     VOyTME   x x x 1                                  OCTOBER IS.- GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN           !.
       _.

                                                                          wisps" lead us in the quagmire, of folly and  -deceit. Their
             -M  E D I  T~A,T I O-N  1.  j so-called light is very darkness. And if we have dulled our
                                                                          spiritual perception  ,through  such  folly we become aliens to
                                                                          the testimony of our God that comes by Word and Spirit.
                         -Escape. from Hell                     .         Then we are not as the inspired poets who sang:  "The:
               . . . . . Up, get you out of this place! Gen.  19:1413     transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, that there
    -The time, then, will come when "the wicked shall be silent           is no fear of God before his eyes," Instead of that scriptural
 in darkness"  ; and : "that every mouth may be stopped."                 testimony we will say by the light of Plato: "The good that
     Still, it seems that the wicked shall have many words ta             sinners do puts me to shame."
 utter against the Almighty. It seems, when listening to the                 Indeed, the Lord hath not let Himself without witness !
 wicked now, that they will upbraid Him for not warning                  There is the awful history of Sodom and Gomorrah, of  Ad-
 them sufficiently of the doom that is prepared'for them; and            mah and Zeboim.
 also for the severity of their punishment: according to them                And this history of wickedness and doom is reiterated
 the punishment does not fit the crime.                                  through the ages : we find it referred to in 17 books of the
    Neither  are.the.  wicked alone in this.                             Bible. Sodom is God's witness of hell, and Lot is God's
    There hangs a picture in the dogmatic `salons of the                 witness of the escape from hell.
 church of Christ which does not fit its pendant, its counter-               Sodom's overthrow in brimstone and fire from the Lord                    .
 part of burning pitch and blistering  sulphur. Hell does not            out of heaven is the partial fulfillment of Noah's curse, for               -.
 fit the walk and conversation of the wicked, that is, as this           the inhabitants of the cities of the plain are the descendants
 walk is valuated by the common grace enthusiasts. The  go-&             of Canaan, the son of Ham. (Comp. Gen. 9  25  and 10  :19)
 of common grace which is painted as bowing clown.  in'love                  Although the cities of the plain comprised Sodom, Go-
 and favor towards humanity in general  his not at all like  the         morrah, Admah, Zeboim and Zoar, the firstnamed seems- to
 terrible God of judgment-to come from Whose face the earth.             have been the cradle  .of their. unnatural lust. It is often
 and the heavens shall flee so that `no place will be found  for.        mentioned alone as the unholy representative of the heinous
 them. The benign countenance of this god of common grace                sin of  fiederasty,  although Gomorrah seems to have been a
is not at all like the face of the terrible God of Whom the              close second in the -unholy race for unnatural lust.
 wicked will say : Mountains and hills  hide  us from the -face              Not to mention any more than is absolutely necessary
 of Him that sitteth on the throne and  from:the  wrath of the           about this sin which ought to be divorced from the mind
 Lamb !                                                                  even, may we say that it is characterized by this, that every
    Pray, if the greater part of the life of Sodom is so lovely          relation of the sexes is turned into its very opposite. This
 and good, what will we,  what can  .we do with its hell-fire  ?         much  ought to be said, however, for only then can we under-
 Then punishment ill befits the crime.                                   stand how the church of God is often called by the name
    Nay. it seems that the Lord will have to  issue'an  apology          of Sodom and Gomorrah. (Cf. Deut.  32  :32, Isa. 1  :lO, 3  :9;
 on the "lake of fire." Unless hell and its inhabitants are              Lam. 4  :6  ;  Ezek.   16  :46) The sin of Sodom spiritually is the
 allowed to everlastingly reproach  our Father for a rigor, too          breach of the bond of the covenant that binds the church to
harsh, too bitter  ; a rigor? perhaps unjust !                           God.. Very unnatural it was that Jerusalem would crucify
    But attend ! "They have Moses and the, prophets  : "let              Jesus : He came unto His own and His own received Him
them hear them."                                                         not,i   .,but  threw Him without- the city and crucified. Him.
                          ***.*                                          Reason why we read in Rev.  11:8%: "And their bodies shall             '
    Oh, that we would cease from reading the life of Sodom               lie in the street of' the great city which is called Sodom and
by the "ignis  fatuus"  of Grecian fools. These  "Will-o'-the-           Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified."


$3  ,          I                              T H E   S T A N D A R D -   B E A R E R
                                                                                                      -                       I    -
                                                                     I
       In that city Lot resided.                                          thee, escape thither; for I cannot do anything till thou be
      Now, he had no business being there at all. He was the              come thither ! The Lord  even-  does more than He promised
son of  Haran,  the grandson of Terah, the nephew of  Abrad;              to Abraham. The Lord would not destroy the just with the
`ham, the chosen of the Lord.                                        1 wicked even if He would  find but ten righteous dwelling in
       But Lot. as resident of Sodom is representative of the ' Sodom. And God found but one.. And this one must first be
people of God who seek the world. Lot had lifted up his                   taken  out'of  Sodom before the angel can destroy.
eyes and beheld all the plain of Jordan that `it was well                                            *  *  .*`
                                                                                                                   *
watered' there -before the Lord destroyed Sodom  and  Go-                    And now? .
morrah, even as the garden of the Lord, like the land of                     What means Sodom to us  ?
Egypt, as thou  comest unto Zoar, And the result was that                     God tells us that His church which has become apostate
Lot pitched his tent  .towards  Sodom. And here again we see              earns that name spiritually. Isa.  ,l  :9? 10  ;  Ezek.  16 :46-49 and
that if we once set our foot on forbidden soil, walking in                Rev.  11:s.
dangerous paths, we go from bad to worse. Did he first                       That church is married historically to God in Christ. They
only pitch his tent, the Divine Committee of destruction finds            are married to heaven in their generations. But. they turn
him in a house. Was he first only pitched toward Sodom,                   to the earth and are taking the earth and wordly things to
this same committee finds him within the walls of this den of             their bosom. And this unnatural alliance always goes hand
ferocious beasts.                                  .                      in hand with hatred for the former relations, hence, they re-
       -And  it went from bad to worse. Lot dwelling in the               peatedly crucify the Lord Jesus.
shadow of him who is called the friend of God is happy in-                   That is the reason why Sodom shall condemn the Phari-
deed. But Lot, away from the wholesome censure of the eye                 sees in the day of judgment. Sodom  sinned/this  sin of un-
of Abraham takes unto himself a wife of Sodom who `will                   natural alliances in a physical sense. But the Pharisees and
reveal her wicked heart in the glance backward, a glance                  with them unbelieving Israel committed this unnatural sin
that must have been indicative of her longing heart for the               in a spritual sense: they crucified the bridegroom of Israel
city and its pleasure. And a wife that brings forth  Sodom-               which is abomination to God.
ites, which are already betrothed to Sodomites to raise still                And spiritually, Lot is left in this Sodom.
more of the brood of the adder and the basilisks. How                        For such  is the situation. Isa. 1  :8. The true kernel is
otherwise can you explain their callous sin of incest with                called the cottage in the `vineyard, the lodge in the garden
their father?  Orhow  can you explain the daughters' associa-             of cucumbers, the besieged city.
tion with young. men that mock with a testimony from                         The Bride of Christ hates the Word of her groom and
heaven ?                                                                  pollutes it. She makes after worldly lovers and becomes
       Also on Lot, that righteous man, is the stamp of. Sodom.           thru the ages the great whore.
He lingered and lingered even in the face of such dire warn-                 And all this vexes the souls of the Lots of all the ages.
ing as is sounded by the angels. These messengers of God                     In the midst of all this the unnatural alliances threaten
must need grasp his hand and the hand of his wife and the                 Lot.
hand. of his daughters.                                                      God comes to the Lots of His choice and tells them :
       What is the end  for Lot of all this fertile valley and of         Come out of her my people that ye be not partakers of her
all- his possesions ? He loses all he had. He brings forth                sins and that ye receive not of her plagues. Be in  the world
through unnatural associations enemies of God's people Is-                but not of the world.' Travel continually out of Sodom and
rael and dies in obscurity  i his name is mentioned no more               escape the conflagration that is coming. Neither is this
and the day of his death is not mentioned.                                separation only spiritual. Many times Lot is called  upon'to
.,     And yet, how great is the love of God!                             very concretely separate himself from the Sodomites. He may
; For Lot escaped the conflagration of Sodom and the                      not marry a  Sodomite, neither may he allow it that his
blistering heat when the cities of the plain were overthrown.             daughters marry Sodomites.' He may not raise Sodomites
       For Lot had a righteous soul. And he had enough of                 for the hell that is coming. He must raise seed of the
                                                                                                             .-
God's Spirit in him to be vexed continually with all the                  Covenant.
rotten deeds of the worldlings. So that Lot is even a beauti-                Also in his very concrete business and economic life he
ful figure in all the places where he is mentioned afterwards.            must remain aloof from the Sodomic influences. The less
And he is even mentioned as the type of God's people -who                 he entangles himself with the wives and son-in-laws of
shall  remain,unto  the end. We may even say that Lot did not             Sodom, with sodomite partners and business alliances, the
remain silent in Sodom. It is clear from the rude conversa-               less he will be inclined to linger when Divine Committees
tion of the Sodomites before his door that he must have                   will come to bid him go to heaven. For the cry from heaven  -
judged, them and condemned them. They say of Lot: he                      will resound in our ears. presently : Escape from hell, My
will needs be a judge!       `.                                           beloved! I cannot do anything until thou art safe in the
      Great is the love of God Who saves His people from the              midst of the angels and the perfect righteous ones in the
doom to come. Attend to this speech of the angels.: Haste                 house of the Father.


                                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                                                                27

              And Jesus, finally, has painted the `final picture of  Lot
          and Sodom.                                                                                              T H E   STA,NDARD   BEA,RER
              This world shall be spiritually as Sodom in the last day.                              $emi-monthly,  except  vionthly  during July and August
          And perhaps also physically, for we notice that the intelli-                             Published by  tie  REFORMER)  FREE PUBLISHING  ASSOIZIATION
          gentsia  ,are  more and more condoning the hellish sin of  homo--                     P. 0. Box  881,, Madison Square Station, Grand Rapids 7,  Mich.
          sexual relations. The end of this world shall be rotten to                                                     Editor  --`REV.  HERMAN   HOEKSEMA
          the core. And the Lots shall  be.still  there. Oh, how they shall                     Communications relative to contents should be addressed to Rev.
vex their souls !                                                                               H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S. E., Grand Rapids 7,  Mich.
              But the Lots shall be the corks on which the Godforsaken                          All matte&  relsative to subscriptions should be addressed to Mr.
                                                                                                G. Pipe, 1463 Ardmore St., S. E., Grand Rapids 7, Michigan.
          world shall float,. Until the last second. And then the angels                        Announcements and  O~bituaries must be mailed to the above
          shall once more come  .and  by miraculous power God shall                             addres and will be published at a fee of $1.00  fbr each notice.
          transform-the Lots as in a moment, in the twinkling of an                             RENEWALS  : Unless  .a definite request for discontinuance is re-
                                                                                                ceived, it is  assumed&at the subscriber wishes the subscription
          eye. And they shall soar to heaven.                                                   to continue without the formality of a renewal order.
              And then Sodom shall burn once more. Not, however,                                                          Subscriptian price: $4.00 per year
          in-the choking fumes of sulphur and brimstone and bitumin-
          ous matter, but with a fire that shall never be quenched.                              Entered as  Secoltd Class matter at Grand  Rapids,  Michigatz
          With the fire-that burns in the lake of fire. The second
          death.
     .        Oh, beloved, hunger not, lust not for the world! And do
          not make an apology for Sodom. Do not call the' spiritual                                                                C O N T E N T S
          Sodom good in the sight of God. God is even now counting                        M E D I T A T I O N   -
          the righteous Lots. He is reckoning the time of His im-                                   "Escxqg ~~oIell". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25
          pending visitation !                                                                                    . .
              And let us not ally ourselves with Sodomites. Fathers                       EDITORIALS -
          and mothers ! Are your son-in-laws mocking when you                                      "A Protest and Its Reply". .-. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .`. . . ..28
          interpret the angels' testimony ? If they are, you are in                                        Rev.  I-X. Hoeksema
          dangerous company. Depart !                                                     O
              And let us long for the coming of the messengers of                              UR  DO~TRINF.   -
                                                                                                    The Triple  .Knowledge (Part III  - Of Thankfulness) . . . . .  .31
          Abraham's great Friend.                                                                          Rev. H. Hoeksema.
.             Methinks, I hear the rustling of their wings!                               T
              Woe to Sodom of all the ages!                                                    HE DAY  ok'  SHADOWS-
                                                                                                   Exposition of Isaiah. . . . . , . . . . , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33
              But. blessed Zion!                                                                           Rev. G. M. Ophoff                               .
             Blessed- Lot !                                                     G.V.
                                      u&--m                                               FR~AX  HOLY  WRIT-
                                                                                                   Exposition of Pihilippkurs 1:3-11.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36
                                      IN MEMORIAM                                                          Rev. G. Lubbers
     The Delegate Board of the Eastern Ladies League hereby                                                              -.
          wishes to extend to- its sister member, Mrs. Peter Decker and                   IN HIS  FEAR-
          family, its expression of sympathy in the death of her mother                            T;han: Straw of "Initiating Discipline". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I . . . . . . 38
                               MRS. PAULINE JANSEN                     .                                  Rev. J. A. Heys
             "Let not  your- heart be troubled: Ye believe in God, believe
          also in Me." John  14:l.                                                        CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH -
                                           The Delegate Board                                      T.he Ohuroh and the Sacraments.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40
                                                   Mrs. G. Pipe, Vice-Secretary                           Rev.  H: Veldman
                                      -              -                                    T
                                      IN MEMORIAM                                          HE VOICE OF  Oui   FATHERS-
                                                                                                   The Canons of Dordrecht (Art. 13) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42
             On September 20 it pleased God to take unto His eternal home                                 Rev. H. C. Hoeksema
                                                                                                                    -
          our beloved husband and father,
                               H E R B E R T   V A N   H A R N                            ALL AROUND  Us-
          at the- age of 77 years.                                                                 "An Amriversary  Unobserved". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44
 - We are comforted in the knowledge that our loss was his                                         " T h e   C h u r c h 's   T a s k ". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 4
     gain, and that God doeth all things well."                                                           R e v .   M .   Schipper
            "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints?'
                                                                     Psalm  ,116  :.15    CONTRIBUTIONS   -
                                            Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Van Harn                          "An Open Letter to Kok". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45
                                                                                                          Gise Van  Baren
                                            Mrs. Herbert Van Harn
                                            Mrs. Frances  Nouse                                    "Ridderbos  - Ophoff  -  Kok".............................47
                                                                                                  R e v .   H .   V e l d m a n
                                            Mrs. Peter  Schippers
                                           Miss-  Johanna Van Harn
     Grand Rapids, Michigan


28                                ,n                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

