     VOLUME  xxx1   ,.                         O.CTOBER 1, 1954-  GRAND  RAPIDS, MICHIGAN                                   ` N U M B E R  1
                                                                                                                                             -.

                                                                          All because it is so difficult to learn  the first lesson in
             ME.DITAiION                                                 the art of pleasing God.
                                                                                We will keep days and ~nonths and years ; we will drink
                                                                         and `eat the spiritual food ; we will hasten. our footsteps and
              Counterfeits of the -Kingdom                               keep our  -~face from smiling,  while,. the noisy laughter be                   *
                "For the kingdom of God is llot meat alld drink ;        damned ! We will. do .a11 this and at the completion of .the
             but righteousness,  alld  peace;  and joy in  the Hply      day ask  the Lord of the heavens and the earth:  Am I not
             Ghost. For. he that in these things serveth Christ          nice  ? And is -the rest not abominable ? And preening and
             is acceptable to God, alld approved of me1x"                strutting and glittering in tinsel of selfpraise we continue on
                                                 -RomanS  i4 :17,. 18    our sojourn.
     Because of outward. esternal, unessential things, brother                  That is the man who pockets  the counterfeits of the                          i
 would destroy brother at Rome.  (Remans 14)                             Kingdom, while the waters of Life eternal flow away under
     All  because'they  did not fully understand, that God be-           the icy surface of his Pharisaical selfrighteousnesss. 0, God,             ,
 holdeth the heart and not the face.                                     how longsuffering  and forebearing Thou art with  us !                          *
    .Gdd is -God. He cannot be pleased with rivers of oil. ten             And yet we say  .sometimes : If it lay with me, I  would
 thousands of rams, nice, pious faces, `while the heart of mai           save the entire world  atid not only the elect. The liars. If
 is far from thoughts of the Almighty. David lifts  LIP  his             it lay with me, I would `only save me, for I love only me.
 voice and' weeps: Thou desirest not sacrifice, else  would I            The age-old sin: Ye shall be as  gods. That is, selfsufficient
 give it.                                                                and  allsufficiknt.  Are we not? Another word for it is selfish-
     Ah, if God only would desire sacrifice, that is, money,             ne.ss,  that  :is, when the creature attempts to clothe himself
 bodily movement<, the keeping of the assemblies, new moons              .with Divine  virtue.
 and sabbaths: how pleasurable for the flesh  &ould then,                       We might as well, admit it : we are all abominable sin-
 religion be! Then we could be an object of God's  loving-               ners in this respect, and no one is without this pharisaical
 kindness and at the same time we might safely murder the                selfrighteousness, while damning the brother.
 brother!  Hay  exceedingly nice that would be! We  then,                       Nay, the  Kingddm  is not  meat and drink.. Perish the
 might safely damn hini and curse him and rail at him, or                thought. God has something better in  &ore for us.
 rather, behind his back so that  we- reduce his name and
 repute to frazzlings -and then turn in our prayer-chamber                                           * * *  .*
-  afid with honey-sweet words approach the Almighty and                                                             _'
 sing, .ever so siveetly  : Oh. how love I thy law.                             What then is it ? What are the tl$ngs of the  I<ingd&n  ?
    With the,  .face of an angel  and the  .&eart  of  the devil                Turn to Romans  .14  :17,  18 and there we read the de-.
himself before the great white Throne! Ah, a Paradise for                finition qf the things of the Kingdom : They are : righteous-
 the detestable hypocrite! "I thank Thee, God, that I am not             ness and, peace and. joy in the Holy Ghost.
as other nien are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even                    Sang the poet : "`Hoe  zult  @j rechtvaardig verschijnen
as `this publican  !" Of course, we all have our publican  judg-         voor God ?",
ing eye. Not only do we reckon ourselves to be better than                      Ah, that is the question! How shall I appear righteous
the rest, on whinq we may pour out the vials of our scorn,               before God's throne ?
condemnation and damnation. "(3 ever this publica;n  !" But                     Nay, there is not a speck of this righteousness with you
I, oh, God ! I  alli much better.  Thy~  heav-en  will be  heaven`       or with me, brother. We are unrighteous. Hence, the ques-
only because I adorn it. Art Thou not pleased at the acquisi-            tion, the wailing cry: How shall I appear righteous while' I.
tion of my glittering self?                                              am crooked and perverse ?                                                 .-
                                                                                                                :                     -
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                                                                           I
             2                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   BE.ARER.

                  We are crooked. In thought, word and deed. In all the                 ,011, show me a man or woman who is justified before
             issues of `the heart. For the heart itself is : "deceitful above        the throne of God and I will show you a person that is meek
             all things; and desperately wicked, who shall `know it?"                and lowly. I wil show you that justification before God and'
I  .
             Jer. 17: 9.                                                             His holy angels .goes hand in hand with the right evaluation
                  And the most abominable picture of such a state is when            of self and the brother.' Ah, then the brotherhood and sister-
             our flesh comes in contact with the Kingdom ; and we try                hood is far superior than I am. I am so wicked. That is the
             to acquire righteousness by the, deeds of the flesh. Abhorriblo         speech. And they are much better than I am. I am the chief
             counterfeits! Then the face, bodily movements, deeds of the             of sinners.
        body and honeyed words form a terrible. antithesis to the                        Nor could-it ever be any different. Of  course,-1  will admit
             heart that is like a den of  gras.ping, ravening wolves.                that we see one another's .sins. And they grieve us too. But,
                  And God's Son utters the indescribable curse on it : Woe,          here is the point: We see our own heart and we cannot see
             woe unto you !                                                          the hearts of our brethren. Therefore the justified soul is
        _         Righteousness: how different it is from our counterfeits!          much more grieved about himself than about the brother.
                  It is the will that wills the highest Good 1                       He leaves the brother to God and hastens to upbraid himself.
                  -That is the reason why God is righteous:~ He wills only           Oh, God, be merciful to, THE SINNER.  Th%t `is: the
             the Highest Good, that is, Himself. In all the willing. and
             _                                                                       sinner above all sinners.
             loving and praising, God is ever directed to `Himself. Henca               All because right thinking and right willing has descended
             all His, ways are righteous : just and right is He.                     through the Holy ~Ghost  into his inmost heart. And by the
                  Nothing can ever come -into that path of the Almighty              loveable  light of such life he beheld the movements of sin.
             to obstruct it. His eternal will it is to save His own church               And following it he would cleanse himself. In a word:
             so that she might be to the praise of His glory. But that               he hungers for more righteousness. He wants to be accept-
             church is in the depth of hell! Never mind. But in order                able to God, nay, not through his own works but through
             to save her, God must come Himself to save her and that                 the life and walk of sanctification that is the- gift of God and
             through the untold humiliation of the Son! Never mind.                  the handiwork of Christ's Spirit.
             But that means that God will have to shed His own blood on
             the Cross in the nature of man! Never mind, I am RIGH.T-                                          *  *  *  *
             EOUSNESS. Hence, the Cross,  -where the everblessed
             Jesus becomes a curse for `His bride, she who became a
             whore historically.                                                         And as  `a first corollary heavenly peace descends into
                  It is the righteousness of God revealed in history.                his turbulent soul.
                  And that righteousness of God that shines in the death                 Peace, how wonderful a boon !
             and resurrection of the Christ, becomes our own in the way                  Three things ought to be remembered when we are dis-
             of ..faith.                                                             cussing this wonderful gift' of God., this fruit of righteous-
                  Then we draw as it were that righteousness in us, then             ness.
             the Lord imputes that right thinking, willing and desiring                  Firstly5  that it is harmony with God. And that ought to
             before the face of God unto us and we are righteous before.             be clear. When a soul does the same thing God does, that
        Him: Fulfilling His immutable decree where we were right-                    is, seek God as the highest good as to his willing, thinking,
             eous in Christ before the,world  began. .Oh, blessed thought.           loving and praising, then it must follow that he is in *step
                  And on the basis of that. justification we become right-           with God's own life, for God does the very same thing eter-
        eous.                                                                        nally. When my regenerated and justified sinner sings : Oh,
                  Right thinking.                                                    God, how good Thou art! then it constitutes the echo of the
                               -.                                                    same speech of the Triune Covenant life. For that is also
                                     -*  8  * *                                      the recurrent theme in the eternal Song of God's love and
             ,                                                                       friendship. Such is peace, wonderful peace. -
                  Will you notice, my brother, how it  acts3  Come then                 And secondly, because such life of harmony with God's
             with me and we will go to the temple. Behold that wretch!               own life is ordained by God, is ordered by Him for the
        His name is publican. -He is the offscouring of respectable                  rational creature, such peace is the life that is lived according
             (sic  !) society. All but the lowest rascals  .shun  him. But           to the Law of God. It is the continuous life of the justified
        listen, nay, look. He remains in obscurity as much as pos-                   sinner to be in conformity to the-Law of the ten command-
        sible. Yonder. stands the `glory of Israel's commonwealth :                  ments. It is his rule of life, his only rule,     -
        the Pharisee. But my publican  stands in the shadows. .Also,                  And, thirdly, such life springs from the love of God.
        mark you well: he smites his breast which is the outward                     The same Spirit that justified him spread abroad that love
        token of inward penitence. And now listen:  Oh, God, be                      in. his heart, causing it to be the mainspring of all his think-
        .mkrciful  unto me, the sinner !                                             ing, speaking and acting. His life becomes more and more
                  It is the -first inkling of the righteousness of God.              the manfestation of the love of God.

                                                                                t


                                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                                           3

       We sing of all three in one solitary line : "Great peace
have they that love Thy law !"                                                                 `T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                        ,                                                             Se&-monthly, except  mo&ly  &wing July  ,awl  August
                                      ****'                                         Published by the  REFORMED FREE PUBLISHING  ASSOCZATI~N
                                                                                  P. 0. Box 881, Madison Square Station, Grand Rapids 7,  Mich.
                                                                                                    Editor  -  REV.  HE&AN  HOEKSEMA                                           .*
       Small wonder that such a  soul  is joyous in the Holy                      Communications relative to contents should be addressed' to Rev.
Ghost.                                    `                                       H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S. E., Grand Rapids 7,  Mich.
       It is the second corollary to the righteousness of God                     All  mat&s relative to subscriptions should be addressed to Mr.
which is his portion.                                                             G. Pipe, 1463 Ardmore St., S. E., Grand Rapids 7, Michigan.
       He is  t-he only one who has the right and the fitting                     Announcements and  0,bituaries  musit be mailed to the above.
                                                                                  addres and will be published at a fee of $1.00 for each notice.
wherewithal to be glad.                                                           RENEWALS:  Uniws   a definite request for discontinuance is re-
       No. it is not the boisterous laughing of the worldlings.                   ceived, it is assumed  (that  the subscriber wishes the subscription
It is far from the insane yelling of godless glee.                                to continue without the formality of a renewal order.
       It is the feel of the well-being before the eyes of God                                       Subscriptian price  5 $4.00 per year
and. His angels. It is the cause of his song : It is well with                     Ewtered  a+ Second  Class mutter  ai  Gm&   Rajids,   Michigapb
my  soul.  He realizes that all things are for him. because
God is for him in Christ. He is joyous because he knows
that his indwelling righteousness, wrought by Christ's Spirit                                                                 6
is the firstfruits of a wonderful harvest, against the time when                                                 C       O         N         T          E       N    T    S
he shall dwell in a world and in the midst of a common-
wealth  that.shall  abound in this same righteousness.                         M E D I T A T I O N -
                                                                                     "Counterfeits of the Kingdom". . . . . .  .I. ._.................. 1
       The firstfruits of more than angelic joy. "They shout                               Rev. G. Vos
for joy, they also sing  !"                                                                                                        I
                                                                       G.V.    EDITORIALS -
                                                                                     "A Protest and Its Reply". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
                                                                                           Rev. H. Hoeksema                                        .

                                                                               OUR DOCXGNIX  -
                             I N   M E M O R I A M   .                               The Triple Knowledge (Part III -Of Thankfulness) . . . 7
                                                                                           Rev. H. Hoeksema
'  T,he. School Board of the Free Christian School at Edgerton,
Minn., hereby expresses its sincere. sympathy to our principal,                THE DAY  OE`  SHADOWS-
Mr. John Vis, in the death of his Father,                 .                          Exposition  od Isaiah 37  Z-35 ~*`...."."...*.`..".."... 9
                                                                                           Rev. G. M. Ophoff
                                MR. WM. VIS
       May our Heavenly Father comfort the bereaved and may we                 FROM HOLY WRIT-
at all times put our trust-in Him.                                                   Exposition of Philippians 1:3-11.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12
                                                                                           Rev.  G, Lubbers                                  .-
          -.                     m    The School Board:
                                               H. Hueskens, Pres.              I N  H I S F U R-
                                               Ray Brunsting, Sec.                   "Walking in Error"' (12) :. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14
                                                                                           Rev. J. A. Heys
                                                                                                            I
                                ---SW-                                         CONTENDING FOR THE `FAITH -
                                                                                    The Church and the Sacra,ments..  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16
                                                                                           R e v .   H .   Veldman                                                                        .I
      H&6 GREAT THE GOODNESS KEPT IN STORE
                 How great the goodness kept in store                          THE  .VOICE   OF OUR FATHERS-
                                                                                     The Canons of  Dordreuht  (Art. 12). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
                 For-those who fear Thee and adore                                         Rev. H. C. Hoeksema
                     In meeking  humility.
                 How great the deeds with mercy fraught                        DECENCY AND ORDER-
                                                                                     "The Authority of Maj'or Assemb,lies".  . . . . . . . . :. . . . . . . . . . .20
                 Which.openly  Thy hand has wrought                                        Rev.  (G.  Vanden Berg
                     For those who trust in Thee,                              ALL AROUND                             Us-               '
                _ Secured by Thy unfailing grace,.                                   "Berkho,f Criticizes Daane's Book". . . . . `. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22
                                                                                           R e v . - M .   Schipper
                 In Thee they find a hiding place                                                                                                            -  _
                     When foes their plots devise  ;                           CO.NTRIBUTIO,NS   -
                 A sure retreat Thou wilt prepare,                                   ,,Blikken  in `t Verleden". . . . . . . . .  : . . . . . . . . . . . . .  .24
 _                                                                                         J. R. Vander Wal
                 And keep them safely sheltered there,                   _
                     When strife of tongues shall rise.
                                                     Psalm 31 :l, 2


