole  juri'sdiction  over him. This
. excuses him from active labor in the congregation, she -may             meant  that at the terhlination  of his leave (when it became
 at any time she deems it necessary call him back.' He re-                possible to again function in office) or at any  t&e during  _
 mains subject to call at all,times.           )       '                  his leave (if it became possible to. labor elsewhere) he
         -There is something that may be said bdth in favor of and        desired to reenter the active ministry, he would do  .60 by
 against this interpretation. Favorable is the view-that the              either being reinstated in the church that had -given  `h&l'
 granting of a leave does not sever absolutely the tie between            temporary leave or he. would obtain from  3hat  church~  a
minister  and congregation. The former remains subject to                 proper dismissal in  acc,ordance with Article 10. At no time
 and under the jurisdiction of the latter. Evkn though salary             would he be free from ecclesiastical authority and act in-
 and parsonage rights are forfeited for a time, the tie remains           dependently. Would that be so, he would be without office *
 intact .by virtue of which the status of minister of the Word            and calling. Now, however, he is at all times subject to the
  is also retained. The `minister on leave is not given free              call of the church.
  lance.                '                                                    It should be considered that iri our day leaves are often


                s     -                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                   477

            given for a stipulated time with the understanding that the          no one, regardless of rank or person, is permitted to preach"
     :      minister will not return to labor again in *that same church.        or administer the sacraments without the consent of the con-
            The church then proceeds to call another minister to. fill the       sistory of the church. where this is to bedone and no one is
            vacancy. However, the same rule or. principle applies with           permitted to do so outside of the sphere of the instituted
            respect to the minister on such a leave. He retains- his status      church without the authority of the churches.
            as minister by virtue of the call of that church to which he               Underlying this principle is the Scriptural teaching rela-
            remains'subject. When the time of his leave is expired, that         tive to the calling of the preacher which comes from Christ
            church makes a proper announcement concerning his eligi-             through His church.  (Romans 10 :14, 15 j Without that call
            bility and he in turn then waits for a call from another con-        no one, though he be. professor of theology, elder or deacon,
            gregation. .If this were not the case, he would be out of `office    shall be permitted to enter upon the ministry of the Word.
            during the time he was on leave and would then have to               (Art. 3) That call, coming from a particular church, stations
            resubmit to examination before being declared eligible for a         one in a particular place except in the case of mission or
            call in the churches.                                                church extension work and then one is sent out from a
                                     ****                                        particular congregation.  _. (Art. 7) Those without a fixed
               The free lance practices by the ministry, the Reformed            charge, that is, without,a  call, may not perform these labors.
            Churches have always opposed. They maintained decency                (Art. 9). Likewise do the other articles stress the importance
            and good order in all things pertaining to the church of             of this principle in regard to those actively engaged in the
            Christ. Especially insistent upon this were they when it             ministry. But further implications of this will have to be
           came to the ministry of the Word.. Recall that in the years           considered next time.                                     G.v.d.B.