II                                                                                              D The opposing elders realized the importance of this
                ,,  E  :~~:~I, T  -0; R I A  L  S                                        i
                                          . .                                                 motion very well. -One of them, therefore, made a motion
                                                                                   4          to table the matter. This, of course, was another political
         .,      .     .                                                                      maneuver: they meant to stall for time. But there was no
       ._L,                 ?    I$  P r o t e s t   and  i t s   Reply                  (. earthly reason to table this motion and to wait' with  thg
       By omitting the meeting of June lst, and turning imme-.                                adoption of it, that is, to accept the decision of  Classis  ancli
diatelyto  the meeting df`the  Con&tory  of the First Church                                  to  act. accordingly. For there was nothing to be considered'
held on.  JuneZ3rd,  the former Consistory of Kalamazoo sim-                                  and discussed any more about the whole  1natte.r.  `It had
ply corrupts. and distorts the truth in its answer to the                                     been discussed-for many months, both in the Consistory and
p r o t e s t   of.  b r o t h e r   M e n i n g a .   i,  i                                  in the  Classis;  and there was no need for any more delibera-
                                                                                              tion  /about  it. Also this motion to table was defeated by the
.`.    We.must  remember that  Classis East, in May, 1953, had                                Consistory.` And after this the motion to adopt the decision
rendered its  decisidns  in the' case. `of the' Rev. De Wolf and                              of  Classis and to act accordingly was adopted by the majority
the elders' that supported him, and had condemned them.                                       vote of the Consistory. This decision meant, of course, that
The final decision was' that they had to apologize or be de-                                  the accused pastor and the elders that supported him had  but
posed from office..  At  fhe:.same   .time  Classis had appointed                             two alternatives. They surely were now in a state of guilt,
a committee of five to report about the case to, and make  iti                                and had lost all their rights to function as office-bearers in
pending with the Consistory of  .the First Protestant Re-                                     the church. But they confronted the alternatives, either that
formed Church of Grand Rapids, Michigan.                                                      the Rev. De Wolf and the elders supporting him had to  _
       On the meeting of June 1 that Consistory took a prin-                                  apologize, or that they were suspended and deposed by this
cipal and decisive action.                                                                    very decision of the Consistory. from their office in the church.
       At that meeting, first  .of all, the Rev. Vos informed the                             By this decision of June 1, the Consistory by majority vote
Consistory that the  Classis had appointed a committee to                                     already decided on their suspension and deposition unless
make the case pending with the Consistory, and that said                                      they apologized. If they refused to apologize,, the Consistory
committee appointed him to address the Consistory, which he                                   could do only one thing: carry out the decision of  Classis,
did in an appeal to the Rev. De Wolf and the elders that  sup-                                and suspend and depose them from office.
ported him to preserve the unity of the churches and to                                          This proves to anyone that can read that the  .statement
apologize for their heretical' doctrine as the  Classis had                                   by the former  Cons&tory  of Kalamazoo in its answer to the
decided'.                                                       _  :                          protest of brother Meninga, that the Rev. De Wolf and the
       Immediately after that speech the elders that supported+                               heretical elders were suspended and deposed by a minority
the Rev. De Wolf revealed that it had no effect on them,                                      of the Consistory, is false. What could have been done, of
and that they. rather tried to play politics than to preserve                                 course, is that  --this  decision be altered and rescinded by a
the truth and the unity of the churches. For right after the                                  two-thirds vote of the Consistory. But this was never done.
speech one of those elders made a motion to  .adjourn.  The                                   Hence, it certainly can be said that when De Wolf and the
purpose of this motion was, of course,  to'stall  for time. We                                elders supporting him refused to apologize, they had already
must remember that after all the elders that followed the                                     been deposed and suspended by the decision of the  Con-
Rev. De Wolf were in the. minority. One of the good elders,                                   sistory of June 1st.
Mr.  0. Van Ellen, had died while the case was.  ,before  the                                   After this decision was made, (not before as the rumor
Consistory ; and already the congregation had voted a new                                     goes) De Wolf and his guilty elders asked for time to con-
elder, Mr. A. Vermeer, a brother-in-law of De Wolf, who                                       sider the matter and even for the privilege of meeting to-:
had not yet been installed into'office but who, was to be in-                                 gether  separately, to consider whether or not they would
stalled within two or three weeks. To this installation of Mr.                                apologize. This the Consistory undoubtedly should never
Adolph Vermeer the opposing elders evidently `-looked for-                                    have granted, especially in the light of the later political
ward  ,thinking  that then they could possibly have a majority                                maneuvers of the guilty office-bearers. It would have been!
in the Co&story. Hence, they made the motion to adjourn,                                      far better seeing that they were in a state of guilt that the
which was, however defeated by the Consistory.                                                Consistory would have decided right there to unseat them as
       Thereupon the all-important and decisive motion was                                    officebearers and not to allow them to function as such be-
made and supported namely, to adopt the decision of  Classis                                  fore they had apologized. Besides in the light of later events,
and to act accordingly. This motion  implied.of  course, that                                 it would have been better if the Consistory had never. given
the Rev. De Wolf and his elders were guilty of heresy  ; that,                                them any more time, but simply had proceeded to ask them
if the motion was passed, the Consistory demanded of them                                     to apologize, and if they had refused, to decide formally to
to apologize; and that, if they refused to apologize, they                                    ask the advice of the Fourth Consistory and to proceed to
would be suspended and deposed from office. In other words,                                   their suspension and deposition. But the Consistory was
if this motion was carried, the whole case would simply be                                    lenient: they gave them the  t@e they asked for, supposing
decided.                                                                                      that they acted in good faith and would really consider the


                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                     29
                                                                    -.

matter of an apology, especially after they had heard. the                 the pulpit on the evening of June 21. The Consistory knew
heart-appealing speech of the Rev. G.  -Vos  at that same                  nothing  `abotit it previously. Hence, the whole thing was
meeting. But it soon became evident that they still stalled               illegal. Besides, it was not an apology at all. The Cons&tory
for time until Mr. Vermeer would be installed as elder,                   had demanded of him at the June 1st meeting that he should
thinking that then they could have the majority in the  Con-              publicly confess that the condemned statements were literally
sistory.            I .                                                   heretical, according to the decision of  Classis adopted by the
    Another and very brief meeting  was  held on June  i5,                 Consistory. But what he did was to offer an apology really
 1953, at the request of the committee that was appointed by              for the stupidity of the Consistory in not understanding him.
Classis to advise the Consistory. At that meeting the com-                 This  so-called apology was so often presented already that I
mittee appointed for the case referred to our error as  Con-              will not quote it again.
sistory of not removing the guilty and elders from office until                  The elders that supported the Rev. De Wolf made no
they had apologized. Rut still the Consistory took no action.             attempt at an apology whatsoever. The result was, of course,
However, at the same meeting it became very evident that                  that: by the majority vote of the Consistory meeting of June 1
the guilty parties had not even considered the matter of an               they certainly were already declared worthy of suspension
apology. After two weeks they had  .done  nothing about it,               and deposition. At that meeting the Consistory had decided
and were still stalling for time.                                         that they would  bk removed from  bffice if they did not apolo-
    Thenext  meeting of the Consistory was on June 22, 1953.              g i z e .
    At that meeting all the elders were  pfesent,  as well as                    It is therefore a downright untruth and-distortion of the
all the ministers. Mr. Adolph Vermeer, who had just been                  facts when the former Consistory  ,of Kalamazoo answers  -
installed as the new elder in the place of Mr. 0. Van Ellen,              brother Meninga by saying that they had been suspended
was -present for the first time. And again, at  the request of            and deposed by a minor&y of the Consistory.
the Con&tory, also the advisory committee of the  Classis                        Then came the meeting of the Consistory of June 23,
was present.                                                              1953.               '
    At this meeting the president was asked now to place the                     The former  Cd&istory  of Kalamazoo claims not  only that
Rev. De Wolf and his accused elders before the question                   the Rev. De Wolf  and  the guilty elders were suspended and
decided.upon in  the.meeting  of June 1,  namely  : whether they          deposed by a minority of the  Consisiory,_ the untruth of
were ready to apologize.                                                  which we have already exposed. But they also claim that
    One of the guilty elders remarked that this  w&d  require             this meeting of June 23 was not a legal meeting because all
.a motion and a decision by the  Cons&tory.  Such a motion,               the elders were not only not present, but many of them were
of course, would be entirely out of order. What  cbuld have               not even notified. Hence, according ot them, the meeting of
been done was, as was said before, that a motion was  .made               June 23 was not even a legal meeting.
and tested to rescind the action of June 1.. But certainly, a                    Now this certainly is also a distortion of `the facts. In.
motion to ask the Rev. `De Wolf and his elders to apologize               other words, it is a downright untruth. For, in the first
was entirely out of order because that had already been                   place, there is nothing in the Church Order that demands
decided at the June 1st meeting. However, the motion was                  that guilty. officebearers, that have already been condemned
made and supported  and. carried. It was carried  without a               by  Classis and Consistory, must be present at their own
doubt because the guilty elders could not  ljossibly  vote any            formal deposition. The case was completely finished.  Secotid-
more. They had lost  all rights to vote. And although they                ly, it was really impossible to meet with them and do
did vote, and although their vote was counted when their                  business properly. Ever since the June 1st meeting they had
hands were raised, and  a!though  then it appeared that the               tried to obstruct the procedure of the, Consistory by their
vote stood eleven to eleven (one of the good elders not                   illegal actions and motions. The meeting of June 22 had
voting), nevertheless the motion was carried, and carried                 ended in  such chaos that the Rev. Hoeksema simply. left the
unanimously. The  Rev.  De Wolf was placed legally before                 meeting. And thirdly, there are plenty of precedents in the
the question  whether,he  would apologize or not.                         past that  officebearers  were deposed without being sum-
   The same action was. taken in regard to the accused el-                moned to the meeting of the body that deposed them. This
ders. Again a motion was made to ask them to apologize.                   is true not only of the famous Synod of Dordrecht in  161S-
And again that motion was carried unanimously, not count-                 `19, but also of several depositions in the Netherlands in
ing the illegal vote of the guilty elders. And it certainly               recent years.
ought to be very evident not only that the guilty elders  could                  At this meeting of June 23 the Consistory of the Fourth
not vote at all, but also that certainly they could not vote              Prot. Ref. Church of Grand Rapids was called in for advice.
in their own case.                                                        Strictly  s$aking,  this was not necessary whatsoever, because
   At the same meeting the Rev: De Wolf offered what was                  &e  Classis had already decided thk whole matter. Never-
purported to be `an apology, but was not. What he did was                 theless, to fulfill all righteousness  that  Consistory was called
to offer a statement which he illegally had already read from             in.

            -,                             .

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

             And here the former Consistory of Kalamazoo in its                                                                      ANNIVERSARY
       answer to  brothec  Meninga again evades the truth. Instead                                            The  congregatioti and consistory of the Fourth  Protestarit
       of quoting literally the advice of the Fourth  Con&istory  of                                     Reformed Church extend their sincere congratulations to their
       Grand Rapids they appeal to what are called stenographic                                          pastor,
                                                                                                                                   REV. R. VELDMAN
       notes which someone took at the October 1953, session  of.
       Classis  E a s t . These stenographic notes contain remarks                                       on his 25th anniversary as a minister of the Word of God.
                                                                                                              We pray that God may continue to  blgss him as pastor of
       made by the Rev: R.  Veldman  at the time of the session                                          his flock through Jesus  C'hrist our Lord.                e
       of  Classis.                                                                                                                           The Consistory of Fourth
             But does not the former Consistory of Kalamazoo under-                                                                         Protestant Reformed Church
       stand that these stenographic notes' have nothing to do with                                                                         J o h n   V e l t m a n ,   C l e r k
       the legality of the case ? All they had to  dQ was to quote                                                                     -bss-
       to brother Meninga the advice of the Fourth Consjstory                                                                        I N   MEMO&AM
       literally. And this they failed to do.                                                                 The Ladies  %:iety, Ruth, of the Hope Protestant Reformed
             This advice, although it was presented to our readers Church  of. Grand Rapids,  Mich., herewith extends  its sympathy
       more than once, I will quote here once more. Literally they                                       to one of its former members, Mrs. G. Korhorn, Jr., in the death
       advised as follows : "It is clear to. our consistory :                                            of her Mother,
                                                                                                        -~                     MRS. MARGARET HULL
             "1. That neither the Rev. De Wolf nor the elders in-                                             May our  Heav&ly Father comfort the  bereaved and may we
     _ volved  haJe made  th'e apology demanded by the Consisfory,                                       at all times put our trust in Him.
       as advised by  Classis.  -.                                                                                                              Rev. J. A. Heys, President
             "2. That Clasis advised the  Coxistory  to proceed with                                                                                Mrs. J. Kalsbeek, Secretary
                                                                        . .
'      suspension in case the Rev. De Wolf and the elders  involv&l
       should refuse to apologize.
         " 3 .   T h a t   i n   `s o   f a r   t h e   Consisto;y   h a d   t h e   r i g h t   t o            W I T H   J O Y   A N D   G L A D N E S S   I N   M Y   S O U L
       proceed with suspension on the basis of the Classical decisi-
       ons.                                                                                                               With joy and gladness in my soul
             "However, we are not prepared to say:                                                                           I hear the call to prayer;
             "a. That a Consistory meeting can be  ,called  legal when                                                 _ Let us go up to God's own house
       half of its members were not notified that it should be held.                                                         And bow before Him there,
             `!b. That  g suspension can be called in order  .when  the                                                   We stand within thy sacred walls,
       involved were not notified that the double  con&tory  meeting                                                         0 Zion, blest for aye,
       would be held and the suspension decided on."                                                                      Wherein the people of the Lord
             From the above it is evident that  the Fourth  .Consistory                                                      United homage pay.
       positively advised to proceed  .with  suspension and deposition.
       The last part of this advice is purely negative, and our                                                           They come to learn Jehovah's will,'
       Consistory could. do nothing with it. It does not state  thdti                                                        His mighty deeds to own,
       the Consistory meeting of June 23 was not legal. This it                                                           For there is judgment's royal seat,
       certainly was:  bedause the guilty parties were not legal                                                             Messiah's kingly throne.
       members of the Consistory  any more, and had lost  al!  ;ight
       of membership in the Consistory. Nor. does the advice state                                                        0 pray that Zion may be blest
       that the suspension was  ,not in order because the guilty                                                             And have abundant peace,
       parties were  nat present. at  the meeting of the double  con-                                                     For all that love thee in their hearts
       sistory. It simply states: "We are not prepared to say . .  ."                                                        Shall prosper and increase.
       And such a statement has no value as far as positive advice
       is concerned. And therefore, the only advice of the  Con-                                                          I, pray the Lord that peace may still
       sistory  of Fourth Church was to proceed with suspension                                                              Within thy walls abound,
       and deposition.                                                                                                    And ever in thy palaces
         And this was done. At the same meeting the Rev. De                                                                  Prosperity be found.
       Wolf was suspended and  the guilty elders were deposed.
     And of this suspension and deposition they were duly noti-                                                           Yea, for the sake of friends and kin,
       fied.                                                                                                                 &`Iy heart desires thy peace,
             This, then, is the answer to the above part of the reply                                                     And for the house of God the Lord
       of the  forn1e.r  Consistory of Kalamazoo to brother Meninga.                                                         My care shall never cease.
                                                                                            H.H:                                                                           Psalm 122