 4                                      -  THE  S T A N D A . R D   B E A R E R

                                                                       to the former consistory. of Kalamazoo, the Declaration
             E D  CT-0 R I  A.L S                                II states bne part of the truth, but the other part is the con-
                                                                      ditional promise for  all.         d
                                                                            But this is only more camouflage, for the Declaration of
                   A Protest and its Reply                             Principlts.  meant exacdy, over against the Liberated and all
       I still want to come back to, that sentence of the reply        Arminians, to insist  .that the promise of God is never general
 tb  the protest of brother Meninga  by the former consistory          but always particular and that it is for the elect only, that this
 of the First Church of -Kalamazoo : "Andy therefore, it. may          is not part of the truth but the whole of it, and that
 be true, but certainly not the truth."                                the Protestant Reformed- Churches have alGays  maintained
      Camouflage ;Liid evasion of the definite truth of Scripture      this truth, especially over against -the first point of 1924.
 and the Confessions always characterizes heretics.                         We ask: Why could not the former  consisto'ry of Kala-
       And this sentence surely shows all the earmarks of cam-         mazoo be honest with brqther Meninga and with the entire
 ouflage and evasion.                                  .A.-            church, and answer that they must have nothing of the De-
       Let US not forget that The Truth to which this sentence         claration of Principles ?
 refers is the very heart of the Declaration of Principles : T.hat          Then we could, at least, have respected them.
 the promise of God is unconditional and for' the elect alone.              The same evasion characterizes the last paragraeh  oi'this
       Of this truth of Scripture and the Confessions-the former       part of the answer by fhe  former"consistory  of the First
 consistory -of Kalamazoo declares, first of all, that."$  may be      Church  of_.Kalamazoo.  We will  &ote it here once  more:.
 true." They  .do not  say that it is true, but it may  he true.       "That the Declaration of  Piinciples  has no bearing- on the
 This im$ies,  of course, that, as far as they are conderned,  it      case- in question as is evident from the PreambJe of t.he De-
 may also be not true. They leave a loqphole. They evade the           claration which reads as follows : `Declaratiori  of Principles,
 issue.` When, later on, someon$  will say to -them : "Once yotl       to be `used only by the Mission Committee and the Mission-
 declared that the prbmise of .God is unconditional< and for           aries  .for the. organization of prospective Churches on the
 the elect alone," they can always say: "No, we never said             basis of Scripture and the Confessions as these have always
 this  ; all we said was that this may be true." And again,            been maintained in the Protestant Reformed Churches and
 when someone approach% them later 6n and says to them : - as these are now further esplained in regard to certain prim
 "Once you denied that the promise of God is for the elect             ciples..'  "
 alone and unconditional," they again can say: "No, we never                ThC Declaration has no bearing on the case ?
 agreed  w+th this Protestant Reformed truth: all we said tias            If  the former consist&y of  I<alamazoo  had said that the
 ,that this may be true."                                              statement made by De Wolf from the pulpit of First Church
      ~This double faced and evasive answer must serve as an           could not officially be judged and condemned on the basis of
 .answer to a protest !                                                the Declaration of Principles, but only on the ground of Scrip-
       But the rest of this sentence is worse yet.                     ture and the Confession, they would have spoken-the truth.
       For there the former consistory reveals  that, after all,       And their quotation from the preamble of the Declaration
 they do nof believe that the Declaration of Principles is the         suggests that this is  wha?  they meant. Nor did the  con-
 truth of Scripture `and- the Confessions. For they declare            sistory of the First Church of Grand Rapids, or Classis  East
 that, although it may be true, `it -is not THE TRUTH.                 ever judge those statements on that basis. Throughout their
       What does this mean ?                                           struggle -with De Wolf, they referred to. Scripture and the
       Remember that this statement concerns the Declaration           C&fessions, and to nothing else.
 when it  maintans  that the  .promise of God is  uncon$t;onal            But this is solnething  quite different from saying that the
 and for the elect only. This, the former consistory  df               Declaration has no bearing on the case.
 Kalamazoo declares is NOT THE TRUTH.                                       Fact is that the contents of the Declaration are in direct
       Let  us  pLif the most charitable construction upon this contradiction to the statements by De Wolf. `Personally, I
 statement that is at all possible.                                   `am confident that the statements were -very consciously made
       In that -case, the former `consistory of Kalamazoo meant        for that very purpose.
 to say that the contention of the Declaration of Principles                Let me once more remind yo&of  the two statements made
that the promise of God is unconditional and for the elect             by De Wolf.  Th: First  ,is: "God promises to every one of
-alone  "may be true" but it is  not the WHOLE truth.                  you that, if you believe, you shall be saved." The'second is :
      In other words, one can ~ISO speak fhe truth, another part       "Our act of conversion is a prerequisite to enter into the
 of the truth, when he maintains, that the promise of God is kingdoln  of heaven."
' for all and conditional. This is what  Dk  :Wolf said and                 Now, it surely is evident to all that in these  statemeqts
 emphatically meant` when hk declared fr&n' the pulpit of. the         De Wolf .meant  to propagate his conditional theology. The
 First Church of Grand Rapids that God promises to every              -first statement hroclaims  a general conditional promise. The
 single one of the hearers in the audience salvation, "if they         second statement. proclaims the entering into the kingdom
 believe," i.e., "on condition of faith." Well, then,  accofiling     -of heaven on condition that man converts himself.        -


                        `,                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEA.R'ER                                                           5

           Anyone that is at all aquainted with the Declaration of            ready  tom vote for the  suspetision  of  Req. De  Wolf and the
  Principles knows very well that this  docum&t  was  coin-                   elders that supported him.
  posed for the very purpose of condemning this conditional                       a) It is not held that the rest of the consistory had to .be
  theology. To prove this I Will  take' no time or space, for this            present although in view of the fact that the Fourth  Con-
is unnecessary.                                                               sistory was going to be present it might be argued that those
           But how the former consistory of Kalamazoo cati make               members thoilght worthy of suspension and deposition should
  the sweeping statement that the Declaration has no `bearing                 be  presenf to present their case to the Fourth Consistory who
 ,-on the question is a mystery to me.                                        was supposed to judge in the matter.
           It is true that the Declaration was composed for the Mis-              b) - But a lack of notification to all the legal members of
  sion Board and for the missionaries.                                        a certain body irrespective of what action they might be
           But does the former consistory of Kalamazoo conceive pf            thought worthy, certainly invalidates  the actions taken at
  t'he possibility that the mission_aries  in the field proclaim one          such a meeting.
  gospel, that of unconditional salvation for the elect, while                    2) Those present at the meeting did not constitute a
  the ministers at home preach another gospel (which is no                    majority of the members of the consistory of the First Prot-
  gospel) that of conditional salvation fdr all? Do `they Con-                estant Reformed Church . . `. . from the minutes taken by Mr.
  ceive of- the possibility that the Mission Board organize                   G. Stadt at the June 23rd meeting, we quote the following:
  churches on the basis of the Declaration- of Principles while                   a) "Article 2; Present at this meeting are  I Reverends
3 the chuich  at home repudiates that Declaration ?                           Hoeksema and Hanko; Elders S.  Veltman, Rev. G.  111.  Op-
           What sort of a chaos would be the result, do they think?           ho9, G.  Bylsma,  0.  Vander  Woude, M. Doezema, D.  Riete-
           Is it not crystal clear, then, that -the Declaration, although     ma, J. Faber, G. Stadt, and G. Vink. Also present, upon
  it be no'formal  basis for the-condemnation of the statements               our invitation, .are Reverends G. Vos and M. Schipper  and
  by De Wolf; has very direct bearing on the case. and that                   Elder D. Langeland .as representatives of the Classical. com-
  the consistory of the First Church of Grand Rapids could not                mittee on advice."
  permit its former pastor openly and  p%blicly  to refuse the                    b) "Article 5  : Motion is made that the Consistory ex-
  Declaration of Principles officially adopted by the Church.                 press% that the Rev. H. De Wolf is  w&-thy of suspension
                                                                              from his office of Minister of the Word and Sacraments; . . ."
           Let us proceed to the nest part of the protest and its re-             c) "`Article 6 ; Motion is made that ' the Consistory ex-
  -Ply.                                                                       presses that the following elders of' this congregation are
           Brother Menipga wrote his consistory as follows :            -     hereby declared worthy of deposition from their office  ;  - F.
           "By action of the consistory, which took the stand of the          Sytsma, A. Dykstra, G  .Sikkema, H. Knott, H. Bastianse.
  Rev. De Wolf who was condemned by  Classis  East for his                    J.  Bouwman,   -W. Stuursma, S. De Young, A. Voss, A.
  heretical statements, our consisto;y  separated itself from the             Vermeer, and L. Mulder."
  true Protestant Reformed Church. The true Protestant  Re-                       1). It must be remembered that Mr. John Mikkema  was
  famed Church loves the God Who loves the truth. And this                    at this time also a member of the consistory. His name ap-
  is the `truth expressed in the Declaration of Principles.           c _ pears in neither group.
           "Therefore, dear consistory, repent of your sins and go                2) But on the basis of the information contained in the
back to the  .true Protestant Reformed Church, to the glory                   minutes you have a group of 11 elders  suspending a deposing
  of God Who loves the  truth and the Church which is the                     a group of 12 . . . members of the same consisfory . . . ,
body  .of Christ."                                                           which.can neyer be legal . . . .the church order always speaks
           To this final part of the protest the former consistory of         of a majority vote:  see decisions under Article 4 (The
  Kalamazoo-  ,has a very lengthy reply which we shall, D.V.,                 Church Order of the Protestant Reformed Churches) ; also
  quote and discuss in separate parts. .  -                                  Article 31.
           C.  In. connection with the second paragraph of  your                  b.. Fourth Consistory gave  no advice to proceed `with
  protest where it is maintained that we have severed corinec-                deposition as required by ArticLe 79 of the Church Order . . .
  t;bn with the Protestant Reformed Churches by the action                        1) From stenographic notes of  Classis  East, we quote
  of the majority.of the consistory, we maintain `the following :             Rev. Richard Veldman as  foll&s: "So we came with  this
           1. That Rev. De Wolf and his elders  .were  not'l&gally            decision : `Ii is clear to our Fourth Consistory (we thought
  deposed . . . .                                                             we were stating facts) that neither Rev. De Wolf nor  the
      `a. The meeting of June 23, 1953, at which Rev. De Wolf                 elders involved made the apology demanded by the consistory
  and 11 elders were supposed to have been deposed, was not                   as advised by Classis;' That was clear. `That  Classis  ad-
  a  .legal  consistory meeting.                                              vised the consistory to proceed with suspenion in case the          .
           1) All the consistory members were not notified of that            Rev. .De 1ATolf  should refuse to apologize' and therefore wa'
  meeting,. . . . it was therefore-a secret meeting composed only-            said  `(3) in so far as these facts wet-k concerned and the
  of those members of the consistory who were known to be                     apology was not made; the consistory has the right, the legal
  sympathetic to the pbsition of Rev. H. Hoeksema and to be                   right'to proceed with suspension on the basis of the classical
                                                                                   ,


c  6,                                         _  T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

  decision.' You don't need Fourth Consistory for this.. `How-                                   WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
  ever, we are not prepared-to say. that a consistory meeting               _
                                                                                 On October 1.5 our beloved parents
  could be called legal! that a suspension can be called-in order
  when those involved were not notified.' ` (2) . . . .`, another                          M R .   A N D   M R S .   P E T E R   D E   V R I E S
  reason why we could not say. My point is this: If I say in               hope to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary.
  English `in so  far..the  consistory has the legal right' and                  We are thankful to our Heavenly Father, Who has seen fit to
  then say `however' then you get a limitation upon that which             spare  fihem for us these many years. We pray that He may
                                                                           continue  to bless them along, the paths that  lie' ahead, and also
  has been said. As far as the classis is concerned+ they had the          that they may experience that there is-no peace apart from Him.
  legal `right, if all was all right. We did hot say it was all                                           \               Mr. and Mrs. John F.  DeVries
  right. We said we don't know. It must not only be right,                                                                Mr. and Mrs. Peter Zandstra
  but after you have the right, you must do .it in the-right .way ;                                                       and 4 Grandspns
  and'if you don't do the right thing `in the right way, the i-ight        354 Diamond, S. E., Grand Rapids, Michigan
  thing becomes wrong. I don't say it. was  wrong.  We were
  not ready to say it was legal. It it were not it could not be
  done, so we said nothing.  We cduld  not."                                                          -  A N N I V E R S A R Y
         2) Erom the same notes : "By no stretch of the imagina-                 The congregation and the consistory of the First Protestant
  tion was the-presentation concerning oui- Fourth Church the              Reformed. Church of Grand  -Rapids,  Michigan, hereby extends
 --truth and the fair presentation. Rev. Ophoff said, "Why you             their heartiest congratulations to their Pastor,
  did nothing.' ".                                                                                             REV. C.  YANK0
         .When I read  this part of the. reply to the protest of           on  the  occasion  of the twenty-fifth anniversary of. his ordination
  brcither Meninga I `cannot help being amazed, .especially  for           into the Ministry of the Gospel. May he continue to experience
  two &asons.                                                              the Lord's favor upon him as  he shepherds the  .flock of Jesus
         The. first is that, tit the October. session of Classis  East,    Christ.                   a                 Consistory of the
  &hen all the material concerning this particular phase, of the,                            First Prot. Ref. Church of Grand Rapids, Michigan
  case was presented and discused  and finally decided iri favor                                                      J. M. Faber, Clerk.
  of our consistory, neither the Rev. Knott nor his fellow elder-
  delegate protested and,appealed  to synod. On that particular
  day  I.-was  not present at  classis, but it is safe to say that                              WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
  they  did not even open their mouth. It ii true, they. finally
  bolted,  when they refused to recognize  the. legal  delegates                 One September 26 our  .dear parents
  from the consistory of First Church and refused to. submit                             M R .   A N D   MRS  A D R I A N   GRIFFIO;EN
  even with the right of- appeal to the decision of classis.  But          celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary.
  they never  protested legally as tias not only their right, but                We are thankful to our God  who has graciously seen fit to
  also their obligation before God.                                        give them to us, and our prayer is that He may bless them in
         The second reason why I am amazed when I read this                tlieir way, and that they  ma'y experience that there is no  pe_ace
  is the awful corruption and distortion of the facts in the case, - apart  fro,m Him,
  a distortion which is effected by quoting the facts only in                                      Their grateful Children :
                                                                                                                     Mr. and Mrs. Thomas E.  Heyboer
  part.                                                                                                              Mr.  and Mrs. Arie E.  Griffioen
         This is done in spite of the fact the former consistory of                                              V i r g i n i a   R .
  Kalamazoo was thorpughly  aquainted  `with all the f&cts !                                         0               Sharon F.
                                                                                                                 - -   a n d   2   g r a n d c h i l d r e n .
         For all the facts were in detail reported to the October ~2651   C'lyde Park  Ave., S. W., Grand Rapids,  M'ich.
  classis.                . . .    '
         Moreover, all the facts  have been  pulilished  black on
  white.                                                                                                       IN MEMORIAM
      Let me piesent  fhem once more.                                            The consistory of the Prot. Ref. Church at Manhattan hereby
         The former consistory of Kalamazoo presents the flimsy            wishes to extend to the Pastor, Rev. P. Vis and family, its ex-
  ground that the consistory meeting of the First Church, held             pression of sympathy in the death of his Father,
  on June  23,:1953,  was not a legal consistory meeting,  ,and                                                M R .   W M .   V,IS
  that De Wolf and hi`s elders were not suspended and `deposed
  bjr a majority vote.                                                           Bearing the bereaved ones  tip to the Throne of Grace in
                                                                           prayer, we commend them to the comforting presence of, our
      But let & have al! the facts.                                        Covenant  Gdd.
    -- Then we must begin by the consistory meeting of June 1.                                                      I n   n a m e   o f   t h e   C'onsistory,   '
                                                                                                                              P'. Flikkema, Vice-President
                                                                 H.H.
                                                                \                                                             H.  LeTp, Clerk.
                                                                                                          e


                                                                                . .


                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B'EARER                                                  :7

                            a                                       to'be content with:whatsoever  state is mine." That is, I have
       O U R   DOC-iR.lNE                                           learned to adjust the inner state of my mind and heart to out-
                                                                    ward things and circumstances. Contentment is not-the  satis-             -
                                                                    factioa  of the Epicurean, who carefully measures the capacity
             TFE'  TRJJ?LE  KNOWLEDGE                               of his inner needs and d.esires,  in order that he may exactly
                                                                    fill them with earthly things. For this Epicurean satisfaction
    AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE HEIDELBERG  CATECFIISM                  is utterly dependent on outward things. Nor is contentment
              PART  III  1 OF `THANKFULNESS                         the proud show of the Stoic, who chokes down the cravings
                                                                    of his heart that they  lmay not  appea? in his face. For this
                        LORD'S  DAY 42                              Stoical pride is inner-dissatisfaction : it is not happiness. Nor
                           C h a p t e r   2                        is contentment the slavish `satisfaction of ignorance, that is'
                                                                    content with things that are because it knows no better. But
              The Grace of Contentment (cont.)                      it js that state of mind in which we are able correctly to evalu-
   We cannot do without them. And therefore there is                ate all earthly things, circumstances, and experiences, and  _
in our hearts a certain measure of desire for them, -which  is      correctly judging of their real significance and value to clear-
perfectly legitimate: for we are -earthy, and have need of          ly perceive that we have just enough, that we need what we           -
earthy things. We want them, expect them, look for them,            have. It is a state of profound inner satisfaction with all
and strive to acquire them in the way of God's precepts.            things, a state  pf constant. tranquillity and happiness, that
We need bread to eat and clothing to cover us, a  hotie to          reflects itself in the very features of its subject.,
shelter us. And. we need the means to" obtain these. More-             We understand, of course, that contentment is a gift of
over, we crave for health and strength, that we tiay go about       grace. It is not a  ,natural  trait of character, common to all
                                                                                                               `.
and labor. We hunger for friendship and love, for happiness         men. By nature wee are not content, and never can be. The
and lib&-ty. Contentment has respect to the relation between `natural man is a stranger .to this blessed state of mind and
the things we have and the desires of our hearts with regard        heart. and must needs  b-e-a  stranger.
to those earthly things. It is the perfect equilibrium between,        It is true that `even in the world there is fdund a resem-,
the two, the constant adaptation--of  the one to the other, the     blance  of this spiritual  pbwer. There certainly is difference
continuous adjustment of our inner state to outward circum-         between man and man as to the measure of his cravinf  for
stances. It is the positive answer to thb question: have you        things of the world. One is more easily satisfied than an-
enough  ? It answers affirmatively to the query : are you satis-    other.- And after men had a taste of abundance and worldly
fied  ?. The very opposite is discontent, which gives the           prosperity, it is more difficult than before to adjust their,
negative answer to these questions in every state. When the         desires to a state of economic depression.
inner state of our heart and mind, `our desires and longings           Yet, the contentment of which  we speak in this chaptei-
with respect to earthly things is wholly in a&-d with the           is a gift of.grace,  and the natural man does not know it. Norm
measure of earthly things which we possess, with the circum-        is he-capable of learnihg  its secret. You may explain it to him
stances in which we find ourselves, with them way which we          You may kxhort him fo be content with .whatsoevt+r  he may .
must travel, with the experiences we  are called to pass            be and whatsoever way he may have to walk. He will not
through,. and when this harmony. between outward circum-            -and  cannot understand it. In as far as he understands not
stances and. the inner state of our heart and mind is essenti-      the blessedness, but the doctrine, of true contentment, he will
ally  an adjustment of the latter to the former,  then  we are      even despise it.  For he is natural, not spiritual. And the
content.                                                            natural mah is carnal. He has a carnal,.mind,  which is enmity
   It is &dent,  therefore, that the cause of contentment lies      against God. It is not subject to the law of God, neither in-
not  in things, but in the heart. It is not from without, but       deed can be. Nor is it subject in any way or in any measure _
from within. It does  hot arise from the fact'that all things       to the eighth  co&nandment.. The man of the  wdrld
seem to bend to  ou':  .slighest- wish, but from the spiritual      does not, and cannot have his joy in the Lord. The  -.
power always to adapt our inner state to our outward con-           precepts of the Most High are not his delight. To know Him
ditions. This is evident from the text  ,we quoted above. In        and taste His grace and enter into the secret of. His fellow--
th& passage the apdstle gives a reason for the preceding state-     ship,.to serve Him and love Him with all his he& and mind
ment. He had assured the Philippians that he-spoke not in           and soul and strength, to seek the kingdom of God- and His
respect of want. He knew no want. He had enough. And                righteousness and consider all other things as subservient to
the reason for this expression of satisfaction lay not in the       this highest purpose, also the material things of this world,
fact that the apostle had an abundance of things, that he en-       -these things are hid from him. He cannot see them afar off.
joyed the fellowship of friends and brethren, that he could         He has his delight in the things- of the present time. The
do as he pleased : for he was in prison, and Nero's sword was       things of this world, the earthly things, that were ordained
even- at this moment threatening to take his very life. But         to be a mere means to an end, to him are an end in them-
the reason is expressed in the statement : "For  I  have learned    selves. He seeks them. He wants them. And he wants'more


