    V O L U M E   xxx1                              NOVEMBER  15  --'GRAND RAPIDS,  MICHJ~AN          .                           ~U-iUBE&      4


                                                                                  Arid because the world knows that it n&ds salvation of
              MlEDlTA,TION                                                    a kind.  it always has submitted, nay. -sometimes has eagerly
                                                                              grasped  thk coat of countless "saviours."  The saviours are
                                                                              coming unto their kingdoms.
   Salvation By The  Fodishne'ss  Of Preaching                                   S~;~~etimes salvation is sought by and through impersonil
                 "For  after  that  in  the  wisdom  of  God  the  -world     salvatorei  : education, socialism, communism, nazi-ism, fas-
              by  wisdom   knew  `not  God,  if  pleased  God  by  the        cism, with their restraint by law, power of arms, muzzling  df
              foolishness  oft  preaching  to  save  them  that  believe."    free speech and free press ; crazy distribution of riches for all,
                                                             I  Car.  121     birthcontrol, or even race suicide, philosophy., be it either
    I do not think that many men, or devils for that matter.                  the contemplating type of dreamy speculations or the stern,
would object to the general statement that the world needs                    rigourous  species of self-abnegation and stoicism.
salvation.                                                                        And they all -have their heaven of-heavens in view. The
   There is an utisafe side to living,  esisting, being.                      world is really not origi-nal,  neither inded can be. They seek
   Things are so horribly unsafe  that it were- really better                 a heaven, be it the happy hunting groLmds:  sensual paradise
for  innumerable  hosts of men and angels if they had never                   of the Moslems where houris are the delights, of the faithful,
esisted.                                                                      Nirwana, Utopia, "dolce far niente" of non-existence or
   Things are in such a state that it really is not the Church                the soul's sleep of eternity, absolute annihilation, or what
of Jesus Christ alone which calls this globe the valley of tears.             other fantastic images of the sick brain of wicked mati might
   And it is getting worse by the day.                                        paint and relish.
   The time is at hand when men shall seek death and fail;                        Man seeks salvation.
they shall expressly blaspheme the Name because of great,                        And that is also his wisdom.
scorching heat, because of pains and sores, and because of                       Wisdom is the way, the best way, which one chooses
the plague of hail that will fall on their defenseless heads.                 unto the best possible end.`
(Rev.  16:9, 11, 21.)                                                            And all the gifts, talents, power, intelle$ and ingenuity
                                                                              of. the world were employed in the finding `of and the walk-
   Things  are in such a state and always have been that                      ing on the way of salvation which would haply lead to their
from time immemorial men and devils have endeavoured  to                      heavens.         _
be "on the' safe side." They sought a kind of salvation.                         Man hungers and thirsts and yearns for happiness. The
   Witness your countless relief-committees, relief-boards,,                  ever recurrent wailing cry resounds in heartrending cadences
relief-programs, conservation camps, emergency committees,                    of glodm, misery and despair : "Who will shew us any good?"
flood-control, quaranties. embargoes, safety campaigns, pacts                 And as many times as  this_ cry is heard, so many times
among nations, naval-ratios, worldcourts. This list could be                  there is also an answer. And the masses of the poor world-
trebled or quadrupled.                                                        lings stagger on-wards, nay, downwards in pursuit. of the
   And although all these refer to the physical side of life                  countless  fcltn  movgnnn   of pseudo-salvation.
exclusively, let no one think that the psychical side of man is                  For they never entkr th.e pearly gates !
overlooked by the world. Hosts of men and woman are sub-                                                   * +  *  *
mitting to the promised panacea of psychoanalysis or other                       Because in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew
psychopathological gestures of  sou&salvation.  Because the                   not God! (I Cor. 1  :Zla.)
auto-diagnosis of the world is-that the body is sick and the                     This short sentence expresses the horrible condition of
soul  ,weary. Indeed, their harp is turned to mourning and                    the world.
their organ into the-voice bf them that weep.                                    Tq know God, behold, it is  the  SUI+Z.PPVU~Z   bonzrm,   The


      74                                           - T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEAR'ER

      highest good for man. That is salvation, real salvation for               And you see it on every side. Old gods are cast aside for
      sinful man.                                                           new ones.
            Salvation, it is the satisfying of the deepest: need. And           B.ut the wailing cry remains: Who will shew us any
      the deepest need for the creature that is  ,intelligent, that is      good ? Poor, deluded, horrible world ! Saviours of the world,
      moral and rational, the creature that is created in the image         you are fools ! It is the ruling of the Judge.
      of God, is that' he knows God. That is life eternal.                      Wisdom of the world, coming to superlative glory in thy
       _ Therefore the Lord has made foolish the wisdom of the              unforg-ettable trio Socrates, Plato  ,and Aristotles, the ad-
     world.                                                                 mitted leaders of profound salvation-thinking: God calls  you
            It. is God's choice of the most perfect means to the highest    fools !
      possible purpose to `show that the world by wisdom could                  Who is he that would have Athens wed the Church of
      never attain unto real salvation, that is, to know Himself.           Christ? Methinks, the dizziest height of folly!                    "
      So that even the terrible wailing of a- thoroughly miserable              Nay, but this is the wisdom of God: He saves them that
      worldthat grew weary of their unceasing quest for happiness` believe by the foolishness of preaching.
      might shew that God is the only:good for man.                             There is then a way to receive the deepest need of my
            Because, dear reader, let us always remember, that the          poor sin-torn heart. There is then a way to come to the
      world purposely rejected and rejects the only possible way            knowledge of God, that is, real salvation.                  c
      unto salvation. And that is true whether you find the world               The foolishness of preaching. -This does not mean and
      steeped in darkness of heathendom or that same world                  cannot mean that the preaching of God is really foolish. We
      in the courts of Christendom's temple. In darkness of  hea-           read here a concession, an allowance to the world and her
      thendom is the light of God's revelation in nature. And where-        appraisal of the Cross and its preaching. The Lord employs
      ever and whenever that light ,would  shine, the world would           their vocabulary and He does so to show up. their folly. `It
     take that truth-of God and hold it in unrighteousness. When            is as though God would say: You call My way of salvation
      God would shout from a thousand hills and sing to them in             foolishness ? Well, by' this folly I save to the uttermost. That
      the sweet murmuring of His Godhead and power, they would              which you trample in the mud will be the cause of eternal
      harden their hearts and say: That is not wisdom but, folly.' singing. Loud hosanna's will be sung because of this foolish-
     .We refuse to thank Him and praise Him. And they turned                ness. When angels and men and regenerated creation shall
      again to the fourfooted animals and .their gods of- stone and         see the lamb of God, standing as slain in the midst of the
      brass and cry out their misery and gloom. So that the night           throne of God, they shall make heaven musical forever!
      would hear their lament : Oh, our god, hear-us and deliver !                                   8  *.* *
            When we saw the world in the courts of God's temple                 For the foolishness of preaching is the preaching of the,
      and when we told them of the only Way, they would grow                Cross of our Lord `Jesus Christ.
      more bitter than  the heathen. For they have stoned `the                  He knows God. He is the Prince of Life, of Life eternal.
     prophets and crucified the Lord. The wisdom of the world,
     the best man. could offer in the sagacity of the Greek and                 And in order to give that Life unto the throng of the
      judicious talent of the Roman and the selfrighteous purity            elect, He came on earth and took upon Himself to do all
      of the `Sanhedrin, ruled of the wisdom of God. And their              what was necessary in order that the children might be
     ruling was : Crucify Him ! Crucify Him, even where we find             saved.
     no guilt in Him. Crucify Him, even where the dreams of the                 And the central theme of that gigantic labor was the
     night warns me that I must have nothing to do with-Him  or             suffering of eternal death agony on the accursed tree of
     against Him. Crucified He must be. And they spit upon the              Golgotha. The Christ of God, calling out of the depth of
      Face of the most Glorious One.                                        despair in deepest darkness and horible gloom: My God, My
            Since then they have continuously counted the Blood             God, Why hast Thou forgotten Me? Behoid it is the Way.
     impure and have trampled on the Son of God's right hand. ' It is the way of salvation. It is the way. out of eternal death
_    They have expressed with their vote that Socialism and what            to life eternal.
     have you will provide a sweeter heaven for the poor human                  And when the world beholds that cross with its suffer-
     race than Christ could ever prepare.          .                        ing Servant of Jehovah, and when they see all the horror of
            And if a handful of men were found that heard the               the vicarious Lamb of God, when they hear the Divine inter,
     clarion call of the heavens, and if that handful would go out          pretation: This is the way out of all your death and agony,
     of their usual way to enter the pearly gates, they would give          when they see all this and the Gospel story is fully told, then
     them cruel -mockings and scourgitigs, `yea moreover bonds              they laugh.and  scream of hilarity. It is too funny for words!
     and imprisonments. They were counted as sheep for the                  Is that the Salvator of the world ? Would you have us .be-
     slaughter. They murdered the Church of Jesus.                          lieve- that this miserable  spectactle  will give us the much
                                 *  *  *  *                        F        longed for Utopia.? Will you- have us believe that the Man
      0 But God by His wonderful wisdom made the wisdom                     Who calls Himself a worm could possibly save us ? Surely
     of the world folly.                                                    your preaching is detestable and the height of folly.


                                 --
                                                           TH,E  S T A N D A 'R D   B E A R E R                                                                                                                       75      '

     But we believe.
     And believing, we are saved to the utttirmost,  for by Him                                              THE  STANDARD.BEARER
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the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jestis  Christ.                                                 Editor - REP.  HERMAN' HOEKSEMA                                                    .`
     Beneath the awful Cross,. through the darkest gloom of                                Communications   relative to conitents   should be addressed   to Rev.
the outpouring of God's wrath we rest in eternal security.                                 H.  Hoeksema,  1139  Franklin  St.,  S.  E.,  Grand  Rapids  7,  ,~&fic.h.
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                                                                            G.V.            Entered as  Seyzd  Class  matter  af  Grand  R@Gds,  Miihigan

                                       .Notice
     We are making one indes for the entire 30 volumes  of. <
the Standard Bearer from  the esisting 12 indexes.                     -                                                       CONTENTS
     We want to make it as complete and correct as possible.
If  you know of mistakes in the indexesplease let us know.                          MEDITATION  -
                                                                                    '         "SalgvapGbyV;t   Foolmislhness of Preaching".  . .  . . . . .  . . . . .  . . .73
We also welcome suggestions.                                                                                 .  .
                                  Toin Elzinga                                      EDITORIALS -
                                  575 West 18th St., Holland,  Mich.                          "A  Protest   and  Its  Reply".   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .                 . ..76
                                                                                                      Rev.  H.  Hoeksema
                              IN  MEMORIAM                                          THE- DAY OF SHADOWS -
                                                                                              Exposition   of Isaiah.. . . . . . . . . . . . _ . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . .                                  . ...78
    On  the  evening   of  October  29,  1954  it  pleased  our  Heavenly                            Rev.  G.  M.  Ophoff
Father  to  take  from  the  side  of  Mrs.  Nicholas   (Jeanette)  Kunz
and  daughters   their  beloved  husband   and  father,                             FROM HOLY  WRIT-
                                                                                              Exposition   of  II  Timothy  2  :14.  .:.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . .                      . . . . . ..a
                           MI?.  NICHOLAS   RUN2                                                     Rev.  G.  Lubbers
    May  they  richly  experience  that  the  Lord  is  a  Husband   of             I
widows  and  a  Father  of  the  fatherless,`and  that  His  grace  is                   N  HIS  FEAR-
                                                                                              "More Straws".  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                           . . . . . . . 83
more  than  sufficient.                                                                              Rev.'  J.  A.  Heys
                                 The  Creston  Yopng  -People's   Society           C
                                 The  Creston  Metn's  Society                           ONTENDING FOR THE FAITH -
                                                                                              The  Church and @he Sacraments.  . . .  . . . . . . .  . . . . . . .                                        . . . . . . . 85
                                 The  Creston  Ladies   Society                                      Rev.  H.  Veldman

                              IN  MEMORIAM                                          THE  VOICE  OF  OUR  FATHERS  -L
                                                                                              The  Caons                                                                                                  . . . . . . . 87
   The  Con&tory  of  the  Creston  Protesta.nt  Reformed  Church                                                     of  Dorclre&t   (Art.  14).  .  .  ,  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .
                                                                                                     Rev.  H.  C.  Hoeksema
expresses  its  heartfelt   sympathy  with  Mrs.  Nicholas   (Jeanette)
Kunz  and  daughters,  Janet-  and  Marian,  in  the  sudden   death  of            DECENCY AND  ORDER-
their  husband   and  father,                                                                 "The  Ministry  of the Word". :. . . . . _ . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . .89
                                                                                                     Rev.  G.  Vanden  Berg
                     Mr.     NICHOLAS             KUN-2
at  the  age:  of  43  years  and  some  months.                                    A L L  A R O U N D   Us-
    May  they  richly  experience   the  comfort  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in                   The  Soutih  India  Surrender . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
                                                                                              De  Wolf gets help from a  Baptist.. . . . .  . . . . .  . . . . .  . . . . .  . . . . ;;
the  hype  of  Israel,  believing   that  our-departed  brother  now  may                      Rev.  M.  Schipper
rqst  from  his  labors,   as  is  written: "Blessed  are  the  dead  that
die  in  the  Lord  from  henceforth;  yea,  saith  the  Spirit,  that  they        CONTRIBUTIONS  -
may  rest  from  their  labors;                                                               Fall  meeting  of +he Ladies  League.. . . .  . . . .  . . . .  . . . :......19 0
                                        and  their  works   do  follow  them."                       Mrs.  Peter  Decker
Rev.  14  :13.                                                                                "Misrepresentation". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ....... .92
                                                    Mr.  J.  King,  Clerk                            Rev.  G.  `V~%den  Berg
                                                                                              "Humbug" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ....... .94
                              IN  .MEMORIAM                                                          Rev.  H.  C.  Hoeksema
   The  Ladies'  Society  of  the  Protestant  Reformed  Church   of                          Report  of the Western   Ladies League.. .  . . .  . . .  . . .  . ....... .96
South  Holland,   Ill.,  expresses  its  sympathy  to  our  fellow  member,                          Mars.  R.  Brunsting
Mrs.  Tunis  Van  Baren,  in  the  loss  of  her  mother,                           CHURCH NEWS  -
                  MRS.  ELIZABETH  VAN  SCHOUWEN                                              News  from  First  Prot.  Ref.  Church  of  Holland..  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . .95
                                                                                                     Peter  Schipp&
May  the  Lord  comfort  and  sustain   the  bereaved   in  their  sorrow.
                                             John  Van  Baren,  President
                                             Mrs.  J.  Van  B.aren,  Secretary.