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                 31

                                                                        In the first place there is the reward of your daily bread.
          .OUR.DOCTRINE  il,                                        Out of our possessions over which God has placed us as
-                                                                   stewards we  may  take  whitever  is necessary for soul and
                                                                    body  for-us and our children. Such is the reward of  faithful
             T H E   T R I P L E   ENOVVLEDGE  :                    stewards for this present time. And this daily bread does
                                                                    not mean that the Lord is stingy and that you may not freely
     AN  EXPOSITION  0;  THE  HEIDELMXG   CATECFIISM                eat and live of the goods which He bestows `upon you. -But
              PART   III--O F  THANKFULNESS                         on the contrary if possible you may eat your daily bread
                                                                    liber.ally.  Only always you must be content with whatever
                           LORD'S  DAY  42       --                 God gives -unto you. If you do not possess sufficient to have
                             Chapter `2                             abundant -food, liberal clothing, and  decent"homes, you must
                                                                    practice contentment with mere daily-bread in God's employ,
             The  ,Grace of Contentment (cont.)                     and be thankful. On the other hand, if you do not acquire
    The Christian, the believer in Jesus Christ, considering        your daily bread, which God gives  you  iri His faithful service,
himself as a steward of God, certainly is no waster. Nor can        because man snatches it away from you, and  refuses to pay
he be a miser. There is principally really no difference be-        you a decent wage, God, your Employer, will require it from
tween a waster, or a  ipendthrift,' and  amiser.  Although they     his hand. And to Him you will complain of the injustice  of
may appear rather radically different, from a spiritual, ethical    the wicked. You refrain from taking the law in your- own
point of view they are principally  the  same, the waster and       hand and organizing for power to enforce your rights. That
the miser. They certainly agree  in this respect;  that they        is neither your calling, nor the proper solution of the prob-
do not  want to manage their earthly posessions before. the         lem. You rather say to the wicked, that refuses to  pay you
face of God  iti His name, and according  to- His will.             a decent wage: "I am going to accuse you to my Employer.
An principally they also agree in this that they are                And my Employer, as well as yours, is God. And when He
motivated by the principle of covetousness. The miser prob-         comes, He shall require my wages  fro~i  go&  hand." Or, in
ably may appear worse than the  spen.dthrift  and waster. The       the words of the apostle  James,  chapter 5, vss. 1-S: "Go to
latter may sometime be  niistaken for a loyal, liberal fellow.      no'vv,  ye rich men, weep and  howl for your miseries that shall
But do not make a mistake.  - The waster and spendthrift is         come upon you, Your riches are corrupted, and your gar-
simply a man who, rather than mange things  in.the  name  of        ments a're moth `eaten. Your gold and silver is cankered  ;
God and in His employ, according to His precepts,  uSes his         and the rust of them shall be a witness against  jrou,  and
earthly possessions  for his  own  carnal  enj"oyment.  and does    shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have  .heaped  treasure
not spend them properly in the service of God and for the           tdgether for the last  days.  Behold, the hire of the labourers
well-being of the neighbor, but rather destroys them. The           who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back
miser is  the man who gloats over the mere possessions of           by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped
earthly goods. Every day he rejoices to count the increase          are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth. Ye have
of-his possessions. He loves to have his gold pass through          lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton  ; ye `have
hands, and  hiar the sound; and see the glitter of it. Day by       nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. Ye have con-
day he likes to open his bank book, and see  how his actual         demned and killed the just; and -he doth not resist  you. `Be
possessions have increased. He  rejbices  in the mere posses-       patient therefore, brethren, `unto the coming of the Lord.
sion of earthly goods. `He cannot, he will  not, and he dare        Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the
not manage these possessions with the question on his lips:         earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early
"Lord, what  wilt Thou have me do with them  ?" The poor            and latter rain. Be ye also patient;  .stablish your hearts  ; for
may starve, the  kiligdom of God may suffer, the neighbor may       the  co&ng  of the Lord draweth-nigh."
have nothing ; but the miser does not' care to spend his pos-          In  the- second place, the steward that acquires and man-
sessions. He only wants to pile them up. God does not even          ages his earthly possessions in the name of, and before  the
give the poor fellow the gift to eat and drink of the posses-       face of God  .has  the rich reward that he may have peace,
sions he has acquired. But remember: whatever form the              true spiritual peace, the peace that passeth all understanding.
sin of stealing many assume, the thief  in- principle is always     That reward no  man  can possibly take from him. That rich
the one who refuses to manage his earthly possessions as a          spiritual blessing the thief can never have, even when he is
steward before the face of God.                                     prindipally a Christian. In the measure that one refuses to
   And even as the Christian steward acquires everything            be. a steward over his earthly possessions, and to seek  the
and manages everything with regard to his  -earthly posses-         things that are above, in the measure that one must accuse
sions in the name, and before the face of God and according         himself of having things in his possession which God really
to::I-Iis  precepts, so he also excepts his reward from God         did not bestow upon him, in that measure he is a thief, and
alone.                                                              in the  same.measure  he can never have the peace that  pas-
   And this reward is three-fold.                                   seth all understanding. And, there  his after all nothing so


                      ,


32                     c                                                      THE'ZTANDARD   BEARE-R                                                             - _ .  ..--

rich and precious as the peace with God through our  ,`Lorcl                                                .God  and take His  name  in vain with the same heart and
J e s u s   C h r i s t .                                                                                   ~nind"  and mouth which God has given  us  to glorify Him.
'  `.  :Finally,  the  .Christian  stewaid  `has the reward that  he                                        ,$nd   :;hus it is  a&o  with' every sin against the second table
does  and may expect. all things from God. For  even  in this                                               of the law.  \jTith   the same power which God has given  us,
life he  h&  the reward of the hope eternal. In that hope he                                                whereby we submit  our&lves  to all authority, we rebel
rejoice&   Also this the thief cannot possibly possess. As long                                             against it and  becoine disobedient. With the same power
as he is a thief, he can never rejoice in the hope eternal. But                                             which God has bestowed upon man, whereby he may love
the Christian steward lives in that hope. For he does not set                                               him in his earthly existence and  t&nporal  life, to preserve
his heart  pn the things that are below, but on the things                                                  it and seek his well-being, we kill him and destroy him from
aboSe,  `tin the eternal inheritance. God has given him a                                                   the face of the earth.  Agaip,  with the  same  bower  which God
promise. And that prbmise has already principally  been                                                     ,has bestowed  up&  us to establish the marriage relation as.
realized, The promise  is that he shall possess all things, and                                             an indissoluble union between man and wife for the propaga-
that every thief and robber shall be cast out. All the wicked                                               tion of the human race, we commit adultery and fornication.
shall be destroyed. And all that do  .not desire to be stewards.                                            And so, with  th.e  same power and means which-God bestows
which.God  has bestowed on them in their earthly possessions                                                upon  us  to have dominion over all earthly things and to be
shall eternally be excluded from that rich inheritance. That                                                stewards of the Most- High, we steal  ind  defraud and covet
promise God  has already realized in Christ Jesus our Lord.                                                 the things that are below, rather than the things that are
Who is the chief steward over the whole house of God and is                                                 above.
sitting at the right hand of God, in glory  dorever.  It is the                                                 This is particularly true  bf the sin against the ninth
promise of the new heavens and- the new earth, where the                                                    commandment.
tabernacle of God  shallibe   with men, and which the believers                                                 This is peculiarly so because the sin against the ninth
in Christ Jesus shall  .possess  forevermore, as  stewaids  under                                           commandment is that of lying. And principally, all sin  is
Christ Jesus their Lord. In that inheritance we shall forever                                               the lie.
confess that'all things are  ours, and that we  are Christ's, and
Christ is  God's.                                                                                               Negatively, the ninth commandment forbids the sin of
                                                                                                            lying particularly that of lying against and about the neigh-
                                  LORD';.                DAY 4           3             c.                   bor. And therefore positively, it demands that we speak
                                                                                                            the truth in love,  - the truth about  Gsd, but more especially
_'                    Q.`ll.Z. What is required  in the ninth  commahdmq~t?
      . .         A .   T h a t   I   b e a r   f a l s e   w i t n e s s   a g a i n s t   no  man, nor    the truth to and about the neighbor.
                      falsify any  !nan's words; that I be no backbiter, nor
                      slanderer; that I do not judge, nor join in  condenm-                                     It is therefore,' especially in the  sin of speaking and loving
                      ing any  man rashly, or unheard; but that I avoid                                     the lie that a perfectly good power which God bestowed
                      all sorts of lies and deceit. as the proper-works of  the                             upon man is perverted and corrupted. He made man a
                      devil, unless I would bring down upon  me the heavy                                   rational,  mbral'being,  that is, a being with intellect and will.
                      wrath of God; likewise, that in judgment and all                                      And in doing so, He gave man a power which, if he subverted
                      other dealings I love the truth, speak it uprightly and
                      confess  it;`also that I defend and promote, as much                                  it, would make him a liar. He did not create us liars. He
                      Bs I  am able,. the honor and good character of  my                                   did not create us so that we `loved the lie. But `He  neverthel
                      n e i g h b o r .                                                                     less created  u$ with a power which, if it was  subtierted by
             .                                                                                              an act of our own will, we would become liars. He gave 
                                             Chapter              I.          -                                                                                             us
                                                                                                            the  power of  ihe mind, the intellect; and by  mea&  of that
             The Principle of the Ninth Commandment                                                         intellect we have the power to make unto ourselves a re-
        The   law of perfect liberty requires of.  us,  &en as it is                                        presentation of reality concerning God, concerning the world,
principally written in our hearts, that we love the neighbor                                                concerning ourselves, and concerning the neighbor . In other
in his name, and therefore speak the truth to him and about                                                 words by the power of  -the mind we can know the truth in
him in love for God's sake.                                                                                 the intellectual sense of the word. We can form a certain
        All sin we must remember uses for its  con&ment  and                                                conception of  Gocl as He has revealed Himself  iri all  the.
realization a good power bestowed upon  us  by God. Sin is                                                  works of His hands, and particularly in the Scriptures. We'
the abuse of such power. It is the corruption of it. It is the                                              can form an intellectual conception of Christ and the truth
perversion of what God has made good and bestowed  @on                                                      concerning  Him. And we can form a conception of ourselves,
us of His good gifts. This is true of all  sin. It -is true of the                                          as well a's of the neighbor. Now, if I act and live and speak
first table of the law. It is true, for instance, of idolatry and                                           according to that knowledge of  thk mind, if I cling to it
image worship : we imagine and invent and fashion an idol,                                                  with  my  will with  my  heart and with  my  desires, so that
serve and  woIship  an idol with the very  s&e   powe; which                                                I love it and speak it, I  fol!ow the truth. But with  thjt same
Gocl has bestowed upon  u,s to know and to love and  tq wor-                                                mind which God gave me I have the power to do something
ship Him; only that power is merely perverted and directed                                                  radically different. I -have the power of imagination.
into  sinlul  channels  ancl  to sinful objects.  -IWe blaspheme                                                                                                         H.H.


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                     33 "

II                                                                       army,- Rabshakeh's blasphemies, and the prophecy that  Sen-
           THE DAY OF  SHIW~W                                      II nacherib shall. hear a report and  return to his own place
IL                                                                 !I    amounting to a renewal of the promise of the deliverance of
                                                                         the city. Rabshakeh's return to his master  and the second
                  The Prophecy of Isaiah                                 renewal of the promise of the deliverance of the city in con-
      The prophet gives no definite answer to the cluestion just         nection with Sennacherib's blasphemies. The destruction of
when Hezekiah's sickness took place, before or after  Sen-               Sennacherib's host. The embassy from the king of Babylon.
nacherib's overthrow. In the prophet's piece Sennacherib's                   There is sufficient scriptural ground for the position that
overthrow precedes Hezekiah's sickness. One may say that                 Isaiah himself was the writer of the account of the events of
this proves that such was also the order of these  eGe&s  in             which our chapter treats, that is, that the narrative owes its
point. of time. But would the prophet then not also have                 origin to him. That he completed the history of Sennacherib
brought this clearly into view by `some such statement as                before narrating Hezekiah's sickness was doubtless because
"and it came to pass  aft&  those  days~  (of  the  invasibn of          the latter event was radically related to the event of the em-
Judah by Sennacherib, the` inclosure of Jerusalem by  Rab-               bassy from Babylon. But this in  `no wise impairs the inte-
shakeh's mighty army, and the overthrow of the Assyrian's                grity of the account, seeing that it plainly enough suggests
host) that Hezekiah was sick unto death,"  i.nstead  of  writ-           that the arrangement of the events that it treats, is not
ting,'  "In  those days (of the transportation of these events)          strictly chronological.
Hezekiah was sick unto death  ?" It is at least probable, cer-               According to  *the dates of Sennacherib's campaign as
tainly.                                                                  fixed by on Assyrian "Inscription," his attack upon the
      In support of the position that Hezekiah's sickness  fol-          kingdom of Judah took place in the -28th and not, as Isaiah
lozved  "Sennacherib's overthrow' one could come also with               has it, in-the 14th year of Hezekiah's reign. Were this  true
this reasoning: the coming of the embassy from the king                  then the temporal phrases "in those days." 37  :l, and "at that
of Babylon took place after Sennacherib's overthrow: (This               time,"  39:1,  are also spurious . They who here side up  ,with
is, of course, highly probable. For it could not well be that            the "Inscription" must  not imagine that they clear themselves
their journey to Jerusalem was made when  Judah  was still               of the charge of ascribing greater  credibilty  to heathen an-
being overrun by Assyrians). According to the text at                    nals than to God's own Word by saying that these  errors(   ?)
39  :l the embassy came "at that time," that is, at the time             in the account of Isaiah owe their origin not to the prophet
of  Heiekiah's  sickness and recovery shortly thereafter . From          but to the  edit&  or  ,redactor  of his piece. The Scriptures
these considerations it follows that also Hezekiah's sickness            may not thus be silenced. "Textual- criticism" is necessary.
followed in point of time Sennacherib's overthrow.                       But the apparatus for the cultivation of this biblical science
      So also we could reason: But the reasoning would be                does not include, certainly, pagan  inscriptidns,  annals and
valid only if the overthrow of Sennacherib and Hezekiah's                monuments.
sickness followed each other in rather close succession.  But               Let us now tz&rn  to Isaiah's account of the embassy from
we should realize that it must have taken considerable time              the king of Babylon. XXXIX:l-8.
for the report of Hezekiah's sickness to penetrate to Babylon.              At that time Merodach-Baladan, the son of Baladan, king
Also to be taken into  cbnsideration  is the time it took for            of Babylon sent letters and a present to Hezekiah: for he
the embassy to make the journey to Jerusalem. They had to                had heard that he was sick and had recovered (39  :9).
come way  from  Babylon beyond the' Euphrates. The sign-                    According to the "inscriptions," this person as king of
ificance of this is that though the coming of the embassy                Babylon was living in open rebellion against the kings of
must have taken place after Sennacherib's overthrow,  Heze-              Assyria, whose vassal he was.  -He was defeated and driven
kiah's sicknes may nevertheless have Preceded the  ovQthrow              from the throne. The struggle was continued by his succes-
of the Assyrian even for a considerable length of time. At               sors and the result was the independence of Babylon and
any rate, the phrase "at that time" cannot mean,  "dewing   the          its eventual rise to world-power.
time of Hezekiah's sicknes and recovery." Nor can it hardly                 This person sent  l$te&  in which he congratulated  Heze-
mean "shortly after Hezekiah's recovery." What is more,                  kiah on his recovery, (he had heard that he had been sick
the phrase may refer to a time that includes besides  Heze-              and was again strong) and inquired after the wonder that
kiah's sickness also the  inclosure  of Jerusalem by the As-             had been done in the land (the wonder of the sun-dial),
syrians and the overthrow of Sennacherib's army.                         II Chron. 32  :31  - "in the land," that is, in the whole earth.
      And so it is highly probable that the order of the events          This is the meaning, because the sun itself had been brbught
of this period of Hezekiah's reign (the close of the 13th. the           back ten degrees and not merely the shadow on the sun-dial,
14th and the beginning of the 15th year of his reign) was                Isa.  33:s.  Their inquiry afforded Hezekiah a priceless  dp-
this: the invasion of Judah by Sennacherib. Hezekiah's                   portunity to explain this wonder to these heathen men, to
sickneis  and the wonder that was wrought in confirmation                set it forth, bring it into view as wrought by Israel's  wonder-
of the promise of  his recovery and of the deliverance of the            working God in confirmation of  His gracious promises to
city (Jerusalem). The city enclosed by  Rabsakeh's  mighty               His pedple.