            following the Reformation of tlie sixteenth century these                                      - M e - -
            practices of abusing the office of the ministry  iYere quite
            general. Without the authority of the church, from which                  JEHOVAH MY GOD, ON THY HELP I DEPEND
            the office can never be separated, &en roamed here and there!
            posing as official. ambassad&-s  of the gospel with the purpose            Jehovah, my God, on Thy help I depend;
          of gaining  conv&ts  from the  Rbmish church or of gathering                 -From all that pursue me 0 save and defend ;
            those that  were~  dispersed through persecutions. Although                Lest they like a lion should rend me at will,
            their purpose was undoubtedly a worthy one, the methods                    While no one is near me their raging to still.
            and practices which they employed were without justification.              ,  YVhen wronged without cause I have kindness returned ;
            Only sinister motives would impel men to ignore the in-                    But if I my neighbor maltreated and spurned,.
            stitute of the church in the performance of these labors.                  My soul let the enemy seize for his prey,
            Unconcerned about the church, many of these independent                    My life and my honor in dust let him lay.
            "loopers"' (roamers) sought only the i advancement of per-
            sonal and selfish ambitions. These practices the Reformed                  0 Lord, in Thy wrath stay the rage of my foes;
            Churches could not countenance. and, thertfore, ruled in the               Awake, and Thy judgment ordained interpose.
            fifteenth article of the church order as follows :                         Let peoples surroulpd  Thee and wait at Thy feet,
               "No one shall be permitted, neglecting the ministry of his              While o'er them for judgmen Thou takest Thy seat.
            church or being without a fixed charge, to preach  indis-                  All nations of men shall be judged by the Lord ;
            crilninately  without the consent and authority of ~Synod  or              To me, 0 Jehovah, just judgment accord,
            Classis.  Likewise, no one shall be permitted to preach or                 As faithful and-righteous in life I have been,
            administer the sacraments in  anothei-  church without the con-            And ever integrity cherished within.
            sent of the consistory of that church."        _
               This article we  pul'pose,   -D.V., to discuss fully the next           Establish the righteous, let evil depart,
            time. Just now we wish to make a very interesting and im-                  For God, who is just, tries the thoughts of the heart.
          portapt  observation. Article 15 is based upon a fundamental                 In God for defense I have placed all my trust;
            Reformed principle which is -interwoven through  all` the                  The upright He saves and He judges the just:
            articles, from 3 to 14 inclusive, of our church order. That                The Lord with the wicked is wroth every day,
            principle is that the office of the ministry of the Word is          a     And if they. repent not is ready to slay ;
           vested in the institute of the church or in the local congrega-             By manifold. ruin for others prepared
           tion. Each church is an autonomous institute to which Christ                They surely at last shall themselves be ensnared.
            gives authority to preach His Word and to administer the
            sacraments. To none other does He give this. This principle                Because He is righteous His praise I will sing,
           is militantly opposed to the hierarchical view of Rome which                Thanksgiving and honor to  Him I will bring,
           vests this authority in individual persons. These persons                   Will sing to the Lord on whose grace I rely,
            vary in rank with the supreme power  vested.in  the person of              Extolling the Name of Jehovah Most High.
            the pope. Against this the Reformed position maintains th&                                                                   Psalm 7