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

                                                                                                                             "1. That God's peopie had not been obedient to the
                       E  :,.B>,,1  tT  @  ~-:.;IY~$  :k  s                                                              voice of the Lord and did not want Him.
                           i. ,.. .
  II                 ::j& ,`;          _,.i  ,!.  `;.. . . . ,_ `1' :;z 1 :-,I.. .`,:!.,:- .; .,.,, `, .:. II            _  Y?. That therefore He delivered them into the good
 ;:.+ :`- ;.  ;;.:.<:`.y.*  _`.:  y ,.;                        -' ..I_ :         :-.lf . . : _ .`::
         -2)i;  7                                                                                                        pleasure of their own heart and caused them to walk in their
        , . . . >i<`Z , . iL,:;l,L&  p&t&&I&hd Tits.  R&l;$ +I  `I, .                                            _  '    own counsels.  -
                                 .;.:!:12..::.;...    :  .:  ,._  ::                                                         "3. That this would have been entirely different if the
        .,I. &n-ther  quof~,  fro-m  the .reply. by the,`former consistory
                                                      ,....  <:  .j ,  i,`_ .                                            people of God had walked in His ways and had heard His
 `$  ,follc&;I~::~-..   Dr-  s.:-.`,_  .:,  .::i-  Y...  i>`.,."                                     >:*.::.  :.         voice. Then God would have subjected their enemies to them
  `: "b) The .classis  etred..when  it:.stated.  that `the first.: (state-                                               and would have fed them with the finest of wheat and satis-
  me:$t'$;teaches  `a general -promise  of God-to -allthat hear.'                                                        fied them with honey from the rock.
 i/f `TJ-;.;:: :rF$., -ib, :er,:,rs~~e6u~~`.be~,a~s~  the state&$  : of the .Rev.                                            "This .latter  can also be expressed as follows : God prom-
  D)e:W,olf.  does. not :.ussq,,the!word  :`salvatjon' at-.all,  but it says
 `sh&  $6 s&$-d.' :;Thk t&`:&te&i-&  afe i fiat  j&n&al,  and.                                                           ises His salvation to those, that walk -in His ways and listen
                                                                                                                         to His voice. And the last are always only the elect. What
  may not bk assumed `to be"such. By making this substitution                                                            therefore you have in these verses is nothing else than an an-
 $he protestants and the n/ray  classis' evaded the force of the                                                         nouncement of the curse over those, that do not walk in His
Biblical"express'io%   .%hall  be- saved' and tried to force into                                                        ways, and a particular promise for those that do so. I kindly
  the words of Rev. De Wolf `salvation' in the comprehensive                                                             ask the Rev.  Keegstra  to elicit anything else from these
  sense, including regeneration, faith, and the Holy Spirit. We                                                          words than a sure promise of God for God's obedient people."
  must keep the Biblical expression used, and `then, if one                                                                  Once more I say that it is a mystery to me how the
  desires to lay in them regenerationj  faith, and the Holy Spirit                                                       former Consistory of Kalamazoo can possibly quote these
  to elicit from these the `damaging conclusion, that they                                                               words in support of, or even in comparison with, the state-
  certainly come into literal conflict with the Bible which says :                                                       ment of De Wolf that God promises to everyone of you that
         "a. `He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.' if you believe you shall be saved. It literally has nothing to
  Mark  16:16                                                                                                            do with  it: In fact, what I wrote in  ,,Een Kracht Gods Tot
         "b. `Believe on the Lord Jesus. Christ, and thou shalt                                                          Zaligheid" stands in direct opposition to that statement of De
  be  saved.' Acts  16:31.
         66                                                                                                              Wolf.
               C.    `Whosoever shall call on the ,name  of the Lord shall                                                   Secondly, however, the former Consistory of Kalamazoo
  be saved:' Romans  10:13. Taking the literal words, as we                                                              does not prove their contention that the Classis erred when
  are obligated to do, we .find comparable  xtatements  in the                                                           it stated that "the first statement teaches a general promise of
  writings of both the protestants (Standard: Bearer, Vol. 21,                                                           God to all that hear." This judgment of the  Classis  has
 p. 434 Geneda Geen Aanbod, p.  10s  ; Rev.  Hoeksema uses                                                               nothing to do with the question whether you take salvation
  this. kind of .an. expression looking upon the past where his-                                                         in- the comprehensive sense of the word or in the narrower
  tory has already proved the counsel of God.by,the  irreversible                                                        sense of future salvation.  .Fact is that the Rev. De Wolf
  outcome. He writes, `0 that my people had hearkened unto' stated : "God promises,`.' and thathe applied that promise of
  me, and Israel had walked `in"my'w&  ;Ps,, cl; :12-14. There                                                           God to- "every one of you:" If that is not a general promise
  does follow upon this text all kinds:of  promises of God, en-                                                          to every individual hearer .that- was in his audience at the
 ;tirely conditional and  ,cqnti.ngent   ,upon  these verses. The                                                        time,-.1 like. to know what. it is. It is true that he  aded "if
  Lord should have subdued their  enemies~  and%a&sSd  them to                                                           you believe." But this Pees not alter the fact that the prom-
  triumph over  them, that hate them, fed them with honey -ise of God was made general, and-that the'condition was to
  from the rock and the finest  bf;:-zeat:'  Een  Bracht  Gods
                                                                                 _,. I.             .:                   be fulfilled by the hearers. Anyone that reads this statement
  tot Zaligheid, p. 170) .",                                                                                             will admit that it means that as far as God is concerned, He
   `!:, Let me say, first of all, that' I cannot possibly understand                                                     will save all the hearers. It is a most general offer of salva-
  what in this connection the quotation by the former  Con-                                                              tion to all. But whether they will actually be saved has
  sistory of Kalamazoo from my book, ,,Een Kracht Gods Tot                                                               nothing to do with the promise of God, but with the will of
   Zaligheid," has to do with the whole matter, except that they                                                         theindividual hearers. Such is the meaning of`the first state-
  always like to quote me by hook and by crook. In this book                                                             ment, and no .one can elicit anything else out of it.
  I exactly. emphasize that the gospel is no general offer of                                                                The rest of this paragraph I will not quote. It simply
   salvation, but is particular and only .for the elect. Following                                                       would'be a waste of time and space. I will simply inform the
  that which the former Consistory of Kalamazoo quotes from                                                              readers that it contains nothing but a long quotation from
   that book I wrote (and I translate j :                                                                                my pamphlet, "Calvin,  Berkhof,  and H. J. Kuiper, A Com-
         "But of an offer .you do not read a single-word. How the                                                        parisdri.`~                             .
  esteemed editor of. De fi7achtev  can read in these words a                                                                The last part of the reply of the former Consistory of
  general and well-meaning offer of grace is a riddle to me.                                                             Kalamazoo to brother Meninga deals with the second state-
   If you read the text in connection with the verses that follow,                                                       ment of the Rev. De Wolf. I will first quote this part of the
   then  itis ,plain  that. we are taught here, the following :                                                          reply to the end.

                                                                                                                                                                                    ,


                                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                     77

      "2) The second statement :                                           teaches  that our act of conversion is a prerequisite to enter
      "a)         The classis also erred in finding cause to' condemn      the kjngdom  of God." It did not substitute anyfhing, there-
  statement two of the Rev. H. De Wolf:                                    fore,  btit quoted the literal statement made by the Rev. De
     T`l.  Classis  erred in substituting `translated from the             Wolf. It is true, it added to that the perfectly  cbrrect  ex-
  power of darkness into the kingdom of His dear Son,' in the              planation : "which means that we convert and humble our-
  place of the original phrase: `enter the kingdom of God."                selves before we are translated from the power of darkness
      "2. Classis  erred in asuming that `entering the. kingdom' into the kingdom of God's dear Son." But it is entirely
  is always .to be understood as including its initial entrance by         untrue that the Classis  substituted anything what&ever.
  regeneration,  oi `regeneration in its narrower as well as in its               2. The former  Consistory-  of Kalamazoo tries to inter-
  broader sense.' This is  contradictecl  by such Biblical state-          pret the statement made by the Rev. De Wolf as referring to
  ments as :                                                               a gradual or repeated entering into the kingdom  of God. For
      "a. `From the time of Jol'ni the Baptist the kingdom bf              this it quotes texts that have nothing to do with the whole
  heaven is forcefully assaulted and forceful men take it by               matter, and that simply reveal that the Rev. Knott and .his
  force.' Matt. 11  :12.                                                   former Consisory are themselves confused and do not under-
      "b. `Strive to enter in at the strait gate.' Luke 13 :24.
      `I                                                                   stand the Scriptures. If they challenge this statement, I will
            C.    `Not everyone that sayeth Lord, Lord, shall enter        elaborate and prove it. If not, I will not take time and space
  into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will Qf my             for it at this time. But'as far as the interpretation itself is
  Father which is in -heaven.' Matt. 7 :21.                                concerned, I want to make the following remarks:
      "3. These passages clearly shpw that it is  wholly. ar-                     In  ihe first place, it- is not true at all that in the sermon
  bitrary to define the expression `entering into the kingdom' preached by the Rev. De Wolf he made any distinction what-
  as-always referring to the'initial entrance by regeneration.             soeier between the principal and the repeated, or gradual,
      "b) The idea is also found in thk early writings of the              entering into the kingdom. All he had evidently and em-
  protestants, Rev. H. Hoeksema, see Standard Bearer, vol. 12,             phatically in  inind is to put over his conditional theology.
  p. 435, where he also speaks of, besides an initial entrance, a          That he- made a distinction between the principal and first
  continual, a daily entering.                                             entering into the kingdom of God and the repeated, or gradu-
      "c) This same is found in the writings of the Rev. G.                al, entering into the  kitigdom  is an after-thought, and that
  Vos: Standard Bearer, vol. 13, p. 67.                                    too, not by himself, but by those that erroneously interpret
   "3)            With respect to the ,so-called  grounds from Scrip-      his statement. His entire  s&non certainly emphasized that
  ture and  the Confessions which the  classis adduced, it should          our act of conversion is a pre-requisite to enter the kingdom
  be pointed out that these grounds do not prove that the state-           of God without any distincton whatsoever.
, ments are per se heretical, but that said grounds can only be
  used to condemn the statements. as distorted and recon-                         In the second place, I want to point out that even if we
  structed by the prdtestants,  Rev. Hokksema  and Ophoff, and             refer to the gradual entrance into the kingdom or to the
  by the class+.                                                           repeated entering in, the statement is nevertheless heretical.
      "c. That the consistory is not upholding any statement For even then our act of conversion is never a prerequisite
  or supporting any heresies.                                              to enter. Pre-requisite means that .which is required before-
     "1). That is plain from a and b.                                      hand. And we can never convert.ourselves  before we enter
   ~ "2 )         It must also be Linderstood  that much of the present    into the kingdom of God in any sense of the word. Always
  separation and distress in the churches is not caused by the             our act of conversion takes place within the kingdom of God,
  statements as such, but by the illegal and church political              never before we  enter.  It may probably be said that it is
  wrong actions of Rev.  Hoeksema and the men that follow                  through our.act of converSion  that we consciously enter into
  him, even  to the point of deserting the Synod of the Prot.              the kingdom, after we have been translated- from darkness
  Ref.  churches.                                                          into God's marvelous light. But it can never be said that our
     "d. That the Consistory has- not left the communion of                act of conversion is a prerequisite to enter in.
  the Prot. Ref. Churches. The recognition of the  -Rev. De                       3. The former Consistory of Kalamazoo also simply
  Wolf and his consistory as the only  atid legal con&tory   of            states that the grounds which  Classis  adduced from Scripture
  the First Prot, Ref.  Chur+ of Grand Rapids,  Michigan  was-             and the Confessions, to prove that the second statement by
  not an act of schism or separation but an act of  right  and             De Wolf was heretical, are no grounds to condemn the
  justice."                                                                statement, but only the statement as it gYas distorted. by the
     In answer to all this, let me briefly state the following:            protestants, and by the  classis.  This, of course, is a mere
      1. That the  Classis  did not err in substituting "trans-            statement. And the statement is  cer<ainly not true. The
  lated from the power of darkness into the kingdom of His                 grounds adduced by  Classis  as well as by the protestants
  clear Son" in place of the original phrase "enter the kingdom            .both from Scripture and the Confessions certainly prove
  of God," because it simply was never  guilty  of  such  a  sub-          that the statement by De Wolf that "our act of conversion
  stitution. In it final decision the  Classis  said: "The `second         is a prerequisite to enter the kingdom of God," is heretical.
                                                                                                    (Cmfbt!rcd  on page 80)
                                                                                                                                                    .
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 23                                            T H E   `S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                           .'