L 34                                                 T H E   S T A N D A R D   BE,ARER

   "And rejoiced  oirer  them,"  .Hezekiah, vs.  2a.                    `questions were  mearit  as a rebuke. They were not put for  thk
         But his rejoicing is carnal. At bottom it was a  gl&-Jing      tiurpose  of obtaining information. For  the prophet had the
 in self, as is evident from the description of  .his:  reaction to     &s.w~rs.   fron?  the -Lord.  The  interrogation aimed at bringing
 the overtures of Babylon's king. Instead of explaining to              t`he king under the sense of the wrongness of his doing and
 these envoys the wonder of the sun-dial, he showed them                to prepare him for the reception' of the Word of God.
 the house of his spices,  ihe silver and the gold and the Spices          .And  Hezekiah  said,.  They are come  fron! a far country
 and. his precious ointment and assortments of war imple-               unto me, even from Babylon (vs. 3b).
 ments, and all that was found in his treasures; there was                  In,cleed,  but what said the men  ? With what  overturFs  or
 nothing in his house, nor in all his  clominon?  that Hezekiah         propositions had they come to the king? It is probable  that
 shewed   t h e m   n o t   ( v s .   2 ) .   .,                        he  had failed to givk answer purposely. The prophet did
        : Surely his purpose was to. make impression. He  wanted        not press. him. But he  had,one  more question.
 these envoys to return  to.their  master with a glowing account            Then  he said, What have they seen in thy house (vs. 4a).  -
 of his greatness and  magnificance.  That  ,this  great one  who       That was, a question that he did .not mind answering.  A$
 reigned there in far away Babylon should  -send  messengers            `he held back. nothing. p&haps' he felt relieved that the
 all that great. distance to court his friendship !                     prsphet  did not return- to the matter  of what, the men  had
         According to the text at II Kings  22:13,  Hezekiah            said.        -
 "hearkened unto them," namely to the envoys. It is there-                  And Hezekiah answered, All that is  in mine house have
 fore highly  probabie that the letter contaipecl outright  over-       they seen: there is nothing among my treasures  that  I have
 tures..of  a political nature. Highly probable it is that what         not  shewed  them (4b).
 the king of Babylon  aimed  at was to gain Hezekiah and his                Might this be taken as a full and whole-hearted confes-
wonclerworkirig   God as `his allies in his  war with Assyria:          sion of guilt? Or was the king defiant"  Dicl he  mean to  be
And he hearkened unto-  .them., It may mean  ._ that their              saying that he had behaved as it behoved him  ? The  men
p'ropositions  fascinated him.                      -.                  ivere spokesmen of a king,. And they had come from far.
        The Chronicler bring-s out that  &is   ,whola matter was'       Whatever the posture  of'the king.- the prophet now spake his
of the Lord.                                                            m e s s a g e .
        Howbeit,  regartling  the ambassadors of the princes  t of          Then said Isaiah unto Hezekiah, Hear the  word of the
Babylon who sent unto him to enquire of the wonder that                 Lord of hosts; behold,  the clays come, that will be carried
was `done in the land, God gave him  up2 to try him, that he            away all that is in thine house, and all that which thy fathers
might.know  all that  was-in his heart (II Chron. 32  :31).             have treasured up until this -day, to Babylon  &all   it be
 ' Here the sacred writer speaks of God as though He were               Cal-vied   away;  not shall be left a thing, saith the Lord.  An?
limited in His knowing like a man. As the Lord's knowl-                 of thy sons that shall go forth- from thee which thdu shalt
edge is determinative the idea is not that `the Lord  hacl  to          beg.&  shall they take away and they shall be eunuchs in the
put Hezekiah to a test, as if otherwise He would have re-               palace of the king of Babylon  (vss.  5-7).
mained in the dark as to all  that was in the king's heart.                 Who should not be able to see that, being what  it,was   -
The truth concealed in this manner of God's speaking of                 a reply to the king's answers disclosing that what the future,
Himself is this : What was in Hezekiah's heart, the sinful              according to the counsel and will of  Go& held  `in store for
pride,  vahity and ambition that  lurke!  in his bosom, had to          his posterity was exile and hard bondage in a.strange land  -
be made manifest that God might  be.fully   fiustified  in afflict-     theprophet's  message Was condemnatory of Hezekiah's  whgle
ing his soul' with the revelation of His judgment's determined          doing regarding the `embassy.                                .I; :
against king and people. And therefore God tried him through                Being a Godfearing man, he received the grace to say,
the overtures of the envoys and subjectively through the                "good is the word of the  Lo;d  that thou hast spoken." Yet:
lusts of his' own sinful flesh to which the Lord gave him               it must not be supposed that the. impact of the tiding left.
over.                                                                   his-spirit unshaken.  _  ._
        And so we  cannot-  go along  w&h the view that  Heiekiah           But we must attend more closely to Hezekiah's reasoning.
did  not sin  iri dangling his riches and  magnificarice before            And he  said  . . . good is the word of the Lord . . . More-
the eyes of the envoys.                                                 over. he said,-  FOY  there shall be peace and truth in my clays.
        Now back to the account `of Isaiah.                             (63.  S).
        Then  came,  .Isaiah, the' prdphet  `unto  king Hezekiah and       This response may not be taken to indicate that  .the sole
said unto him, What said. these men  ? And from  .whence                concern of Hezekiah was his own well-being so that the judg-
conic they unto thee ? (vs. 3a)                      :.~                ments that were to overtake Israel's posterity including the
 Co.lsre,,  not  .ca?pl.e.   .The  tense of the verb may indicate       kidg's own children left him cold and that this explains  the:
that the envoys  were still in Jerusalem.  IL is not improbable,        acceptance of and submission to the Word of the Lord.. Such
that they were present when the prophet interrogated the                could not have  been his attitude, seeing that he was  a'saint.
king  Bnd  communicated to him -his  naessage.   !I  .'                 He:loved  God and his people. There is more in Hezekiah's
        When viewed in their context it will be seen that the           response than  nieets the -eye at first glance. I  b.elieve  its


                                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                   35

 meaning to be this : good is the Word of the Lord.  For it is       houses for the increase of corn  and'wine  and oil and stables
 a true  .and  faithful word and powerful, effecting the salva-      for all  lzinds  of undomesticated' animals and  stables-  for cattle
 tion of His people through pain, sorrow exile, banishment           and flocks. And cities he made for himself and possessions
 and death and the destruction of the adversary. I know,             of flocks and herds in  abimdance  ; for gave him God  sub&an&
 for I have tasted the goodness of His Word, I and my pepple.        abundantly. This same Hezekiah also stopped the upper .
 The enemy oppressed. Our plight was hopeless. But the               water courses of Gihon and brought it straight down to the
 Lord saved us. There is peace and truth in all my clays by          arid open country of the city of `David.`
 His Word and according to it. Surely the  Worci-  of the                And now follows the verse already quoted and ekplained :
 Lord  ii good,  .a11  His Word, now and always. For don't           And so (not as the versions have it,  howbeit)  regarding the
 we `see, there is peace in the land in all my  days   presaging     envoys from the princes of Babylon, `who sent unto him to
 a peace  Andy  rest that will never end.                            enquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God gave
     If. this is not the thrust of  Hezekiah's  words on that oc-    him up, to try him, that he might know  all that was in his .
 casion he spake  a's a profligate. These Old Testament saints       heart (II Chron. 32 :27-31).
 had  `far deeper insight into the purpose of God than they             -The thrust-of this whole passage is clear. Hezekiah had
 are usually given credit for.                                       &own  immensely rich. It had to be made manifest (for                            .
     It should now be plain  Jhat  Hezekiah's hospitality  was       Hezekiah's sake and for our sake and also in the sense  kx-
 sinful. This view has the strong support also of a passage          plained for the Lord's sake) whether he was thankful or' 1
 contained in II Chron. 32 :24-26.                                   whether under all that prosperity he had grown proud and
     Here we read,  "In  those days Hezekiah was sick to the         vain. So the Lord tested him. He sent to  -him the envoys
`death, and  prayed unto the Lord: and he spake unto him and         from Babylon to enquire after the wonder of the sun-dial.
gave him a sign. But Hezekiah rendered not again according           `The expression "and the Lord gave him up" shows that  he:
 to the benefit done unto  3 him for his heart was lifted up:        did not endure the temptation. which in turn revealed that
 therefore there was wrath upon him, and upon Judah and              in his- prosperous days he had indeed forgotten the Lord,
 Jerusalem.                                                          though, of course, not essentially as he was a saint.
     Notwithstanding Hezekiah humbled himself for the                    He did not  endure-the  temptation to which he was ex-
 pride of his heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem,       posed by the overtures of the envoys, but his faith faltered,
 so that the wrath of the Lord came not upon them in the             which  must  have consisted in his hospifality to these men.             .
 clays  bf  Heiekiah."                                                   It is probable that Hezekiah  accumulatqd his great riches
  According  to the benefit done  unto  hitn..--  The reference      during the first thirteen years of his reign, thus before the
 is to the wonder that was wrought in the land, to the healing       invasion of Judah by Sennacherib. This prosperity together
 of  -Hezekiah  and to the overthrow of Sennacherib.                 with Hezekiah's  sickness and Sennacherib's overthrow are
     But Hezekiah did not render again according to this             the benefit according to which the king did not render  .unto
 benefit. He was  `not thankful . And the reason ? His heart         t h e   - L o r d .                                         G.M.O.
 was lifted up. Then wrath fell upon  Hezekiah:and  the in-                                   -              -
 habitants of Jerusalem. The Lord afflicted. Hezekiah's soul               HOW GOOD  I+ IS TO THANK THE L O R D
 with the revelation of the judgments determined against king                     Thou, Lord, hast high exalted me
 and people,  the  prophecy of the exile. But Hezekiah  htimblecl                 11\7ith  royal strength and dignity  ;  a
 himself, and likewise the inhabitants of Jerusalem.  And                         With Thy  Bnointini  I am blest,
 therefore the wrath of the Lord came not upon them in the                        Thy grace and favor on me rest;
 clays of Hezekiah,. that is, the prophecy of the exile was not                   I thus exult o'er all my  fdes,
 realized in Hezekiah's days.                                                     O'er all that would my cause oppose.
    What could be plainer than that the chronicler is  here
 occupied with the same series of events in the life of  Heze-                The righteous man shall flourish well,
 $iah that we  iind  treated in the last two chapters of the                      And in the house of God shall dwell  ;
 historical section, of Isaiah's  prhpheky.                                       He shall be like a goodly tree,
    It is true that in the above-cited passage  the chronicler                    And all his life shall fruitful be;'
 makes no mention of  Hezekiah"s  hospitality to the envoys.'                     For righteous is the Lord and just,
 But that in penning these, verses he nevertheless had this                       He is my rock, in Him I trust.
 hospitality before  his mind and was denouncing it as sinful                     How good it is to thank the Lord,
 as to its motive is clear from the sequel. Here we come upon                     And praise to Thee, Most High, accord,                           ..  -
a passage that reads :                                                            To show Thy love' with morning light,
    And there was to Hezekiah  .riches  and honor much ex-                        And tell Thy  faithfuln'ess  each night;
ceedingly. And treasures he made for himself for silver and                      Yea, good-it is Thy praise to sing,
for gold and for stones precious and for spices, and for                       And all `our sweetest music bring.
shields and' for all  kinds  of desirable implements and store-                                                       Psalm 92  :4, 5, 6
                                                                                                             I
                                  .

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

                                                                                      love God,  but that He loved. us and sent His Son a propitia-
           `ii,  :F R 0 M H-O L-Y W  R  1.T  /I tion for dur sins." In, such a passage we have the election of
                                                                                      God in' the Cross of Calvary. And when John adds : "Be-
                                                                                      loved, if God thus (outoos) loved us (we also  ought  to love
                     Exposition of Philippians  1:3-11                                each other" then let no one ever say: do not tell us  what  zve
                                       ( C o n t i n u e d )                          ough  to do! Rather let it be sounded from the pulpits that
                 Since Paul tells the church in  Philippi  of His great con-          since God so loved us and gave His Son for us we  o,ctglzt to
            fidence that the Beginner of the good work in them will                   lay clown our lives for the brethren! And when this ex-
            surely perfect it even unto the day of Jesus Christ, and since            hortation of the Gospel is proclaimed let then no one com-
            this is the reason for his thanking God upon every remem-                 plain that this is no  preaching  of election,  nqr should anyone
            brance of this church, and also the reason for admonishing                "go  ov,er  the horse" in the other direction  and Say: this pas-
~           them unto the perfection set before them in the life to come,             sage has  .nothing  to do with election  ; this  siutzply  tells  US
            it is incumbent upon us to show the great implication of the              what we  o.ccght  to do. Let us not separate in either  directio_n
            certainty  of God's  ze1oy-k  as stated here `by Paul in verse 6. ,       what God has joined together, lest we tempt God either with
                 In the first place it must be pointed out that Paul  stancls         a walk of  antinomism  or with a walk of legalistic pharisee-
            upon the solid Rock in the rock-bottom assurance that God                 ism ! It is incumbent upon the-preacher that he  nccwateZy
            is the Alpha and the Omega of our salvation. It is true,  the             set forth the truth of Scripture!
            text does not employ the terms Alpha and Omega.  But  that                    That duty is also incumbent upon the undersigned in this
            is the sense and meaning nonetheless. For when Paul speaks                rubric !
           .hei-e  of the certain of final and ultimate salvation he is not               And therefore we say  ; the viewpoint here is not  fAmarily
            speaking simply of his confidence and faith in God's  work.               that of election, but it is that of the applied salvation in
           -but he is speaking of his confidence and faith in God  Himself.           Christ, namely that of regeneration, calling, faith, justifica-
     It is true that God's faithfulness is revealed in this work of                   tion, sanctification and glorification. Such is the viewpoint:
            our complete and final salvation. But this does not preclude              here in  thisi  passage.
            the glorious reality that Paul rejoices in prison, that he has                How wonderful for the struggling believer to know that,
            all things and  Bbounds. For Paul  believes in God! God  is               He, `who  work&h  in him  b&h to will and to do, is  God, tha
            the Rock of  his confidence and boasting. The form of the                 Alpha and Omega of our salvation! How wonderful it is to!
            greek sentence indicates that Paul is here rejoicing in God,,             turn unto God in thanskiving and in the midst of the saints  to.
            as the One who has begun this good work in the Philippian                 utter in glad strains. "Blessed-be the God and Father of our
            saints, an& not simply in His  work.  Just as in the Twelve               Lord, Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
          _ Articles of Faith, we do not say, "I believe in the  work  of             blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as He hath
            creation," but rather "I believe in God the `Father;,  Cyentor- -chosen us in him before the foundations of the world, that
            of heaven and earth, so here too Paul trusts in God, the Be-              we should be holy and without blame `before him in' love,
           ginner of Salvation.  He believes in the Alpha, and,  therefore,           having  preclestinated us unto the adoption of sons by Jesus
            in the Omega of our salvation.!                                           Christ  unto Himself, according to the good-pleasure of His
                 What a Solid Rock to stand on!                                       will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein he hath
     -           All other considerations are simply  so much quick-sand.             made us accepted in the'belovecl."  Ephesians  1 :3-6.
           And  certainli  the winds  bf the enemies of the Gospel would                  And that wonderful song can only be sung by us because
            blow down all Paul's confidence were it not for this confi-               God "hath begun" the good work in  us  "acco~di~lg  to His
            dence in.  The  Beginns),  of our salvation! But now  Pail1               counsel."
            rejoices. God's fountain of strength is the well-spring of                    This means briefly that as the things are in God's counsel
            Paul's confidence with respect to the final glory of the  Phlip-          thus they will also be in history ! Notice the  "evtin as" in the
           pian church. And we may well add: all other ground of                      above quotation from Ephesians  1:3-6!  However, we should
           confidence is simply sinking-sand also for us.                             not fall into the error of teaching that  history  and the counsel
                 When Paul here speaks of the Divine work of our salva-               of God are identical ! ! "Before, the foundation of the world"
           tion he does not view it  pri~~za~ily  from the viewpoint of               certainly is more  thari  temporal in its meaning, but neverthe-
            election. Notice, that we said "primarily  !" This implies                less is also  iticlicates  that the counsel is "prior" to history.
           that the glorious truth of sovereign election is indeed pre-               It is, only after the seals of the book of Him on the Throne
           supposed in this "viewpoint" of Paul. For Paul's view-point                are broken, that the events of  history-  in judgment and in
           is that of  applied  sa,lvafiio.n   i%  time;  he is viewing the church    salvation transpire historically.     .
           here as she must run the race; keep the faith, and look for-                   For -this reason we- can distinguish between the "view-
           ward to the crown of life for all the faithful.. But, even so,             point" of "election" and that of "applied salvation" in the
           the glorious doctrine of election is still the heart-beat of               word of God. And for this same reason we also distinguish
           salvation. That heart-beat of election is clearly  stated in the           between the "fruit of righteousness in  our life"  and  the
           Gospel tidings in I John 3  :lO,  "Herein is love, not that we             chastisement and means through which it is wrought. And in