   s:                         .
                                               T H E - S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                            .  ._ _.- _... -
                                                                       ::-
   and more, and still more'of them. To possess them5 insepar-         diff&  for the Christian,  becau'se  he has not reached that
   able from his happiness to him. Prosperity he craves, and           -perfection by which he can live by grace  only. Hence, we
   he grumbles if he cannot have it. And still he murmurs and          lnust learn to be content in the way of sanctification, in which
 grumbles if he can have all the world may offer, for the              alone we `truly seek the things above and have our joy in the
   things 6f this world can never satisfy. He has separated the        Lord. Walking in the way of the Lord; according to His
   means from the <nd, the world and himself. from God, the            precepts, fighting the good fight in prayer and supplication,
   things temporal from the things eternal. And-temporal things        we shall be able to say: "I have learned to be content `in
   have their end in death. He knows it, and therefore can never       whatsoever state I am."
   find contentment in the material things of this world. There                It stands to reason, that-living from the principle of con-
   is death in all he has.                                             tentment in the true, spiritual sense of the word, we refrain
         But contentment is' a gift of grace, bestowed by the God      from the sin of stealing in  any form;  an4 are willing to be
   of all grace upon His regenerated child, through Christ             stewards of God' in Christ Jesus with regard to our earthly
   Jesus our Lord; and by the power of, His Word  in the hoiy          possessions. .
   gospel. Only the Christian, redeemed from the present world,               Then, in the first place; we-certainly are willing to have
   delivered from  .the  power  of sin through our Lord Jesus          iothing:in our possession which we have not lawfully ac-
   Christ, by mere and sovereign grace, can `be content in prin-       quired, and- of which tie cannot confess that it has been be-
   ciple. He can say: I am content in whatsoever state I am.           stowed upon us. by the' Lord our God. But, in the second
   Contentment is indeed rooted in the principle of the law, writ-     place, living from that principle, the Christian is also ready
  ten in our hearts, which is the love of God in Christ Jesus          to manage the earthly gbods over which he has been placed
   ou;  Lord. This love of Gdd in Christ is spread abroad in           as befbre  the,face  of God and according to His precepts. In
 our hearts, in the first place, not as our  lov'e  ,to Him, but as    other words, he manages them as God's steward. The Chris-
   His love toward us, seeking and finding its response in our         tian steward, living from. the principle of his stewardship,
   love to God. And because of this-love of God, our joy is first' confesses even with regard to that. over which he has been
   of all in Him, and it is our highest delight to be well-pleasing    placed as steward, that is, with regard to that portion `of
   to Him,>and to glorify'Him  and serv`e Him with all our being       earthly possessions of which he can honestly say that he hag
  .and with every means, in whatever state we are. Because of          acquired it of the Lord, - he confesses that his earthly `pos-
   it, we ltnti that hope make& not ashamed ; and we do not            sessions do not belong to him in the absolute sense of the
   seek the things that are below, but the things that are above,      word. They are and remain- the Lord's. The believer knows
   the things heavenly and eternal, and  kndw  that things earthly     that he is in God's employ. And as our Employer, God assigns
. the things heavenly and eternal, and know that all things            .td  `us  our  pbsition  and the  &eans necessary to occupy that
 earthly are but-means to the realization of our :eternal glory.       position in order .to be faithful in our employment. The be-
   And by that love we have, confidence that Ciur God in Christ        .lieveT*,Ys   God's officebearer, also with regard  to his earthly
  ~Jesus will surely send us all those things that end to His glory    possessiops.  -knd this implies that as officebearers we realize
   and to our salvation. And thus there arises within  our hearts      .our calling with regard to the earthly goods, whatever they
   the tranquil assurance that all things work  togethe; for good,     inay be, however m&h they may be, or however little, to serve
   and the calm_con.fidence'that  tie have just enough, in whatso-     ?ind glorify our God with them, and walk in the way of His
ever state we may be. Contentment is the perfect victory               precepts. We do not use them for ourselves and~for  our owns
   over all things eairthy  and trans&nt,  and is independence with    carrial  enjoyment, but for the glory of God and the well-being
   respect to all outward circumstances. it is able to leave all       of  the neighbor. Such is our calling. In as far as  .we do not
   things to God, and be truly patient in adversity as well as         rea-lize that calling, we are thieves, and violate the eighth com-
   thankful in prosperity.                                             mandment. Hence, with,our earthly possessions, -the homes
         Of coixse, we must remember that we have but a small          in which we l&6 the bread we eat, the water we drink, the
   beginning of this new obedience. To  de sure, the gift of           clothes we put  -on, the capital we acquire,  - we stand as
-grace that `is called contentment  is- in our hearts, but it is       stewards before the face of God, and ask Him humbly:
   there only in principle. There is another law in  dur members,      "Lord, `what wilt Thou have us do ?'
  -warring again&  the la& of our mind. And accordink to that                 .This implies nlany  things.
   other law we always seek the things of the' world, and are                 It certainly implies, as the Catechism has it, that we re-
   never satiisfied with that which God bestows upon us in the         frain from all thefts and robberies which are punishable by
   measure of material things. Hence, as it is with all other          the magistrate in any form. It also implies that we refrain
   gifts of, grace, so it is with contentment : it always, assumes     from that form of stealing which consists in wicked tricks
   the form of a battle. We must fight the good fight even unto        and devices, whereby we design  to appropriate to ourselves
   the end. And that battle  -is a  particularl)  difficult one,  -    the goods which rightfully belong to our neighbor. And it
 . difficult also because God's ways ar,e often dark and rough.        implies Blso that. as stewards over our earthly possessions,
   Contentment frequently means that we must be satisfied in           before- the  face of God, we refrain from all covetousness and
   ways of suffering and grief and tribulation! And this is very       all abuse and waste of our earthly goods.                      H.H.


                                                     THEN  S T A N D A R D   i3EkRER                                                                       .9
  II                                                                             is of the lands that.1 was in the act of conquering (vs, 25).
        -         THE DAY OF SHADOWS                                        1        He has-dug `wells to supply his troops with water, because
 :                                                                               the existing ones were insufficient . Thus he has  clraified
                                                                                 away their water from their inhabitants.
             In  answer   to  HezekialCs  pranyel; the Lord  rebukes  Sew           .To the vaunt of the Assyrian the Lord replies.                        ' :
      nncheriVs  bhsphemies.  Isa.  XXXVII:21-35.                                    Hast. thou not heard that I have made her long ago and
             Then ISarah the son of Amos sent into Hezekiah,  saying,            that I have formed her of ancient-times (vs. 26a) ?
      Thus saith the Lord, God of Israel, Whereas thou has prayed                    I take the meaning of this verse to be this : Hast thou
      to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria, this is the word                not heard-that this `people  L Jerusalem. the Israel according
      that the Lord has spoken concerning him: (VsS. 21, 22b).                   to the- election - is my workmanship ? That is, dost thou,
             It again shows how that the secrets of the.Lord are ivith           not know that I brought it out of the land of Egypt, out of
      them that fear  him.._ If the Godfearing king has taken the                the house of bondage; led it through the Red Sea, wherein
      Lord's side against Sennacherib, the Lord now also. takes                  the  egyptians  were drowned, and through a howling wilder-
  the side of His servant against the' blasphemer to deliver him                 ness,  and planted it in the promised land of its abode, driving
      out of .his clutch.                                                        out before it all the inhabitants thereof. Frdm this thou
             The virgin, the daughter of Zion, has despised thee, has            canst see how precious this people `is in my sight and- what;
      derided thee; the daughter of Jerusalem has shaken the heacl               a simple thing it would be for me to destroy thee instantly
      after thee. For whom hast thou scorned and  revildd?  And                  in its presence, and that therefore thy conquests  .-must be
      against whom hast thou lifted up thy voice and raised  up                  ascribed to my providence and n"ot to thy power and wisdom.
 . thine eyes on high  ? Against the holy one of Israel (vss.                    But the verse can also be translated:  Hast  thou   not heard
  21.23).                                                                        tlmt I  dtd it  lo,ng  ago and  f~owt  a.ncient  ti&zes  fopwed  it,  and  ~
             The appellatives  vi~$n. etc. denote the true church in             the meaning taken to be : Hast thou not heard that there -is
  whose sanctified mind the world-power stands out as an                         an  al&ghty  God by whose counsel and direction thou art
  -object worthy of derision, seeing th& it exalts itself against                raised up and these wars and destruction ordained and sent.
  the only true God. The nameless folly of it! And thk'credit                       -Now I have broughf it to pas, that thou shouldest reduce
      of this posture of the saints belongs to the Lord `alone. For              defenced  cities to ruinous heaps (vs. 26b).                .:
  He sets enmity. And so they too `speak concerning the blai-                        That is: thou art operative  Bs  tiy scourge. My  9x art
  phemer the very world that the Lord speaks concerning him.                     thou. I swing thee. For  by  my- power dost thou exist.
  And therefore what they speak will surely come to pass. The                        And their inhabitants were short of hand ; they .were ter-
  world-power is doomed to extinction.                                           rified and ashamed: they were as grass of the field, and as
             By thy servants thou hast reviled the Lord . : . (vs. !24a).        the green herb, as the grass on the housetops, and as  co?-n
             This blasphemy consisted (36 :7, 15) in branding tr&t in            that is blasted before it  is  gratin up. (vs. 27).
  Jehovah foolishness,. and in concluding that, because they                         This explains  the success of the Assyrian. The Lord
  had conquered heathen nations, it fdllowed logically that the                  gives the inhabitants of the cities  into. his hand by laying
  people of -God would be conquered, and thus in placing                         the terror of the conquerer upon their hearts.                              .
  Jehovah in a class with idols. Moreover what they did, they                        But I know thy sitting and thy going out, and thy:`com-
  imagined that they had done by their `own might, and that                      ing in, and thy rage against -me-. Because. thy rage -$gaindt
  what was still to -be do& could be done in' the same way:                      me, and thy tumult, is come L:P &to mine ears, therefore will
  The prophet sets forth this thought in verses 24, -25.              .'         I put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I
             And said, By the  multitilde  of  my chariots have I come           will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest. (vss.
  to the height of the. mountains, to the sides of Lebanon ;                     28, 29).                                                             -
  and I will cut down the tall cedars thereof  &d the choice                        To say that the Lord's knowlkdge is determinative is .to
  of the fir trees. And I will enter into the height ,of his borders             say that the Assyrian comes forth from a sovereign provid-
  and to the forests of his fruitful fields  (vs: 25).                           ence; it is to say that he lives and moves and has his being
             In a word, as a conquerer `of nations he presses irresist-          in God. This certainly is the truth represehted by the  irn.,
  ably on to his chosen destination, now Jerusalem. No one                       agery of this text: And I will put a hook in thy nose etc.
  can stop `him, either man or God. Such is his boast that to                    What  &as to be  the divine working by which this raging
 a large extent he already has made good apparently.. He has                     beast Bras to be returned to his own place, time would have
  subdued the lands of Lebanon.  Hamath, Arphad, Syria,                          to reveal. This much is plain that he will return to his home                    .
  Phoenicia, `the kingdom of the Ten Tribes, the greater part                    defeated, dispirited and humbled, a trophy-of God's warfare..
of Judah, and Philistia are actually in his hands. The con-                       Having held out the promise of the disgraceful retreat-of.
  quest of Jerusalem must  folldw as a matter of course.  For                    the Assyrian out. of the Holy Land, the prophet turns to
  there is none to deliver. Such is his reasoning.                               Hezekiah and` names a sign to the king that shall be as a
             I have digged and drunk  water, `&d with the sole of my             pledge of the promise given.             _
  feet have I dried  up  the rivers of the  beseiged   plsces, that                 And this shall ge a sign to' thee, Ye. shall eat this year                         .