                                                                      twelve minor prophets end with a message of salvation, for
 II-  ' TtiE DAY OF SHADOWS                                      11 the church. Is it not too improbable then, that the discourse
                                                                      of Isaiah should end with a message of woe for the church?
                                                                      And it does this, if the disputed chapters dp not owe their
                   The Prophecy of  Is&h                              origin to him. For' iti this case his prophecy closes with
       The prophet of' the disputed chapters  - Isa. XL-LXVI          a prediction of the Babylonian cap$ivity  in connection with
 -over and over stresses the fact that the ability to foretell        the embassy from Babylon,  39:5&S. Certainly the only
 the future belongs to God alone and not the idols, and that          tenable view is, that also the disputed chapters were uttered
 this proves His divinity. His dktermining `foreknowledge and         by  _Isaiah.  The first part of this prophecy  (  (I-XxX1X)
 power. This, too, strongly pleads for the view that the Cyrus-       calls for these chapters.' It is  not complete without them.
 prophecies were uttered long before the appearance of  Cyrug         They are plainly the second of the two main parts of the one
 in: history. For if the. prophet who  .spoke  and wrote these        Word of God with the prediction of the Babylonian captivity
 prophecies flourished in the final periqd of +the exile, if, in      forming the bridge between the prophecies of its first part
 other words, he was a contemporary of Cyrus, his predic-             and those of the second.
 tions regarding this great one could be ascribed to human                Let us now trace the line of thought of the second main
 foresight, or he could  even be  accused  of pretending to           part of our prophecy. As .was stated, this second part is
 prophecy things that in fact were not future but past.               formed of prophecies  .of the  sal.vation   of. the church that
       That the historical position of our chapters is the Baby-      began with the turning of Judah's `captivity and that is to
 lonian captivity and that from it the hrophet proceeds and           be  cdncluded with the creation  ,of the new heaven  and the
 not from the circumstances of Is~aiah's  own day, such as that       n e w   e a r t h .
 Assyria was to disappear as a world power and that then
 the Babylonians were to lead the Jews into exde,  is also held           T,`ze  introdztction   to the second  pa:rt,  chaper XL-I-II.
 to disprove that., our chapters owe  their origin to Isaiah.             Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.
 What thjs comes down to is, that, seeing that  our chapters              Speak-upon the heart of Jerusalem, and call to her that
 do not contain a prediction of the Babylonian-captivity, it is       her warfare is completed, that her iniquity has been paid, that
 highly improbable that they were prophetically written by            she has received from the hand of the Lord double for all
 Isaiah. But we can just as well take the position that the           her sins. (vss.  1, 2).
 total of the 66 chapters owe their origin to Isaiah and then             Not as yet in fact, but in the prophetic vision Judah has
 conclude that, seeing that he' already more than once had            gone into captivity on account of his sins, and Jerusalem and
 predicted the captivity in the first part of his book,. he did       the temple lie in ruins. In `the language of the Lammenta-
 not again foretell  -it- in our chapters except, of course, by       tions, the Lord has covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud -
 implication.                                                         of His anger, cut off in His fierce wrath  all the horn of
       I$.is also said that it was &possible for Isaiah to  .utter    Israel,. drawn back His right hand from before the enemy.
 words of comfort, instruct+,  encourageriient  and rebuke            And, again in the language of the Lammentations, the heart
 adapted for a generation $ $eks that. was not to appear in           of God's people is turned within them and their bowels are
 h&fory until  sdme  hunch-ed and fifty years or more after           troubled. That can  be- understood.  Cana& was then the
 his passing, and whose circumstances were so different in            Heaven of the church. There was Jerusalem. There were
 comparison with those of his own generation. But it was              God's altars. There He dwelt in His holy temple. There
 God that prophesied. And thdse Jews were God's believing             were- the saints congregated before His face and heard and
 people, `the church in the captivity of the exile. And the           knew themselves blessed of their God. And now ?- The Lord
 kzeds of the church are' always -the same essentially. What          has violently taken away His tabernacle, destroyed  the.places
.  &  !Flways   needed is the Gospel of Christ and the grace to       of the assembly, has caused the solemn feasts and sabbaths to
 live thereby. And this need our chapters  s~lpply.  For they         be forgotten in Zion, and led His people into captivity.
 are prophecies of a salvation comprehending the deliverance              Their mental distress is great. Words cannot utter it.
 of  the  chub-ch  from all her foes and her appearance with          But the Lord will not have it so. And therefore He bids His
 Christ in glory. If this be understood, it will be seen that         servants, 1he prophets, to comfort His people by all means,
 all the objections commonly raised against the Isaian author-        that is, to speak to them a word, grad  tidings, that will relieve
 ship `of our chapters have no validity.                              them of their mental distress, raise their drooping spirits,
       If iti order to write prophetically the disputed chapters,     and cause them to shout for joy.
 the prophet had to experience actually and literally the                 That they to be comforted are "My People" and "Jeru-
 Babylonian  capt&ity, then the chapters predicting the ad-           salem" indicates that the two are the same entity. As our
 vent of` the personal servant of Jehovah and descriptive of.         verses show by the promises  contaiped  in them, this entity
 His sufferings shhuld have to owe their origin to a prpphet          is first the Judah according to the election of grace in whose
 who, as a contempory of Christ, stood at the foot of the cross.      loins was the Christ, and second the church of all the ages
  ' The discourses of all the rest of the three major and the         still to.come,  thus the church as comprehending the total of


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R .                                                  79

the elect by nature dead in sin but in Christ holy atid blame-        is the fruit of l$.is cross. The heart of Jerusalem is the Christ
less before God in love and seen in the Scriptures as God's           of God.  The first to hear the glad tidings, "her  warfare~is
very own creation in Christ eternally present to His mind in          accon&ished,  her iniquity is atoned - iniquity for which He
His counsel as the object of His unchanging love.                     had assumed full responsibility and thereby made His very
   .In the prophetic vision the church was in Babylon. And            own-was He. And His cry on the cross, "It  is finished,"
according to the Scriptures the church is still in Babylon.           was His response to it. And therefore' also Jerusalem's war-
She is .in the' world ---I speak now of thi church militant -         fare in Babylon  - a holy strife and suffering that he merited
in the clutch of the World-power i that in the Revelations of         for her-is also an accomplished thing first in the point of
John appears as drunken. with the blood of the saints. It is          view of right. It means,  for one thing, that there i.? measure
upon the heart of this people-Jerusalem- that the pro-                to it-the  &easure  of His suffering-  that He through His
phets of God n-m$ speak that they may  be comforted in their          people is filling actually. In the vision it appears as filled, so
&-eat distress. It is to this people  th%t the prophets must:         that, as  was  .said, the moment for  `the turning of Judah's
always cry. That is their sole calling. And that  to be cried         captivity was at  .hand. And this is just as true today. For
is, of course, the Gospel of Christ? the glad tiding that finished    it is the last hour and the Lorcl comes quickly. The moment
is Jerusalem's warfare, that paid is her guilt, and that she          of Babylon's fall and the deliverance of the church therefore
has received from the hand of the -Lord double for all her            and her appearance with Christ in Glory is nigh.  "Say
sins,                                                                 therefore~  unto .her that her warfare is accomplished and that
    Jerusalem has sins. Apart from Christ and His grace sh.e          she has received double from the hand of the Lord for all her
is dead in her sins. because of Adam's transgression. The law         sins."
entered in and her sin aboundecl, .When  the measure of her              Not that she received more stripes;  chastizement,  than
iniquify  was filled,.she  went into captivity and was abandoned      she actually deserved. This cannot be the idea, for first, God
by her God to the wprld-power that is Babylon, to Satan               is righteous and second, because of her sins Jerusalem de-
ancl his brood through the ages operative through this power.         served as  ~many  strokes as could be laid upon her. The
    But cry unto'her that accomplished is her warfare, So I           thought is rather that her sins have been completely atoned,
translate here ZU(II.@P,  but others, fime of servitude, and still    obliterated, so that nothing remains of the debt still to be
others.  skrvr-label-.  The word found in the  .Hebrew   !ext         p a i d .
means properly, tiltl2r of m&taq &vice, hence warfare, and               Redeqbtion and I-etwn home. vss. 3-5.
then  skpzbggde  and third  aft`lictiok.  All these meanings are          (There sounded) a voice crying in the wilderness,
comprehended in the idea of `zpwfa.re. What is indicated is                Prepare yes the way of the Lord,
Jerusalem's good fight of faith in Babylon, her tears of con-              Make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
trition that she sheds on accoimt of her sins, her humbling                Every valley shall be qaised,
herself under the mighty hand of God, thus her confessing                  And every mountain and hill shall be made low;
that the Lord is righteous in sn&titig  her, seeing that she r&            And will be the crooked for a straight place,
belled against His commandments, (see the  Lammentations),                 And the  rough  places for a level'plain.
her praying for the peace of Jerusalem and her keeping her-
self unspoted from the world there in Babylon and her wit-               So then, the prophet in the Spirit hears a voice crying in
nessing against Babylon by her light that she lets shine. In-         the desert that the .Lorcl's way be prepared and a highway be
dicated therefore is also the struggle and all the sufferings         lilade straight in the desert  for. God. John the Baptist, too,
in which this good warfare involved her.                              was a voice crying in the wilderness,  "Prepare  ye the way  '
                                                                      o$ the Lord . .  ." (Mark 1  2). From the fact that the  voice
    This her warfare is now accomplished. Her struggle. is            as identified with the Baptist addressed itself to the people
ended. The measure of her sufferings  is full. Hence, the             of Israel of his- day in bondage to the world-power at that
moment of her deliverance is at hand.                                 time Rome, and that it was a call to repentance (Mark 1:4),
    But how can this be ? Her guilt,. iniquity, has been com-         it follows that the same is true of the "voice" as heard by
pensated, paid, atoned, covered, obliterated. But  .by                Isaiah. It was a cry to repentance directed to the church in
whose warfare, struggles, sufferings ?-- By the J,cxxs&m in           captivity `into which it had  be&  pled instrumentally by the
exile. Yet not actually but only typically, and actually by the       Babylonians at that, time in  the possession of the  world-
warfare, struggles and sufferings of Christ at the time still         power. It  was a mandate to the effect that, seeing that the
in the loins of Judah. As the holy warfare and sufferi`ngs of         Lord was about to come to them deliver them from their
David, so the good fight- and sufferings of the church in the         bondage, they repent of their sins, forsake their abomination,
Babylonian  eFile,  they were typical of the sufferings of Christ.    turn, to God and serve him with ally their heart and mind
    Indeed not by her own sufferings was Jerusalem's sins             and will and strength, or, in the imagery of the text; raise
atoned. How could this be, seeing that she was led into               the valleys and lower the hills and the mountains of the desert
captivity for her sins, and seeing that apart from His grace          - and they *era that desert, a desert .of  sins and transgres-
she is dead in her  ,sins  atid that, accordingly, her warfare        -sio& - and make straight crooked passes, and thereby con-


       SO                                          THE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
'                                                                                                                                   - _-.. .-
                                                                    ,
       vert it into a straight, level and smooth highway for their           the Baptist in Luke  1:15-17, such was the purpose of  the.
       God.                                                                  "voice" as identified  ins the Gospel narratives with him. Here
             But of this, of course, they were just: as incapable as they    we I'ead,  "And many of the children of Israel shall he (John)
       were of converting a desert of mountains and canyons into a           turn to the Lord their God. And he shall go before him-
       level plain. For, rightly considered, the mandate thrust upon         that is, Christ -in the Spirit and power of  Elias, to turn
       them the responsibility to free ~themselves  from the guilt of        the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient
       all their sins and bring themselves into existence as creatures       to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared
       of a flawless, moral perfection, so that, if it was up to them        `for the Lord." Many  ,$ere  truly converted  ~by John's
       to make in the desert a highway for their. God, they should           p r e a c h i n g .
       have to continue in their bondage forever.                                Both John- arid the prophets -went before the  .Lord to
              And yet, the impossible is going to happen. For every          prepare for Him a people. Accordingly, he and they were
       mountain and hill  &all be lowered and every valley shall be          preparers of the way, the latter of the Lord when in the Old
       raised and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough          Dispensation He was come to redeem His people from a
       places plain. Such is the promise here.                               typical captivity, the Babylonian, and John of the Lord
              The answer to this riddle is, of course, God. He, Himself,     when in the fulness of time He was come in the flesh to re- '
       will prepare for Him a way in the wilderness, through the             deem His people truly from all their bondage, bondage to
       sufferings and death on the cross' of His only begotten Son,          sin and death and Satan also as operative through the  world-
       whereby all the guilt of the sins of His exiles stiall be covered     p o w e r .
       and thereby obliterated and a; life that is everlasting merited           All that is written of John proves conclusively that.  the.
       for them in the way of His perfect obedience. By Him and              "voice crying in the wilderness" was a call to repentance
       in His Spirit-Him the only way, the straight, level and               directed to the church in Babylon.
       smooth way - Gdd will lead His captives home: In Christ                   Christ had need of a people prepared by His God to re-
       He will come to them there in Babylon and bring them into             ceive him. They were the firstfruits. and-as such the pledge
       His sanctuary. Or, m&-e  in the language of the New Testa-            that all that the Father had given Him would come unto
     ment Scriptures, he will break the  barids  of their death, re-         Him.                                                   G.M.O.
       deem them from all `their sins and make them td` appear with                                     q-
       Christ in glory, where His tabernacle will be with'them.                                         EDITOR; ALS
              So shall the Lord make a way for Himself in the desert                                (Contimed from page 77)
                                                                             And I challenge the former Consistory of Kalamazoo to prove
       indeed, deliver His captives from their bondage and bring             the contrary, particularly in the light of 1 gnd 2' above.
       them into. His own house. It will be all His work in order                In the light of all that we have written about the reply
       that His glory may be revealed in Christ. That is its  sole           of the former Consistory of Kalamazoo to brother Meninga,
       purpose. And so our passage cdncludes  with the statement,            it should be very plain to all that can read that the former
       "And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh           Consistory of Kalamazoo is certainly upholding the heresies
       shall see together ! for the mouth of the *Lord hath spoken it."      preached by the Rev. De Wolf and condemned by  Classis.
      '  (ys.  5)            .,                                              Nor it is true that the main issue in the present separation is
             God's glory is the effulgence of His virtues in Christ. It      church political. On the  contrq-y,, it is certainly doctrinal,
       shall be revealed. All flesh, the whole of humanity to a man,         and concerns the heresies of the Rev. De Wolf and those
     . . reprobate as well as elect, shall see together. The reach also      that support him, including the `former Consistory of Kala-
       of this prophecy extends to ths end of time. Its fulfilment ,is       mazoo.' That we deserted the  legally~  called Synod of the
       the final appearance of Christ with His church,  when every           Prot. Ref. Churches is so ridiculous that nd one will.believe
       tongue shall confess that He is the Lord to the glory of the          it. Not we, but  Classis  West and all its schismatic actions
       Father, implying that this great work of God shall be visible         were the cause of the separation.
       to all in its consumation.  And all shall come to pass. For the          And therefore, I conclude that the former Consistory  of
       mouth of the  Lord.bath spoken it. His Word is inviolable,            Kalamazoo has certainly left  the. communion of the Prot.
       He being God. faithful and mighty.                                    Ref. Churches, as is evident  from the fact that they recognize
             The voice crying in the wilderness as' heard by -Isaiah         De Wolf and those that follow him as the legal.Consistory  of
       was the preaching of the Gospel by the prophets of God that           the First Prot. Ref. Church of Grand Rapids, Michigan, in
       labored among the exiles in `Babylon. By it the captives -            spite of fhe fact that this'consistory was condemned by Clas-
       the remnant according to the election of grace -were spirit-          sis and that the true and legal representatives of the Consis-
       ually prepared for the moment that the Lord would come to             tory were received by Classis  in October, 1953. Moreover, I
       redeem them from the captivity of their exile and lead'them           &n convinced that the former Consistory of Kalamazoo does
       to His Holy Temple in Jerusalem.                                      no longer teach the true Prot. Ref. doctrine.  And I predict
             Such then, was the purpose of ,the "voice" as heard by          that this will become evident more and more, as time ad-
       Isaiah. And as is cl&r from the# description of the calling bf        vances.                                                 H.H.