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                    37

 this sense we distinguish also a good and sound "before"                  Iie prays  that their love may  abo-und  more and mqre  !;
 a&l "afterwards  !"                                                 And it  must  abound in the practical walk in gratitude for
    According  to God's unchangeable purpose in Christ Jesus,        God's  re&mption. For if  we. shut up our bowels of mercy
 our Lord,  ,he began  the good work in the Philippian church        for the brethren, then  .the  love of God does not abide in us,             `-
 in Macedonia. It was God's elective purpose in Christ Jesus         controlling our thinking,. willing and all our aspirations.
 that shows us the reason why the Holy Spirit did not allow          Love is then not perfected in us, casting out all fears! For
 Paul, Silas and Timothy to preach `the Word in Asia and,            perfect love hath no torment. In perfect love there  is  ex-
,when  they tried to go into Bithynia, they we not permitted         -hibitecl  a thorough knowledge and understanding of all life's
 to do so, and thus were directed to Troas' in  Mysia!  And          problems in the light of the law of God  ai the spiritual
 according to this unchangeable purpose of election Paul re-         guide to  o& feet. And such knowledge certainly manifests.
 ceives a vision of the Macedonian who says: Come over  +ncl         itself in all spiritual sensitiveness, in that moral discernment
 help us ! And, again, when Paul and Silas come to  Philippi         of ethical matters as its plain from verse 10, where we read
 and find the  worshipping  women at a river-side, among             in order that ye may approve the things that differ, in order
 whom is Lydia, a merchant-women in purple, then it is               -that ye may be sincere and blameless into the day of Christ."
 elective love that bpens their hearts for  the Gospel. And                When.  such love thus abounds  m&e  and more in all
 thus. God began the good  work in these Philippians here at         knowledge and spiritual discernment we shall very readily
 the river-side, in the prison by giving the  jailor  and his        perceive  the difference between a walk of good works out of  m
 house  cdntrition  of faith and repentance! What a fond and         faith, according to God's law and unto His glory, and one
 cherished memory for the prisoner of the Lord in Rome!              that is not. The latter we shall abhor. What a difference we
 God had begun a good work in them. Small wonder that
 Paul thanks God as  of&   5s he  .thinks  of this church! In-       will then notice between the discerning with holy joy the
                                                                     work of the Spirit and of grace in 
 deed, he has all things and abounds!                                                                        us  and that of the flesh,
                                                                     and how shall we then not  crticify  the latter. Hatred and
    For, when God thus began the  good-  work in them                                                                                                  -_~
 through the Holy Spirit of Christ, and working efficaciously        love, forgiveness and lack of forgiveness will be then clearly
 through the preaching of Paul, He  twill  bring them all the        distinguished by those who fight against sin and unbelief in           .
 way to glory. For this God is not only the Alpha but  H&            a good conscience. Lack of  zeal  for God and true and pious
 is also the  &ega.  And he is this emphatically in the work         zeal will clearly be immediately recognized. The distinction
 of salvation of the church and the renewal of all things. For       between stubbornness of the flesh,  which is as the sin of
 God will surely conform each believer unto the image of  the        witch-craft, and the steadfastness of godliness will be  clis-
 Son of  God, the  First-borh  amongst the brethren,  according      ceraed  with great clarity. In a word we will then work out
to  his purpose. He will cause all things to work together for       our salvation in holy fear and trembling, standing in holy
their good. And in this causing all things to work together          awe before God!
He is finishing our salvation even unto the day of our Lord,              Then we shall be sincere and without  offence  into the day
Jesus Christ. He well not simply finish it then. But each            o f   C h r i s t .
step of the way He is so energizing us that He brings  us                 To be sincere `means that when our life,  our' works are  Y
to that end! He deals with us as with sons. He chastises             judged by God in the clearest and penetrating light of the
us-to correct us. Thus faith must be perfected in  us.  And          sun they are able to stand the light of day. And that thus
this process of justification and sanctification is energized        our walk is such that we  do not cause the brother to stumble  !
into us each step of the way!                                        Nor that our walk will cause the Nanie of  God  to be
    What a confidence !                                              blasphemed among the unbelievers of this world. On the
    This is what Paul believes concerning the eledtive,  savitig     contrary our life must have in it  the  f&t  of righteousness,
work of God.                                                         the righteousness in  Chfist  Jesus.
    And, therefore, he prays for the `concrete sanctification             Why does Paul tell the Philippians of this prayer of his?
of these believing Philippians. They were not yet in heaven.
-The day of Christ Jesus had not yet come. They still are in              He tells them this because in so doing he admonishes
the flesh, and  iri this flesh there dwells no good at all. And      them unto the very walk for which he prays to God. It is
so Paul prays in Rome for their perfecting of sanctification         Ora et  Labora!  Paul planted many years ago in Philippi.
in the fear of God. It must  `1)~ worked out in their whole          Now he waters and nurtures. But God gives the increase
life. However, in this church at  P.hilippi,  it is especially in    through His own  wzeans   : the exhortations of the Gospel  !
the sphere of the brethren that it must be worked out. Love               Paul does this because He believes not only, that  the
was not perfected  in them yet, and their joy could, therefore,      One who  has  begun the good work in the  believ,ers  shall
not be full! And since love was not perfected in this church         surely perform this, but because he is equally certain that
Paul's cup of joy was not overflowing either. And how                he shall perform this  aZso (not : only) -through  admonitions
passionately Paul  deiires  this ! 0, how he admonishes this         o f   t h e   G o s p e l !
church to so walk that his joy may be full!                                                                                       G.L.


                             L     ;

 3 s                                                  T H E   STANDARDiBEA'RER

-II                                                                          '  - However,  thti  ministers who have engineered and led
                  IN  H I S   F E A R                                        this mass. exodus out of the Protestant Reformed churches
                                                                             last year will call the attention of  the body to the fact
                                                                             that  Classis may not  `Szitiate  d&ii&e."  Since this is  `an
            That Straw  bf "Initiating Discipline"                           elder who. is walking in sin and since "According to the
         "A drowning man will grasp at a straw."'           .                Church Order suspension proceedings belong solely to the
         So the saying goes.                                                 Consistory" -and  we are quoting here the Reformed Guar-
       8 And `many of the things put  forth  as arguments to try to:         dian, Vol.  I; No. 3,' page  14--Classis   may not touch the
 justify the awful schismatic action of  thosh  who left us is               case. According to this stand in the Reformed Guardian  a
 certainly nothing more than the grasping of straws by men                   Consistory can walk in the error of failing to discipline such,
-`who  know  -that they are  &king  under the deluge of facts                an `elder without ever being demanded to cease that  siriful
 and truth.                                                                  practice. You may be sure that this Consist&-y will  nevei-
         We were reminded of this as we had the privilege .to                bring the  6ase  to  Classis, and since it does not,  Classis can-
 conduct church visitation  in. the churches of  Classis  Ea$                not touch it. Suspension proceeding belong solely, so the
 with Rev. G. Vos.                                                           quotation  reads, to the Consistory. And the sin can stay in
         Let' us explain.                                                    the congregation and in the Co&story and eat like a cancer
       One of the questions drawn up by one of  OUT  Synods in               in- the denomination.
 the past for the-church visitors to ask the full  consi$ory  is                 That whole argument of  "Classis  initiated discipline" is
 the  follotiing  : "Is the Consistory aware whether' there are              nothing but a straw. And we will make that very plain.
 members of a secret organization in the  congregation,  and if              For Rev. Blankespoor quotes a passage from the pen of the
 so, is church  discip1in.e  applied  ?"                                     Rev. Hoeksema out of the  Standard  Bearer, Vol. 5. page
         Now let us assume that a consistory replies that it does            545, wherein he condemns. the action of the Christian Re-
 have in its very consistory an elder who is a member of a                   formed  Classis East, Grand Rapids for initiating discipline
 lodge or of a wordly union and that the consistory, after                   upon his Consistdry. And he tries to make his reader  b&-
 rebuking him for such  memb&-ship,  decided to do nothing                   lieve that we did the  sa&e  thing with Rev. De Wolf and the
 more `since this elder attends the services on the Sabbath                  elders that Supported him. All this he  &es  in that pamphlet
 regularly, does his work faithfully as an elder, contributes                fhat,claims.  to  .guarcl   t&h  and justice. But we will remind
 liberally to the financial support of the church, lives an                  Rev. Blankespoor  of, a few things which he knew as clerk
 exemplary  -life and is of such great help in Men's Society                 of that  b  Classis that took this action last May. And then to
 with his  ciear understanding of the `truth of Scripture that               defend truth  and justice he should write another  ..article in
 the consistory felt that  ali these "good works"  .far  offset his          the Reformed Guardian to show that. he was mistaken about
 one violation of the stand of our churches in  fegarcl to such              Cl&is  East initiating discipline upon  Rev. De Wolf and
 secret',organizatidns.                 .;      `.                           liis elders.
         You say that this is an improbable case  ? Not at all. And             +.I.    We would remind  Rev.  Blankespoor that Rev.  Hoek-
 our  Synocl  ,.adopt,ed  this  qtie$inn.  just  egactly   because  ,such    sema.  gave four points in that.article in that Vol. 5, Standard
 things can very easily happen and may  happen in the pear                   Bearer, to show that  .the Christian Reformed Churches had
 future. That is not our point now,  We.:want  to  persue the                acted in an heirarchial way with him and  hiS Consistory:
 case.                                                                       Point two, which Rev: Blankespoor quoted, looks quite dif-
  . The church visitors report, it to the  Classis as is their               ferent  \+hen  it follows point one which he withheld from
 duty. The whole  Classis becomes aware of it. What then  ?                  his readers. For he, the Rev. Hoeksema, shows in point one
 With those that left Us,  zbnless   thy  change  their  stand again,        that the  Classis had  -demanded  things of him which  THE
 this is what will happen: NOTHING.                                          S Y N O D   H A D   D E C L A R E D   S H O U L D   N O T   B E   D E -
        It is not difficult to visualize the treatment of such a             M A N D E D .   S Y N O D   S A I D   T H A T   H E   D I D   N O T   N E E D
 matter at one of their classical sessions. The president may                T O   S U B S C R I B E   T O   THE.,THREE   P O I N T S   A N D
 wring his hands and say that it is too bad that a Consistory                SHOULD NOT BE DEPOSED. And the  Re'v. Hoeksema
 has taken such a stand against the decision of  our churches,               had that in mind when he wrote in the  pai-agraph  Rev.
 but it is an autonomous body and when  fo; "conscience sake"                Blankespoor quoted that  "Classis  DEPOSED the consistory
 it is moved to take this stand, it must be  .allowed  to do so              without in the least acknowledging the congregation." Rev.
 and cannot be. put out of `the denomination. He will suggest                Blarikespoor,   did we  a.s  .a  Chsis  suspend or depose Rev:
 that they go on to the next business.                 %                     De Wolf and his Elders  ? Did we  ZTeyin  to suspend or simply
        One  .of the delegates, most likely one of the church                advise  suspension, if he did not apologize  ?
 visitors, may object and  .say   .that  such action makes  a, farce             2. Rev. Blankespoor  have `you forgotten that long before
 of all church visitation.  ' He will suggest or make a motion               the case ever came to  Classis -more than a year before it'
 that this Consistory be advised to abide by  the decision                   got to  Classis  - the Con&story had prescribed an apology
 of the churches and to begin to discipline  that  Elder.                    for Rev. De Wolf's first. statement and that it also  pres-


                                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   .BEARER                                                             39
 -.

 cribecl discipline  up;on'his  second sermon and that the minutes         it over that Consistory.                 -
 show nowhere that by a two thirds majority  - nor even by                  j Did  Classis initiate discipline  ? Did  it begin -to  exercise:
 bare. majority  - these decisions were rescinded  ?  .Dicl you            the keys of the Kingdom  ? It did not, and we  ~clid  not  tipod
 also forget that when the Consistory had to draw up an                    Rev. De Wolf.  l&t  surely that  Classis had a right to demand
 answer to the protests of the Rev. Hoeksema and the Rev.                  what it  did in order that this grievous error in the churches
 Ophoff   that the Consistory could not  do so because it was              m i g h t   b e .   tiorr&cted.   :                            /  I
 deadlocked with a  .tie vote  ? Did you forget that half of that               But some may say, 0,  yes, but now it came to  Classis by
 Consistory -get that half of the CONSISTORY  - still                      the request of an  au<onol?ious  Consistory. True, but it did
 prescribed discipline upon Rev. De Wolf and that the other                not come there. as sent by the erring Consistory, and so all
 half wanted to absolve him  ? And  this was all before it ever            Classis could do, if we take Rev. Blankespoor's stand, is to
 came to  Class&?  And that information came to  Classis when              give advice to the aggrieved Consistory and -keep entirely
 ;su were clerk. And did  Classis not simply advise -get that              silent about the  Cgnsistory  that had  no< sent the matter
 word  too, ADVISE- the Consistory to do as it had itself                  to the Class&. Since the one Consistory cannot discipline
 prescribed to do to Rev. De Wolf? Rev. Blankespoor, did                   `the other Consistory, the -only hope of  rectific&ion  of  such
 we "prescribe to the consistory what it had to request of                 evils is that the  Classis has the right to demand  apologies
 the, pastor and what  it had  ,to demand of him  ?"                       and   ad&e  that this erring Cons&tory discipline- those who
        The minutes, of the  Consistoiy' still prescribe that  clisci-     were being disciplined when they asked fdr their papers.
 pline!                                                                    After all, a brother  may demand an apology of a brother
       The case is quite different from 1924. is it not ? You know         without fear of being accused of exercising "key power" upon
 th;tt in 1924 the Consistory had never begun any  clisci$ine              him.
 proceedings whatsoever upon the Rev. Hoeksema and had                          If that is not so  you will never get the case of an erring             .  h
 unanimously absolved him of  all  the accusations hurled at               Consistory to the attention of the  .Classis.  And  clenominati-
 him by the protestants. Why then do you make the cases                    onal  chaos is the result.
 parallel? That straw will not hold you up. And if you  .felt                   And we are at a loss to understand the boldness of Rev.
that we "initiated discipline," why did you  not.  register your           Kok's unchristian, unbrotherly and malicious remarks about
 negative vote last MAY and tell us you would appeal to                    the Rev. Hoeksema's "guilty conscience" and "dishonesty."
 Synod ?                                                                   This is especially so not only because  she  deliberately distorts
        3. You undoubtedly read the protest of the Rev. H.                 his writings but also because- of his own testimony in court,
 Hoeksema against his Consistory for you were clerk of the                 also in regard to these  very'things  of which we  just  wrote:
 Classis. Do you  not recall that he protested to  the.Classis                  For, Mr. Tubbs asked him `whether he attended  many of
 not against Rev. De Wolf but against the Consistory that                  the sessions, of  Classis East during. his ministry.  .He  replied
 was not heeding the discipline it had prescribed and never                that he had. Mr. Tubbs  asited  him if it ever happened while
 withdrawn ? Just read his protest over. And therefore you                 he  was   present,that  a consistory  ~8s demanded to apologize
 ought to go back to the readers if the Reformed Guardian to               by the  Classis. He said that he did not recall any such case.
 defend truth  gnd justice. and tell them that  Classis advised            Plainly he did not, for then he-added-which he was not at
 the Consistory of Fuller Ave. to abide by  their, `the  Consis-           all required to do, but which came back to plague him later
 tovy's, preswibed discipline.                                   s'*       -that if it had happened, he surely would have opposed it:
        Classis did not  initiate.,disci@ine.  And yet we maintain          Then Mr. Tubbs reminded hini of the  case of which we
 that<   Classis may  advisE  discipline  e;Ten  when  the  Consistorqr    wrote above. And to Rev.  Bok's  confusion  &cl shame it was
 has not asked for  it. We made that plain a moment ago                    exposed to the court that he was the president of  that  Con-
 in regard to cases which come there by way of the church                  sistory that had  <lorded  it over Byron Center's Consistory
 visitors. We will give another example, one taken- out of the             by accepting into  Huclsonvi1le's   chu,rch   pitople  under censure
 files of  Classis East itself, a concrete case.                           in Byron Center. Let it be stated  tb  R&v.   Kok's credit that
        A Consistor-y in  Classis East  placecl  certain individuals       he was visibly shaken by this exposition. It had happened
 under the first step of censure. A neighbouring  consistory               while he attended  Classis East. And what  iS more, he and
 received these people-who had left the church that was                    his Consistary, although they did oppose it even to bringing
disciplining them  - and although the certificates  df dismissal,          it at `Synod and refusing to abide  `by the- decision of Synod
 clearly  itidicatecl  that they were under the first step of cen-         until they were told that they would not .be seated at the
 sure for a  partic.ular sin, allowed them to the table of the             riest  Classical session if they did not do as Synod had  Se-
 Lord without demanding a confession of them and without                   tided,  the Consistory  lid  apologize with' an apology which
 as much as contacting the church they had placed them                     Rev.  Kok admitted  ke drew up for the Consistory.
 under this first step of discipline.                                       We would like to believe that when Rev.  Kok  showed
 ,      The`matter  came to  Classis, and  Classis decided  that,this      visibly that he was shaken by this revelation that his con-.
 Consistory must place those people back under the first step              science spoke to him. Would to God he had listened to it.
 of  censbre  and apolbgize to  .the other Consistory for lording.                                       (Confinwd   091  p a g e   41)  ".