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                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D :  BEA.RER

                                                                     nesses  of the Revs. G. M.. Ophof and H. Hoeksema, and the
            A L L   A R O U N D   U S                                `late Dr. Schilder. Looking at the latter and right below
                                                                     him, printed in white-letters, the date of the conference, the
                                                                     thought could not be suppressed : Was this not the day, when
 A Pathetic  Pictwe.  :                                              you, the late Dr. Schilder, assembled with us in conference,
     What we have to say on this subject, strictly speaking,         that all our sad history of the past years began ? 0, to be
 does not belong to this department. We are supposed to              sure, there were no apparent evidences of schism and strife
 write on matters that have to do with that which is "All            then, for all on the surface appeared to be one. Or, at least,
 Around us." ,I am departing from the rule this time -due            it appeared that all were striving for the same thing. The
 to the peculiar circumstance in which I find myself at the          purpose of the conference, as I remember, was to seek unity
 time another article must be sent in to fill my department. I -and  correspo'ndence  on the basis of the truth. For us who
 am in the throes of moving, if you know what that means.            perhaps at that time did not understand the points of differ-
My study at this moment is a dismal place. All my books              ence too well, there seemed to be unanimity and agreement. _
 and periodicals which I need to read to obtain material, are        And al laround the picture I see the likenesses of those who
 packed away in boxes and ready for shipping. All that is left       attending the same instruction I received had always left the
 and in its usual place is my desk and typewriter and a few          impression with me that they were in thorough agreement
 pictures which still need  to- be taken' down and stowed away       with that instruction. But as I look at the history now made,
 somewhere.                                                          I am inclined to believe there was no solid agreement then,
     Among the latter are'some  panoramic pictures of Young          and some of those present at that conference then were sure
 People's Conventions of the past, some single snap-shots of a       at that time that there never would be agreement. But. be
 few personal friends, a group `picture- of a conference held        that as it may, it has now become very plain that from th.at
several years ago with the Germans at Hull, Iowa, and also           day, November 6, 1947,  to the present two manifest%groups
 a~ group picture of a Protestant Reformed Theological Con-          began to form in our churches; the one pulling for a closer
 ference which was held in Grand Rapids, November 6, 1947.           association with the Liberated Churches of the Netherlands
     It is this last-picture which I call a pathetic picture, and    and Canada, the other, always determined to maintain our
 to which I refer in this article.                                   Protestant Reformed distinctiveness.
     No doubt many of our readers have seen the picture and'            ,A11 of us know the scheclule of events as they took place
maybe also have one in their possession. It was taken at the         after this conference. The late Dr. Schilder returned to the
 time of the Schilder -Conference,  when the late professor from     Netherlands where he evidently fought hard to persuade his
 Kampen  visited our Churches and even preached and spoke            churches to seek closer affiliation with ours. Though several
 `in some of them in the late summer and early fall of 1947.         of his colleagues were suspicious of us, he' *apparently in-
 I counted forty-two likenesses on'  this- panoramic picture.        fluenced them to break down their opposition. Not only did
 These included the late Dr. Schilder, and a young man who           he work on his own people, but after the Declaration of
 has since then entered into the ministry of another denomina-       Princip1e.s  came to the fore in ourchurches, he even tried by
 tion. The picture also includes the likenesses of two laymen        way of pamphlet to remove this obstacle which was intended
 who since then have gone to their eternal reward. -The re-          to show our people and those outside seeking to come in,
 maining likenesses are of the twenty-three ministers (some          how impossible a final union of us with the Liberated was.
 of whom may have been students in our seminary at the time.         Then you have that incident of the visitors from America
 I do -not remember exactly) and fifteen `laymen, some of            traveling to the Netherlands in the guise of representatives
 whom were elders in our Churches, while others were just            of the Protestant Reformed Churches, men of whom we have
 visitors. And these thirty-eight we may again brake down            every reason to believe now were bent on selling our churches
 into two groups namely, of those who remained faithful to the       to the Liberated. When these men returned, the actual forma-
 Protestant Reformed Churches, and those who have -gone              tion of two parties in our churches began to take on reality.
 from us by way of schism. Of the group that is with us, I           This movement was agitated no doubt by what we thought
 count ten ministers and ten laymen ; and in the other group         at the time was the untimely warning of the-Rev. Ophof (we
 that has now left us I count thirteen ministers and five lay-       see now that it was  .esceedingly  timely) who published a
 men.                                                                certain letter of the late Dr. Holwerda which had- been sent
    All pictures, `if they have any significance at all, arouse      to the Canadian Liberated.
 sentiment and emotion in those who possess them. And I                 Then followed the sad history in the two Canadian
 confess that though I am generally speaking not easily af-          Churches, Hamilton and Chatham.  We need not repeat what
 fected by faces or the likenesses of them, I nevertheless was       has been written in many pages of the Standard Bearer
 deeply moved as I studied that picture above referred to            relating the history of our Canadian experience. But when
 once more in the light of the history that has been made            this occured  we believed the eyes of our people would open
 since 1947 and that conference.                                     to not only the kind of people we were dealing with but more
    In the center of it and on the foreground are the  like-         particuiarly  their doctrine. But it seems to us now that the