 10                                           TH-E  STANDARD   BEARER
                 ._

that which groweth of itself; and the second year th%f which           wrought. The Lord laid His plague. upon the  ASsyrian's
groweth of itself; and in the third year sow ye, and reap and          heart  $0 that as moved by the terror of God he returned-to
plant vineyards, and eat the fruit thereof (vs. 3Oj.                   hjs.bwn place. That "terror" was the hook in his nose  and .
       It must be suppossed that. at the time that this word was       the  bridle  in his lips by which the Lord turned him back by
spoken, shortly before the expulsion of the Assyrian, there            the way that he had come.- He had seen the finger of God
was great-scarcity of bread iti the land. For the people had           and was afraid. For the great number that perished in one
been robbed of their crops. Yet the command of the Lord                `night is something wonderful.
is to the effect that there shall be no  seed&g and harvest                 This deliverance from the power of Assyria was per-
before the third year. And the assurance is given that in the          manent. The Assyrian shall not return. God's people have
meantime there shall be food enough of that which `the land            nothing more  to fear from him.. So it was promised. He shall
as uncultivated shall yield of itself. It was a testing of faith       not come into the city, bitt by the Way he came, by the same
in the wonder-working power of the Lord, as apart  frop this:          he shall return. .He was swallowed up in victory. So the
power Canaan was not that prodtictive,  Those first tivo years         imagery of the text presents him to view. The sign too, as
would thus be sabbatical- in character. The enemy would no             .it required  .three years for  `its realization, signified not merely
m&-e be in the land. According to II Rings 19  :35  `his- ex-          a momentary but a permanent deliverance of the cit;y from
pulsion was to follow  &loSt  imme@ately, even that very               the world-power, -of  the  city-the Jerusalem below was
night. What was promised is an era of rest for God's believ-           but shadow-that one day will appear  tiith' Christ in glory.
ing people, - a never .ending rest in the final instance.                   So will the Lord save the city for His own sake and for
       And those of the house if Judah that escaped and remain         David's-  sake.  Fo? to David, that is to Christ, were the
shall increase and take root downward and bear fruit up-               promises.
ward. For from Jerusalem shall go forth-`a reinnant, and                    Sannecherib returned. and dwelt  in Nineveh. Here he
from Mt. Zion those' that escaped  .&all  go  forth.  For the          dwelt, that is `remained. And  here  he reigned still twenty
jealousy of the Lord of hosts shall do this (vss. 31, .32`).           years;&nd uridertook five more campaigns, But none of them
       That all these promises are to the true believers only that     were directed against Judah- -and Jerusalem.              -
at the approach of the invader put their confidence in Je-                 And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house
hovah by fleeing- to Jerusalem is plain .from the statelient :         of Nishrosh his God, that  Adrammelech  and Sharezer his
and  they  slznll  bealp  @it.  The reality signified is Christ the    sons smote him with the sword: apd they escaped unto the
vine atid His fruit-bearing branches, the church of .the eledt,        land of Ararat; and  Esarhaddap  his son reigned in  his
grafted  in Him by  a, faith that is living and indestructible.        stead (Vs. 38).
They are always "the remnant," "those that escaped." They                  Such was the end of Sennacherib who had dared to revile
shall increase and be estabished. And they go forth from               I s r a e l 's   G o d .
Jerusalem whose gates are n&v open, for the Assyrian is no                 As was stated in the previous article, while Rabshakeh
more. And all is to be the accomplishm&t  of the Lord. For             and the army under him was layirig seige to Jerusalem, his
He is a jealous  God. He wants His people for Himself                  master Senna?-herib  was'warring  against Lachish.and  Libnah
only. It is this that moves Him to save His people.                    a Canaanite city. Thus at the time the king of A'ssyria had
       Therefore thus saith the `Lord concerning the  kihg  of         two armies in the field, one at Lachish under  his own direct
Assyria; Not shall he'come unto this city, nor .shoot an arrow         command and another at Jerusalem under the command of
.there,  nor go before it  w&h ,a shield, nor cast a mount             Rabshakeh. Perceiving that he had failed -by his blasphemies
against here. By the way that he came, by it shall he return,          t6' move  Hezekiah   ?o a' vohintary surrender of the city,
and xhall not come `unto the city, saith the Lord. For I will          Rabshakeh returned to his master (37%). The question in
protect this city to savk her for mine own sake and foi- my            whether he returned to the king with. the great army with
servant David's sake (vss. 33-35)..                                    which he appeared before Jerusalem, the sacred narrative
       Then (that same night. See  above)   the angel of the           leaves unanswered. If he did take his army with him, then
`Lord went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a             Sennacherib met the  fearful overthrow of his host not  be;
hundred a fourscore and five thousand : and when they arose            fore the walls of Jerusalem but in the vicinity of  Libriah.
early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses. So           BUV perhaps Rabshakeh did leave  his troops behind while
Sennacherib king of  Assyi'ia  departed, and went and re-              he returned to his master, and that the plague ravaged in
turned, and dwelt at Nineveh (vss.' 36, 37).                           both armies. This'is the view of some.
       The mention of  the angel  of  the  L&d  reminds of the          : The  te2it does  not* state that in returning to his master
:destruction  of the first-born in Egypt. (Ex. 12 :15 sqq.), and       Rabshakeh took with him his army. All that we read is that
the plague in Jerusalem (2 Sam. 24 :15 sqq.) . In these three          "Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria" warring
places the angel is said to h&e. Hence, angel of dest,mtction.         against Libnah (37 :S) . This makes the' impression that his
In 2 Samuel, 24 :15 the destructio'n that was wrought  by the          troops remained behind, while he returned. If this  was so,
angel is called a "Pestilence." A pestilence is to be under-           there is some ground for the view-that the 185.000 lay dead
stood in our passage. It was the sword-by which the angel              before thk walls of  Jer&alem.


                            --


                                           .: T H E   STAN.DARD   B E A R E R                                                                         11
                                                                     -                                                                         -.-

    What favors the view that  Rabsakeh  returned with his                ness occured  bef-or> and not after the destruction of the ene-
 troops is the following consideration. While Sennacherib                 my. And so I took the position that the arrarigement of the
 was occupied with the siege of Lachish, he received report               material that forms the historical piece of Isaiah's prophecy
 that Tirhakah king of Ethiopia was come forth to make war                is not strictly chronological.
 against him. What could be more likely that it caused him                   However having studied the entire account, it has become
 to send word that Rhabshakeh  lift the siege of Jerusalem anh            plain to me that Hezekiah's illness could just as  well have
hasten to join his forces to those of his master for the im-              taken place after the overthrow of Sennacherib's host and that
 pending war as purposing to renew his war against Jerusalem              therefore no valid reason can be advanced for the posit'ion
 when the Ethiopian menace had been removed  ? If this is                 that the arrangement of the material in question  ,is  not  chron- .
 what actually happened, the Assyrian met the fearful over-               ological.  The promise that the Lord would deliver the city
 throw of his army in a region other than that of Jerusalem.              from the Assyrian was twice given. It was given when  Heze-
    *But the promise as it reads at vss. 6, 7 of chapter 37 must          kiah was sick (Isa. 3S:l sqq), and just before the overthrow
 also be taken into consideration. I quote, "And Isaiah said              of the Assyrian's .army in answer to Hezekiah's- prayer that
 unto them, Thus shall ye say unto your master, Thus saith                the Lord rebuke the  bl&phemer  (`Isa. 37). The fact that
 the Lord, Be not afraid of the words (of Rabshakeh) that                 after the destruction of the Assyrian's host and his return to
 thou liast heard, wherewith the servants of the king of As-              his own place, the question must have risen in the minds of
 syria have blasphemed me. Behold I will send a blast upon                God's anxious people whether the tyrant might not re@rn
 him, and he shall hear a report, and return to his own land."            and avenge himself lends support to the position that Heze-
     It is not certain that the report that Sennacherib was               kiah's sickness and the announcement to the king that in.
 to hear was the tidings that the king of Ethiopia had come               response .to his prayer the Lord would heal him and deliver
 forth to make  war against him. It is not unlikely that the              him, took place after the overthrow of Sennacherib's army.
 reference is to the dreadful tiding that 155,000 of his army             It meant that the God-fearing king was once more assured
 that enclosed Jerusalem had died of the pest in one night.               that the Assyrian would never. return and that thus the
 and that, as seeing  the finger of God in this, he, as activated         deliverance from his h&d was permanent.
 by the terror of God, slunk away with what was left of his                                                                                   G.M.O.
mighty army and returned to his own place.
     Then there is the text at  37:22,  "The daughter of Zion
 has shaken her head after thee.". So reads the Hebrew text.                                        4:    `4     JF      k,                                      I
 Here the picture seems to be that of the -inhabitants of
 Jerusalem shaking their heads at what remained of Rabsha-                                      Announcement
 keh's great army, after the calamity had struck, were with-
 drawing from before the walls of Jerusalem.                                 An Office-bearers Conference will be held in the Creston
    It is plain that no definite answer can be found to the               Protestant Reformed Church, October 5, 1954, at  8  .P. M.  _
6 question : where did. the overthrow of Sennacherib's army               This will comprise the office-bearers of all the churches re-
 take -place ? Before the walls of Jerusalem or elsewhere ?               sorting in  Classis  East.
     Turning now to the Book of the Chronicles for further                   The following Topics will D.V. be discussed on this
 light on the course of events after the overthrow of the As-             meeting :
 syrian, we learn this (2 Chron. 32  :22, 23). When the Lord                 "Shaking Hands With The Minister After the Sermon."
 had saved Jerusalem from the hand of the king of Assyria,                   "Pronouncement of The Blessing By A Student."
 many brought gifts to the Lord to  Jerusalelll,  and presents               "Excommunication from the Christian Church."
 to Hezekiah king of Judah, so that he was magnified in the                                                                    Joe King, Secretary          *
 siiht of all nations.' Then follows a brief notice of Hezekiah's
 sickness. It reads, "In  those.  clays Hezekiah was sick unto
 death, ancl prayed unto the Lord ; and he - the Lord, spake                                        *  *  *  *
 unto him and gave him a sign. Thus according to all the
 sacred accounts in our possession (the accounts contained in
 II Kings, II Chronicals and the prophecy of Isaiah)  Heze-                                               Notice
 kiah's sickness occurred after the overthrow of Sennacherib's               Eastern Ladies League meeting will be held in  Hud-
 army. It took place, according to each of these accounts, "in            sonville Church on October 14, at 8 P. M.
 those days," that is in the days of the Assyrian invasion and               Rev. J. Heys will be the speaker.
 the siege and deliverance of Jerusalem in the fourteenth year               We look forward to an evening of Christian fellowship,
 of Hezekiah's reign.                                                     so plan tp be present.
    In a previous article- (The Standard Bearer for July 1) I
 asserted that the Lord's pronlise  to the smitten king that He              All ladies of our churches are invited.                     '
 will deliver, the city proves conclusively that the king's sick-                                                       Mrs. G. Pipe, Vice-Sec.

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

  II                                                                   seen in the church, never forgetting the past labors of love
              FROM HOLY  WRIT                                       II (which God too does not forget !) waiting upon Jehovah,
                                                                       Who builds up-,His  church and seeks her wandering sons!
                                                                       And then melt in love that is longsuffering and really useful ;
               Exposition of Philippians 1:3-l 1                       in a love that believes all things, hopes all things and endures
         There are times and times in the life of a Christian. And     all things. It is a love that only rejoices in the fruit of right-
  not less is this true of Apostles, prophets, evangelists and         eousness in the hearts of the church, a fruit that may abound
  pastors and teachers, while they labor as.Christ's gift to the       to her account in the day of Christ Jesus,!
  Church for ,the perfecting of the saints, and the bringing them,         Such is the great confidence that makes the apostle Paul
 -under God, to the unity of the faith and knowledge of the            look upon the imperfect church at Philippi, being fully per-
  Son of God!                                                          suaded ahat in the day of Jesus Christ these Philippians' will
         There are times of deep distress  and `cares for all the      have fully attained to the perfection set before us in a life
  churches which outweigh all other afflictions together; times        to  come.-
  when the care of the churches and *of the local congregation             Wherefore Paul writes : "I  thank   my God  ztpow  a21  my
  comes daily upon your soul. When one says: I had fainted,            rmaewabran~ce   of you, always in  every  szsfiplicatiort of  Wiine on
  unless I had believed to see `the goodness of the Lord in the        belmlf  of  you all  making  my supplication with joy,  for  yozt~*
  Ian<  of living. In such seasons one quenches his thirst in          fellowship in the  fu&erance  of the Gospel  fi?oua the  first day
  the promises of God, and says td his soul, committing it unto        mtil now; being -confident of this  very  t&g, that he who
  our faithful Creator: Wait for Jehovah : Be strong, and let. bega,n a. good work in you will  Feyfeet it until the day of
  thy heart take courage ; Yea, wait thou upon Jehovah!                Jesus  Cladst . . . And this I  pray  tlaat  yoztv  love may  abound
        ,Yes, then one prays: teach me thy way, 0 Jehovah,  atid       yet  more and  ytao1.e  in knowledge and all discernment, so  thai
  lead me in a plain path, because of them that lie in wait for        y0.u  hay approve  the things  that  are excellent; that ye may
  me. Deliver me not` over unto the will of mine adversaries :         be  sincere and  zroid of offense, unto the day of Jesus  Clarist,
  for false witnesses are risen up against  nl-e, and such as          being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are thy-oatglz
- breathe out cruelty! One then begins to understand the heart         Jesus Christ, zrnto t&e glory and praise  of God.`" Phi. 1 :3-11
  of the dying Jacob, speaking of two of his sons, who did not             Concerning-.this  passage from Holy Writ we desire to
  understand that vengeance`belongeth unto the Lord ; speak;           make some-expository observations.
  ing of them Jacob  says. "S&eon  and Levi are brethren ;                The question arises : why does Paul speak such a profuse
  weapons of violence are their swords. 0 my soul come not             praise of these Philippian Christians ? Certainly not that he
  thou int6 their council ; unto their ass&bly, my glory, be not       should flatter them. On the contrary Paul is here proceeding
  thou united, for in their anger they slew a man, and in their        from the principle that all things are indeed out of God,
  self-will they hocked an ox. Cursed be their anger, for it was       through Him and unto Him, that to God bl the praise and
  fierce ; and their wrath, for it was cruel. I will divide them       glory in tlae &~l'ch, and that in each believer, both now and
  in Jacob and scatter them in Israel." Gen. 49 :5-7                   forever. He is thanking God upon every remembrance  of.
         One understands the fear of Jacob's soul, that, as  the       these  Christiaus, because whenever he thinks. of  .them he
  Church in Canaan, dwelling among'the  Canaanites and the             thinks of them as God's lzandiwork!
  Perizzites, he would  not be a  light  upon a candle-stick, being       But why tell these Philippians this ?
  as shining lights in the midst of a crooked and perverse                There can be no doubt about it that thus, Paul is preparing
  generation. @ear him moan and sigh his complaint to these            their minds the better, that they may consider that they are
  cruel sons : Ye have troubled me, to make me odious to the           as some first-fruits of God's creation, having been brought
  inhabitants of the land . . . and I being fe& in number, they        forth by the Word of truth. Only when they are fully aware
  will gather themselves against me . . . ."                           that it is God who works effectually in them both to will and
         Such is the. lot of all God's faithful servants. We com-      to do of His good-pleasure, will they have the consciozrs  fear
  plain unto the Lord about the destructive work of the enemy,         and desire to work out, to polish down in the finest points
  even those that preach Christ because of envy and strife,            and details their salvation. Paul employs a different term for
  until we see that one cari do nothing against the. truth, and        "our working out" in Greek, that he does for God's "working-
  see that there is not enough darkness in  all the world to           in us." The latter term is our english term energy!  We work
  extinguish the light and the  testimbny  of the few that are         out our salvation in the energy of God who empowers us
  faithful .to the word of God and the patience of Jesus. Then         with power. Hence, salvation is wholly of the Lord. And
  we learn to be content in whatsoever state we find ourselves ;       that salvation is wholly of the Lord is the reason for-' Paul's
  we know then that godliness with contentment is the great            prayer for the church. And the reminding them of ihis his
  gain.                                                                prayer for them is to stir up in  thein this mystery of god-
        Thus looking at the chosen saints in the world, .the be-       liness. For God works grace through  adnionitions  ! It is
  lieving Churches, we thank God upon every remembrance of             through admonitions that God. confers, breaths the grace
  them in our prayers, remembtring  all the good- that we have         of readiness in us, stirring up the new  life in us!  .4.dmnoi-


            REPORT  OF  CLASSIS  WEST,  SEPTE,MBER  8, 1954.



   Classis  West met in regular. session in  Doon, Iowa, on Wednesday, Sept. 8,
1954. Our number was again small. However, we were happy to have a delegate
from our Lynden church in our midst, Deacon A.  Vanden Top. Hence, five
churches were represented.

   The  Classis received for information a letter from the Manhattan church as
an answer to a letter we had sent to that church at our April 7  Classis.  That
consistory had expressed the desire for discussion. The  Classis decided to grant
them the opportunity for such discussion and appointed  a'committee to meet
with Manhattan should they desire to meet with us and discuss the various
issues involved in the recent split in our churches.

   Rev. H. Mensch visited with us. He was granted the opportunity to address
the  Classis in regard to his labors in South Dakota. That brother is laboring
under difficulties and expressed the personal desire for contact between his
churches and our Protestant Reformed Churches.

   The  Classis  devoted a large share of its time to the problem of furnishing
our churches at Hull and Lynden with pulpit supply. It was decided to ask
Classis  East to help us in the solution of this problem.  Classis East will be
requested to supply half of Hull's and Lynden's classical appointments.

   Our churches in the West are in need of reading services. The  Classis,  there-
fore, decided to ask the ministers of  Classis  West to furnish two more sermons
for reading purposes and to request  Classis  East to request of  their ministers
that they furnish  one.more sermon each.

   The  Classis  also decided to conduct church visitation in the churches of
Classis  West. This work is to be conducted in conjunction with the preaching
in Lynden on classical appointment.

   Although handicapped because of the lack of delegates, due to the fact that
only five churches were represented at the  Classis,  an enjoyable time was spent at
this meeting of  Classis  West. We sincerely hope that this will soon be remedied.
After deciding to meet in  Edgerton the first Wednesday in March of 1955 the
Classis  adjourned and the Rev. H. C. Hoeksema closed our meeting with thanks-
giving to God.
                                                           Rev. H. Veldman.