      -40                                                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

                                                                                                     Roman Missal retains a recollection of the ancient custom in
I/                 Contending For T,he Faith.                                                        the plural form, "We offer," and in the sentence: "All you,
                                                                                                     both brethren and sisters, pray that my sacrifice and your
                                                                                                     sacrifice, which is equally yours as well as mine, may be
                     The Church and the Sacraments                                                   meat for the Lord."
                  EARLY VIEWS  ON  THE SACRAMENT  OF THE                                                 This subjective offering of the whole congregation on the
                                             LORD 'S SUPPER   .-.                                    ground of the objective atoning sacrifice of Christ is the real
                                                                                                     centre of the ancient Christian worship, and particularly of
                                                (Continued)                                          the communion. It thus differed both from the later Catho-
      Tlae  idea.  of sacrifice (continued).                                                         lic mass, which has changed the thank-offering into a  sin-
             Of interest, in connection with this idea of sacrifice in                               offering, the congregational offering into a priest offering  ;
      connection with the celebration of the Lord's Supper as                                        and,from  the common Protestant  cultus, which, in opposition
      prevalent in the early period of the Christian Church, is  what                                to the Roman mass, has almost entirely banished the idea
      we read in the History of the Christian Church by Philip                                       of sacrifice from the celebration of the Lord's' Supper. ex-
      Schaff whom, writing on the Eucharist as a Sacrifice, we.                                      cept in the customary offerings for the poor.
      q u o t e   a s   f o l l o w s   ( V o l .   I I ,   2 4 5   f . f . )                            The writers of the second century keep strictly within
                                                                                                     the limits of the notion of` a congregational thank-offering.
                           THIS:  EUCHARIST  As  A  SACRIFICE                                        Thus Justin says expressly, prayers and thanksgivings alone
             This point is very `important in relation to the doctrine,                              are the true and acceptable sacrifices, which the Christians
      and still more important in relation to the  cultus and life, of                               offer. Irenaeus has been brought as a witness for the Roman
      the ancient church. The Lord's Supper was universally re-                                      doctrine, only. on the ground of a false reading. The African
      garded not only as sacrament, but also as a sacrifice, the                                    fathers, in the third century, who elsewhere incline. to the
      true and eternal sacrifice of the new covenant, superseding                                    symbolical  interpretation,of  the words of institution, are the
      all the provisional and typical sacrifices of the old; taking                                 first to approach on this point the later Roman Catholic
      the place particularly of the Passover, or the feast of tlie                                  idea of a sin-offering especially Cyprian, the steadfast ad-
      typical redemption from Egypt. This eucharistic sacrifice,"                                   vocate of priesthood and of  espiscopal authority. The ideas
      however, the ante-Nicene fathers conceived not as an  un-                                      of priesthood, sacrifice, and altar, are intimately connected,'
      bloody repetition of the atoning- sacrifice of Christ on the                                  and a Judaizing or paganizing conception of one must ex-
      cross, but, simply as a commemoration. and renewed ap-                                        tend to all. -end of quote from Philip Schaff.
      propriation of that atonement, and, above all, a thank-offer-                                  The  idegz  of the  Sac-ranzent.
      ing of  .the  whole church-for all the favors of God in.creation                                   In general we may remark that the word, "sacrament,"
      and redemption. Hence, the current name itself  -  eztcharist;                                is not found in the Holy, Scriptures. This word, "sacrament,"
      which denoted in the first place the prayer of thanksgiving,                                  however, is not the only term which we use dogmatically
      but afterwards the whole rite.                                                                -and does not appear in Holy Writ. Terms such as: provid-
       The  ,consecrated  elements were regarded in a twofold                                       ence, trinity, are also foreign to the Scriptures. The word,
      light, as representing at once the natural and the spiritual                                  "sacrament," is derived from the Latin,  "sacramenturn,"
      gifts of God, which culminated in the self-sacrifice of Christ                                which originally denoted a sum of money deposited by parties
      on. the cross. Hence the eucharistic prayer like that con-                                    in litigation, inasmuch as. the winner's money was returned
      nected with  the. typical Passover, related at the same time                                  while the loser's sum was forfeited. This seems to have been
      to creation and' redemption, which were the more closely                                      called a "sacramentum" because it `was intended to be a sort
      joined in the mind of the church for their dualistic separation                               of sacrifice to the gods and therefore sacred. The transition
      by the  Gnostics;  -The earthly gifts of  tbread.and wine were                                of this term to its Christian use may be sought in two things.-
      taken as types and pledges of the heavenly gifts of the same                                  First, the word appears to have been used as a military
      God, who has both created and redeemed the world.                                             term, in which it denoted the oath by which a soldier solemn-
             Upon this followed the idea of the self-sacrifice of the                               ly pledged obedience to his commander. A reference to this
      worshipper himself, the sacrifice of renewed self-consecration                                idea of an oath and obedience to our Commander may be
      to Christ in return for his  .sacrifice  on the cross, and also                               discerned in Article  34,of  our Confession of Faith where we
      the. sacrifice of charity to the poor. Down to the twelfth and                                read that "by which we are received- into the Church of God
      thirteenth centuries the eucharistic elements were presented                                  and separated from all other people and strange religions,
      as a thank-offering by the members of the congregation them-                                  that we may wholly belong to him, whose ensign' and  banner
      selves, and the remnants went to the clergy and the poor.                                     we bear (italic ours- H.V.). Secondly, we would refer to
      In these gifts the people yielded themselves as a priestly race                               the specifically religious sense which the term acquired when
      and a living thank-offering to God, to whom they owed all                                     the Vulgate employed it as ,a rendering of the Greek  "mys-
      the blessings alike of providence and of grace. In later                                      terion." It is possible that this Greek term was applied to the
      times the priest alone offered the sacrifice. But even the                                    sacraments because they have a faint resemblance to some of

                                                                                                                                         -


                                            THESTAND~DBEARE~R                                                                   4 1
 -

the mysteries of the Greek religion. In the early Church the       minology on this point. He speaks. we know, of a sacrament
word "sacrament" was first used to denote all kinds of             of the Lord's Supper, as in the following quotation: "For
doctrines and ordinances.                                          when Christ: says,  "I- am the true  vine," the blood of Christ
      We have already observed. that two words were em-            is assuredly not water, but wine  ; neither can His blood by
ployed : the Latin "sacramentum" and the Greek "mysterion.'        which we are redeemed and quickened appear to be in the
Justin the great apologist,  emp!oys the term "mystery" in a       cup,  when in the  cup  there is no wine whereby the blood of
short paragraph which he devotes to the Eucharist, a part of       Christ is shown forth, which is declared by the sacrament
which we quote: "that Jesus took bread, and. when He had           and testimony of all the Scriptures." That Cyprian speaks
given thanks, said, "This do  you  in remembrance of Me, this      of prayer and the Trinity. as a sacrament is evident from
is  f~Iy body  ;" and that, after the same manner? having taken    the following which we quote from his explanation of the
the cup and given thanks, He said, "This is My blood  ;"           Lord's Prayer. However, `inasmuch as' our space' is almost
and gave it to them alone. Which the wicked devils have            filled as far as this article is  ~concerned,  we will conclude
imitated in the mysteries of Mithras, commanding the same          this article at this point and write this quotation from Cypri-
thing to be -done. For, that bread and a cup of water  `are        anin  our following article.
placed with certain incantations in the mystic rites of one                                                                   H . V .
who is being initiated, you either know or can learn."-- end
of quote. It is true that Justine here speaks of the mysteries                               IN HIS FEAR
of Mithras. However, he declares that these wicked devils
have imitated the practices of the Christians, and he plainly                          (COJlfiJtllEd   fJVJJ2  fitI@'  3?)
implies that the practices of the Christians are mysteries. To-    and confessed that he was  ,in error in his stand today. We
day, we know, the term, sacrament, is used with respect to         say "confessed", it because later on he was forced to admit
the Lord's Supper and Holy Baptism. However, the worcl,            it. Mr.  Tubbs   pressed'him  somewhat later in a different
"sacrament," as we have already remarked, was derived from         session of the hearings as to why he and his Consistory com-
the Latin, "sacramenturn" and employed by the  Vulgata             plied with that advice and  ,demand  of the  Classis and Synocl
(the Latin translation of-the Bible) as the Latin translation      if the local consistory can reject the decisions of  Classis and
of the Greek "mysterion," which word was used by Justin,           Synod if their conscience so dictates without being put out
not to denote the Lord's Supper and Holy Baptism as today,         of the denomination. Then Rev.  Kok  admitted that they
but to denote the practices of the Christians.                     complied  with that demand because they considered the ad-
                                                                                                                                         -
  Tertullian is said to be the first of the Church Fathers to      vice of  Classis and Synod to be good advice. That, mind  you,
use the `word "sacrament" in connection with Baptism and           after fighting it for almost a year!
the Lord's Supper. Refuting  Marcion,  who denied that                 But, if you please, did Rev.  Kolc not thereby admit that
Jesus possessed a real human nature, and writing of the            even when a local Consistory does not bring the case to the
institution of`the Lord's Supper but referring to Moses, he        attention of  C!assis,   Classis `may give that Consistory advice
writes, and we quote: "In like manner does He also know            in regard to discipline ? If  Classis has no right to advise
the very time it behoved Him to suffer, since the law  grefi-      disciplinary proceedings, then this advice could never be
gures His passion. According to all the festal days of the         called good advice. What is illegal is never good.
Jews He chose the Passover. In this Moses had declared                 To be sure, the above example does not refer to suspen-
that there was a sacred mystery."- end of quote. The               sion proceedings upon an  oflice bearer, but let  us  assume
word which is translated "mystery" here is literally:  sacra-      now that during all that period of time one of these members
mentum.                                                            had been voted in as a deacon in Hudsonville's Consistory  -
      It must be remembered, however,. that these words:           which would not have been impossible, since  the~consistory
mystery and sacrament, were not exclusively used for our           had given  .them  all clean papers and was defending that
sacraments of Baptism and the `Lord's Supper, but that they        stand. Do -Rev.  Blankespoor  and Rev.  Kok  maintain that
also had a wider use: the sacrament or mystery of religion,        just because of that fact the  Classis would have to say to
of the Trinity, of the Lord's Prayer, etc. Tertullian, for         Byron Center? "Sorry, we cannot treat your case about this
example, writes the following: "In the scheme of  Marcion,         o?Le  .>nact. As far as the rest are concerned we can advise
on the contrary, the mystery (sacramentum) of the Chris-           Hudsonville to put them back under the first step of censure,
tian religion begins from the discipleship of Luke." And           but this deacon, we must inform you, may not be touched.
this, too, was  ,written by Tertullian: "I say, therefore, that    \V,e may not even advise the  Co&story  to suspend him from
in them (and not simply such of them as were founded               his office."
by apostles, but in all those which are united with them in           That is the confusion you get when  you  try  to make out
the fellowship of the mystery (sacramenturn) of the gospel         that what we did to Rev. De Wolf and his elders is parallel
of Christ, that the Gospel of Luke which we.are defending          to what happened in 1924. And one of these days those that
with all our -might has stood its ground from its very first       left us are going to learn this the hard way. God cannot
publication." Cyprian does not recognize an exclusive  ter-                             (Colzfimfrd   mz page  48)


42           "                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   ,B&ARER

                                                                                    as it were : "What you claim is just exactly not the case with
                  - The. Voice .of Our Fathers                               1 this doctrine- of .election when it is practically applied ; it has
                                                                                    the very opposite effect on a child of God than what you
                                                                                    always- claim it has. Instead, these dread results of which
                         The Canons of Dordrecht                                    you  speak, namely, a  cainal  security, and a careless walk,
                                                                                    are the usual effects;-and  tha,t  too, according  i-o a just
                                   P A R T   T W O                                  judgment of God, -in those who rashly presume and idly
                                                                                    *and  vainly and wantonly chatter of election while they do
                           EXPOSITION  OF THE  CANONS                               not want to walk in the ways of the elect. No, the elect need
                                                                                    not fear these claimed bad results of this doctrine, for they
                            I&ST. HEAD  OF  DOC&NE                                 walk surely in the ways of the elect. But the ungodly rep-
                           O                                                        robate, and especially the "religious" ungodly, will justly
                                F  DIVINE  PREDESTINATION                           experience these results."
                      Article 13. The sense and certainty of this election              This is a warm and appealing article, and  at the same
                      afford to the children of God  addiiional matter for-         time it reveals a deep `discernment of the truth, and is there-
_'                    daily  hqliliation  befAre him, for adoring the depth         fore  v&-y  instructive also in a practical sort of way. It is
                      of his mercies, for  cle:.nsing  themselves, and  reuder-     `designed to make the child of God pause for a moment and
                      ing grateful returns of ardent love to him, who first
                      manifested so great love towards them. The consider-          stand in awe, reverently and humbly, of that wonderful grace
                      ation of tliis doctrine of election is so far from en-        of election and blessed  iift of assurance.
                      couraging remissness in the observance of the divine              We are all acquainted with the objection which is met  in-
                      commands, or from sinking  men in carnal security,
                      that these, in the just judgment of God, are the              this article. It is the same objection which is treated by the
                      usual effects of rash presumption, or of idle and             Heidelberb   Catechimi  in Question and Answer 64:  "But
                      wanton t-rifling with the grace of election,  in those        doth not this doctrine make men careless and profane  ? By
                      who refuse to walk in the ways of the elect.                  no  m'eans:  for it is impossible that those, who  are inplanted
                                                                                    into  Chl;ist by a true faith, should not bring forth-fruits of
           The above translation can hardly be called a faithful                    thankfulness."- Only, here in the  .Canons the setting is a
rendering of the original Latin version, even if we overlook                        little different. In the  Catechism  the objection is brought
the fact that in many instances it is far from literal. The                         against-the doctrine of free justification. There the  Heidel-
most serious error in  the translation changes completely the berger expounds the truth of justification by faith as mean-
comparison in the article implied in the words, "The con-                           ing that "though my conscience accuse me, that I have gross-
sideration of this doctrine of election is so far from . . .  ."                    ly  transgreSsed  all the commandments of God, and kept none
Rather than giving  in involved explanation of this difference,
      i                                                                             of them, and am still inclined to all evil  ;  nothwithstanding;
we will. give the correct translation, and the reader can  not&                     God, without  any merit of mine, but  ,only  of mere  grace,
the differences, for  himself.  .Correctly  translated, the article                 grants and imputes to me, the perfect satisfaction, righte-
reads as follows:  -                                                                ousness and holiness .of Christ  ;, even so, as if I never had
                  "Out of the sense and certainty of this election, the             had, nor committed any sin: yea, as if I had fully accom-
           children of God daily draw more matter for humbling                      plished  for  m'e ; inasmuch as I embrace such benefit with  a
           theluselves before the face of God, for `adoring the-depth               believing heart." The  Ca.techisws  further insists that we are
           of his mercies;  for purifying themselves,  and for ardently             not acceptable to God on account of the worthiness of our
           loving him in turn, who has so greatly first loved them:                 faith, that our good works cannot even be part of our righte-
           so far distant is it, that by this` doctrine of election and             ousness before God, and that even the reward of our good
           its meditation  they should be `rendered sluggish in the                 works is not of merit, but of grace. Against this  doctrine,-
           observance of the  diTiine  commands, or carnally secure:- .and it can ever only be against such doctrine,  - the enemy
           Which by `the  j&t judgment of God usually happens  td                   levels the charge, denied and refuted in the 64th Question
           those  whb,  with respect to the grace of  electidn either               and Answer, that it makes men careless and profane. Since,
           rashly presuming, or idly and wantonly chattering, are                  -so the argument goes, -neither our faith nor our good
           not willing to walk in the ways Of the elect."                           wbrks form any part of our  righte.ousness  before God, nor
                                                                                                                                              ..-.
           Especially from the polemical point of view, this is one                 have any merit before God, it is of no use to  wall<-  in  ;t, new
of' the outstanding articles of this First Head of Doctrine.                        and holy life. Besides, there is no incentive either  to,syalk
-For  it meets the  Arminian  opposition, as it were, head-on,                     holily. In fact, there is much reason and  iqcentive  to abound.
and on its own territory. And it  com&  to grips with one                          .;n sin, in order that  the.  grace of God may  .also abound.
of their most precious practical objections against the Re-                         Here the same objection  is. faced, but -the connection  i is
formed  -truth  of  election; deprives them of it, and tells them,                 slightly different., The truth  of. absolutely, sovereign  e!ection