                                                      T H E   -STANDAR,D   BEA-l&R                                                    81

                                                                        liness. In the hope of the final.resurrection  they must press
11  F R O M   H-OLY  W R I T .   :jl on. But then they will need to have the living hope in their
I                                                                 `I    hearts, that after the battle has been won the crown of glory
                                                                        shall be ours. That and that only gives heart in the battle.
               Exposition of II Timothy  2:14.                          Thus Abraham, Isaac and Jacob pressed forward, seeking a
     The passage which we will this time consider contains              better land, that is, an heavenly country. And Timothy must
in&ructions from Paul  tc? Timothy in regard to what must               be strong, rather, he must be strengthened in the grace in
be constantly held before the attention of the church in order          Christ. He must instruct others to preach, men who are of-
that she may truly walk in godliness, steadfast in the truth            such natural and spiritual calibre that they are able to in-
in Christ Jesus. The church must be built and established               struct others.
in Christ and walk in all good works of faith and gratitude.               But always and again "these`things" must be held before
The saints in Christ must walk in the good works which                  the church. Says Calvin on this verse: "It means that the
have been before prepared for her that she. should walk in              summary of the gospel which'he gave, and the exhortation3
the&.                                                                   which he added to it, are of so great importance` that a good
     Such is the general thrust of this passage.                        minister ought never to be weary of exhibiting them; for
     But shall the church walk in all godliness then she must           they are things that deserve td be constantly handled, and
-be under the nurture of good and sound doctrine; she must              that cannot too frequently be repeated.  `They' are things
be under inspired Scriptures? which are profitable for in-              (he  says)  which I wish you not only to teach once, but to
struction,  repfoof, correction, in the entire pedagogy to              take great pains to &press  on the hearts of men by frequent
righteousness in order that the man of God be thoroughly                repetition.! A good teacher ought to look at nothing else than
equipped unto every good work.                                          edification, and to give his whole attention to that alone . . ."
     The church needs the proper equipment to walk as saints            And in a sermon on this passage Calvin writes: "When any
in the light. She mhst.  be fed on the truth as it is in Jesils,        person comes to the sermon, let it not ,be to something that
the gospel of our salvation. She may be fed on nothing less             tickles the ear, or that gives pleasure ; but let it be to make
Woe to any preacher who does it otherwise. Hence, the                   progress in the fear of God, and in humility, and to excite to
warning is in order, given in II Timothy 2  :14,  "Of  these            prayer, and to confirm him in patience. If we have heard aa
things Put tllem in revumb~ancc,~ clmrging  them in the sight           exhortation  today, and if tomorrow it is repeated to us, let
of the Lord, that  they strive riot  about  words to  `no  Profit,      us not think that this is superfluous, let us not be annoyed at
to  t+e  szlbz1evtin.g   of  them  that  1zea.Y  thePv2."               it; for every person who carefully examines this subject
     We should observe that Paul is really very positive in             will firid it to be highly necessary for him .to~ be reminded of
the text. He tells Paul  th&t  he must put the believers in con-        the lesson which he had learned, that he may practice it well.
stant r&embrance  of "these things." We ask : what things ?             If, therefore, God refreshes our memory with it, he has con-
The answer is found in the context, the `verses S-13, where             ferred on us a. great favor. That is what we have to remark
Paul cites briefly the entire Gospel of the Cross and resur-            on this passage when Paul says `remind them of these things..'
rection of Jesus Christ, as this was promised before by God             For undoubtedly he intended to prevent what we frequently
through prophets in Holy Scriptures  and-in  the fulness of             meet with, when it is said, `We have heard this  befoie. Is
times was fulfilled in Christ, His Son! Furthermore, the                not that a very common remark? Where is the little child
Apostle cites the meaning that this has in his own suffering            that does not know it ?' Such things are said by those who
for the Gospel's sake, which he endures, ihat the elect with            would be  fed. with useless questions. But here the Holy
him may obtain salvation with eternal  glory.  For all who              Spirit desires that what is useful should be brought forward
suffer with Christ shall surely be glorified together with Him.         every day, because we have not sufficiently  und&stoocl  it,
.The unbreakable  comlection  must be pointed  o$ to the                and because it must be put in practice."
church not simply between suffering in general and some                    Hence, always and again the minister must hold before
happy "beautiful isle of somewh&e,"' but between the Cross              the Church the glorious truth of the reality that Jesus Christ
of Jesus and His crown, for all .who suffer with Christ. That           is in the completed state of having been raised from the dead.
-"faithful word"' of God concerning Cross and crown must                He is the firstfruits of them that have fallen asleep. That
constantly be. held before the believing eyes of the hearers.           Chi-ist is now no longer in the grave but that he has ascended
That was the word which inspired men and wollien  to die                on high is the central truth of the glorious good tidings. This.
for the faith, that caused them to rejoick greatly when -they           is the truth of the Gospel of which angels sang in Bethlehem
sufferecl  for righteousness' sake, knowing that their reward           Ephratha. and it is what Christ Himself explained to the
is  great in the Kingdom of glory. The sufferings to come               travelers to Emmaus, when he pointed out to them that the
upon Christ is theirs but also the glory to follow.                     Christ, the Messiah, ought to have suffered all these things,
     Of "these things" Timothy must put the congregations in            to .be raised from the dead the third day and thus enter into
remembrance.                                                            His glory. And beginning from Moses and all the prophets
     In view of this battle they must be instructed unto god-           .he explained unto them the things written conderning  Him-


  82                                          T H E   STANUARD   B E A K E R

  self. Such was the preaching of Paul in Antioch of Pisidia          (,,Langs zuivere banen"). It is a remarkable thing that in
  (read Acts 13)  d
                   an such was Paul's labors everywhere. Read         the mere study of "words" the church has never had any
  of Paul's labors in Thessalonica  iq Acts `17. It is through        battles. In this sense Paul could, evidently, not have meant
  this resurrection of Christ that we have been born anew unto        the "striving about words to no good use." Words have `a
  a living hope, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from        definite meaning in a given context in the Scriptures and
  the dead, u&o the inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and       they serve as means to teach us, the Gospel of our salvaton.
  that  fadeth  not away. I Peter 1  :3. In view of this hope, of     In this sense we need not be to fgarful  for any battle about
  which they must always be ready to give ai account, Paul            words.
  m&t "put them in remembrance of  these things,"                        The battle about words is never the earmark of those
        Yes; of these things put them in remembrance ! These          who wish to live under the blessed Gospel of Jesus Christ,
  are' the words that are health-affording to the believers, to       which `is able to make us wise unto salvation through faith
  the "hearers."- Only where the hope of seeing God is kept in        in Jesus Christ. It is the earmark of those who-depart from
  mind is there a walk of godliness. Says John "and everyone          the faith. in Jesus Christ, from the sound words of doctrine
  that has this hope upoh  Him p"ifies  himself as He is pure.        and their profitableness of hope and godliness.
Notice: not the subjunctive: let him purify, but the in-                 This is evident, first of all, from the fact that Paul's in-
  dicative : he purifies ! 1~ view of this healthy state and well-    junction to Timothy that he charge the church before the
  beirig  of faith and hope we must constantly be put in memory       Lord, that they do not engage in battle over words, is sub-
  of the central-  truth of the Gospel, the resurrection of Christ    joined to the admonition that he "put in remembrance of
  and all its future glories. That only tends to  .godliness.         these things." The remembrance.of  these things is incongru-
  Despair breeds wickedness even as the law is the power of           ous with strife about words, which are to no profit, that
  sin., but hope gives birth each day anew to godliness through       subvert, are a "catastrophe" to the hearers. These.  stiifes
  the grace of Jesus Christ. And so the "faithful saying" con-        simply bewilder the hearers no end and cause them to'
  cerning the Cross and Crown, the suffering, with Christ and         stampede like frightened cattle. It  do& not fit in with the
  the being glorified with Christ must constantly be brought          logical s&vice of God, so that we approve what is the good,
  to the attention of the "hearers."                                  acceptable and perfect will of God.
        In this hope of the Gospel we  ought  to walk! Through           Secondly, we may be certain, that such "striving about
  exhortations God causes us to walk in  the good works of            words" is characterized by Paul as being "profane babblings"
  faith and love and hope; God cortfers grace through exhorta-        of men who will not stay in the truth unto go'dliness,  but wha
  tion to the elect, bringing them through patience unto the          will proceed to further ungodliness ! This is a sure fruit of
  eternal day, and causing us to walk in that way of sanctifica-      all who walk in this profane babbling ! Solid study is gone.
  tion through which we shall see the Lord. Fey this "putting         One might better listen to the prattlings of children. At least
  us  iti remembrance of these things" is the Media Gratiae,          that is no catastrophe in the hearers. Such who strive about
  the Means of Grace, by which the Holy Spirit reproves, car-' "words" and care not for the body of the truth in Jesus, we
  rects, places us in the pedagogy of righteousness, that the         must shun.
  man of God may be thoroughly equipped unto good works.
    But shall we be thus thoroughly fzhrnished  (equipped, fitted        Thirdly, the motive of such striving about words is never
  out') unto every good work, then we must have as part of            a godly one ! It does not belong to one who strives to present
  our equipment the healthy concern that we do not engage             himself acceptable before God ; to one who teaches the truth
  in word-battles, that is, striving  abozzt words.  Since the        in Jesus in all meekness arid gentleness, bearing in  long-
  truth of the Gospel is written in words, holy words  (iera          suffering and patience with those who resist themselves. It
  grammata, II Tim. 3 :15). Paul cannot mean that we should           is characteristic of the man, who does not know, that in the
  not diligently seek to.-attain  the meaning of the words of         games only those receive the crown,  ,who strive lawfully!
 Scripture These words  are. the vehicle through which the            To this class belongs Hymaneus and Philetus, men who con-
  filfilled Promise of God in Christ's death and resurrection is      cerning the truth have erred. They wrested the Scriptures,
  announced to us, and the hope of glory. We have our Lexicti         in their battle about words, to their own destruction. They
  in Greek,  Hebreiv and Latin etc. And no one will dispute           philosopized until they had no- future resurrection. to look
  the fact that it.is necessary to consult a good dictionary to       forward to, and no cleansing of themselves because of this
  determined the derivation, the current usage of a word or           hope of the fathers.                                I
  term. Fact is, that ,no one, worthy of the name of a preacher,         Of  these  men we must beware!
  should make a sermon on any text if he has not studied the             Where such men subvert the hearers they will to give their
  terms. Any man who seeks diligently to be a workman, ap-            own meaning to words. Their souls are not aflame with the
 .proved  of- God, and that has no cause to be ashamed of his         joy of the Holy Spirit in the truth of the Gospel. They are
  work in the Ministry of the Gospel, will surely busy himself        very selfish men. They cannot deny themselves, take up
  with a "word-study" of Scripture. For such is the requisite         Jesus' Cross and follow Him for the truth of the Gospel's
  of all right handling of the word along straight paths,                                     (Corttiuued  on page 86)


                                              THI?  S+AND,ARD   B E A R E R                                                         83
  -

                                                                      evil content of it but especially by the fact that he dared to
                IN,HIS  F E A R                                       make that his defense. And, no doubt, many of his followers
                                                                      were also shocked and momentarily, at least, hesitated in their
                                                                      allegiance unto him. At any rate, so disturbed were many of
                         More Straws                                  his followers that he was forced to make an explanation of
                                                                      some of its contents in a Reformed Guardian article.
       Another straw.                                                     We refer not simply to the slanderous remarks about the
       And this is a very, very evil one!                             Rev. H. Hoeksema, which even his enemies  knoti are not
       We hesitated a long, long time before coming to the con-       true, but especially to the fact that this cross bill, and Rev.
  clusion that this matter also ought to be shown,up for what         De Wolf ~by it, repudiates our history since 1924. We have
it is worth and for its  esceeding  sinfulness. We have now           reference to that article 4, which reads as follows: "Defend-
  become convinced that these things also must not go unchal-         ants further show that the `said Herman Hoeksema, ' while
  lenged.                                                             occupying the pulpit in the said East Street Holland Chris-
    It is not because we are interested in being vindicated           tian Reformed Church, by his acts and conduct  and  by` his
  befoi-e the  bai- of  manls judgment. It is not that we enjoy       refusal to acknowledge, the duly constituted authorities of
exposing ihe' corrtiption that has been perpetrated these last        saicl church and its  decrees  and pronouncements, caused  a-
  few yeal's.  Buf in answer to some who have asked us whether        schism in said church and' a splitting of the membership
  we think that our articles are to the glory of God, we wish         which attended said church while he was its pastor. That
  tb state all that we have written was written not in a spirit       the said Herman Hoeksema and his followers took possession
  of malice but In His Fear. It is because many are  still            of the church property located on Eastern Avenue and in-
  being deceived by the evil practices and grasping of straws         sisted that he, said Herman Hoeksema. and others, were
  for defense by those who will neither confess their heresy nor      entitled to the us6 of the church edifice and parsonage, and
  their awful. act of schism  that we write these things, while       did for a iong time following said schism occupy said pre-
  personally we would. rather fill this department with other         mises.". (By decision of the Supreme Court of the State of          .
  practical observations. And we would consider ourselves             n'richigan, Rev. De Wolf. Why do you pot look up the
  remiss in our duty if we did not warn our readers and show          facts 7)
 them how they are giving moral and financial support to a'               Such an evil accusation, such a statement of untruth
  movement that before God has  ,110 right  to sail  uxlder the       surely needed explanation (  ?) !
  Protestant Reformed flag. While they remain - whether                   Indeecl  !
  here in Michigan or. in that which formerly was  Classis              They were gasping  at straws and in desperation willing to.
  West - in such a movement, or at this late hour still dare          sieze upon a thing like tliis (Rev. Kok, please note) to hold
  to join .a movement so manifestly evil, they are opposing           on to property which they were illegally holding.
  both the truth, as our Covenant God gave it to the Protestant           And that explanation(  ?) of Rev. De Wolf makes it worse
  Reformed churches,. and all reformed church polity.                 rather than better. He ridicules the Rev. Hoeksema's inter-
       And especially if you take the stand of Rev, Blankespoor       pretation though he does not call it the wrong one. But if it
  that the issue is solely a church political one, then this move-    is the wrong one that leaves a far worse alternative. That
  ment has  n-o right whatsoever to exist. For the evidence           makes it all the' more apparent that they were grasping at
  continue? to pile up that there is not even the semblance of        straws and that in a `very  evil way. It also explains why they
  reformed church political procedure in their whole course.          had to go back to the same lawyer who was instrumental
  Read again the amazing testimony in Rev.  Vanden  Berg's            in separating the Protestant -Reformed constituency. from
  article of November 1, which also, by the way, is ari answer        its property in 1925 by convincing the court that these things
  to our challenge, to that which illegally calls itself  Classis     were true that are stated in article 4. By your  act of hiring
  West, to. give us one authority that will maintain that its         this lawyer, Rev. De Wolf, you said that it is true, though by
 action in Septenlber  1953 was legal. This passage of Mons-          word of mouth you deny it ( ?) .
 ma and Van Dellen  says quite the opposite. And how could                But look once at- Rev. De Wolf's defense' of this article.
  that  Classis  dare to recognize, without investigation and with    It reads as follows : (Reformed Guardian, Vol. II, No .l.)
  so little deliberation, Rev. De Wolf and his deposed elders?            "Now the reader will note that we are dealing here with
       However, the  lnatter   .we have first in mind as another      a legal document that states a legal opinion as determined by
  straw, which in deperation was grasped by those who are             the court. The articles that follow also clearly indicate this
  sinking underthe deluge of truth and fact, took place a long        fact. According  tci the decision of the courts in 1925, the
 time ago. And, we repeat, we show its.sinftilness  and worth-        Rev. Hoeksema and his followers, in which also we were
  lessness for defense only because it is evident that many were      included, were not entitled. to the properties. (On that basis,
  and still are deceived into ignoring and overlooking its evil.      Rev. De >Volf,  you surely should not have used this in your
       We. personally, were shocked when Rev. De Wolf's cross         &oss bill, for you and your followers created schism and
 bill was first published. We were shocked not only by the            refused to abide by that which the  Protestant Reformed