                                                                                                                              _-
                                             T H E   STA`NDAR.D   R E A R E R                                                       479

two groups. which were forming in our churches became more               More conferences? Yes, there will be more of them. More
solidified through this Canadian debacle.                :          ._ pathetic pictures? Yes, there can be no doubt that there will
    ,Then came the meetings of  Classis  East and West that           also be more of them. And until the day come when we shall
were to consider adopting the Declaration of Principles. This         be able to confer without sin and schism, we will continue
was in 1951 that Classis  East by `majority vote adopted the          to fight the good fight while we weep and pray.
Declaration, while  Classis  West also by majority vote  (the-                                                           M.  Schipper.
faithful were few) voiced objection to it. And it soon became
apparent that. the group objecting to the Declaration and
favoring closer affinity with the Liberated in  Classis  East                         C O N T R I B U T I O N S   _
began to be l;llore outspoken in their opposition- to all that
smacked of being Protestant Reformed. It was about this.                             The Farmer's Strawstack.  -
time that the, Rev.  Kok began to write vigorously in  op-               It was a beautiful fall day when Ds. Van Ooster came to
position to the Declaration while supporting conditional call on a former parishoner, Mr. DeRoster by name. For
theology, all the while endeavoring to deceive our people,            DeRoster had not been seen in church for several Sundays
urging them to believe that the Revs. Hoeksema and Ophof              and the dominee, as was his pastoral duty, decided to "look
in their writings taught conditional doctrine. It was also at         him LIP."
this time that the Rev. De Wolf made the first of his heretical          Receiving no response to repeated  knockings   on. the door,
statements which clearly evinced not only his hatred for the          he wandered to the barn and, even as he suspected, found
Declaration but also his love for Liberated conditional  dot- ' the farmer there, busy with his chores.
trine.                                                                 The usual greetings having been exchanged, dominee
    Then came that wonderful Synod of 1951 that shall go              began to inquire as to the reason for  DeRoster's  absence
down in- the annals of the Protestant Reformed Churches as            from divine services. The following conversation ensued :
still strong enough to sustain the truths  declared%  in the            "Ja dominee, it is  true that I've not  been,in  your church
Declaration. That was the- Synod where more than ever                 lately. And you know why? No? It's because of that straw
before it became evident that those who favored closer col-           stack that stands just outside the barn.
laboration with the Liberated and their doctrine were deter-             `Come, come, DeRoster, je steek mij de gek  aan!  How
mined to split our churches if necessary. to gain their  ob-          can a straw stack keep- you away from our church?",
jectives. 0, to be sure, they had not. planned on a separation           `Well, dominee, it's this way: If someone comes by me
at that time. As we now see it, `they  .planned,  like the            to visit and we sit by the stove and talk crops en so forth, I
Liberated- Churches of the Netherlands and Canada had                 tink it awful funny if all of an sudden mine neighbor says,
planned it, to swallow up all our churches, excluding, of             `Vel Jake, how much straw did you get from dat back forty
course, the Revs. Hoeksema and Ophof and maybe a hand-                dis year? I would look  at. dat guy and say, `Man, who's
ful of ministers and the people that' might stick with. them.         intrested  in straw ?' The real farmer would ask, `How many
And thanks be to God ! they were foiled in their plan. The            bushels of wheat did you harvest and how much did it run
separation came before they could carry out their purpose.           ~per acre ?' And,that  I'd tell him right quick. And he'd maybe
   And now I look at that picture again. I see the likenesses         ask if I'd put that cement-floor in the granary and wire mesh
of these men and in my imagination others with them not on            around the openings and I'd say, !You bet, no rats or mice
the picture. And I say again, What a pathetic picture. There          are going to steal my grain !' "
they stand, right behind and all around the leaders God in               "DeRoster, what in  ,the world are you talking about? I
His great  me~rcy  gave to us to lead  us all the years of our        come to find out why  you  .haven't been in church and you
denominational existence. There they stand as those who               talk straw and wheat  !" The dominee's puzzled.
were in full agreement with the instruction they like us had             "O.K., O.K., dominee. I'm sorry. Thought maybe some-
received, while already then the -thoughts of forsaking that          body with so much schooling would catch on. I make mine-
instruction was taking form in their hearts. There they stand,        self plain. You see, dominee, I always believed that our
scattered throughout the picture next to men who have re-             works were a fruit of faith. I never figured that anything was
`mained  faithful by the grace of God. So close they are to a condition for our salvation. And, lately, I've been hearing
them that their likenesses cannot be blotted out  withouti            from the kansel, that you have to do this and you have to do
destroying then-s.                                                that. And I started to wonder. And that last Sunday I was
    All sentiment, you'say  ? Too much emotion? Perhaps. But          by you in church, you had a sermon on the textct, `Draw nigh
let me assure you that as far as I am concerned the picture           to God and He will draw nigh to you.' Ja sure, dominee, you
is spoiled. It shall not. be placed on the walls of my study          said it was all of grace but you still tried to,hold that we had
again, at least not until the day that you who have caused            to do something. -And  I says-to mineself, `DeRoster', I says,
us so ~nuch  heart-ache shall repent and return to us-in sincere      `What you gonna do ? You don't -know  nothin'  but  farmin
sorrow for the awful sin you have committed while you-were            and ain't had no eddication, and besides, you're a big sinner
still members in our churches.                                        -what  yozb gonna do.? By you it's hopeless.'  Oh ja,  domi-


                                                              Ii              `.                                                                          ._

- 480                                   r A-_          ;.            `T%E           S`TAN'DARD               B-EAR,ER                `,
                       -.