                                               T H E   STANDAR.D   B E A R E R                                                         13

tions of the Gospel are a part of the preaching of the Word            not be traced out, since the believers in this life cannot fully
  whereby God works faith in our hearts.                               comprehend this supernatural operation of God's grace, also
     Let no one lift his eye-brows over this last observation..        through admonitions, they are content with the emphatic as-
   Rather let it sink deep into `our hearts. Did not our               sertion : God's grace is efficacious,  He works it in our hearts.
  Fathers say : "As the almighty operation of God, whereby He          It is then asserted : God energizes in us both to will and to
  prolongs and supports this our natural life, does not exclude        do of His good-pleasure. But they fail to see that God used
  but-requires the use of means, by which God of His infinite          Peter, working effectually through His preaching among the
  mercy and goodness hath chosen to -exert His influence, so           circumcision, and that He used Paul's preaching to work
  also the aforementioned supernatural operation of God, by            effectually in the Gentiles.
  which we are regenerated in no wise excludes or subverts the                God employs admonitions. They are a part of the Media
  use of the Gospel, which the most wise God has ordained to           Gratia. And God's effectual working is never separated from
  be the seed of regeneration, and food of the soul. Wherefore -His own means. It remains the principle of full-orbed sancti-
  as the apostles and teachers who succeeded them, piously             fication,  called by our Confessions "regeneration."
  instructed the people concerning the grace of God, to His                   It is a pity that some people are confused on this point
  glory and the abasement of all pride, and in the meantime,           And it is time that this point be made very clear in the writ-
  however, neglected not to keep them by the sacred precepts           ten word, but also from our pulpits. At the same time let
  of  the  Goi@  in the exercise of the Word, sacraments and           these admonitions not be confused with "pre-requisite acts,"
 discipline ; so even to this day, be it far `from either iistruc-     but rather as enjoining us, requiring of us to work out our           _.
  tors or instructed to. presume t6 tempt God in the church by         salvation with fear and trembling. Does Rev. De Wolf thus
  separating what he of His good-pleasure hath most intimately         understand the matter? Let him have the grace to state it
  joined together. For grace is conferred by means of  ad:             and say there are no  .pre-requisite  acts ! And if we learn
                                                                                               --
  monitions ; and the more readily we perform our duty, the            together by means of "controversy," and who doesn't that
 ,more eminently usually is this blessing of- God working in           walks in earnest Godly study, then let us confess this -and
 us, and the more directly is His work advanced; to whom               even in this controversy work out our salvation with fear
 alone be the glory both of the *weans  and of their saving fruit      and trembling! Satan thrives on misunderstandings, and
 and efficacy is forever due. Amen." Canons of Dort, III, IV,          heretics work with them. But teachers in sound doctrine
 Article 17.                                                           speak the truth in clarity and all sincerity as before God!
     Let attention be paid to every word of this precious gem                 Such is the tenor of Paul's writing here in Philippians.
 in our Confessions.                                                   The good work had been begun, but it was far from per-
     Let every one reading this be slow to speech, slow to             fected in them. But Paul builds. And he has something to
 wrath and swift to hear, lest we tempt God with a rash and            build- on. He has something to appeal to in them. There is
 tempting walk, separating what He has most intimately                 a spiritual point of contact. And that deepest point of contact
 joined together.                                                      is that God is the Beginning One of the good work in the
     This Paul did not do.                                             saints, and he will finish it even to the day of Christ Jesus.
     Hence, we must not read the sixth verse as if it were a                 Hence, no anxious exhortations, fearing that God will not
 thought that simply stands by itself as a dogmatic -statement         finish His work. But earnest exhortation and  instru&on,
 concerning the perseverance of *the saints. If ,we paraphrase         planting and watering knowing that God thus gives the in-
 this text we can very well say the text teaches, it proves the        crease and presently the full harvest.
 perseverance of the saints. This it does, thanks be to God!                                   (to be continued)
 -But the text does more ! It is here an expression of the liv-                                                                       G . L .
 ing and strong confidence in the heart of Paul, and that, too,
 under the most adverse circumstances, in-God as the Alpha                                                                *
 and the Omega of our salvation, and thus a confidence that                                          +hb&-
 knows that God will finish the salvation in the hearts of all
 His own  tk-ozt.gg,`z  His  own  qvteans!  Without this confidence             SING TO THE LORD, SING HIS PRAISE
 in God as the Alpha and Omega of our salvation one cannot
 admonish with the admonitions of the -Gospel, joining to-                   G,ive unto God Most High glory and honor,
 gether the efficacious grace of God and the admonitions in                    Come with your offerings and humbly draw near;
 the preaching of the Gospel.                                                In holy beauty now worship Jehovah,
     Why do I emphasize this ?                                               Tremble before Him with godly fear.
     Becaus.e to my great sorrow, not to say amazement, I                    Let heaven and `earth `be glad  ; waves of the ocean,
 not so seldom meet. with Christians, Protestant Reformed                      Forest and Field, exultation express  ;
 Christians, who are very emphatic on the point of the afhca-                For God is coming, the Judge of the nations,
 cious calling, but fail to know exactly how God works this                    Coming to judge in His righteousness
 efficacious grace through admonitions. And since this can-            .            _                                     Psalm 96


     1       4                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEkl?ER

                                                                        about there being no doctrinal issue. -He writes, "Not those
                       I N   HI-S  F E A R                              wllo now disagree with the Rev. H. Hoeksema have changed
                                                                    I their doctrinal position, but in denying all use of the term
                                                                        `conditions' in the matter of salvation, the Rev. I-1. Hoekse-
                            Walking  in Error                           ma has recently changed his doctrinal position, and has
                                                                        thereby not only taken a theological step further away from
                                      (12)                              the Christian Reformed Churches, b,ztt has taken a tkeologjcab
          Our churches split on a very definite doctrinal issue.        step- away  frown, the historical  Refohed   po&ion, and has
          In the August issue of the Reformed Guardian, Vol. II,        caused a  s~aa~~Lefn1   breach  in  the Protestant Reformed
     No. 3, Page 13, we comti across the amazing statement that,        Churches." The italics are ours. But note that a theological
     "Our churches did not `split' on any doctrinal issues, that of     position has caused the breach.
     conditions or  ati? other point of doctrine, but solely  on.           There is more in this~ statement of Rev. Kok than at first
     clwrcla  pol,itical  issues."                                      meets the eye. We will not take the time, now, to do any-
          Such an amazing statement may not  90 unchallenged, for       more  than to point out one important element. Rev.  Kok,
     it deceives and covkrs up the real basic doctrinal issue which     in this paragraph, maintains that they with the statements of
     is behind the whole sad history through which we have  gone        Rev. De Wolf still have the "historical Reformed position."
     recently.                                                          The  Thristian   Refo?med Churches, according to this para-
          It unjustly casts thk  blame. upon us and makes  us look      graph departed from that historical Reformed position. And
     like an evil, conspiring group - while actually they are the       we, by denying conditional theology, have gone even farther
     ones who met from time to time and conspired-that cor-             from that historical Reformed position than  then Christian
     rupted the church order in order to cast lout in an illegal wiy    Reformed Churches. For lie says that we have taken a step
     those who were doctrinally one with  us.                           "further away from the Christian Reformed Churches" by
          -mie wrote last time- and not in malice or sarcasm  -         our recent position.
     that even their own do not know anymore upon what it is                Amazing speech !
     that they can depend,' and that they change their tactics with         We are, in Rev.  Kok's estimation, guilty of more false
     each new emergency.                                                doctrine than the -Christian Reformed Churches were when
          We mean every word of that. ,                                 in 1924 they adopted the theory, of Common Grace.
          And we will show from- their own mouths that this is              How awful !
     actually true.                                                         But Rev. Blankespoor comes ,to our defense, less than a
          Last time we showed along general lines how their church      year later, and says that, though we are so very evil in our
     political view is presented a$ Presbyterian when if fits- besb     church polity, we have no different doctrinal position than
     in the defense of their case and that when they want to &et -they. Who do you believe ?
     away from the real meaning of the Church Order, and note-              That Rkv.  Kok's answer to Dr. Daane does not hold at
     ably article 31,  Fhey  defend the Congregational form of - all and that Dr. Daane is absolutely correct in his assertion
     church government.               _  s                              that Rev. Kok et*al with their conditional theology have taken
          `The very same thing is true about the doctrinal issue.       one step back to the Christian Reformed Churches is evident
     When  there is a certain class of people they have to try to       from a little closer look at that amazing paragraph of Rev.
     convince and win for their side, they maintain that there is       Kok. He admits that the Rev. H. Hoeksema took a  "step
     no doctrinal issue involved, as in the quotation above. But        fwther away  from the  Christiar~  Refomred  Chwclzes."  "Fur-
     when they approach a different `group that is so very out-         ther away" means that the first step in `24 was away from -
     spoken in its hatred of election and of the sovereignty of God,    the Christian Reformed Churches. It means that Rev.  Kok
     and in its  IoJe  pf the Liberated conditional theology, then      admits that by rejecting the theory of "Common Grace" the
     they speak quite differently.                                      Rev. H. Hoeksema took his first step away from the Chris-
          You have but to compare the writings of these men over        fian Reformed Churches. You agree with that step, do you,
     a very short span of time and you will find what we said to        not, Rev. Iiok ? It was a step in the right direction, was it
     be true.                                                           not? And now he took, not  another  step, for that could be
.         In the Concordia of less than a year ago, November 19,        in the wrong direction, but you say a "fztrtdze~" step "away"
     1953 to be exact, Rev. Rok published a letter which he sent        from the Christian Reformed Churches. It must be, then;-in
     to the Reformed Journal to defend himself against the ac-          the sal+ae direction.
     cusation of Dr. Daane that they with the- condifional  theo-          Does Rev.  Kok.  not prove Dr.  .Daane  to be correct that
     logy and with Rev. De Wolf's statements are taking one             the Rev. Hoeksema purified his' doctrine ? And Rev. Kok et
     step back to the Christian Reformed Churches.                      al by their defense of the heretical statements of Rev. De
          He makes this astounding statement and thereby tells Wolf did not remain where the Rev.  Go6ksema   wa_s  with
     Rev. Blankespoor that in the Reformed Guardian of -August          his first' step but went back a step toward the well meant
     1954, he is not guarding truth and justice by his statement        offer of salvation to all who hear.


                                .._                  T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                        15

          But whichever way yov $ok at that statement of Rev. Kok,                statements.of Rev. De Wolf. Let them say with us that there
.      he certainly mairitains  that a doctrinal difference between US            is no defense for them in their literal form, that they militate
       and them is the cause of the split, or. breach, as he calls it.            against  -all that the Scriptures and the Confessions  tea&.
           Those  wgo follow Rev.  Iiok and Rev. Blankespoor simply .-Otherwise we can  never~  agree that the "split" is "solely on
       have to chose which one of their men they will belie%                 *    church political issues."
           Then, too, Rev. Doezema  is not at all ashamed to publish.               But that is not all. Why did  they reject the Declaration
      - to-all the readers. of Concordia that he has changed his doc-             of Principles as quickly as they possibly could, when it was
       trina  position since he wrote on the book of Galatians. He                adopted to  d:fend  our. churches from the Liberated Doctrine?
      made it clear that he considered it a virtue to be able to                  We adopted it to defend ourselves against a false doctrigze.
       change your mind on doctrinal matters after further study.                 They apparently welcome that doctrine, and lowered the bars.
       -But he also  liiade it clear that the split in our churches is                Why do they show so little'interest, especially among&he
     due to a doctrinal difference.            -                                  clergy, for instruction in Protestant Reformed Christian
           Perhaps most glaring of all the proofs that there is `a                Schools? Indeed, excuses before men can be manufactured.
       doctrinal issue is-the  fact that this whole matter began with             But before God to Whoni they promised that to the utmost of
       the differences of oginion concerning the heretical statements             their power they would help or cause their children to be in-
       of Rev.  D6 Wolf. We claim that, in their literal form, they               structed in the doctrine of the Protestant Reformed Churches
       are contrary to the plain teachings of the Scriptures and th_e             there is NO excuse when He has prepar&l  the way. -And if
        Confessions. Those who left us insist that as they St&& in                we aye not split on a doctrinal. issue, then the dodtrine ac-
       their literal form, they are not to be condemned as teaching               cording to which instruction is given in the Protestant  Re-
       anything contrary to the Scriptures and the Confessions.                   fornied Christian Schools is also their doctrine. What about
           That is a doctrinal difference is it not ?                             it? Why did your children not  ret-w-n  to a Protestant Re-
           And we split upon that issue long before any of the church formed School ?
       political action was taken` which_ is now so serverely and un-                 Finally there is the testimony of their own-followers that
       justly  criticised. It  4s Rev.  Blankespoor's  opinion that all           it is definitely a doctrinal issue. One  of those who left us
       bur action. is frb&  a church political viewpoint corrupt. He-             criticized one of  &r sermons by asking where we get the
       is entitled to his opinion. But let him tell us what became  p `idea that faith is the bond that unites us with Christ. Mind
     * the ocdasion for our "corrupting" our church politicai.set  up.            you,. that is a doctrine taught in the Protestant Reformed
       We, so -he claims, followed a wrong church political proce-                Churches  as long as they have been in existence! A thing
       dure both with Rev. De Wolf and with himself -and Rev.                     stated literally in- Lord's Day 7 ! Of course; if you deny this
       Knott and Rev. Kok. But why did we follow that procedure ?                 truth and add, as this`individual did, that faith is simply be-
       Did we corrupt the Church Order. because Rev. De Wolf                      lieving, you can come more readily to the idea of faith as a
      had  begun to write a series of articles on the Church Order                condition to salvation. Make it j&t the work' of God where-
       `with which we could not agree? Did Rev. De Wolf follow                    by He  kngrafts  us into Christ and  you have no room for
       a certain church-political procedure for which the- consistory             conditional theology. Another individual who left -for doc-
       called  hiln to task? Or do  the  official  recoj,ds  of the  Con-         trinal reasons stated over the telephone ". . . even though we
       sistory of First Chu.?ch  and of Classis  East, do the facts show          do not believe the same =way  you do, we do  nit . . .`C *And
       that-what started the whole thing was protests concerning a                one expressed, as his reason for leaving to  joiii them, his
       doctrinal issue  ?                                                         dissatisfaction with the preaching  -the preaching, mind you,
           Rev. Blankespoor, we said, is entitled to his opinion. But             is doctrine i because he heard enough about God's` works
       he  mu'st produce factual  e.vidence  to say that  our  chur&es            and now wanted to' hear about man's. He told us that we
       split "Solely" on church political-issues. (And when he dies               could preach that sovereignty of God and that election and
       speak of church political issue?, he must not ignore important' reprobation once in a while but most of .the time we should -
      Ehurch political issues, facts like  June- 1, which preceded                approach our text from the~&wpbint  of man.
       June~23,  and Classis  West, .September  1953, which preceded               These are welcomed with open arms by those  tiho say
       Classis  East; October 1953.) "Soleley" rules out the whole                that our churches did not split on a doctrinal issue.
       occasion for the split. It ignores the  whble seven days  of                  ,The issue is ".&el_v"  church political ?
       discussion  in- Classis  -to say nothing about the weeks and                  We deny that, and we will go one step further.
       mdnths in First Church's consistory - about a doctrinal is-                   All these criticisms of our preaching and of the doctrinal
      sue. If it is solely a church political issue, why did we spend             stand of our churches is the result of the "missionary" activity
       so much time on the doctrinal  qilestion  of a conditional                 of those who left us.. It is the fruit of the writings begun by
       promise to all who hear the gospel ? Why did he together                   Rev. Petter, who first dared to infroduce  into our circle the
       with Rev. Iiok and Rev. De Wolf feel *the need of making                   doctrine of faith as a condition. It is the fruit of the defense
       long speeches, on. the floor of Classis  to defend those state-            raised against the heretical statements of Rev. De Wolf and
       ments of Rev. De Wolf? If doctrinally we were not split, let               of Rev. Kok. It is the fruit of all the criticism of the conten`ts
       him and Rev. De Wolf publish their condemnation of those                                        (Co~~timted  on page 17)
                  ,