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

  churches declared to be the plain teaching of Scripture and         this schism. (Wait a minute, Rev. De Wolf. Now  you  are
  the confessions. Did you forget the decisions `of` Classis  East    saying are you not? that the decision of the courts is correct.
  of May, 1953, in re your `heretical statements, when  YOU           that the -Rev. Hoeksema was a schismatic.) And refuse to
  swore to this. cross bill  ?) The reason was this,  (SO  the        acknowleclge  the authorities above referred -to as actual au-
  explanation of Rev. De Wolf continues and underscores our           thorities, is another question. Upon this question  the cross
  remarks in the above parenthesis). that the Rev. Hoeksema           bill does not express an opinion . . . ." From here on. Rev.
  refused to submit to an accepted doctrine in the Christian          De Wolf goes off `on a tangent and `speaks about the leader-
 Reformed Church. (And you refused to call literally heretical        ship of the Rev. Hoeksema because of his condemnation of
 that which the Prot. Ref. Churches called literally heretical        this article in Rev. De Wolf's cross bill. There is only this
 and declared required an apology.) The Rev. Hoeksema                 statement of, him that follows at the bottom of the column
 attempted to prove th&he was the continuation of the true            that still ought to be noted. He states, "It is with a com-
  Christian Reformed Church. (And you dared, though the               parison between' the legal position of 1925 and today as
 situation was quite different and half of the Consistory agreed      determined by the articles quoted above, (these are the
 with the decisions of the Classis,  you with no more than half       Articles of Association in question in 1925 and those drawn
 dared to say that you were the true continuation of the              up for the congregation after organizing into a Protestant
 Protestant Reformed Churches with heretical statements               Reformed church)  that the cross bill concerns itself."                  ,
 condemned by the  Classis  ! What is more, in 1924 it was,               That explanation (  ?> apparently satisfied many of his fol-
 the  Classis  that drew up heretical statements and the Rev.         lowers who did not take the time to think it through. B&t its
 Hdeksema refused to subscribe to them. You, with careful             evil is very apparent to anyone who will stop to ask the
 helibwation,  so much so that you could tell others before           question, "If Rev. De Wolf disagrees with the decision of the
 preaching the last heretical sermon that you were going to           Supreme Court of the State of Michigan taken in 1925, and
 offend some by what you intended to say, manufactured                believes that the Rev. Hoeksema did the right thing before
 those statements that the  Classjs condemned.  j  The courts,        God, why use this as evidence in the Superior Court of the
 however, refused to accept this. In the judgment of the              same  Stat& of Michigan in order to have him condemned ?
 courts the Rev. Hoeksema -had departed from the accepted             Does a man who deals honestly appeal to decisions which he
 standards of that church (and we proved that you did from            knows and believes to be wrong as eviderLce?  Does one who
 the accepted standards of the Protestant Reformed Churches)          is truthful quote the decision of others with which he- do&
 and, by his refusal to submit to what `the courts j.udged  to be     not agree to get a point of advantage for himself? Does he
' the legal authorities of that church, he forfeited the right to     then say ? Well I did not make that decision, I simply told
 the properties upon the basis of the following article in the        you that so and so, in this case the Supreme Court of the
 Articles of Association of the Eastern Ave. Church."                 State of Michigan, said so.               .
       Somewhat later, after quoting those Articles of dssocia-           We have more on this, for there are many  &ides to it
 tion, Rev. De Wolf continues thus :                                  that bear thought and consideration. This we plan to do in
   , "This is history. It is legal history as recorded in the         the next issue.
 records of the courts of pur land. Does the Rev. Hoeksema                                                                                   J.A.H.
 or any of his present followers want to deny that this is                                         -f-SW
 history?" (Th  t
                  a is not the question, Rev. De Wolf. It is                              WEDDING  ANNIVERSARY
 also history that the Sanhedrin declared Christ worthy of               On  Novelilber   22,  1954,  our  beloved   parents:
 death. The question is, if  -you do not agree with the  R'ev.                                 HERMAN  DeVRIES
 Hoeks&a's interpretation of your oath in regard to these                                                and
 things, then why do you make use of a thing that you do not                             CLARA       DeVRIES-nee              KUIK
 believe  yourself  as kvidence in court?)                            will  commemorate  the  25th  anniversary  of  their  marriage.
                                                                         We  are  grateful  to  our  Covenant   God  for  all  the  blessings  He
   He continues, "That is the historical fact to which the cross      has  bestowed  upon  them  and  us; and  we  trust  and  pray  that/if
 bill refers. And that is all that it states in this particular       it  be  His  good  pleasure,   they  may  be  graciously  spared  for  one
statement which the Rev. Hoeksema has called into question.           another  and  for  us,  fo,r  many  years  to  come.
 The cross bill does not state whether these things' are just                                                        Their  thankful  children,
 or unjust. It does not enter into the moral aspect-of the case                                                                  John
 in any sense of the word, It simply states the fact as that                                                                  Gerald
                                                                                                                                 Martin
 has been established by the courts. The court found that the                                                                 Dooald
 Rev. Hoeksema caused a schism, a separation. Does the Rev.                                                                      James
 Hoeksema deny this ? It found that he refused to acknowl-                                                                       Ted
 edge the duly constituted authorities of the Christian Re-                                                                      Frank
 formed Church and its decrees and pronouncements. Do&                                                                           Hehry
                                                                                                                                 Maurice.
 he deny this? Whether before God he. had the right to cause             Randolph,   Wisconsin.


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEARE-R                                                  $5

II                                                                   in. which the emperor (it is not stated by whom, whether by
           Contending For The Faith                             Il. Christ, or by an angel) was directed to stamp on the shields
                                                                     of his soldiers the "heavenly sign of God," that is, the cross
                                                                     with the name of Christ, and thus to go forth against his
            -The Church and the Sacraments                           enemy. Another gives  a. different version of this "miraculous"
                                                                     incident. On his march from Gaul (France  j  to Italy (the
                                                                     date and spot are not specified), the emperor, while earnestly
      VIEWS DURING THE SECOND PERIOD  (300-750   A.D.)!              praying to the true God for light and+ help at this critical
                                                                     time, saw, together with his army, in clear daylight towards
                          THE CHURCH                                 evening, a shining-cross in the heavens above the sun, with
                                                                     the inscription : "By this conquer," and in the following night
Constnntine the Great.                                               Christ Himself appeared to him while he slept, and directed
                                                                     him to have a standard prepared in the form of this sign of
       It is not our purpose in these articles to give a full and    the cross, and with that to proceed against Maxentius and.
complete -appraisal of the life and person of Constantine, the       all other enemies. This meant that the sign of the cross
Great, recognized as the first Christian emperor. That is not        would henceforth replace the sign of the eagle which had
necessary in a series of articles which treat the history of         until now adorned the'shields of the soldiers of the Roman
doctrine. Besides, to do  such would be extremely difficult          E m p i r e .
for the undersigned. Constantine can and must be judged in               This famous tradition may be explained, either as a real
the light of his time and age. And to judge him, to form an          miracle implying a personal appearance of the Christ, or as
objective appraisal of this famous historical character is diffi-, a pious fraud, or as a natural phenomenon in the clouds and
cult, -If Emperor Constantine were a Christian (he is called         an optical illusion, or finally as a prophetic dream. Let  us
the first Christian emperor because he embraced Christianity         look into these possible explanations a- little more in detail.
as his religion in distinction from heathenism), then we may         We do this because of the tremendously important role
certainly say that his Christianity was not of a very high           which Constantine has played in the history of the Church.
character. To the Greek church which honours him even as             One cannot doubt the importance of the Edict of Milan              '
a canonized saint, he has the same significance as  Charle-          which was issued by Constantine in the year, 313, and which
magne to the Latin church (we must remember that the                 edict is inseparably connected with the battle of. the Milviam
"Greek'.' represents the,Eas&-n  part of the Roman empire in         Bridge and the famous sign of the cross which he is reputed
distinction from the "Latin" or western part of this old             to have seen upon the eve of that important victory. The
Roman empire.)                                                       possibility of a miracle sign in the heavens might be justified
      The' conversion of Constantine to Christianity dates back      by the significance of the victory as marking a great epoch
to October 28, 312, when he; in the battle of the Milvian            in the history of the world and of the church, namely the
Bridge, conquered Maxentius, his rival for supremacy over            downfall of paganism and the establishment of Christianity
.the entire western part of the Roman Empire. Historians,            in the Empire. However, this version of the incident at the
however, inform us that he showed -an inclination toward             Milvian Bridge does not appear acceptable to the Church of
Christianity already before this -date, and must have expres-        God. One can hardly compare this incident, for example,
sed himself as follows : "My father revered the Christian God        with the appearance of Christ to Paul on the way to Damas-
and uniformly prospered, while the emperors who worship-             cus. Constantine had already revealed an attitude which
ped the heathen gods, died a miserable death  ; therefore, that      was favorable to Christians, although it may be conceded
I may enjoy a happy life and reign, I will imitate the example       that his friendliness toward Christians was utilitarian in
of my father and join myself to the cause of the Christians,         nature. Besides, had Christ appeared to him would He not.
who  .are growing daily while the heathens are diminishing."         have exhorted him to repent, presupposing now that this
I do not believe that we need not doubt that this low,               incident marked Constantine' repentance ? Yet, the -emperor
utilitarian consideration weighed heavily in the mind of             was not baptized until shortly before his death. This fact,
Constantine. In this battle of the Milvian Bridge `(approxi-         that he was baptized only shortly before his death, in the
mately. ten miles from Rome) Constantine was confronted              light of his reputation as the first Christian emperor, is a            _
by his arch-enemy for the crown, and outnumbered three to            strange fact indeed., And, as we shall see later, there are                  .
one. It is -at this time that the famous and familiar incident       other strange incidents `in the life of this Constantine, the
of the miraculous cross must have occurred. The precise day          Great.
and place cannot be fixed, but the event must have occurred             Continuing with the various possible interpretations of
shortly before Constantine's final victory over Maxentius in         the sign immediately prior to the battle of the Milvian
the neighborhood of Rome. This occurence- is variously de-           Bridge, we quote now from Schaff's History of the Christian
scribed. A certain Lactantius, the earliest witness, some            Church as he discusses this incident. Our quotation is from
three years after the battle, speaks only of a dream by night        Vol. III,. pages 24~28, as follows :

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

      "The opposite hypothesis of a mere military stratagem        which controlled this remarkable turning point of history.
or intentional fraud is still more objectionable, and would        We may go farther and admit a special providence, or what
compel  us  either to impute to the first Christian emperor        the old divines call a provide@n specinlissimn; but this does
at a venerable age the double crime of falsehood and perjury,      not necessarily imply a violation of the order of nature or an
or, if Eusebius invented the story, to deny to the "father of      actual miracle in the shape of an objective personal appear-
church history" (Eusebius is generally regarded as the "fa-        ance of the Saviour. We may refer to a somewhat similar,
ther of church history" - H.V.) all claim to credibility and       though far less -important, vision in the life of the pious'
common respectability (the implication of this statement is        English Colonel James Gardiner. .The Bible itself sanctions
that if this "sign of the cross in the heavens" as given to        the general theory of providential or prophetic dreams and
Constantine by Christ, either in a dream or actually were          nocturnal visions through which divine revelations and ad-
merely concocted as a military stratagem-or as an intentional      monitions are communicated to men (Schaff here refers
fraud, then one would be compelled either to impute to Con-        to Old Testament passagesswhich speak of the Lord's re-
stantine the double crime of falsehood and perjury or, if          vealing of Himself to men through visions and dreams. The
Eusebius invented the story, to deny to  the. "father of church    question must be asked, however, whether these passages ap-.
history" all claim to common respectability  - H.V.) . Be-         ply exclusively to the time of the Old Dispensation-H.V.)"
sides it should be remembered that the older testimony of          Before we continue with this quotation from the History of
Lactantius, or whoever was the author of the work on the           the Christian Church by Philip Schaff, we wish to quote this
Death of Persecutors; is quite independent of that of Euse-        account of the event which occurred in the life of this Colonel'
bius. and derives additional force from the vague heathen          James Gardiner. Schaff, remarks that "no reflecting person
rumors of the time. Finally the  Hbc  vime  (by this conquer       will on that account doubt the seriousness of Gardiner's con-
- H.V.) which has. passed into proverbial significance as a        version, which. was amply proved by his whole subsequent
most appropriate motto of the invincible religion of the cross,    life, even far more than Constantine's was." This  accomlt
is too good to be traced to sheer falsehood. Some actual fact,     of the event in the life of Garcliner was according to the
therefore, must be supposed to underlie the tradition, and the     account of Garcliner's friend, a certain Dr. Philip Doddridge,'
question only is this, whether it was an external visible          who learned the facts from Garcliner, `as Eusebius from Con-
phenomenon or an internal experience.                              stantine. However, we will quote this account in our follow-
      The hypothesis of a natural formation of the clouds,         ing  arti.cle.
which Constantine by an optical illusion mistook for a super-                                                                  H.V.
                                                                                           .--s&d-
natural sign of the cross, besides smacking of the expioclecl
rationalistic explanation of the New Testament miracles, `and                           FROM   H O L Y   W R I T
                                                                                       (Coll~fimled  from flagc 82)
deriving an important event from a mere accident, leaves the       sake. They grow weary of being reminded of "these things."
figure of Christ and the Greek or Latin inscription: By this       They must hear something "new."
sign  tlro,  shalt  conqzter!  althogether unexplained.                No, they did not intentionally bring a "catastrophe" in the
      We are shut  LIP  therefore to the theory of a dream or      Church of Christ. Paul employs a term in the greek which
vision, and an experience within the mind of Constantine.          shows that this subverting of the hearers is the result. It
This is supported-by the oldest testimony of Lactantius, as        is :  epi katastrophee  toon  akouontoon,  that is,  so  that  the
well as by the report of Rufinus and Sozomen,  Andy we do          hearers are overthrown. They no  more. hear the  .cent_ral
not hesitate to regard the Eusebian cross in the skies as          truth of the glorious Gospel. In the righteous judgement  of
originally a part of the dream,, which only subsequently as-       God they fell- into the snare of the Devil. And where this
sumed the character of an outward objective apparition             Devil's work of striving for words is seen; there is the teach-
either in the imagination of Constantine, or by a mistake of       ing of a different doctrine, (heterodidaskalei) which cannot
the memory of the historian, but in either case without in-        be -health-affording in hope and faith, but is a sickly doting
tentional fraud. That the vision was traced to supernatural        about questions, a morbid concern about words, which have
origin, especially after the happy success, is quite natural,      nothing to do with the pedagogy to salvation in Christ Jesus,
and in keeping with the prevailing ideas of the ages. Tertul-      but in the judgment of God subvert the hearers. Where you
lian and other ante-Nicene and Nicene fathers attributed           have subverted hearers  you  have to deal with men, who
many conversions to nocturnal dreams and visions. Constan-         are filled with suspicion, strife, railings, blasphemy, wrangl-
tine and his friends referred the most important facts of his      ings, men of corrupted minds bereft of the truth! I Tim.
life, as the knowledge of the approach of hostile armies, the\     6:4, 5.
discovery of the holy sepulchre, the founding of Constantin-           Wherefore I charge you before the presence of God ,ancl
ople, to divine revelation through visions and dreams. Nor         of Jesus, who shall judge the living  ancl the dead: preach
are we disposed in the least to deny the connection of the         the Word!
vision of the cross with the agency of divine Providence,                                                                       G.L.