                                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                     43

has been established  iv the preceding articles, and was               of the objector has really never understood and never spiritu-
maintained by our Reformed fathers over  against  the                  ally apprehended this marvellous doctrine of election, is so
Arminians.        Furthermore. they maintained that the elect          far from understanding it that he presents as its fruit that
attained the assurance of their eternal and unchangeable               which is farthest from reality, namely that the elect become
election. And it is especially the last. the "sense  ancl  cer-        carnally secure. .
tainty of this election," that was assailed with the same old              For what is implied in this carnal  securiti  ? Notice that
weapon: this doctrine makes men careless and profane. Or,              the question is not whether the elect are rendered  sectlye  by
using the language of this article, they objected : this doctrine      this "sense  and certainty" of their election. They surely are,
renders them carnally secure and  lax in observing the com-            secure, everlastingly secure ! But the question is whether
mandments of God. And here, instead of proposing the "im-              they are rendered  carnobly  secure. And this carnal security
possible" which the  Catechism  lays down, the  Cafzons  set           is the attitude of heart according to  which one says within
forth some real facts from Christian life: "Out of the sense           himself:  7 am elect. And my election is eternal and un-
akd certainty  oi this election, the children of God daily draw        changeable. I can do nothing to it, and I can take nothing
more. matter for humbling themselves before the face of God.`:         away from it. It thergfore makes no difference any more
etc.                                                                   what I do and  hoiv  I live. I can sin all I please to. I need
                                                                       not fight against sin, and I shall not." Note that this carnal  -
        It is to be noted, however, that the two situations men-       security is a subjective attitude of the heart and mind.  Ob-
tioned in the preceding paragraph are nevertheless essentially         .jectively,  of course, it is absolutely true that nothing which
the same.  T,his  might also be expected in view of the fact           the elect ever does, good or evil, can possibly affect his
that the same objection is used. In  the first place,  of course,      election.  And how good it is that this is true! All  our sins,
when this objection is raised against the truth of free justifi-       our deepest falls? our most horrible transgressions cannot
cation, we must remember that it is nevertheless essentially           change God's purpose of election with respect to 
against the doctrine of  sov`ereign  election, in last instance,                                                              us  ! Other-     .
                                                                       wise, to be sure, we would be long lost. But  subjectively.,~
that it is brought. For that truth of free justification is rooted     this assurance of our election, so the Canons maintain, does
in the truth of free'election. The doctrine of justification by        not lead to the carnal attitude : "Well, then, let 
faith  dnly can never be maintained successfully if the doctrine                                                              us  sin  ; it
                                                                       makes no difference anyway." There is a vast difference,
of sovereign election is not maintained. Sacrifice the latter,         therefore, between  camal  security and  spiritual  security..
and the former must -also go. But, in the second place, the
two truths have this in common that they magnify the sover-                Such carnal security, just because it is carnal, leads to a
eign grace of God and reject any thought of human merit.               laxity in observing the commandments of God.  You  ask in
And it is especially the latter thought that occasions  +he            what respects  ? It leads, first of all, to pride":. pride over
objection that these doctrines make men careless and -pro-             against our fellows because we imagine ourselves to be privi-
fane. As soon as you inject any notion of  h&an  worthiness            leged above them not only, but essentially pride over against
and human merit and human ability to do anything towards               the living God, whereby a man fails to acknowledge His
attaining salvation  into your doctrine, one thing is certain:         most high and most holy majesty, and contrariwise boasts
you will never face the objection that your doctrine makes             in his sin. It involves, in the second place, this, that a man
m&n  careless and profane.                                             scorns and despises the depth of God's mercy, or, to use the
        Now' what must be said of this objection  ?                    language of Romans 2, he despises the riches of God's good-
                                                                       ness and forbearance and longsuffering, the reason being that
        It,might  very  well  be answered here also as it is by the
Heidelberg Catechism.  The fathers might have said: "It is             he has never known nor tasted  the goodness of God that
impossible'that  those who have attained the sense and  cer=           leads to repentance. Quite in harmony with the foregoing,
tainty of their election should not humble themselves before           this carnal security, in the third place, will never lead to a
God, adore the depth of his mercies, cleanse themselves, and           striving for sanctification of life and a continual struggle to
ardently love him in turn. who first so greatly loved them."           cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh  atid of the                   Y
Certainly, it is this impossibility that underlies the proposi-        spirit, but, on the contrary, to a life of licentiousness and
tion of this article also. They might also have argued that            carelessness with respect to God's precepts. And finally, the
this objection is purely rationalistic. For it is certainly not        root of the whole matter is' this, that there is no love of God
an objection that is derived from and based on Scripture, but          in such a carnally secure man. Never having tasted the love
on& which arises  oLit of human reason, and sinful human               of God, that love finds no `reponse in his heart. Instead, he
reason at that. And this alone surely invalidates the entire           is really filled  with enmity against the living God, the en-..
argument. But instead of this, they go into the question from          mity  in which he was conceived and born.
a practical point of view, from  the point of view of real life.
And then they insist that the Arminian is entirely off the                                   (to be continued)
track. They really imply that one who adopts the position                                                                        H.C.H.             -

                                                                                    .

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

II                                                                   it. Also they must feel the urge to express profound esteem
          A L L   A R O U N D   US                                   for those professors that have given their all for more than
II                                                                   25 years that we might receive the very best training for the
                                                                     gospel ministry one can find in any school if its kind. Yet,
An  .4nniversar3r   Unobscrzjed.                                     no word of comment, of gratitude has been publicly ex-
      In the September 15th issue of the Presbyterian Guardi-        pressed.
an the editor, Leslie W.  Sloat, calls attention in one of his           An anniversary has passed by unnoticed and unobserved.
editorials to a "Happy Anniversary." In this editorial he            I am sorry for this. And I realize that no apology can rectify
reflects on the 25th anniversary of Westminster Seminary,            this neglect. An anniversary that is passed and neglected
the school of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church located in            cannot be observed. But the thirtieth anniversary of our Prot-
Philadelphia,  ,Pa.  He reminds his readers of the very humble       estant Reformed Seminary will be here soon enough. Maybe
beginning and the remarkable progress that institution has           our Theological. School Committee will take this cue and
`made through the years of its existence. He pays tribute to         bring that celebration to our attention.
the staff of instructors who have come and gone, as well as
to the present staff whom he calls "experts" in their field.         The  Clm~ch's   Task.
       Another article appears in the same issue, written by
Robert S.  Marsden,  entitled: "What's Next For Westmin-                 In the same issue of the Presbyterian Guardian mentioned
ster," in which the writer reflects on this same anniversary,        above, we came upon a meditation entitled : "The Task of
more particularly from the view point of the future expecta-         the Church." It was written by Henry P. Tavares. The
tions of this institution.                                           so-called meditation was based on Acts 1  3,  "Ye.  shall be
       Westminster Seminary, the reader undoubtedly knows,           my witnesses." We enjoyed this little article most of all be-
had its inception in a split in the Presbyterian Church, a           cause it set forth what we also conceive to be the only proper
movement fathered by the late Dr. J. Gresham  Machen.                task of the Church, and it- expressed this in sharp contrast
       When we read these articles we could not help asking the      to what is generally conceived-to be the Church's task today,
question: What is the reason that the 25th anniversary of            but wrongly so.
our own seminary has passed by unobserved  ? We did not                  In the introductory' part of this article, the writer points
remember that such an anniversary was even mentioned in              out that church generally speaking today is of the same mind
the Standard Bearer. So we checked back to- see if our               as- the apostles when they were led out by the risen Lord to
memory failed us. We regret to say that we found no nota-            the Mount of Olives and they sensed that something wonder-
tion anywhere of this event. How come ?                              ful was about to take place. So strong was their impression
       Was the reason perhaps that at the time when this 25th        that they dared to ask if now at last their most cherished
anniversary of our Protestant Reformed  Seminary  should             hopes were to be realized. They were sure Jesus was the
have been observed that we were so deeply involved in                Messiah. Would  he.now  restore the kingdom to Israel? The
doctrinal debate re the  De-claration of Principles ? When  ma       writer remarks : "the question was understandable. But it
paged through the Standard Bearers of the year 1951, we              was not to their credit." A little later he remarks: "With
noticed that the giant share of the material was devoted to          thought congealed in faulty molds, they. dishonored God
this subject. Was the reason perhaps that many were at               with beggarly hopes. He promised the inheritance of new
the point where they had the evil hope that our Seminary             heavens and new earth to come. They looked for a national
was about to go out of existence, and that the two original          triumph, and the return to the joys of the past. God prom-
professors would soon be out  .of the denomination and hence         ised a transformation. They had their hearts on a mere
out of our School  ? I am wondering what happened that               restoration, the joys of a social reform." Then follows that
this most important department of our history has been `so           part of the article which we especially enjoyed and trust  OUT
sorely neglected and forgotten.                                      readers will also.
      Last week, I had. the privilege to witness the celebration        "They were foolish and slow of. heart to learn. But who
one of our churches gave her pastor who had passed the               can reproach them? The Church today is still much in a
quarter century mark in the ministry. And one of the                 daze. An earthly kingdom. A new social order. These are
speakers of the program reminisced on  the.years  this particu-      too often the love of her soul. And many do not. even ask
lar minister spent in our seminary, as well as the early years       of the Lord, `Wilt thou restore,' for they seem rather sure
of that institution. The thought could not be suppressed,. how       they can do it themselves.
is it possible that the very heart of our denominational  .exist-       The hope of the Church is the glory of the Kingdom to
ence has been so sorely forgotten  ?                                 come, for which she prays. God will be everywhere adored,
      Those who have graduated. from  our  Protestant Re-            and righteousness, holiness, and truth  ,will  cover the earth
formed Seminary, and have remained Protestant Reformed,              as the waters cover the sea. The' unrest and chaos of this
must certainly feel as I do their `sincere gratitude to God          age will vanish in, that perfect peace that passeth all under-
for that institution, and for the instruction they -received in      standing, and God will wipe away all tears. There will be


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                               45

no more pain and no more  death.  And the joy unspeakable           being the churches of Christ. But strictly speaking they
and full of glory will flood every heart.                           should. be called churches of Man.
    ?;he Kingdom is not `of this world.' 1~ is not like  the,            But how about the Reformed Churches and  bur own  ?
nations we know. It is the Kingdom of heaven, the Kingdom           When one sees what is going on in the majority of these
of God. It is God's order. And it will be divinely established.     churches, one wonders whether the church today has not lost
    Yet the  Kingciotii is not entirely future. The glow of the     sight of her only task., Is she not so deeply steeped in the
heavenly city  already  shows on our horizon. The Kingdom           throes of  her own program and her own troubles that in
is not of `this world.' But it makes an appearance in it. The       inany instances her specific task is neglected ?-Many churches
power of the world to come is already at  w&k  among  us.           are more interested in out-classing one another with beauti-
    By His Word and Spirit, the Lord of all the earth makes         ful structures. Others are almost wholly devoted to social
captives to `the obedience of Christ.' And Christ, the Lord         reform, to community  improgvements.   Ai one minister told
of Glory, rules wherever  men  pbey Him and enjoy His               me  Bwhile  ago, he prided himself in having the biggest Sun-
care. Hearts subdued, spirits transformed.  souls  renewed          day-school, and the best facilities for boys-clubs to take  c&-e
mark the boundaries of his Dominion in this present world.          of the delinquency problem in his area. While in this same
And all the powers of hell cannot overthrow or harm it.             church the preaching of the Word has been reduced to a
                                                                    minimum. A twenty-minute talk is the most his audience
    The preaching of the  YVord,  and not the power of the          can stand. And this  )yas a so-called Reformed Church.
sword, is the. means appointed to set  ~the bounds of this em-           We, too, should be reminded of our only calling. "Ye are
pire  - The Word that became flesh and dwelt among  us.             My witnesses'" is a word of Christ that has also been spoken
 As he was seen, and heard, and handled, he must be                 over us. It appears that we were in the past so over-whelmed
preached by  men who saw and heard and handled him. In              with our internal difficulties that we even forgot about the
the power of a divine dynamic they must testify to a historical     School where these witnesses are trained to go out with their
reality they witnessed.                                             testimony. Our Synod has decided that a missionary shall be
    So the Church's task is clear. Let her `tell the world of       called. But also this important aspect of witnessing has been
J&us.  Let her tell his story  - as it happened. A story  .that     sorel;  neglected, due no doubt to our present difficulties. We
can  have  no other meaning than. that which was put upon it        have hopes that this mandate of Synod will soon be realized.
by those who saw it unfold and heard it explained by the            In this task all our people should be deeply interested. And
author himself.                                                     all should be busy to realize it.                          MS.
 To the churchmen of our day, sold  out to politics and
propaganda, and  anx'lous  to  disclay   their  gifts for drama,
this calling is naive and unworthy of their master minds and                             CON?RlWTlONS
massive brains. The big show and the big  vbte is their con-        i
cern.  I-row wonderful the words `impressive' and `majority,'
and how sweet the adjective `worldwide  !' The Jesus of                                  Ah Open Letter to Kok
 Nazareth is an interesting question. But  his importance may       Rev.B.Kok:                          -
be debated.                                                              I am amazed that in spite of the constant charge that you
    Unimpressed with the Christ that lived, and preoccupied         quote articles out of context, you persist in doing that. The
with an earthly  empire. they easily miss their calling. And        only conclusion to which I -can come is  that:  you  deliber-
                                                                                                             -
it is to be expected that just when  th&  feeling of successful     ately trying to deceive people most of whom, to their shame,
Kingdom building is flushing their souls, just then they  are       are not ambitious enough to check the &tire article or series
pushing the cause of  apostacy. And just  when  they count          of articles. The last Concordia is one more example of this
themselves heirs of the greatest of hopes, they are moving to       ( V o l .   1 1 ,   No.  1 4 ) .
unspeakable ruin ! They have bartered the facts of redemp-               If I followed your article correctly first you quote from
tive history for a barrel of fancies. What can be before them       the S. B. in which Rev. H. Hoeksema condemns in no un-
but the reward of fools  ?                                          certain terms the "hierarchial stand and actions of  theSynod
    My soul, have thou none of their ways. Count it thy             of Utrecht . . .  ." and in another S. B. (to put it briefly-and
joy to tell the Good News  !"                                       without comments) that we can not possibly agree with  thq
    When we read thk reports of the church councils lately          Synodicals in regard to the church-political side of the con-
held, one in Evanston and  the other in  Elkins  Park, Pa.,         troversy. Then you state "Today the Rev. Hoeksema is  cle-
we could not help agreeing' with this writer that the church        fending this very same hierarchial system . . .  ."
has  certainly  lost her perspective and ignored her specific            Secondly, you state that Rev. H. Hoeksema quoted Dr.
calling.. I use the word `church! rather loosely, of course.        Ridderbos' interpretation. of Art.' 31 as being authoritative,
For it is a question in my mind whether that which  cal!s           and that, on the witness chair. Then you quote Rev. Ophoff
herself church really has a right to that  naie  when she has       as labeling that  scM%e  interpretation which Rev. Hoeksema
departed so far from her task. I know, they still prate about       quoted as "most horrible and dreadful popery." Also you