                                                    . _


16                                          T H E   STANbARD   - B E A R E R

I                                                                  and Spirit. For  is the bread which is, produced from the
          Contending For The. Faith                                earth,  wLen it receives the invocation of God, is no longer
                                                                   common bread, but the. Euacharist,  consisting of two realities,
           `The Church and  then  Sacraments                 -     earthly and heavenly ; .so also our bodies, when they receive
                                                                   *the Eucharist, are no longer corruptible, having the hope
         EARLY  VIEW; ON THE  SACRAMENT  OF THE                    of  the resurrection to eternity."  - end of quote. There is
                        LORD'S  SUPPER             -               inuch  in this quotation of Irenaeus which surely appears~  to
                          (Continued)                              resemble Catholic doctrine of the sacrifice of Christ in the
The' idea of sun-ijice  (continued).                               Mass. However; in the first place, Irenaeus declares that
      Finally, continuing to' quote Irenaeus, we submii  to our    sacrifices do not sanctify a man. This is. certainly not in
readers the following rather `lengthy quotation which is .re-      harmony-with the Roman Catholic doctrine of the Eucharist.
markable  because it enables LIS to understand why the seeds       And we may notice, iti the second place, that the author of
of the later Roman Catholic doctrine of the Mass and of the. these words speaks of two realities in the Eucharist,  the
`real, be it bloodless, sacrifice of Christ were sown in this      earthly and the heavenly ; hence, the one is not changed into
early period 01 the Church. We must remember,. however,            the  ,other. Thirdly, the sacrifices or  obistions are the  sacri-
that the language of the  Apbstolic Fathers is highly figur-       fies offered by the Church to God. and nor. by J&us Christ
ative, so that whkn Irenaeus writes that our flesh, when           Himself.
nourished with the body of the Lord, becom& incorruptible,                 Wk may conclude, therefore, that Irenaeus, in connection
he may mean that the Eucharist is simply a means thro"ugh          with the idea  oft sacrifice, clearly teaches that Christ has
whitih the Church receives everlasting life. Be this as it may,    commanded, not for the sake of the Lord? but of the disciples,
we would quote the following: "Inasmuch, then, as the              to offer the first fruits  ; the early Church recognized the bread
Church offers with single-mindedness, her gift is justly           and the wine as gifts of God, and returned them unto the
reckoned -a-pure sacrifice with God. As Paul also says to          Lord in thanksgiving. He emphasized that the principal
the  Philihpians, "I am f&l, having received from Epaphro-         thing is the disposition of the person  who makes the offer-
ditus the things that  were sent from  ydu, the odour of a         ing.
sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, pleasing to God." For it I Origin knows only of  one sacrifice-offered by Christ. It
behoves us to make an oblation to God, and in all things to        is fitting, however, for Christian& to offer spiritual.,sacrifies
be found grateful to God our Maker, in a pure mind;and in          unto the Lord. He ddes not know of a sacrifice of Christ in
faith without hypocrisy, in well-grounded hope, in fervent         the Mass as taught by Rome.
love, offering the first-fruits of. His own created things. And            Tertullian, too, speaks of  scarifices.  However, he  calls
the Church alone offers this  pure oblation to the  Creator.       prayers sacrifices; as in the following passage which. we
offering to  Him, with giving of thanks, (the things taken)        quote from this western Church Father: "Indeed, she prays
from His creation. But the Jews do not offer thus: for their       for his soul, and requests refreshments for him meanwhile,,
hands ace full of blood ; for they have not received the kord,     and fellowship (with him) in the first resurrection; and she
through whom it is offered to God (according to one writer,        offers (her sacrifice) on the anniversary of his falling
the words : "through whom it is afiered  to God," must retid:      asleep." We will not discuss the deremony to which Tertul-
"Who is offered to God, "implying that the body of Christ          lian refers in this passage. It is sufficient for our purpose
is really offered as a sacrifice to God in the Eucharist. How-     to remark that he is speaking here of prayers for the dead,
ever, there is nothing in the writings of Irenaeus to sub-         and'he calls them sacrifices. In fact, this Church Father calls
stantiate this particular translation of what the Church Father    thk entire  Christian  worship a  sacl'ifice. There is no refer-
had  written- H.V.) . . . . But how can they be con&stent          ence to the Roman Catholic conception of the daily sacrifice
with themselves (when they say) that the bread over which          of Christ which occurs daily in the Mass.
thanks have  beeri given is the body of their Lord, and the                The idea of sacrifice also occurs, as we might surmise,
cup of His blood, if they do not call Himself the Son of the' in the writings of Cyprian. He, too, speaks of the life of the
Creator of, the world, that. is, His Word, through whom the        Christian as a sacrifice, as in the following quotation : "He has
wood fructifies, and the fountains gush forth, and the earth       clearly joined herewith and added the law; and has bound
gives first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the     us by a certain condition and engagement, that we should ask
ear." Then, again, how can they say that the flesh, which is       that our debts be forgiven us in such a manner as we-our-
nourished with the body of the-Lord and with His blood, goes       selves forgive our debtors;knowing  that that which we seek
to corruption, and does not partake of life ? Let  them,           for our sins cannot be `obtained. unless we ourselves- have
therefore, either alter  their opinion  or. cease from of-         acted-in a similar way in respect of our debtors. Therefore
fering the things just mentioned. But our opinion is               also ,He says in another place,~"With  what measure ye-mete,
in accord with the Eucharist, and  -the Eucharist in  turn!. it shall be measured .to you again." And -the servant who,
establishes our opinion: For we offer to Him His own,  an-' after having all his-debt forgiven him by his master, would
nouncing  consistently the fellowship. and union of the flesh      not forgive his fellow-servant is cast into` prison : because.he


                                            THti       s'L'HNDARD                  BEAREk                                            17

 would not forgive his fellow-servant, he lost the indulgence              Cyprian, however, held the o&e of bishop- very hi&jr.
 that had been shown to himself by his Lord. And `these things one of his basic teachings was that the' bishop is in the
 Christ still more urgently sets forth in His precepts with yet     Church. and the .%hurch  is in the bishop. Salvation without
 greater power of His rebuke.  -"When  ye stand praying,"  _ the Church and the bishop is impossible. And it is there-
 says He, "forgive if ye have ought against any, that your          fore not surprising that he should espress the idea that not
 Father which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses."        the Church but the priest offers an'imitation  of the sacrifice
 There remains no ground of excuse in the day of judgment           of the Lord. This appears from the following quotation:
 when you will be judged, according to your own sentence ;          "Rut if we may not break even the least of the Lord's com-
 and whatever you have done, that you also will suffer. For         mandments, how much-rather is it forbidden to infringe such
 God commands us to be peacemakers, and in agreement, and           important ones, so great, so pertaining to the very sacrament
 of one mind in His `house ; and such as He makes us by a           of our Lord's passion and our own redemption, or to change                    --
 `second birth, such He wishes us when new-born to continue;        it by human tradition into anything else than what was
 that we who have begun to be sons of God may abide in              divinely appointed ! For if Jesus Christ, our Lord and God,
 God's peace, and that, having one spirit, we should also have is Himself the chief priest of God the Father, and has first'
 one heart and one mind. Thus God does not receive the,             offered Himself a sacrifice to the Father, and has com-
 sacrifice of a person who is in disagreement, but commands         manded this to be done in commemoration of Himself,
 him to go back from the altar and first be reconciled to his       certainly that priest truly discharges the office of Christ, who
 brother, that so God may be appeased by the prayers of a.          imitates that which Christ did ; and he then offers a true and
 peacemaker. Our peace -and brotherly agreement is the              full sacrifice in the Church to God the. Father, when he  _
 greater sacrifice to God,  - and a people united in one in the     proceeds- to -offer it according to what he sees Christ Him-
 .unity of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.      self to have offered." - end of quote. This quotation clearly
 For even in. the sacrifice which Abel and Cain first offered,      illustrates why it can be said of this early period of the
 God looked not at their gifts, but at their hearts, so that he     `Church of ~God  that the-seeds were sown for the later devel-
I was acceptable in his gift who -was acceptable in his heart.-     opment of the Roman Catholic .conception  of the Mass, the              _-
 Abel, peaceable and righteous in sacrificing in innocence to       daily and actual, though bloodless, sacrifice of the Lord Jesus               i
 God, taught others also,  .when they bring their gift to the       Christ. We must bear in  &in& however, that Cyprian de-                                        _
 altar, thus to.come with the fear of God, with a simple heart;- clares in this quotation that the, priest, when truly disch'arging
 with the law of righteousness, with the peace of concord.          the office of Christ, &ita.tes that which Christ did, and this is
 With reason did he, who was such in respect of God`s               certainly not  .the same as  -the Roman Catholic conception
 sacrifice, become subsequently himself a sacrifice to God ; so     which declares that Jesus Christ is truly and actually sacri-
 that he who first set forth martyrdom, and initiated the Lord's    ficed daily in then Mass, and that this, daily sacrifice "of Christ.
 passion by the glory of his blood, had both the Lord's-right-      is just as real and. actual as that which occurred upon the  -                      -
 eousness and His peace."- end of quote. This, incidentally,        cross of Calvary.                                             H.V.
 is part' of Cyprian's explanation of the fourth petition of the
 Lord's Prayer. It is evident that what Cyprian here writes           -                        IN HIS FEAR
                                                                                           (Contimed  from page 15')
 of the sacrifice has nothing in common with the Roman of the Declaration of Principles. And because it is the result
 Catholic doctrine of the sacrifice. of Christ in the Mass. He      of the "misionary" activity'of those who left us, those who
 declares that our peace and brotherly agreement-is the greater     utter such speech are received with open arms.
 sacrifice to God, a people united in one in the unity of the              . But then they' must not say that the doctrinal issue has
 Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.                    nothing` to do with the split so that it is solely a church
     However, Cyprian with his hierarchical tendencies al-          political issue.
 ready expresses the'idea  that not. the Church,.but  the priest           We urge them in the name of God  riot to continue to
 offers an imitation of the sacrifice of the -Lord. We may          walk in this error. Let them come' out clearly and openly
 recall that Cyprian taught that- a mixture of the water and        with their different doctrine, `and then let the- child of God
 wine was essential for a proper celebration of the Lord's          measure their teachings  .with the Scriptures and with the
 Supper. He taught that "in the water is understood the             Confessions.
 people, but in the wine is showed the blood of Christ."                   And if Rev. Blankespoor  -is doctrinally agreed with us                      -~
 Hence, when the water is mingled in the cup `with wine, the        and condemns unequivocally those statements of  Rev.. De
-people  is made one with Christ, and the assembly of believers     Wolf as insults to the living God and as Liberated  Con'  I
is associated and conjoined -with Him on Whom it believes.          ditional theology that may not be- defended, then let him
 This association and conjunction of water and wine, Gyprian        tell us. Then all church political differences and "injustices"
 continues, is so mingled in the Lord's cup, that that mixture      can-be discussed and be dissolved.
 cannot anymore be separated. Therefore, Cyprian concludes,                Then there is hope of a reunion of those who are doctrin-,
 in thus consecrating the cup of the Lord, water alone cannot       ally agreed. Then there must be a reunion of those doctrin-.
 be, offered, even as wine'alone cannot be'offered.                 .ally agreed.                                           J . A . H .                      ~\
                         --                                                                                _


       18  '                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R   -  -

       II                                                                        surance  of his own election. Not only is it true that the whole
                ~ The Voice of Our FatheYs
                                                          `.                     of the Canons, -and especially, this First Head of Doctrine,
                                                                                 -are in themselves a testimony to the truth of the above
                                                                                 statement, because, after all, the Canons simply systematical-
                       _ The Canons of Dordrecht                                 ly inquire into and set forth the truth of Scripture concerning
                                      PPRT  T     W       O                      God's purpose of predestination. But it must also be com-
                                                                                 pletely obvious that to speak of asszcrance  of election while
                         -EXPOSITION OF THE CANONS                               we do not know and understand the objecthe tmtlz of ebec-
                         FIRST  HEAD.  F DOCTRINE                               tiovi, and do not inquire into that truth, as revealed in God's
                  J
                          O                                                      Word, is abject nonsense. No more than one can have the
                               F  DIVINE  PREDESTINATION                         assurance that he possesses a house while he does not even
                                 Art. 12 `(continued)                            know what a house is! no more can ,he have, in the spiritual
             A very crucial questionit is, therefore, as to how this             sense, the assurance of election without knowing what elec-
       assurance is attained by the elect. And the Canons teach that             tion is. We may safely conclude, therefore, that nof only is
       the elect obtain this asurance of their eternal and unchange-             it necessary that the elect inquire into this truth, but that
       able election, "not by inquisitively prying into the secret               they diligently inquire into it and become thoroughly versed
       and deep things of God, but by observing in themselves with               in this most essential of Scriptural truths.  .A11  other things
       a spiritual joy and holy pleasure, the infallible fruits of elec-         being equal, the ignorant Christian `is not the strongest Chris-
       tion pointed out in the Word of God, -such as a true faith                tian. All  -other things being equal, that child of God who
       in Christ, filial fear, a godly sorrow for sin, a hungering and           is most thoroughly founded in.the truth of God's Word will
       thirsting after righteousness, etc."                                      be the strongest Christian.` And all other things being equal,
       Negatively, then, this assurance is not obtainable by a                   that Christian who is most thoroughly acquainted with the
       curious prying into !the secret and deep things of God. We                Scriptural truth-of God's eternal and unchangeable predesti-
       must not mistake this statement of the fathers for the false              nation, will also have the richest knowledge and the most
       notion that. we may and must have little or nothing to do                 ,decisive asurance of his own, personal, election.
       with the truth of predestination; that it belongs to those                   What is condemned in this article is the vain attempt to
       things' which are only for- God, not for us, `that, it is a "mys-         attain to an assurance of election apart from `the Word. of
       tery" in the sense that we can and may know nothing about                 God and outside the way--set-forth in the Word of God. There
       it. As we have remarked before; there are such people, who                is, in the first place, in this connection,  the* false  mysticist.
       also piously cloak themselves in the garb of Scripture, and               He would base his assurance on so-called "experiences" :
       say: "The secret things are for the Lord our God  ; but the               dreams; or special revelations which he has received, `or
       revealed things are for us and our-children." This attitude               some sign. He may appeal to some text or special Scripture
       was far from the thoughts of the fathers when they penned                 passage, through- which God is supposed to have spoken in
       these words. They- were averse to such language. They                     an extraordinary way, - whispered in his soul, - to him.
       counted it`false and illegitimate. It was the language of their           Or he may appeal to some unusual experience of conversion.
       opponents3  And the proof of .this you find in this very ar-              By all these means he really tries to look into the book of life,
       ticle : for do they not teach that the elect obtain the assurance         whereas God' has not given-~1s  and'will not give us a special
       of this their eternal and unchangeable election ? Let us un-              revelation of the names that are there written. He has given
       derstand, therefore, that' this article does not forbid our               us His Word. And through kis Word He calls us by His
       pfrying into the mysteries of God's will, but it forbids our              Spirit. That is the way to assurance which He has ordained
       bti.fhiozds; or inquisitive, brying.  It does not forbid a spiritually    and it is for  Him, not for us, to ordain the way. Besides,
       healthy inquiry, but it forbids a sickly and morbid- curiosity.           what unstable ground the above means furnish for assurance.
       It does not forbid that we search the Scriptures concerning               How soon and how easily one begins to doubt the reality
       God's revelation of His eternal purpose of predestination,                of these "experiences" of the past, especially when he is as-
       but it forbids that we shall pry into the secret and deep things          sailed by the storms of the present! How insecure one be-
       of God outside of -and.  apart from the God-ordained nianner              comes when'he bases all his assurance on a past event, and
       of the Scriptures. Fact  is'~that it is certainly healthful and           really lives in the past, when he ought to be facing the spirit-
       spiritually salutary that `we inquire into the mysteries of               ual battle of the present, against the devil, against the world,
      . God's will as they are revealed in Holy Writ with  all-our               and against his own flesh ! A second danger; however, which
       powers. Exactly this .we may and must  do:  -For God has                  is also not by any means without reality, is that of engaging
       not given to us His Word in order that  woe should lay  it!               in a vain intellectual process of speculation about predestina-
       or any part of it, aside. Fact is, too, that this healthy in-             tion.  Also.this will never lead to assurance. It is very well
       quiry into `the mysteries of eternal predestination as revealed           posible, of -course, to understand with -a cold, purely intel-
      tin the Holy Word of God is exactly necessary if the Cliris-               lectual understanding all that is revealed in Scripture of
11     tian is to come to a richer knowledge and more decisive as-               predestination. It is possible to be a theologian and a speci-