                                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                      87
                                                                                                                                          .
      II                                                                                propounded. It goes without saying, of course, that by "this
                The Voik of Our ~Fathers'                                          II doctrine of election" the fathers mean the doctrine of election
                                                                                        that is maintained and expounded here in the Canon!, not
                                                                                        just any doctrine of election, and certainly not the Arminian
                      The Canons of Dordrecht                                           doctrine of a conditional, non-decisive, and revocable elec-
                                                                                        tion. Undoubtedly the fathers had in mind an argument of
                                     PART  TWO                                          the Arminians also when they framed this article. And that
                                                                                        argument was that such a doctrine, i.e., of sovereign and
                         EXPOSITION   OF  THE  CANONS                                   eterenally unchangeable election, ought not to be preached
                                                                                        because it would lead to passivism and dead orthodoxy,
                          FIRST  HEAD  OF  DOCTKINE                ,                    would snuff out every incentive and incitement to an active
                         OF  DIVINE  PREDESTINATION                                     life of faith and conversion. And now, having made it clear
                                                                                        that this doctrine does not make men careless and profane,
                   Article  14.  As  the  doctrine   of  divine  el&ion  by  the        (see Art. 12 and 13), they also insist now that this doctrine
                   most  wise  counsel   of  God,  was  declared   by  the  pro-        must be preached in the church. It is not impossible, how-
                   phets,,  by  Christ  himself,   and  by  the  apostles,   and  is
                   clearly  revealed   in  the  Scriptures,  both  of  the  Old  and    ever, that the fathers also had in mind some of their own
                   Neew  Testament,   so  it  is  still  to  be  published  in  due     number, who were not inclined toward the Arminian error,
                   time  and  place  in  the  Church   of  God,  for  which  it         but who committed the very grave error of seldom or never
                   was  peculiarly   designed,  provided  it  be  done  with            preaching election and teaching this  ,doctrine  to the youth
,.                 reverence,  in  the  spirit  of  discretion  and  piety,   for       of the church, although they claimed to believe this truth.
                  -the  g!ory  of  God's  most  holy  name,  and  for  enliven-         It may safely be said that the large measure in which  Ar-
                   ing  and  comforting  his  people,  without   vainly  at-
                  tempting  to  investigate  the  secret  ways  of  the  Most           minianism conquered the church at that time was due in
                   High.   Acts  2027;  Rom.   11:33,  34;  12:3;  Heb.  6:17,18.       some degree to such a silence on the part of some who never-
                                                                                        theless meant to be Reformed. Often in history the church
            It requires a generous measure of good-will to accept the                   has suffered loss and defeat by default,, by its own failure
      above translation as a faithful rendering of the original Latin                   vigorously to maintain and expound. the truth.
      formulation. In my opinion,  - and the Dutch rendering                                A greater evil it is, however, -and in regard to this
      would seem to support this opinion, -the article is certainly                     evil the Canons are by no means outdated, - when men who
      corrupted by the insertion of the word "provided" about                           are at heart Arminian claim to believe the truth of sovereign
      midway. in the sentence. For although it. is true that the                        predestination, but deliberately attempt to kill that truth
       English translation states factually that the doctrine of                        by silence in the pulpit and in the catechism class. This is
      election "is still to be published," yet by inserting the word                    not at all uncommon in our day. And the terrible result of
      "provided" it changes this factual statement into a conditional                   this practice  is  that the, entire cargo of Arminianism is
      sentence, and at least leaves the impression of raising some                      smuggled into the Reformed church. On this subject we
      doubt as'to the preaching of this doctrine. When one reads                        agree wholeheartedly with the Rev.  J. G. Feenstra, who,
      the word "provided," `he very easily mentally changes "is,                        commenting on this article, writes as follows (I  .translate
      still to be published" into "Zuzay still be published." And the                   from the Holland) : "There is nothing more dangerous than
      intention of this article is certainly not to present the preach-                 when a truth from God's Word is passed by in silence, is
      `ing of election as optional, and that too, only under certain                    silenced to death (doogezwegen) . That is the very worst.
      provisions. For those who can follow the Latin, let it be                         I would rather that they openly oppose it, than that they
      noted that the grammatical construction of the main clause                        silence this truth to death.
      here is that of the gerundive, or future passive participle,                          "In genuine Reformed preaching one cannot keep silence
      with the verb "to be." And this construction invariably de- `about this truth. The doctrine of election belongs to the
      notes necessity and obligation. And in the original Latin                         fundamental matters of God's `Word.
      there is no term that could be rendered by. "provided ;" in-                         Silencing of  the  timth goes hand in hand with under-
      stead, there is just a series of phrases which denote the man-                    cover  importi,ng of  false doctrine . . .  ."
      ner in which it is necessary to preach the doctrine of election.                      With this we must agree. And let it be noted that this
       In this respect the Dutch veresion is much clearer; and our                      articles makes the preaching of the truth of election absolute-
      official English version could well be improved upon. The                         ly binding in the churches. He who subscribes to the Re-
      only other correction worth mentioning concerns the phrase                        formed confessions when he takes o&e or makes confession
      "and for enlivening and comforting his people." This should                       of faith binds himself to the confession that it is not optional,
      be : "and for the lively comfort of his people."                                  but obligatory to proclaim the doctrine of election set forth        .
            The main proposition of this article is, as was already                     in The First Head of Doctrine of our Canons. This is once
      indicated in our remarks on the translation, that this doctrine                   more emphasized for office-bearers in the Formula of Sub-
      of divine election ought to de prencked,  or rather, set forth,                   scription itself.


5s                                               T H E   STA`N'DARD   B-EARER

      Such, then, is the main proposition of this article.                 epistle to the Romans could never avoid the doctrine of
      And it is of force because.it .is foundecl'upon  the. Scrip-         eternal predestination as it is there plainly set forth by the
tures. The fathers take pains to point this out:  -"AS the                 Holy `Spirit. But- secondly, the question here is : must the
doctrine of divine election by the most wise counsel of God,               truth of election be preached? And this question the fathers
was declared by the prophets, by Christ Himself, and by                    seek to answer in the light of Scripture. The question is":
the apostles, and is clearly revealed in the Scriptures, both              is it a sound principle of homiletics, of the science of the art
of the Old and -New Testament, so it is still  to. be pub-                 of preaching, to preach election ? Or is it a sound principle
lished . . . ."                                                            not to preach it, even though it is the truth of Scripture ?
      Only one of the Scriptural references (evidently added               And the fathers, proceeding on the basis that Scripture must
later in both the English and the Holland versions) has any                also determine the principles of the method and manner of
bearing upon this statement. That is Acts 20 ~27, where the                the  preachihg  of the Word, answer that the former is  corl
apostle Paul declares in his farewell-to the elders of Ephesus             rect : it is very plain from Scripture that the truth of sover-z
whom he had called to Miletus : "For I have not shunned                    eign election' Iza,s allure been proclaimed in the clm.~~lz,  and
to  declare  unto you all the counsel of God." But  it is not              therefore must still be pvoclaiuared  today.
difficult  .to point out that the claim that this doctrine was                 To one  more  element of this main contention of the
proclaimed by the prophets; by Christ Himself, and by the                  Canons we must call your attention, before we turn to the
apostles is  corre`ct. Actually the wellknown  protevangel  of             question as to hoee, this truth of election must be preachecl.'
Genesis 3 :1.5, concerning the divinely instituted enmity be-              And our remarks center on ttio closely related expressions
tween the seed of the devil and the seed of the woman, is al-              in this  `art&e. The first is the phrase, "by the most wise
ready a declaration of the divine purpose of predestination.               counsel of God." And the second is the cause. "for which it
Furthermore, the entire history of the old dispensation is a               was peculiarly designed," the word  r&ich referring to the
revelation of God's electing sovereignty. Abraham is chosen                church. It is very evident that the,reference  is to the visible.
and called. Isaac is the-child of the promise, not Ishmael.                church on earth. That church is the gathering of believers
Jacob has God loved, while He hated Esau. Israel is chosen                 and their seed. And the truth of election, the article says,
from amting the nations, although it was not better nor more               was peculiarly designed (destinata Pst in the Latin) for the.
honorable than other nations. Confer: Gen. 3  :1.5; Exodus                 gathering of believers and their seed on earth. It was in-:
33  :19; Deut.  4:37: Deut.  7:7; 65  :4; Ps.  89:3, 4, 19;  .ff. ;        tended  for. the lively comfort of God's people. It is from-.
Ps. 10.5  :6;  Isaiah  6 :9-11; Isa. 40  :l  ; 41  :S: 42  :I;43  :l-7;    every point of view the heart of the gospel, the heart from,
43,:21; 44:1-S;  45:4;  46:9, 10;  48:9, 10;  49:16. and many              which fhe church lives. And it has been rightly termed the.
other passages. That our Lord Jesus  Christ Himself re-                    COY ecclesiae, the heart of the church. That God has caused
vealed the Father in the clear consciousness of the truth of               this  tr<th to be proclaimed in all the ages of the church is
predestination, and on. more  than one occasion found solace               therefore a revelation of His infinite wisdom.' That prophets
in this precious truth when the enemy opposed Him and                      and  afi'ostles  and  Christ  Himself proclaimed this truth in
sought to destroy Him and His cause! and when it seemed                    time past was no accident, but took place according to the
as though His work was frustrated by the turning away of' most wise counsel of God and by the infallible inspiration of
many that first followed Him atid listened to His preaching,               -the  Holy Spirit. .It was the infinitely wise counsel of Him
-that is evident at more than one point in the gospel nar-                 Who always knows what is best for His church, therefore,
ratives. Cf. Matt. 11 :25-27; Matt.  13:11-16;  Mark  4:11, 12;            that caused this blessed truth to' be proclaimed to the church
John 6  :37, ff.  ; John  10:26-30;  John  17:6,  9,  ll? 12. And it       in the past, and that has preserved the infallible record there-"
is to be noted in this connection that the Lord Jestis  openly             of for us in the Holy Scriptures. Should, then, men attempt
pro&&ed this truth. Finally, we may briefly note that also `today to be wiser than God, and foolishly decide that this
the apostles proclaimed  the very same truth. A few of the                 truth should not be proclaimed in the very church for which
many available Scriptural references will suffice : Roman                  it was peculiarly designed  ?
8  :28-39  ;  Ram.  9:ll;  Ephesians  1  ;  I Peter 2 :5-10. These                                   (to be continued)
examples; both in the Old and in the New Testament coulcl.                                                                               H . C . H :
be multiplied without any difiiculty.                                                                  de=--.
      Concernng  the above references let  us  observe the fol-
lowing. First of all, the intention of the fathers in this article                                    IN  MEMORIAM
is not merely to show that the doctrine of election is Scrip-                 The  Choral   Society,  of  the  Hope  Pro;.  Ref.  Church,   hereby
tural. This, of course, is also true  ; and these  passages                wishes  to  express  its  heartfelt  sympathy  &th  one  of  its  members,
can serve as proof-texts for the doctrine set forth  in the                Mr.  Antholly  Langerak  in  the  loss  of  his  mother,
Canons.  And this means at the same time that if the con-                                    MRS.  ANTONIA  LANGERAK
tents of the preaching is to conform to the Holy Scriptures,                  May  our  God  abundiritly  comfort  the  bereaved  by  His  Word
it is not possible to avoid proclaiming the truth of `election.            and  Spirit  and  powerfully   strengthen  them  in  the  hope  of  the\
A minister, for example, who preaches through the entire                   saints.                                Janice Kooienga, Secretary