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

quoted 8 reasons why this interpretation is "most horrible            from the same series of articles concerning article 31 which
and dreadful `popery."                                                 Rev. Ophoff wrote and from which you also quote ?
      To  rnjr  mind you have to prove the following: first that          First quotation is from Vol. 23 page 155 : "Thus  alla  that
the quotations from the decisions of the Synod of Utrecht             the  Classis can do in case its decisions are being rejected by
which were placed on court record by the Rev. Hoeksema                consistories is to refuse to receive their delegates on its clas-
were  the  sa*tze   hecisions which he condemned in the Standard      sical meetings and thereby sever  the denominational tie be-
Bearer, Vol. 22, p.  414.  In the same volume and page from           tween it and the aggrieved consistories. This the  Classis
which you quoted we read this, "Other actions of a similar            may do. This is its right,-a right `implicit in the very
nature could be mentioned. But the above is quite sufficient          purpose of a number of churches federating on the basis of
to prove that the Synod of 1943-1945 took and maintained              our Church Order. Certainly the consistory is autonomous.
the hierachial stand that it could directly  esercise   keypower      It is  free  to  repect  classical decisions, also decisions fixing
over the churches, its officebearers and members. In fact;            classical assesments, without finding itself under the necessity
in the course of a discussion' on the floor of the Synod, this        of being penalized on the account by deposition by the  Clas-
was literally maintained by Dr.  I<. Dijk, professor at  Kam-         sis.  However, the  autonomy of the local congregation does
pen: `Also the Synod has keypower, and not only the local             not imply that  .tlze  consistovy can  pemitently  reject the de-
church.`. This is bad enough. The action of Synod, however,           cisions of `the major `nssenzblies  with lpetention  of its right to'
was worse, for it wholly ignored and  .denied  the  keypower          a. place in the clzurclz fom~ation."
of  the local church, and completely monopolized the keys  !"             The second quotation comes from the same Vol. 23, page
Then  Rev. Hoeksema states that which you alsd quoted,                228: "The issue is not whether the  Classis may advise the
"3. That we abhor the hierarchical stand and actions of the           consistory to depose that minister. It may.  For it has this
Synod of Utrecht. and would never bend our neck under their           right.
popish yoke." Now  it.is  up to you to prove (and that you                "The issue'is not whether, in the event the Consistory re-
purposely never did) with direct quotations from the court            fuses to adopt and execztte the Classical advice, the Classis
records that Rev,  Hoekiema  quoted and maintained in court           may `servpP the denominational tie between it and that Con-
this decision riamely  : that the keypower is ignored and denied      &tory and  its flock. It may.  That is its  right.
to the local church and is completely invested in the  classis'           "The issue is riot whether a Consistory may' depose its
and synod. Unless you can prove that,  jrour  whole charge            minister without the advice of  dlassis.  It may not. The
falls away and you become guilty of the very sin of which             Church Order forbids this. The issue is not whether -the
you condemn him.                                                      -Consistory  is  obliga   `to adopt and execute the advice of
      Secondly, you have to prove  ihat  the interpretation of        Classis that it depose its minister if the- advice cannot  be
Dr. Ridderbos on Article 31, which Rev. Hoeksema  &ted                proved to conflict with the Word of God and with the
in court, is the  same  part  of the interpretation which Rev.        articles of the Church Order of Dort. If this cannot be
Ophoff condemnkd in the  quotations.which   -you  gave. What          proved, the advice must be adopted and executed.
part of the interpretation did Rev. Ophoff condemn ? See                  "What then is the issue ? It is this : In the event the  Con-
Vol. 23, p. 418 (which  you conveniently overlooked), "AS             sistory refuses to take action, may the  Classis then pass
we saw, the issue or question is this: May an office-bearer           sentence of deposition on that minister and thereby divest
(entire  consist,ory  or common  membe?)  without being  depos-       him of his office  ?"
eci refuse to be bound. by a classical (synodical) decision               The next quotation, and I want you especially to note
which he deems unscriptural, while he is engaged in  protes't-        this, Rev.  Kok, is Rev.  Ophofi's idea of -the meaning of
ing the decision on the major assemblies  ?" Now Dr.  Ridder-         article 31 in July 1947 and is found in Vol. 23, page 442:
bos maintains that an office-bearer who refuses to be bound by        "If, let us say, a consistory complain`s that it has been
classical (synodical) decisions which he deems unscriptural           wronged by the  ,decision of a minor assembly  -  classis  - it
can be deposed by the  classis (synod).  That  Rev:  OphoK            shall have the right to appeal to a  majo;  assembly-synod
violently denounces in the quotations you gave from his               -without being deposed  by  classis for refusing to submit to
article. You must  `piove  now (which you didn't in  Concor-          the xlassica.1  decision that! for conscience sake it must protest;
dia) from quotations of the court record, that Rev.  Hoekse-          and whatever may be agreed upon by a majority vote of
&a, by quoting Dr. Ridderbos, maintained in court that the            synod shall be considered settled and binding unless the
classis has  the.,right  to  .depose  office-beare&  who refuse to    synodical decision be proved to conflict with the word of
                                                                      God  ; that is to say, unless thkre be an aggrieved one -the
abide by classical decisions when they think them to be un-           sallie consistory or some other cbnsistory -persuaded that
scriptural. In other words, did Rev. Hoeksema truly maintain          the synodical decision conflicts with the word of God ; that
in court  the  sa.me thing  which Rev. Ophoff condemned in            consistory shall have the right  td break with the denomina-
Vol. 23 of the Standard Bearer? `Prove  that_ with honest             tion for conscience sake  without  being deposed  by  classis."
quotations.                                                              And here is a final quotation which is a sad testimonial
      Finally, may I please offer af few quotations of my own         against all what you and others stated in court and against

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

all which you have written in the recent Concordias. Look,              about the expression : "unless it be proved to conflict with
Rev.  Kok, (if  you  hav+`t  seen it already) in Vol. 23,  .page        the.Word  of God or with the articles of the Church Order,"
443 :  "3. It is said that the interpretation under III (The            the Rev.  Ciphoff  writes as follows, page 395, second column  :.
one I quoted just above-  GvB)   is hopeless  subjectivism.             "Just what is the issue in the dispute ? To be  clear on the
So Rev. G. Hoeksema and also the doctor  and  all the others.           issue, we must -know  &hat is not the issue. The issue is
But the charge is false. What the interpretation in question            not whether-a classical or synodical decision may be  rejecte:l
does is to free the churches from the overlordship of the               on  the. alleged ground of it being in conflict with the Worcl
classis (synod) but  only.  to subject them solely to the               of God without the aggrieved one being compelled to  ~nak'?
authority of the Scriptures as administered by the local. pas-          ati attempt  to prove the  decision unscriptural also to the
tors and teachers.  H&we, it  iS  not  true  that,,  on the  groatnd    satisfaction of the churches on their major assemblies. This
of the  inteq'wetation  ttnder.III,  the decisions  .of  major as-      is a solemn  dutjr  certainly. For refusing to be bound `by  g
semblies do not bind those who do not agree m'tl~ them; that,           decision of a major, assembly is not a small matter, as it
in  other  words, they  a:re  never+  binding (G. Hoeksema) .  Alio     implies that the aggrieved is persuaded that the decision
according to .o~cr interpretation of the article 31, these de-          militates  agai-nst  the Scriptures: Hence, if the aggrieved one
cisio+zs  are binding on  evej-y  member  of  the  chrclz,  exccfit     will take no action, if he does not  protest  and at the same
on those who aye persuaded that they cont&dict  the scrip-              time  persjsts  in  r'efusing  to be bound by the decision, his
twcs, yet also o"rt swla, if they want to remain in the clz~~~rch."     consistory, if he be a  6ommon  member or officebearer, may
    All the italics in the above quotation's are mine. I'd like         have to take  action against him. If a consistory should so
to add just a few comments. Rev.  Kok, aren't thesk quota-              behave, the  classis might have to refuse for the time being
tions, and especially the last one exactly what Rev.  Hoekse-           to receive its delegates on the classical assembly.  (Classis
ma maintained on the witness chair, referring to  ailtho&ties           would have no right -to depose that consistory). The issue,
`outside of our own churches to prove his point? And isn't              once more, is not whether the churches must allow,  let  LIS
that the same  church.order   which Rev. Ophoff today main-             say, a consistory to persist indefinitely in pronouncing a
tains ? Isn't that exactly what you claimed under oath  you             cla&ical  or synodical decision unscriptural and on this  .ground
had never been taught? Didn't you claim that a church in                tb refuse to be bound by it, after they, the churches, even
the denomination could throw aside a decision of  classis               once  an<  again have treated that consistory's protest of the
 (synod)  and still  yemain in  tlmt denomination?  And didn't          error of their decision. The churches may expect  bf such
you claim that that was also the  yiew of Rev. Ophoff and               a consistory. that  it now be still or comply, and they may
`Hoeksema until  the court trial ? Didn't you write that this           expel it from their fellowship (but not depose it) if -it refuse
view (the `same of which Rev. Ophoff wrote in 1947) was a               to comply.`"- end of this quote.
concoction of the Rev. Hoeksema  shortiy   before or during             This is surely an important  quotatiQn  of Rev.  .Opl$f's
the court trial in order to get the bricks ? Who should stand           articles against Prof. Ridderbos. It appears at  the very
aghast, Rev.  Kok  ? You or we  ?                                       begining of these three articles. In this quotation Rev.  00;
                                                  Gise Van  Baren       hoff clearly states what is not the  isue in the., controversy
                                                                        involving Art. 31.
                Ridderbos - Ophoff - Kok                                    Rev.  Kok  quotes also this part of Rev.  Ophoff's  article
    Our  read&-s  are aware of the fact that the Rev. B.  Kok,          as follows -see Reformed Guardian, Vol. II., Number 1,
in the Reformed Guardian and again in recent numbers of                 page 10, as follows: "Jus w a is the
                                                                                                    t h t           isSue  in the dispute ?
Concordia, has made much of the fact that our leaders now               To- be clear on the issue, we must know what is not the
eridorse,  church-politically,  the-  stand of Prof. Ridderbos and      issue. The issue is not whether a classical or synodical de-
the  Synodical  Churches in re Art. 31 of our Church Order              cision may be rejected on  thtz alleged ground  .of its  being&n
whereas they, in former. years, `vehemently repudiated their            conflict with the Word of God without the aggrieved one
views, And that which has  paticularly  borne the brunt of              being compelled to  lFa.ke  an  a.ttempt  to`prove the decision
Iiok's  attack is  a'series  of three articles written by the Rev.      unscriptural also to the satisfaction of' the churches on  .their
Ophoff. in which the latter condemns Ridderbos' interpreta-             major assemblies. This is solemn duty certainly . . . . The
tion of Art. 31. These articles appear in the Standard Bearer,          issue, once more, is not whether the churches must allow,
Vol. 23, pages 394, 418, and 441.                                       let us say, a consistory to persist indefinitely in pronouncing
    The undersigned does not purpose in this article to rise            a classical or synodical decision unscriptural and on this
to  the.  defence  of Rev. Ophoff. He is well. able' to take  .care     ground to  ref&e  to be bound by it, after they, the churches,
of himself. My purpose in this article is to call the attention         even once and again have treated that  consistory's   protes!
of our readers to a glaring example of the manner in which              On their major assemblies without being convinced of the
the Rev.  Rok  quotes.                                                  error of their  decison . . .  ." -end~of  quote of  this particular
    in connection with the, dispute between Ridderbos  end              part of Rev.  ,OphoK's article.
the Liberated in re the interpretation of Art. 31, as revolving            Do  4ur readers  see- the difference between these two


                                                                   ~.__~..
4 8   --.                                       ,THE                           STA&$;ARD  BEARER                                             _

                                  -.                          /'               ,,
.I          I_
quotations  ? 0, yes, the Rev.  liok did indicate in his article                      justify the  Synodical  treatment  6f the various points of  dis-
that he did not quote all of this part of Rev. Ophoff's article.                      pute, the so-called doctrinal differences  ? And, whatever  mny  1
But,  this does not excuse, hini in the-least. Did he expect                          be the correct  iiterpretation  of Art.  3l, particularly as it
his readers to check up on him and look up Vol. 23 of the                             concerns the question to whom the protestant must  pro.ve  a
Standard Bearer, if, indeed, they were able to do this? Be-.                          decision to be in conflict with the Word of God, to the  eccle-
sides, he quotes the rest of Rev.  OphoK  in its entirety, with                       siastical body or to  himself ? When was it ever  refol'med
the  except&n  of a few lines at the bottom of page 396  df                           that anyone could ignore a classical or  synodical decision, fail
the Standard- Bearer,  atid a reading of this part of Rev'.                           to protest against it, and continue as a member of those
Ophoff's article also leaves the impression that  Rev.$ok  has
                                                             .I                       churches  ? It is a simple  axi~om  in Reformed Church Polity
left this part out very deliberately. Why did Rev.  Kok  fail                         that an aggrieved one must walk in the  tiay of protest. This
to quote the Rev.  Ophofi in full  7 In this particular quotation,                    the Rev. De Wolf and his elders failed to  ,do. This was not
not quoted by the  Rev..   Kok, Rev. Ophoff  declares that a                          merely an act of wickedness but also of unbelievable folly.
consistory must comply with the decision of a major assembly                          For it they stand `condemned, also by any Reformed con-
or be expelled from, its fellowship. And the -Rev. Ophoff                             ception of Church Polity.                                    H.V.
also declares that if an aggrieved one refuses to be bound by                                                    bse--   :
the  decison of a major assembly and also refuses to walk' in                                                    IN HIS  FEAR-'
the way of protest, the consistory will be. compelled to take                                               (Co~rtimcd   front  pap   41)
action against him. Is it clear why the Rev.  Kok  fails  to call                     be mocked. And when soon they get such a case, they are
attention to this part of Rev. Ophoff's quotation ? He can-                           either going to leave the doors open to all kinds of corruption
not use it because the Rev. De Wolf  and his elders have                              in their group  br else confess  that  they must do exactly as
committed  the wicked and unbelievable folly of refusing to                           we did and that such procedure of advising Consistories that
submit to their discipline, as advised by the  classis  and                           need help  ii not  heirachy  but truly brotherly love.
executed  by their consistory, under protest.                                             Another point Mr. Tubbs drove home and brought out
             I do not rise to the  defence of  Rev. Ophoff. But  the                  to Rev.  Mok's embarrassment and shame was that he had a
following must surely be borne in mind. The point at issue.                           debate in the Standard Bearer  (,Vol. 20) with the Rev.  Op-
in the controversial discussion of Art. 31 is simply this:                            hoff about these same things and that the, Rev.' Ophoff
what is the status (ecclesiastical) of one who regards .a                             maintained in that debate quite a different viewpoint from
decisioti of an ecclesiastical assembly as contrary to. the Word                      what Rev.  Kok  had been attributing to `him in the court
while  h; is appealing his case and protesting to the following                       hearings. Those court  records  will reveal an awful lot of
major assembly?  B&h,   Rev. Ophoff and Prof. Ridderbos,                              things !         3
declare that such an one must appeal to the following major                               Here, for example, is a quotation from  that debate. And
assembly. The Rev. De Wolf and his elders, however,  sifnply                          that is still the Rev.  Ophoff's stand today, not  as a change
refused to walk in the way of protest. They simply  made  it                          of church political viewpoint but of unchanged conviction
`impossible for themselves to protest at the classical  meeti!ig  of                 from  1924 to this present time.
Oct. 6, 1953. They ignored the disciplinary action of their                               We quote from that debate :
consistory, continued tci function, as officebearers, and could                           "VI. The right of a local consistory to act contrary to
therefore never be seated at the Oct. 6, 1953 classical  melting.                    the Church Order would result in Chaos and the final dis-
The entire `discussion, involving Rev. Ophoff's articles against                      solution of our entire Church Formation, for a) The Church
Prof. Ridderbos, have no bearing whatever on the  case of                             Order would be supplanted by as many private Church Or-
the Rev.-  De Wolf who must shoulder before God an'd' ouy                            ders as there are churches in our organized denomination of
churches the claim of  having  caused`the  split in our  churihesi                   churches. Each Consistory would transact according to its
And that the Rev.  Kok  has quoted the Rev. Ophoff  a$  hg'                          own private Church Order. Classis and Synod would be only
did does no longer surprise us. We have grown  accuston$d  to                         two  na:mes. Their  resplutions  co,ttld  lmve no binding  powel
the evil and slanderous  wajr in which he quotes from the past.                      and their meetings would  fiavtake of the  chnracte+ of  COW
            Let us not confuse the matter or be confused. In his' feyences sztcl~ as those held by the independents, or congrega-
articles against Prof. Ridderbos Rev. Ophoff defends the tional  chzt:r?hes.  Now if this is what we want, let us say so,
proposition that an appellant must be granted the full right                         but let us then cease prating about our being Reformed, in
of protest (this, by the way, we never denied anyone)  !an$                          our church government." The italics are ours.
that no  classis  Or synod has the right to depose him as  Iong                          Any doubt  ai to  whether Rev. Ophoff changed his church
as his protest is pending or is being treafed  ; (in fact, they                      political views ? This was written in 1943.
may never depose him.) This is the heart of Ophoff's  dishute                            And so  .we  urge you again, walk IN HIS FEAR.
with Ridderbos.  When  did our leaders ever change their                                 Then   &ll our  .problems  will be disolved. And in  that  way
stand in re the hierarchical treatment of hundreds of "Liber-  ' a reunion can even be realized  at this late date. But that is
ated'> officebearers by the Synodicals ? When did they ever                          -the-only way it can be realized.                            J.A.H.
                  -                                                  g.  ;.
                                                                     I
                       _     _

                                                                          :
       L