                                                                                                               ._


                                                 TtiE  STANUAKU   B E A R E R '.                              .                            19

   alist,  an. authority, on the subject. It is entirely within the       of Christ that God assures us of our election. In close ,con-
   realm of possibility,-too, to view the truth of election with a        nedtion with the foregoing, and already in$ied  in it, is the
   certain natural enthusiasm, to become in a natural way, .as            .truth that .God `works this assurance in us as-moral, rational,
   far as the intellect is concerned, all wrapped up in the truth         responsible creatures. Otherwise, of course, there. would be
   of election and in-its development and maintenance. And yet,           no sense in the preaching of the Word whatsoever. Who
   if this is all; if that truth has found no place in our hearts,
 __-                                                                      would ever preach to stocks and blocks  ? But besides, this
   if it is not apprehended by faith ,and if the fruits of election       follows from the-very nature of the case:  as>lcra.nce  is in its
   are not manifest in us, then there is something radically              very nature something which can be enjoyed and possessed
   wrong, and we can never attain to a real assurance of our              only by a moral, rational creature.
   own election. Then all that knowledge and intellectual                     In the- third place; we must remember that the assurance
   acumen can only be to our condemnation.                                of our election is an asurance `of  faith.  Faith is  essentially-
        All idle speculation and curious prying, then, is  .to be         assurance. It is a certain  knowledge of all God has revealed
   condemned.                                                             . .m His Word, and a hearty confidence . . . Cf.  Heid. Cat.,
        Before we discuss the positive truth concerning the man-          Lord's Day VII. `In order  ,therefore,  to have the assurance
   ner of our assurance, as outlined in this article, it is well to       of my election, my faith must be conscious and healthy.
   give our attention to the fundamental. truth concerning as-                And this brings us to the point at which our Canons take
   surance itself, and the underlying truth concerning the man-
                            -                                             up the manner `of our assurance: the elect may obtain this
   ner of assurance. The fathers speak here concerning a cer-             assurance of -election "by observing in themselves `the in=
: tain process of observing the infallible fruits of election ;           fallible fruits of election. pointed out in the Word of God."
   and this should not be misunderstood. It is not as though              God grants this asurance in a certain. way. And that way
   assurance were the result of a mere logical process, as though         is  the way  bf  the infallible  fmits  of  election.  Because those
   it were the- conclusion of a true syllogism. Besides, the fathers      fruits are, infallible, that is, without fail the fruits of election
   make-direct mention of the Word of God: "but by observing              and exclusively the fruits of election, the assurance of  elec-
   in themselves . . . the infallible fruits of election `pointed o,ut    tion is certainly obtained in the way of them. Because those,
   in the  Word of God."                                                  fruits of election are of such a kind that they are wrought
        And therefore it is well that we understand, in the first         in us as moral, rational creatures, they tend to assurance.
   place, that not only election, but also the assurance of election      And because those fruits are proclaimed by the Word of
   is the  wof*k   of  God.  It is the gift of His own grace. The         Christ as the fruits of election wrought by the Spirit of Christ:
   situation is certainly not thus, that election is the work of          that assurance is obtained where those fruits are pointed out,
   God, but that the assurance of election is something which             that is, in the way of a diligent attendance upon the means
   we must attain. Then ,we after all come to sail in Arminian            o f   g r a c e .
 Gaters.  Also the conscious -enjoyment of the blessings of                   The question of assurance, therefore, is not the question
   salvation, including this blessing. of the assurance of election,      whether we huve the faith,. but the question whether we are
   is absolutely unconditional, and without any prerequisites             ix the faith. It is not's question of being of faith, the power
   which we must fulfill. Election is not a sort of elusive pot of        of faith, which can never be lost; but it is a question of the
   gold at the foot of the rainbow, for the conscious possession          well-being  of, faith, the healthy, conscious activity of. faith.
   of and enjoyment of which  zele must consider ourselves solely         And it is that well-being of faith that is briefly described in
   responsible.  Not at all  ; and when the saints attain to this         the last part of this article as being characterized by : 1) a
   assurance, they surely will not enjoy it in the consciousness          true faith in Christ, i.e., such a faith whereby we consicousiy
   that at least. this asurance was of their own attainment, but          cling to Christ, and know and trust that not only to others,
   they  .will enjoy the assurance -of election solely in the con4        but also to me, remission of  sin! everlasting righteousness
   sciousness and the conscious confession that also this blessing        and salvation, are freely given by God, &erely of grace, .only
   is pure grace, absolutely the work of God in Christ.                   foil  the -sake  of' Christ's merits;  2) filial fear, i.e., not the
        In the second place, we must remember that this work              fear of a slave, but the child-like fear and reverence of love;
   of God whereby He assures us of our election is accomplished           3) godly sorrow, i.e., not the sorrow of the world, which-is
   by His Word and Spirit. Surely, the Spirit testifies with our          a sorrow over the consequences of sin, but sorrow after
   spirit that we are the children of God. And as many as are             God, so that we are sorry because we have transgressed
   led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God, But we             against the most high majesty of God ;  .4) a hunger and
   must remember that the Spirit is the Spirit of Christ. And             thirst .after righteousness, i.e., a consciousness -of our own
   the only Christ there is, is the Christ-of the Word. And that          utter emptiness, of the fulness of righteousness in Christ, and
   Word of Christ must be according to the will of Christ                 a longing to be filled `with His righteousness.
   preached. When the fathers speak of the Word of God,                       And thus, observing these fruits in themselves with spirit-
   therefore, we must also bear in mind that this does not simply         ual joy (because they are fruits .of the eternal, and electing
  mean the Bible, but the Word  prea.clzed. And it is through             love of God), and with, holy pleasure (because the believer
   the preaching of the Word and by the operation of the Spirit                                 (Codimwd   *II.  page 23)


  20             _                               `THE  STANDA:RD   BEAK&X

            I                                                                       Furthermore, Articles 4,  35, 75, 76 and 77 speak of the
  11~                 DECENCY and ORDER                                         "advice" of the-major assemblies. It might be objected here
 I'                                                                       `I    that  ndvict?  is not  authority  which, of course, is also true
                                       ._                                       because all advice is not of the same kind. It is one thing
                 The Authority of Major  Ass&blies                  I,          that my neighbor advises me as to the color I should paint
          The  ' question of the authority of Synod or  Classis  is a           my house but it is wholly another thing when a teacher a&
  very significant one that presses for attention repeatedly                    vises a misbehaving child to come to attention in her class.
  throughout-the history of Reformed Churches. The question                     The latter advice is backed up by an authority to put the
  itself we purpose to discuss extensively in connection with                   child out of the class. The former I can do with as I please
  later articles in the church order but we cannot refrain frorti               and determine for myself:what  color I shall paint the house.
c commenting upon it here because : (1) Article 15 specifically                 Now the advice of major ecclesiastical assemblies is also
speaks of "the consent and authority of the synod or classis"                   authorative advice and is not something each individual and
  and (2) it is a burning issue throughout our recent history                   consistory can do with- as they please and still remain in the
  as churches.                                                                  federation of churches governed by that body. Article 14 of
          The question itself is not, first of all, whether or not.the          the church  ,orcler  speaks of the "advice of the consistory"
  major ecclesiastical assemblies have n,~tlzo7nity. Anyone who                 and, as we stated in connection with that article, Dr. Bouw-
  will but read the eighty-six articles of the church .orcler with-             man says, "Het woord `aclvies' heeft  hier de beteekenis van
 -out prejudice will find that the church`orcler unquestionably                 `bewilliging', `toestemming'. An'esamination  of those articles
  recognizes and ascribes to classis and synod authority. Cdn-                  of the church order cited above which speak of the "advice
  sicler the following:                                      -,.                of major assemblies" reveals that this  aclvice  is more than
          Articles 3, 17, 44, and 79 speak `of the j&g7nent of major            simply an e&pressed opinion which those to whom it is given
  assemblies. In these articles various matters are mentioned                   can take or leave as they see fit without any further conse-
  over which these assemblies are to judge, including also the                  quences. It is backed by the authority of the broad assembly
 matter of .cleposition of ministers. Even as it is nonesense                   that can include or exclude from its federation. If this were
  to speak of a judge without authority, so it would be riclicul-               not the case, any church (Baptist, Methodist, Roman Catho-
  ous to conclude that these articles do not imply an authority                 lic et  al> could join the federation of Protestant Reformed
 of major ecclesiastical assemblies. To pass a judgment is in                   Churches and no power on earth could exclude them.
 `the very nature of matters an authorative act.                                    In light of this then, we repeat, it is not-firstly a question
         e Article 15 speaks directly of "the consent and authority             of whether or not a synod or classis has authority. Of course
 of  classis or synod" with regard to the right of ministers                    it has ! The church order makes plain that they do posses
 engaging themselves in indiscriminate preaching.                               a real authority, jurisdiction, the right to judge, to give ap-
          Articles 9, 11, and 12 mention the "approbation" or "ap-              probation and  a&i&.  More significant is the question:
 proval" of the major assemblies which also implies author-                     "What  is the nature and scope of this authority ?"
 ity. Whether or not I approve of my neighbor erecting a                            In connection with this question we wish to briefly men-
 saloon adjacent to my residence makes little difference be-                    tion two basic errors which have been committed and which
 cause I have no authority in the matter but whether my                         vitally effect us as Protestant Reformed Churches. The'first
 neighbor has the approval of the Zoning Board of the local                     is the error of 1924 which is  t.hat the Christian Reformed
 village makes all the difference in the world because, said                    Church ascribed to the major assemblies the wrong. kind of
 Board has authority to permit or to bar him from realizing.                    authority. They vested these assemblies with the right to
 his purpose. And so there are matters within the communion                     exercise the power of `the keys of the kingdom of heaven
 of the churches which may not be performed without the                         which properly belongs only to the consistory. The second
 approval of the major assemblies because these are vested                      error is of more recent date and is that perpetrated by those
 with authority.                                                                that have recently schismatically left our Protestant  Reformed-
          Article 36 speaks pointedly of the "jurisdiction" of one              .Churches.  Their church polity disrobes the classis and synod
 ecclesiastical body over another and "jurisdiction,.' from                     of all authority. . The position that if one is convinced be-
 "juris" and "dictio",  is, to quote Webster : "  ( 1) Law,. The-               fore his own mind and conscience that a certain decision  is
 legal power, right, or authority to hear and determine a                       in conflict with the Word of. God or with the articles of the
 cause or causes. (2) Authority of a sovereign power to gov-                    church order, that decision cannot, within the denomination,
 ern or legislate; control. (3) Sphere of authority." Apart. be-settled and binding for him, is altogether untenable. That
 now from the question, "What kind of jurisdiction do major                     one may simply disregard a decision or. the decisions of the
 ecclesiastical asemblies  have ?", this `article certainly means               major assemblies and remain in the communion of the
 that these bodies do have an authority `that makes their                       churches makes the major assemblies nothing but  "was-
 decisions more than powerless opinions which those within                      noses." It is simply unbelievable that an autonomous  con-
 the communion of churches can takeor leave according to                        sistory, under such a church polity, would even send delegates
 personal whims of conscience.                                                  to deliberate and make. decisions at a Classical Meeting if.


            .
                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEAPER                                                             21      ..

when those decisions are made each individual and each  con-          man. This authority of synod and classis does not overlap or
sistory can do with them as they please and remain unaffected         interfer ivith the autonomy of the individual churches at all.
in the  denominatidn.  It is a thing  &heard  .of ! If it  is.not     The  dif$$lty  comes in when the major. assemblies attempt  -
pure independentism, rank congregationalism  then, pray, tell to exceed their authority, as in 1924, and when local churches
me what it is. And sh&ie on anyorit  whq would dare to aver           attempt to extend their autonomy beyond its rightftil  sphere.
that such folly was ever taught in the seminary of the Prot,          as in the recent debacle in our churches, and refuse to rec-
estant Reformed Churches.
__                                                                    ognize' the rightful authority of Flassis and .synod.
      Rather, both of the aforementipned  ~church political here-          That the latter is so is abundantly evident to all who
sies we reject with all emphasis. Over. against the .former,          sincerely consider ihe facts in the case of 1953. Rev. Blanke-
that of Christian Reformed  heirarchy, we emphasize the auto-         spoor must not write `in the Guardian,  "Refilember the things
nomy of the local church. This autonomy is not independent-           that happened bn the evening of June 23, 1953, are the drug
ism. It does not mean that each~church  does -what it pleases         of the whole matter. This officially &as the beginning of the
within the denomination of churches. That. would be equal             `split' in our churches !" Oh, no, Blankespoor! You  mu&t
to the anarchism found in Israel and of which we read in              correct this and change the date to- JUNE 1, 1953. JUNE 1 !
Judges 17  :6, "In those  days  there was no king in Israel,          We know that that is the date you do not want to remember
but every man did that which was right in his own eyes."              because on it the CONSISTORY properly adopted the
Such a conception of autonomy spells ruination and is direct-. ADVICE AND DECISION OF THE.  CLASSIS.  And
ly contrary to the sound exhortation of the apostle in I              all that has subsequently, taken-  place has brought .to light  -the
Corinthians 14 :40, "Let all things be done decently and in           rebellion of the opposition which refused to walk in obedience
order." Decency and  drder presuppose rule and authority. to proper ecclesiastical authorities. Therein lies the church
That rule as exercised over all  mtitters that in their very. political crux of the matter. That is June 22.and,  that is what
nature belong  to and  concern the local church is the limit  ' happened in the sessions of Classis  in October; 1953.
of the churches autonomy. Autonomjr  does .not mean that                   Let-us not be deceived !
one church is sovereign and can lord- it over all the other                                                                          G.v.d.B.
churches, imposing its will upon the entire federation. Auto-
no$y,  .within a federation, must  necessarily  be limited by  :
the mutual recognition of the rights of the other churches'and
by the mutual concern for the weI1 being of the entire com-                  0  LOfiD, BE THOU. MY. HELPER. TRUE
munion of churches. If a church wishes to have  .absolute
autonomy, she must never join a federation of churches but                         0 Lord, be Thou my Helper  .true,                        -.
should maintain a separate, independent existance. No church '                  For just  ana~goaly  men are  few;,            ..
may do this, of course, because it is the calling of the church                         The faithful.. who can find ?
of Christ to seek the fellowship of those with  whoi;l they                       From truth and wisdom men depart,
are one in faith. And in such a communion each church                             With flattering !ips and double heart
exercises her autonomy. There are many things in the. local                                They speak their evil mind.
communidn  which, in the vei-y nature of matters, belong ex-                       The lips $at speak, the- truth to hide,
clusively to that communion. We have in mind the offices                          The tongues of arrogance and pride, -
and the administration of the Word and Sacraments and the                                  That boastful words employ,
exercise of discipline. Over such matters the local consistory                     False-speaking tongues  that~ boast  thg.ir might,
alone rules.                                                                       That own no law, that know no right,
      This does not warrant  the conclusion that the major                                 Jehovah will destroy.
assemblies hive no authority over the individual cbngrega,
tions. We also maintain  suth authority, circumscribed and                         Because the poor are sore oppressed,
-defined  by Article 30 of the D.K.O.                                              Because the needy are distressed;
      "Iti these assemblies (ecclesiastical) mattecs only shall be                         And `bitter are their cries,.
transacted and that in  ati ecclesiastical  .manner.  In  maj&        :            The  Lord-wilt be their Helper strong;
assemblies  orZly such  &atters  shall be dealt with as could                      To save them from contenipt  and wrong
not be finished -in minor assemblies, or such as pertain to                                Jehovah will arise.
the churches of the major assembly in. common."                                    J      h         h'p-
                                                                                        e ova s romises are sure,
      Our purpose `is not. to  di&uss this article at this time                    His words are true, His words are pure
 except to point out that it defines the authority. of the major                           As .silver from the flame.
assemblies in a tworfold  respect. First, these assemblies have                    Though base men walk on every side,
authority in all matters that cannot be fipished  in the minor                    .His saints are safe, whate'er betide,
assembly. Secondly, they have.afithority  to act in all matters                            Protected by His Name.
 that.pertain   to the churches of the major assembly in  com-                                                              Ps%lm  12