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                                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                  89
-
      II                                                                      This office of Christ is usually distinquished in a three-
               q DECENCY and ORDER                                         fold manner the prophetic, the priestly and the kingly. These
      I'                          -.                                       are .not three separate offices but rather three different as-
                                                                           pects or functions of the one office. Even so Article 16 dis-
                     The  Mi&ry  Of The Word                               tinquished the office of the ministry of the Word in a three-
                                 ( C o n t i n u e d )                     fold manner for this office is properly a reflection of the
                              The  `idea Of The  Ofice                     office of Christ. "The prophetic aspect of the minister's call-
            At present we are discussing the sixteenth article of our      ing is expressed by the words,`-"to continue in the ministry
      church order which treats the office of the  .ministry of the        of the Word and sacraments." The priestly `function.  is
       Word. We have alrea8ly  mentioned various duties required           "to continue in prayer." The kingly duties consist of "watch-
       of the minister because,  as we said, the intent of this article    ing over his brethren, the elders and the deacons,_as  well as
       is more to set forth the functions of the ministerial office        the  congr,egation,   and, with the elders, to exercise church
       rather than to define or circumscribe the office itself. Be that    discipline." Again, these may not be separated. They be-
       as it may, before,we  proceed to discuss these functions more       long together. In respect to all of this the minister's calling
      fully, we must attend briefly to a few other matters. The            is to represent Christ in the midst of the church and kingdom
     first of these is the idea of the office as such.                     of God in this world and, upon His authority, promote the
            In general an office, any office, may be defined as the        welfare of that cause to the best of his ability and to the
      lposition  of authority in which one functions as a representa-      utmost of his power. Trully, this is an exalted office and
      ' tive. of `a higher power .having  the right to impose his will     glorious task. Who is sufficient unto these things ?
       upon others and demand of them obedience. Thus, for ex-
       ample, there is the office of the policeman. He is the  re-                        The  &d&ntioss of  the Office
      .presentative  of the law or government. He has the right to            To function in this office certain qualifications, natural as
       impose the will of the law upon -the citizens and demand            well as spiritual, must be met. Concerning these. qualifica-
      ! obedience. And he has the power to inflict punishment upon         tions we wrote rather extensively in the Standard Bearer of
       those that are disobedient. Such is his office.                     July 1, 1953 and, consequently, will not repeat here what was
            Now, the authority of the office of the ministry of the        written at that time. It should be evident that all of the
       Word is God. This authority God has vested in His Son,              qualifications for the office of the ministry of the Word are
       Christ. Christ is The Minister  of The Word. Forcefully             essentially contained in. the calling of God. .To serve in the
       this is expressed in Hebrews 1 :l, 2, "God, Who at sundry           ministry is to function as God's representative and to act upon
       times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the             His authority. To do this one must be called-of Him and in
       fathers by the prophets, that in these last days spoken unto        that calling God, not man, provides what is necessary to
       us by His Son, -Whom He hath appointed heir of all                  acquit one unto the task. It will, therefore, be sufficient to
       things . . . ." Jesus tells us, "For I came down from heaven,       consider the following important quotation from the Dog-
       not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me."         matics of Rev. H. Hoeksema, Locus Ecclesiology, pg. 99, in
       (John 6 :3S) Christ declares- the Father unto men, demand-          which he writes of the necessity and importance of the calling
       ing. of them obedience and executing judgment upon. all who         in relation to the ofhces in the church.,
       refuse to hear the gospel of God. This He does through those,          "In order to function in a certain office, it is necessary
       whom He has given unto the church . . . apostles, and pro-          that one be called by..the King of His church. This is neces-
       phets, and evangelists, and pastors and teachers.                   sary because no one may encroach upon. that office. For to
     - (Eph.  4:ll). The office of the ministry then is the position       function in a certain office it is essential that he be appointed
       in which one, representing Christ,  declares~unto  men the will     officially, in order that he can also function officially, that is,
       of, God, commanding men everywhere to repent of evil and            with the authority of Him that sent him and called him to the
       pronouncing the judgments of  ,God upon all who are re-             office. In the second place, this calling is necessary both
      fractory. The office is never to be separated from the church        subjectively and objectively because of the difficulty and the
       and to be swayed by the likes and dislikes of the people. He        responsibility of the task of an office bearer. He who serves
       is- God's servant. He represents the Lord. He may never             in the church of Christ as an officebearer and who takes his
      forget this. His function is to demand obedience to Christ           task and calling seriously, bears a very heavy burden.. And,
       in all things even though often this causes him to loose his        in the third place, this calling and the consciousness of this
      popularity and is the occasion that his carnal parishoners           calling is necessary in order to remain stedfast -over  against
       object and rebel to hearing the Word of Christ. Said Paul           all opposition from within and from without, in the congrega-
       to Timothy, "If thou put the brethren in remembrance of             tion and in the world. In the midst of all such opposition
       these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ,        nothing but the certain conviction that he is called to his
      nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine,             office by Christ -Himself can make him stedfast and immove-  *
      whereunto thou hast attained." (I Tim. 4  6) Such is the             able. This calling to a certain office in the church is both
      nature and idea of the calling of the minister of the Word.          subjective and objective, internal  `and external. To the
                         .


                                                                                                                                7
90.                                              T H E   ST.ANDARD   B E A R E R

internal aspect of the calling belongs the abiding desire to                   Fall meeting of the  Firdies  League
serve the Lord in His vineyard, and that, too, as officebearer,
a desire that must, of course, have its root in the fear of God.           The Fall meeting of the Ladies League of the Protestant
-In the second place? we may say that to the internal aspect           Reformed Churches was held October 14, 1954, at our Hud-
of the calling also belongs the consciousness of a certain             sonville Protestant  -Reformed  Church. Our meeting  was
measure of gifts, both natural and spiritual. And to the               opened by singing Psalter number 330 and Psalm .68, verse
external aspect of the calling belongs, in the first place, the 10, after which our president, Mrs. F. Harbin, opened with
fact that the Lord Himself opens the way to reach the ful-             prayer and read II Thessalonians chapter `two. Our  presil
fillment of the desire to serve in a certain. office. But, above       dent then introduced the speaker, Reverend J. A. Heys, of
all, the foregoing must finally be sealed by the calling of the        Hope Protestant Reformed Church, who spoke on the topic;
church. Without the calling by- the church, there is no call-          "The Anti-Christ as the Man of Sin," as based on the pas-
ing to any office whatsoever. The apostles were, of course,            sage read, namely II Thessalonians 2 :3.
called and sent directly by the Lord. But after the period                 1. His Sinful. Origin : He was conceived and born in
of the apostles, the power to send and to ordain office bearers        Paradise, and as the false Christ opposed to Christ he sets
rests only in the church of Christ. And, therefore, no mat-            himself up as prophet, priest, and king. He tries to displace.
ter how strong the desire of anyone may be to  futlction  in           Christ out of the lie, and under the power of the lie with his
a certain office, he cannot consider himself to' be called by the      depraved nature he craves to be like `God' and be his own:
Lord unless he is called and ordained by the church."            .I    power. The world is striving to bring out the Anti-Christ,
        One who is thus called is qualified for the ministry of the    in the attempt of man to get away from the curse `of Gocl$
Word. It is in this consciousness that the apostle Paul                without God, through science, education, and politics J yea.,
speaks more than once of "God having put him into the                  in-every way but the.way  of the cross.
ministry." To safeguard against mysticism we must, how-                    2. His Evil Achievement: In Paradise  you  have the  in-$
ever, add to this one more thing. That is  pre+cr.l-edness.            fant of sin, an act of complete and utter hatred against God:
The minister must be prepared. He must be thoroughly                   Adam and Eve by their own ingenuity tried to cover their
equipped for the task of preaching. He must not only pos-              sin. The three ungodly sons of  Lamech. by their own
sess various gifts and-talents, natural and spiritual, but these       achievements, tried to take away God's curse: not by seeking
must be  develo-ped. And this preparation is not something             God, but in their own sinful way. The Anti-Christ uses
that is limited to the course of study which he follows and            everything of this world and in this world to fight against
finishes in the seminary but must continue all through his             God and His Church. With the advancement in electronics;
life. For  every  sermon he preaches he must be thoroughly             television, and radar, it is not difficult to understand  the~pos-
prepared. He is a minister of`the living Word of `God, which           sibility of the Anti-Christ having contact with all his people
is fathomless in depth and riches, and that Word -he must              all over the world and knowing whether or not they are
minister to the living church of God according to- their               bowing down to him as described in Revelation chapter 13.
specific needs in particular times and circumstances. For this            3. Utter Destruction: Must we live in fear and dread of
task and calling he must be thoroughly prepared. Only then             all this and be afraid to bring forth children ? No, for Anti-
can- he approach the pulpit with confidence and open his Christ never reaches his aim because his. number is 666 and
mouth widely saying: "Thus saith the Lord."                            never will reach 700. As covenant mothers  we. must re-
                                                                       member he is mere man and every step of his way is -con-"~
                      Famctions of the Office                          trolled by God; and, Christ shall have dominion.
   Although without any question the chief function `of the               After this very edifying talk, opportunity was given  to`
minister of the Word of.- God is preaching, yet, it is also            ask questions relative to the speech.
evident that he must do considerably more than that. Or,                  During the singing of Psalter number 17, a collection was
perhaps, it would be more correct to say that he must min-             taken for our Hope and Adams Street Protestant Reformed
ister the Word of God in many  dift'erent ways and under               Schools. We enjoyed two vocal numbers by a duet from
various circumstances. As overseer he must bring the Word
in a disciplinary manner unto those- that walk in sin. As              Fourth Protestant Reformed Church. Roll call revealed all
catechete he must bring that -Word.in  a palatable form for            of our churches were represented, and also a guest from
instruction to children of varying ages. As. shepherd he min-          South Holland, .Illinois. A short business meeting was held,
isters that Word of comfort and peace to the distressed and            after which Reverend Heys closed-with prayer. Refreshments
dying. And so there is more but always his task is fundament-          were served by the ladies from the Hudsonville and Holland
ally, "Preach the Word, in season  and.out of season, reprove,         churches.
rebuke, exhort with all long suffering Andy doctrine.." (II Tim.          Wee pray that God may bless us in the future as we feel
4:2)                                                                   He has blest us in the past, and that He may give us grace
   Next time, D.V., we will begin-to discuss some of these             to be faithful until the day of His coming.
separate functions of the office of the ministry..        G.v.d.B.                                  Mrs. Peter Decker, Secretary


                                                                                                                                        .


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                 91
 -.---.- . . . . _--
                                                                      field to the attention of Synod that same year, urging the
                  A L L   A R O U N D   U S   -.                      church to take over this field. Rev. Stob writes:        .
                                                                         "The Mission Board was authorized by Synod to con-
                                                                      tinue to investigate. The Board did so, and finally asked
 Tlz& South  India  Szcrrendw.                                        the Rev. John 0. Schuring, then in Ceylon, to make a visit
     -The Rev. George Stob, in the Reformed Journal of  Oc-           to India and give a first-hand report, of conditions and pos-
 tober, 1954, has written a rather lengthy criticism of the           sibilities on the field. Rev. Schuring made a two-week visit
 Synod of the Christian Reformed `Church re its decision to           to India in 19.50, and submitted a long report to the Mission
 abandon the South India Mission field. Obviously because             Board. Persuaded by-Rev. Schuring's report, by letters from
 of its great length (some four and a half pages), we cannot          Mr. and Mrs. Ramiah, and by urgings  from-the "Ramiah
 quote the entire article. Nor is this necessary. However, be-        Club" in Grand Rapids, the Board recommended to the
 cause it contained some interesting observations and left some       Synod of 1950 that our Church take over the  Mysore and
 food for thought, we deemed it well to call the attention of         Bellary fields in India."
 our readers to some thoughts the article expressed.                     There were several objectors to the Board's proposal at
      Rev. Stob pulls no punches as he sharply criticizes the         the Synod, nevertheless the Synod decided to take over the
 decision of the 1954 Synod in this case. He says in effect :         field on the basis of the conditions set forth in the report.
 "If we judge honestly,  I- believe it will appear that our           of the Board. The conditions were two in number: 1. That
 abandonment of South India was not necessary, not advisable,         the indigenous, plan should be followed, i.e., as much as
 and not in any sense  justificable.  The abandonment was a           possible the field should be manned by native workers and
 surrender, a flight from solemn obligation."                         native resources. 2. That a force of two ordained men should
      In the closing paragraphs of his article the Rev. Stob          work on the field for a two or three year period before any
 remarks : "Part of the tragedy of this whole affair is that it       finality should ,be reached as to a peqmanent  .mission  there.
 will unsettle the missionary interest and the missionary giving      At that time a well documented report of the field could be
- of many of our people. We have asked our people time and            obtained on which Synod could base its final action.
 again to pray fervently for our mission to India, and we have           Mr. Ramiah, it appears, was not at all satisfied with this
 assured them that God did most certainly answer our prayers.         arrangement. He wanted greater financial aid from the
`But now, after a trial of. only a few months, w.e have aband-        Church. The Synod of 1951 therefore made some adjust-
j  oned the field. What did our prayers mean ? Did God answer         ment. The Rev. Harry Boer, then professor-elect of Mis-
 them ? Or was it an. ironic bit of circumstance that gave us         sions, registered his objections to the Board's proposal to
 an open door through which we could run out more quickly             augment' financial assistance. He claimed the proposal -was
 than we walked in ?"                                                 "not an adjustment but a complete surrender of the principle
      "Our people have given generously for the mission to            on the basis  of. which the Board was instructed . . . . to
 South India. They had been doing it for years. Our money             conduct its negotiations." He claimed that it no longer fol-
 investment in South India was huge: Altogether it must               lowed the "indigenous Mission policy."
 have totalled  more than 100 thousand dollars. To what end              In 1952 two missionaries signified their calling to go to
 if when we meet a bit of difficulty we drop the whole thing ?        India to work there: Candidate B. Ypma and Dr. P. Y. De
 Is this responsible missionary administration  ? Can the             Jong. Later two others were prepared to go. Still later the
Christian Reformed Church be trusted with the gifts .of her           Board of Missions proposed to send four more missionaries.
 people ?"                                                            All of which left the impression that India was a great field,
     These are sharp questions, indeed, evidently intended to         and the people of the Christian Reformed Church were made
 move the church to once more return to India and continue            aware of these facts as well as exhorted to give and pray for
 the work. -This is plain from the last paragraph in the article :    the venture.
 "Or shall we hope that all is not lost, and that the prayers            Rev. Stob reminds his readers -that in 1951 when Synod
 and the gifts and the hearts that have been given to South           decided to take over the field, it appointed Mr. Ramiah not
India will still make it a focus of missionary interest? And          only the sole administrator and supervisor of the mission, but
 shall we hope that we will awaken again to a recognition that        also made him treasurer and distributor of large subsidies
 we still have a call to India' from which we cannot quite so         allocated by Synod for this work. It appears that Mr. Ramiah,
 easily be discharged ? Shall we hope for a return to South           to put it in the words of Rev. Stob, "saw himself greatly
 India, if God does not count us wholly unworthy?'                    reduced in position, prestige, and power" when the mis-
     It appears that for some fifteen years or more a certain         sionaries arrived on the field. They had the Treasurership
Mr. Arthur V. Ramiah had conducted a faith mission in                 transferred from Mr. Ramiah to a certain  MissBosch  evi-
 India. He was working there independenetly. And in 1947              dently one of the helpers on the field . We gather from' the
 Mr. Ramiah spent some time in this country in the interest           article that the missionaries complained that the Ramiahs
 of his mission. He succeeded in getting the Mission Board            "cared only for money, were charged with planning exorbi-
 of the Christian Reformed Churches to bring the Indian               tant expenditures, and of `playing favorites' among the work-