  &e; you said too that it don't matter who you are - ditch                                                         iN HIS FEAR                  -
  digger-or an college professor, it's all the  san!e,  And it wasn't
  `-til next-day when I do  &in6  chores that, after I get- the
  -grain for the chickens and straw for bedding down the cows                              The-fraud of your  kvhole  adventure is so glaring. You
  that:  .it  come: to -me that DeRoster can't go  td your church                      must have blinded yourself by your intense  hati-ed   to the fact
  no more."                                                                            that in his filthy, unchristian, slanderous crdss bill Rev. De
         "Come, come, DeRoster, you talk in  rid$es.  You  know                        Wolf presents exactly-the view for  .which  you  condemri the
  that Scripture repeatedly says, `Do this and ye shall live' and                      Rev.  l!-l$eksema.                                  .                    ;
  %-ye walk in My ways' etc., You can't just ignore that part.."                           Did you forget that under  o&h he swore in that  crbss
         "Excuse me, dominee, maybe I .can't -say it so nice, but I bi!l that Rev. Hoeksema "by his acts and condhct  and by his
  try to explain once. And this is  ,how I see it: That straw                          refusal to acknowledge the fully instituted authorities of said
  pile is l+zy works and that wheat-in the rat-proof granary is                        church and its decrees and pronouncements, caused a schism!
  Christ's work in. nati. ESery day by me the Lord is threshing                        in said church . . . . . ?" Rev. De Wolf spoke of  m&o&es,
  and `every day that straw pile gets bigger. And I get kinda                          .and they could not, in `24 have been the consistory, for it was
  sick of it to hear you most always talking about the `straw                          100% with the Rev. Hoeksema. And the pronouncements
  pile. on Sunday. instead of the wheat. You can see for.your-                         and decrees  .were thkn of the Classis  and Synod.  Rev.  De
  self, doinine,  that that straw  pile out there is fifteen feet high                 Wolf stands condemned by you in Concordia, for he says that
  and twenty feet across and the bin in the granary is only four                       the autonomous consistory of the Rev. Hoeksema should
  by six by three. It don't go by quantity. I don't protect the                        have submitted to the Class& and Synod in `24.
  straly  and even set it far  enoigh from the granary so if it                           What confusion there is-in the midst of those who schisni-
  catch fire it don't matter too much. Some of my neighbors                            atically left  us ! There is always confusion in a walk of error !
  with new machines don't even haul it in no more but leave it                         They  89 to court with a cross bill that insists that the Rev.
  o%t in the field and plow it under."                                                 Hoeksenla should have submitted to Classis  and Synod. And
        --"Just. a minute, DeRoster, I smell a rat. No ! No'! Put                      then in court they fight. against the idea that the consistory
  thaf pitch-fork clown  7 it was just a figurative expression  -                      must in any way, even in the  fed&ation,  bow. before any
  you've. been going to those meetings ins that store building                         decision of, Class@  pr Synod.
  in  town with those radicals who deny the responsibility of                            But the  height  of the folly of your whole caricature of
  man and who make of men stocks and blocks;  Bekee?   .U,                             Reforri?ed  Church  Pol&y   became- evident when you sold it
  bekeer  U, DeRost& and don't read anymore of those awful                             to your own law+, Mr. Linsey, so that in the testimony of
  publications written by-a broken-minded editor. He's leading                         Rev. De Jonge you had to hasten `across the whole court
  you astray'!"                                                                        room to interrupt Mr. Linsey, who was only being faithful
         A look `of genuine pity thefi came over the, face. of .this                   to your presentation.  You led your own lawyer into the worst
  simplk  farmer. Slowly the pity turned to anger  and disgust.                        blunder of the whole court trial.  -
  DeRos`ter  spat. Deliberately with  pitchfoFk  in `hand he                              Perhaps we better `inform our readers of that next time.
  walked  ov& to  tile straw pile and taking therefrom a huge                             But, Rev.  Kok, when you hurried  to `his. side, did you
  forkful before the dominee's -eyes,' he spread it into the-gutter                    nof feel the inconsistency of your whole stand ? And how
  behind the cattle. And, turning once more, he concluded his                          come only YOU could defend this new church  polity.for
  sermon to the dominee with these words : "Those, dominee,                            Rev. De Wolf and your whole group  ?                           J.A.H.
  are mijn goed works. Bekeer   U;dominee !  Goed Dag  !"
                             --    1              George Ten Elshof                                                -de==--


                                                                                                      THE  V O I C E   t+  O U R   FATHERS
                    A N N U A L   M E E T I N G                                                              (Corhzued   ~YOIIL   page   475)
         Our annual Standard Bearer Society meeting Will be
  held the last part of September. Rev. Vos will be our guest                          cannot be foiled. And because -He is omnipotent, it cannot.
  speaker. Nominees are as follows:                                                    be thwarted and obstructed. -
  `,                                                                                      What a comfort for the elect child of God ! By grace we .
                   AL:  BLEYENBERG                                                     may place the present evil monient,  whether the moment of ,
                   DhVID  MEULENBERG                                                   qur own heinous sins and Sinfulness or the moment of the
                   PQTER. REITSMA                                                      hatred and opposition of the enemy, in the eternal light of
                   D O E D E   E N G E L S M A                                         that' unchangeable election, and in the knowledge that the.
                   GEORGE  VINK                                                        elect canjnot be cast a\?ray nor their numk,er diminished s?y :
             _     NICK  KUNZ.           .        -                                    "All is well. Soli D.eo. Gloria-!"
         Watdh for time,' place, and date in next issue.                                                                                              H.C.H.
                                                                       _