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

                                                                               is to assess or evaluate. the view of Dr. C. Van Til on com-
                        ALL  .AROUND US                                        mon grace. To be more specific, in it Dr. Daane intends to
                                                                               show  that Dr. C. Van Til did not get away from the Hegelian
                                                                               rationalism which underlies the theology of Rev. Herman
           Berkkof  Chticizes Daane's Book.                                    Hoeksema,  and that he in fact repudiates the Three Points
                 In the Banner of  Sept&ber  10th we read a rather in-         accepted by the Synod of 1-924. He finds the proof for* this
           teresting review of Dr. J. Daane's recently published book,         in the philosophical principles which underlie Dr. Van Til's
           titled:  The'Theology  of Grace.~  Dr. L. Berkhof in his review     view of  comlion grace. He does' not deny that Van Til's
           gives the book some severe criticism. He  really  accusks Daana     position differs in some respects from that of Hoeksema. This
           of being too philosophical and highly speculative. Berkhof          is quite evident  from statements found on pages 30, 94, 120,
           cl&s that this is so evident that he is afraid most of his          123. He does not maintain that Van Til explicitly denies the
           people will find the book  har& to read. Also Berkhof sharply       existence of common grace, which is exactly what Hoeksema
           criticizes Daane, and that `almost ironically, for. his misre-      does, but even says on page 117 : `Van Til cannot be quoted
           presentation of the conceptions of Dr. C. Van Til, whom             as denying common grace,`, though he feels constrained to
           Daane takes to task in his book.  t                                 add: `But his writings show that he does not believe in the
                 I confess that I have read only  .a small portion of the      reality of common grace.'
           book and already I can agree with Berkhof's first criticism.         -* This is in harmony with his contention that what Van
           When I twice- read Van Til's book on Common Grace, I                Til offers us is an attempt to reconstruct the doctrine of
           came to the conclusion that it was one`mass  of philosophic         common grace, 5nd to promote a !,etter understanding of it
           reasoning of which a `poor, unlearned man like myself. could        by undergirding it with certain philosophical considerations.
           not make head or tail. And as I read a little way in the!           It is exactly these philosophical presuppositions of Van Til
           book of Daane, J could not escape the thought that- he must!        which the author of the present volume submits to a detailed
.     .    have sat for a while at the feet of Van Til. My, oh my, when        examination, a- rather laborious task.. And it is exactly be-
           two philosophers begin to philosophize, what a heap of philo-       cause he deals almost exclusively with  philosophitial  ques-
           sophy you get! I'know this little philosopher (for we are           tions, and does this in a philosophical and highly speculative
           all little  philosophers,  don't you  know) got lost in the sea     manner, that most of our people will. find this book hard- to
           of philosophy.                                                      read.          _     .
                 About Berkhof's -second criticism of  Daane,  I am not            For them the problem of` common grace is theological
           so sure. He accuses Dr.  Da&e  of not fairly restating Van          rather than philosophical. It is primarily a doctrinal question,
           Tjl's conceptions. Unless I understood nothing- of Daane's          and the validity of a cloctririe can be settled only by submit-
           philosophy, which is possible of course, I cannot agree  fully      ting it to  ,the test of Scripture and our confessional standards.
           with Berkhof's `criticism- Berkhof wants to leave the im-           And our people -in general  are far better versed theologically
           press&  &at Van Til, though he (Van Til) may differ on              than philosophically. Hence they will be far less interested
           some points, is nevertheless in agreement with the Christian        in the question, whether the philosophy of Van Til bears
           Reformed Church on the' matter of-Common Grace. If I                traces of Hegelian idealism and existentialism than in the
           understood anything of Van Til's book, and it's possible that' question whether Van Til's so-called `refinement' 0% the cloc-
           I didn't,-1  can agree with Daane that he does not agree with       trine of common grace is in fact a repudiation of the Three
           the presentation of the Christian Reformed Church on Com-           Points -adopted  by thk Synod of 1924. They would like very
           mon Grace. By this I do not mean to say that Van Til                inuch to have a direct answer to the question tihether Van
           agrees entirely with Ho.eksema,  for I do not believe that he       .Til ni-tually and not merely in fact 6r vi7+zrally  repudiates the
           does.                                                               doctrine of common  grace,.just  as Hoeks'ema does.
                 Berkhof's review is rather lengthy but I need to quote all       Since Dr.  ,Daarie  himself says that `Van Til cannot be
           of it in order to hffer  a little criticism myself. Here follows    quoted as denying cornlion  grade,' he can do no more than
           Berkhof's review: .                                                 seek to demonstrate that he  upbust deny what the Synod of
                 "Dr. Daane, the author of this book  has shown in the         1934 (that must be 1924  - M.S.) affirmed in view of his
           past that he is interested in the doctrine of  common  grace.. fihilosphical   pl-esuppositions. This `means, however, that his
           He is` iri full agreement with the Three Points accepted by         proofs all along the line are purely &zfeventiaZ.  -The Synod of
           the Synod of 1924, but also realizes that this cannot be re-        1924 sought to prove from Scripture and from our Reformed
           garded as the last word on that cloctrilie  and deems a further     cdnfessional  standards that the position of ,Hoeksema in the
           study of the problem of common grace necessary.  A!: the            denial of common grace is  cohtrary  to the Reformed faith.
           same time he is not at all pleased .with what Dr. Cornelius         But Dr. Daane?  in order To prove the salne thing respecting
           Van Til of We'stminster  Seminary has written to show that          the teachings of Van Til. finds it necessary to lead his readers
           there is philosophical justification for that doctrine. This        into a maze of al&tract and highly speculative reasoning.
           gave him occasion for publishing the present volume.                   Why not follow the  same method which Synod followed  ?
                 The purpose of this book is indicated in the Preface. It      Scripture and our  confe&ional standards by which tie can


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                        23

  determine whether a person is true to the Reformed faith or'- seem to imply that he was. How is it that Dr. Van Til's
  not. It is true that Daane also refers to these occasionally,>       colleagues at Westminster never `discovered his serious er-
  but only to prove that the views which he feels constrained * r-or-s ? D&l any-  of those who owed a part of their theological
  to ascribe to Van Til .are not in harmony with our real and          training to Dr. Van Til ever speak of them  ? If they have,
  only standards of judgment. The possibility is always there          it did not come to my attention. Moreover, Dr. Berkouwer
  that he does not yet have a correct understanding of Van             in his work on De I/ool&nig?zeid  Gods speaks of Van Til's
  Til's position. According to a statement in the Preface of           criticism of Hoeksema and Schilder with approval, page 87
  his book he had some trouble with this-in the past. And in           (note), 89, 90, 91 (notes).  Ought we not  .always  to assess
  his book he complains more than once that Van Til is not             and interpret the words of others in the most charitable way,
  clear in his presentation, is confused  in. his thinking, and        and to give the best possible. interpretation of expressions
  does not express himself with the necessary precision. He            which may be interpreted in various ways ?" `So far the re-
  finds in the works of Van Til not only careless but also             view of Berkhof.
  contradictory statements, and intimates  -that in some in-               Now, when you read this in the light of the history of
  stances he does not really say what he means. This would             the past,  the- thought cannot be suppressed: How can the                        -
  seem to~imply that all is not yet clear to him, and that some        professor so severely criticize his former student of being
  expressions- need clarification. Naturally, Van Til himself          too philosophical, when he himself has been guilty of being
  can best take care of this. It may be admitted that Van              the .same  ? Was not Dr. Berkhof father of the Three Points ?
  Til's argumentation is not always equally clear, but I wonder        If. my memory serves me correctly, he was. Are the Three
  how niany will say, after reading the volume now under               Points based on a thorough exegesis of Scripture and the
 -consideration: Now we know `exactly where Dr. Van  Til' Confessions, or are -they the product of Berkhof's philoso-
  stands in the matter of common grace. Sorry to say, the book         phical bent? Berkhof may say that he can explain the Three
  has not added materially to the insight' of the present re-          Points in the light of Scripture and the Confessions, and that
  viewer. But' this may, of course; be due to the fact that his        ,he did. And the Synod of 1924'may  say that it quoted Scrip-
  philosophical training has been deficient, which makes it dif-       ture and the Confessions to prove the Three Points. But is
  ficult to follow the- reasoning of Dr.- Daane. But most of our       it so sure that Berkhof's .exegesis  is Scripture and the Con-
  people are in an even more sorry plight.-                            fessions? I say it is philosophy. Does the. fact that Synod
      Dr. Daane is mildly~surprised  that Dr .Van Til's danger-        quoted texts of Scripture and parts of the Confessions make
  ous views have not been pointed out before, since the latter's       the Three Points infallible ? I say all heretics follow the
  book on Couut?>zon  Grace has been on the market since 1947.         same pattern. If you quote certain texts of Scripture, you
  Perhaps the most plausible explanation  of, this lies in the         can make the Scriptures say anything you want to,. And
  fact that the readers of that book did not see in the repudia-       the same applies to the Confessions.. My contention is that
  tion of the doctrine of common grace which' Dr. Daane                the Three Points are pure philosophy and are both  un-
  claims to find in it. The present reviewer read the book on          Scriptural, and un-Confessional. They are the product of
  ComfilpLon  G?ace years ago, but did not discover its dangerous      Berkhof's philosophy, and of- all who agreed with him. It  '
  trend. The fact that Dr. Van Til, while agreeing in general          may be true that one can understand Berkhof's philosophy
  whole-heartedly with the theology of such scholars as Kuy-           better -than that of Van Til and Daane because he roams  '
  per, Bavinck, and Hepp, yet differs with them on some                about,. not in the `philosopher's heaven, but on the philoso-
  points, certainly does not prove that he is not Reformed. He         pher's earth.' But a philosopher he is, nevertheless. And one
  quotes the Three Points of 1924,  an% defends them over              who has done some severe philosophizing himself should not
  against the Revs. Henry Danhof and Herman Hoeksema,                  so severely  ciriticize  those who philosophize.'     '       -           -`.
  Rev. S. G. de Graaf, and Dr.  Klaas  Schilder. While he rec-             Further, Berkhof insists that -the common grace'problem.
  ognizes a commendable element in the teachings. of the  last-        is .theological,  .not philosophical. In the light of what I have
  named scholar, he maintains over against him that common             just "written, I am wondering, professor, whether you really
grace testifies to a favorable attitude of God to the reprobate.       believe this.                                               M . S .   .
  According to.Dr. Daane, Dr:Van  Til is by implication guilty                                   -               -
  of some serious errors. I must. confess that I have never
  seen this, but this may-  probably be due' to my inablility to                        THE VOICE OF OUR FATHERS
                                                                                         -  (Contimed   from  page  19)
  think clearly and incisively; however: it, may also be due to I hates the life of sin, and goes out with all his soul toward
  the fact that the errors which Dr. Daane discovers are more.         God and toward sanctification), the elect, under the preach1
  imaginary than real. To mention but a single instance : What         ing of Christ, by the operation of the Spirit of Christ, spon-
  is wrong with the idea of an earlier grace or a grace before         taneously reach the assurance of their election. Here that
  the fall  ?- Was not Adam the recipient of divine grace. or          assurance is never more than a small beginning.  Present1.y
  unmerited favor before the fall? The words in question 12            when the infallible fruits of election fill  us,  that  ,assurance
  of the Heidelberg: Catechism : `and.  a.Qain  be received in to      will be forever complete.                                           _-
  favor' (Dutch :  -`ert  wederolyt  tot genade  komen    certainly                                                                H.C.H,:


                                                                                                           -.


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                                                                                         AN-~ARD~-~ExREk   .                                   _               .._.  _____   -  _..  :-  .
       24                  -.            .~            _

        ~.           -.                                                                         lidmaatschap,  waaronder ouders van schoolgaande kind&en,
                 -,  ._           . :I&~f~~Blj~&                                               . `t we&  in&it dat oak voor die kinderen  de schooldeuren zijn
                                  ._.,-                             `.       _.                 gesloten,  dat,. door dit  alles de Principal het  onmogelijk  is
.                 .:                -           /-          ._-.                                gemaakt   langer  onder  zoo'n bestuur te werken. En om de
                            ..-, . Blikk& in `t : V&&d&n
                                                            _                                   kroon  -op hun werk te zetten, heeft het bestuur  een baptiste
               Efet is nu zes jaar -geleden:  dat- we onze nieuwem  Leeraar                     teacher  benoemd   om de  verbondskinderen  in de  voorzeide
       welkom.   mochfen   heeten;  en.  een energieken jongeling zijn                          leer te onderwijzen.  Hoe is  lact  goud verdonkerd.
       arbeid  :mocht:aanvangen   .als hoofd v,an onze school. We                                                   .-                                         J.  R..  VanderWal
       zullen nooit vergeten  bij het in orde maken  der pastorie hoe
       mannen  .en vrbuwen in liefde en'eensgezindheid hun krach-
       ten inspanden -niets was hun te veel om de woning van                                                                        ue-==+
       den nieuwen Leeraar zoo  aantrekkelijk   mogelijk  te  maken,
       tot zelfs de ice box werd opgevuld met proviand voor vele                                        S A V E   ME;  0   G O D ,   B E C A U S E   T H E   FLOODS
       dagen. Het ontbrak de nieuwe Leeraar `niet  aan geest en                                                            Save me, ,O God, because the floods                     '
       leven, en.rne_n  was.dankbaar onder zijn gehoor weer te mo-                                            `/              Come in upon my soul,
      ,gen drinken  .uit de fonteinen des heils. Onze nieuwe Princi-                                                       .I sink in depths where none can stand,
       pal ontving ook al heel spoedig het vertrouwen der ouders,                                                             Deep waters o'er `me roll.
       en de- kinderen  waren  blijde met hun nieuwe teacher. Heti
       was dan  Bok geen wonder dat een  paar.  jaar later de  fun-                                                         My constant calling wearies me,
                                                                                                              .d
       geerende President- op een schoolvergadering zeide: We                                                                 My throat is parched and dried;
       have  .a  : brilliant Principal.  - Wil de schrijver van  die                                                        My .eyes grow dim while for my God
      Bnonieme  brief daar nota van nemen ? Please ! --We zullen                                                              Still waiting I abide.
       dan ook niet vergeten  de jaarlijkse graduation avonden,  wel-                                                      The foes who hate me unprovoked
      Be door een ieder werden gero.emd; `tot zelfs buiten de ge-                                                            -Are strong and still increase,             '
       meente.' iullen we ook niet even aanstippen de jaarlijksa                                                    Though to disarm their enmity
       ouderavonden die we in de basement onzer kerk mochten                                                                 i l%y right I yield for peace.
       houden, en ,waar we met dank aan onzen verbonds God de
       weldaden mochten- gedenken in het bezit  van. een eigen                                                              0 God, my folly and my sin
       school  ?                                                                                                              Thy holy `eye can see ;
               Of zullen we nog eens  memoreeren  de gezellige bruilofts-                                                  Yet save from shame, Lord God of- hosts,
       feesten die we in de basement mochten  vierenj wanneer een                                                           Thy saints that wait on  Thee:
       broederen  zuster een afgerond aantal jar-en door den band                                                         Forbid, 0 God, our covenant God,                         F
       des huwelijks vereenigd waren  ? Wanneer we aan die jaren                                                          That those-who seek Thy face
       terug  denken, dan is er een zekere weemoed in onze ziel.                                                            Should see Thy servant put to shame
       Waarom? Omreden dat die  tijd- van liefde en. vrede zoo                                                                And share in my disgrace.. .
       kort heeft geduurd en door een wreede hand .is verstoord.
       De geest van haat  en jaloezie -die acht.eraf-  bezien al jaren                                                     -It is for Thee I am reproached,
                                                                                                 _
       onder de asch had gesmeuld, kwam door `n betrekkelijk  kleinl                                                          For Thee I suffer shame,
      voorval tot openbaring. Had nu de herder en leeraar zijn                                                             Until my brethren know me not.
       dure  plicht en  roeping  verstaan en die geest uit de' he1 de                                                         And hated is my name.
      kop ingedrukt, dan had, menschelijkerwijze.gesproken,  Red-                                                          It is my zeal for Thy abode                        -
       lands kerk- en schoolgeschiedenis een heel andere geweest..                                                            That has consumed my life ;           .
       Doch dat heeft niet zoo mogen zijn. De man van wie men                                                       - Reproached by those reproaching Thee,
      met  recht  moest  verwachten het. welzijn van zijn geheele                                                             I suffer in the strife.
      kudde  op `t oog te hebben,  sloot  zich  aan bij hen die  zich                                                      I wept, with fasting bowed my soul,
      aan partijzucht.overgaven. Wat ertoen~onder  de dekmanted                                                               Yet that was made my shame  ;.
       der liefde achter *de schermen en in vergaderingen is afge-                                                         When I in sackcloth clothed myself,
      speeld zullen we maar laten rusten,  d&h dat de naastenliefda                                                           Their byword I~became.
      het hoofddoel was, betwijfelen we.  -0m een Hollands  spreek-
      woord te gebruiken, ,,Barbertje  meet  hangen",  is gelukt. En                                                      - The men who sit within the gate
      wat zijn de resultaten van  dit politiek gedoe geweest ? Deze :                                 . --                    With slander do me wrong,
      dat sommige families kerkelijk zijn  vaneen  gescheurd, dat                                                          And they-who linger at their cups
      vrikndenbanden zijn verbroken, dat zuiver Prot. Reformed                                                                Make me their jest and song..
      leden der Schoolvereeniging  vervallen  zijn verklaard `van hun                                                                                              P s a l m   6 9   _
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