9            2                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

erg by giving favors and raising salaries on the basis of their    phlet disseminated by the De Wolf g;oup which is supposed
p e r s o n a l   d i s l i k e s . "   .                          to be a defense of "truth and `justice." These were evidently
     Because  of this disruption a special committe~  from the          the soufce of the Doctor's information. On the basisof what
Board made an urgent plane flight to India in September            these Reformed Guardians revealed, Dr. Fuller was ready to
19.53 to help straighten out the matter. The committee failed           decide who was right, De Wolf or Hoeksema. As you may
however and the missipnaries soon returned' and the whole          well guess, he did not hesitate to give his blessing to De Wolf.
case was referred to the Synod of 1954 which Synod decided                 Yep! Dominie Hoeksema lost again! 0, Dr. Fuller be-
to abandon the field.                                                   lieves too in sovereign election. He certainly would emphasiz,e
     Rev:Stob  laments the fact. that so.much  effort and money    it that God sovereignly predestinates. who shall be. saved and.
was spent on this venture, and sharply criticizes the Church            who shall not. But at the same time, according to him that's'
for this action of abandonment for the reasons Synod pro-          none- of the preacher's business. He ought to preach  as,
duced. Whether the Revererid is completely justified in this       though that doctrine did not exist. Accordingly, Dr. Fuller
we are not able  to'say  with any assurance because there may      would insist that it is a condition  to- salvation that a man
be another side to the issue which we do not know. But this        believe. He sees nothing wrong with De Wolf's statements
much is plain, that if the Church proceeded to spend all this           that "God promises to every one of ydu that if you believe
effort and money on such meager.investigation and informa-         you will be saved," and. "one must convert himself before
tion it surely should be rebuked. We may take a lesson from             he can enter into the Kingdom  o_f God." Fuller must have
this mal-administration by the church also as far our own          nothing of the doctrine of Hoeksema that denies these state-
mission activity is concerned. It seems to me that a field         ments.
should certainly be thoroughly investigated before it is de-               That should afford Rev.  De. Wolf  C.S. great  comfort-
.cided upon. We too have made serious mistakes that shoilld             shouldn't it? That a Baptist minister who is arminianistic in
not be repeated. Thirik of the Canadian debacle!                   his preaching, who has apparently no understanding nor love
                                                                   for the Reformed covenant conception,: should give him the
DP  Wolf Gets  Heli,  Fro,w  -A Bapist.                            right hand of fellowship has really put a feather in his hat.
     Recently the Saturday evening Grand Rapids Press pub-                 Wouldn't his audience have been surprised though if Dr.
lished on its church page an advertisement of the Wealthy               Fuller had announced that Sunday evening that he had de-
Street Baptist Church, of which the Dr. Otis Fuller is pastor,          cided in favor of Hoeksema. That's what he should have'
relative to the services he was to conduct the next day and             done if he really wanted to be Calvinistic and Scriptural. But,
especially his Sunday evening topic. I do not recall the                of course, he wo~~lcl first have to get rid of his arminianism
esact words of the ad, and I'm sorry now that the paper in         before he could do that. There is a Dutch expression which
which the ad appeared was not saved so that I could refer               is often applied to a man who is Reformed which translated
to it. But in effect he told the readers of the Press that he      is "Reformed Feelers."- A Reformed man has Reformed
was going to speak Sunday evening about the controversy            Feelers that sense immediately when another is Reformed or
that took place in the Protestant  Refqrmed `Churches, and he .not. I suppose one could also speak of  Arminian  Feelers.
would inform his audience who, in his opinion, was right:          And I suppose, too, that Dr. Fuller has them. He could sense
De Wolf or Hoeksema.                                               immediately that De Wolf talked his language,  and as far asi
     I happened to tune in the radio broadcast that emanates       those two statements are concerned, was preaching his doc-
from his church on Sunday morning and heard him say some           trine. If Rev. De Wolf really wants to be Reformed,  set
more about his Sunday evening subject, all of which was                 should take no colnfort from this.
intended to encourage people to attend that service. Dr.                                                                            M.S.'
Fuller it seems  ii `inclined to the  .sensational.  He wants a          -
large audience. So he picks out topics for the church page
that will attract the curious. Of course there are a con-          II                   C O N T R I B U T I O N S
siderable number of Reformed, Christian  Reformi;d, and
Protestant Reformed people living in close proximity to
Wealthy  Street Church. And I suppose the preacher man-                                   A Misrepresentation
ages to .net the curious also of these churches by his bom-        -       In the report of a certain Classis  ( ?), sign&d by J. Blanke-
bastic methods.                                                    spoor, S.C., appearing in Concordia, October  21, 1954, is
     Naturally I was preaching in my own church that Sunday        found the following notice:
evening &I therfore could not hear what he had to say. But                 "3. A letter from the `Oak Lawn Prot.  Ref; Church'
it is reported by those who did hear him that, as we expected,     was read and discussed. This consistory accuses us of many
he held his hand over De Wolf. I am told that while he             things because of  OLIN   actions  dn the past, relative our  sad,
was blasting away at the doctrine maintained in our churches       history.  Classis  placed the matter into the hands of a com-
which  conden1ne.d  De Wolf, the Doctor was waving about           mittee to prepare an answer."                                             1
on the plaform three or' four Reformed Guardians, a pam-                   To anyone acquainted with the letter  refered  to in this


          '
     .                                         T H E   STANUARD   BE-ARER                                                          D     93

 notice and the truth concerning the circumstances from wehich          God or our Church Order and without ever rescinding them.
 this letter originated, the aboSe  report is obnoxious because         Against this action of the Consistory protests were lodged              .
of its flagrant misrepresentation.* The impression is left that         and brought to Classis  East.
the Oak Lawn Consistory writes smearing, accusing letters;                  (d) That it should be evident to you that it was certainly
that the purpose of her letter is to hurl uncalled-for charges.         within the jurisdiction of the Classis  to give advice in re the
    The truth of the matter is that our letter was, in the first        matter of suspension and deposition as they did. In sub-
place, a reply to a letter we received from this alleged Classis        stance  Classis  merely advised the Consistory to maintain
and signed by B. Kok and E. Knott. In this letter they                  these  decisions which had never been rescinded and to en-
claimed three things : (1) That  Classis  East in May, 1953,            force them, i.e.:
inihated  disciplinary proceedings against the office-bearers of            1. The decision to ask a  retraFtion and apology.
 First Church, (2) That  Classis  East in October,  1953., ap-              2. Or to proceed with suspension and deposition as Art.
proved an  illegal  suspension and deposition of  o&e bearers,          80 D.K.O. requires-must be done where heresy  ;s maintained.
and (3) That Classis  East in October, 1953, grossly violated               (e) That on June 1, 1953, the Consistory of the First
Art. 31 D.K.O. in unseating loyal and legal delegates. Be-              Prot. Ref. Church, with one dissenting vote, adopted this                    .
cause these claims are utterly untrue the consistory of Oak             advice of  Classis  East and in subsequent meetings of the
 Lawn  felt it necessary to answer them.                                Consistory carried out this their decision.
    In the second place, the letter of Oak Lawn was not an                  (f) That the difficulty lies not, as you allege, in  Classis
 "accusing letter" but, on the contrary, a serious attempt to           initiating discipline ; nor in illegal actions by the ConSistorlj  ;
expose the fallacy of these claims and to convince these breth-         but very `clearly in the fact that Rev. De Wolf and. his sup-
ren of their error, calling them to repentance.                         porters have been and continue to be rebellious and defiant
    We print the letter of Oak Lawn's Consistory in its                 of proper ecclesiastical law, authority and order.
entirety and ask our I-eadcres : (1) td judge whether or not                2. Your allegation that "Classis East-el'red  by giving its
 Oak Lawn is guilty of writing "accusing letters" and (2) to            approval to," what  you call, "this illegal action" is also with-
. judge the vaiidity  of the three fold claim of the group that         out basis in fact. We must call your attention to the follow-
alledgedly calls itself  Classis.                                       ing :
    The letter' follows :                                                   (a) That `the evident thrust of the  -portion  of Art. 79
                                                   May 6, 1954          D.K.O. which you quote is to  avoid_ abuse and partiality.
To the Alleged Continuation of the Classis                              No consistory, although it has the inherent right to do so,
East of the Protestant Reformed Churches                _               suspends or deposes  without  consultation with the neighbor-
c/o E. Knott, Clerk                                                     ing .consistory, This is a reasonable safeguard.
Dear brethren :                                                             (b j In the case in qukstion  the Fourth Consistory ruled :
    In regard to the missive sent us over the signatures of             "That in so far the Consistory has the right to proceed with
Bernard  Kok and E.  Knott on April 7, 1954, we- are con-               susptinsion on the basis of the Classical decision." We wish
strained to reply as f&lows:                                            to make plain that whereas the .protests  treated by the Clas-
    In regard to the three reasons you submit for your                  sis were against actions `of the Consistory in which  they
separatistic  actibn  in the missive referred to,' we call attention    refused to carry out their own decisions and, whereas, Clas-
to the following pertinent facts of which you  app,ear  to be           sis properly advised them to do so, it, therefore, in the very
wantonly ignorant.                                                      nature of-the case was unnecessary for the Consistory now to
    1. Your charge that,  "Classis East `at its sessions of             seek counsel with only one of the churches r&presented `in the
April and May, 1953,  initiated  disciplinary proceedings               Classis  except in so far as they were called  upon to judge
against office-bearers': is entirely false and  canno! be sub-          whether the  accuskd had complied with the decisions  re-
stantiated by facts. The objective truth is:                            qGesting an apology and retraction. Whereas. it was self
    (a) That the Consistory of the First Prot. Ref. Church              evident to the Fourth Consistory that they had not done so,
condemned as heretical two sermons preached by the Rev.                 the Consistory of the First Church was violating no principle
De._Wolf  and asked of him an apology and retractiori.  This            of Church Order when they proceeded to suspend and de-
is borne out by the minutes of the Consistory of Oct. 22, 1952,         pose.
Art. 8; Oct. 27, 1952, Art. 22; Nov. 17, Art. 8; The grounds                (c) And, therefore, your allegation that  Classis  erred
of the decision in Arts. 7 and 8 of Dec. 1, 1952; Art.  l-5 of          when she approved of this action is unfounded. Classis  East
Dec. 15; 1952. (Minutes attached)                                       did the only proper thing in approving this legal course.
    (b) That on the basis of these decisions by the Consistory          The only other alternative  was that  Classis  sanction the
and Art. 80 of our Church Order, Rev. De Wolf and those                 actions of rebellious and insubordinate office bearers and if
that Support these heresies are worthy of suspension and                she had done this we could agree with you that she would
deposition from  of&e.                                                  have erred.
    (c) That the Consistory  r$n roughshod over these de-                   3. Likewise, your accusation under point 3 is grossly un-
cisions without prqving  them to be contrary to the Word of             true.  You  charge that  "Classis unseated loyal and  lsgal


                                                                      s'                                                            --
       94         a                                    T H E   SDTANDARD   B E A R E R
        --

       delegates merely because they could not submit to a  decisio?        195i, I made the state~nent  that, `God promises to all of you
       of Classis  against which they had conscientious objection."         salvation if  you  believe,' implying a general conditional  prqm-
       You further aver that by doing so "Classis denied them all           ise, which is contrary to all our confessions, I promise hence-
       rights of appeal and thus violated Art. 31 of the  Ch&ch             forth to refrain from such statements and to teach that the
       Order." The facts in this case, however, as borne put by the `promise of God is unconditional and for the elect only.'
       minutes of Clasis East, are the following:                              `I am sorry that in'that sermon I preached on Sept. 14.
        (a) That these delegates refused to acknowledge that                1952, I preached the error that our act of conversion is a pre-
       Classis  East had not become schismatic by seating delegates         requisite to enter into the kingdom. For this is contrary to
       C. Hanko  and G. Bylsma.                                             the Word of God, John 3 :3-S, Col. 1:13, as well as to all our
              (b) That these delegates were requested to do so and          confessions. Cf. esp. Canons III-IV, 10-12. I promise that
       thereby recognize the Classis  to which they could then appeal       henceforth I will refrain from such unscriptural and  unre-
       and protest as they saw fit at the next session and attempt          formed teaching. (Art. 24 - voted and carried)
       to prove that the decisions made were contrary to the Word              Art.  S> Nov. 17  - f`Motion  is made to present Rev. De
       of God or the Church Order.                                          Wolf with the form of the apology recorded in Art. 22 of
              (c) That when they refused to do so they forfeited, by        meeting held Oct. 27 and request of him that he make an
       their own action, their right to remain seated as delegates as       $pology  from the pulpit using the thrust of that apology but
       well as their right to appeal. Isn't it clear, brethren, that one    permitting him to use the choice of his own words in doing
       cannot -appeal or protest to a body, whose legal esistence  they,    so. Further, the Consistory requires of him to acknowledge.
       do not recoghize ? And, therefore, if Classis  East h&l become       and reply to this  reqt!est by our next meeting  being_helcl
       sdhismatic,  these delegates, even from their own point of,          Monday evening, Nov. 24. (Art. 9 -is carried."
       `view. neither  could.nor would desire to appeal. A schismatic          Dec. 1, 1952, Art. 7- "Substitute motion is made to re-
       body has no authority. And certainly delegates cannot func-          quest Rev. De NTolf  to-submit hiinself  to an examination in
       tion in a body which they do  not recognize as legal and             accordance with and as prescribed in the Formula of  Sub-
       neither  can they desire sincerely to protest and appeal to a scription of the Prot. Ref. Churches. Grounds : (1) There.
       body they refuse to recognize legally exists.       -'               are certainly sufficient grounds for suspicion. (a) The  ser-
              It is our belief that these charges of yours are in actual    mon of April 15, 1951 condemned  Gy the Consistory. (b)
     fact an effrontery attempting to cover or justify your own             The sermon of Sept. 14, 1952 also condemned by the  con-
       sin of separating from us and refusing to walk with LX in the        sistory.  `(c) His refusal to apologize appealing to what he
       proper way of s&mission and protest. The above answer                believes without  referring to his eroneous statements. (2) He.
       will then also serve as  ,a -reply to your "Declaration of           faithfully promised to submit to such an inquiry if it should
       Continuation"  ,which  at this time we need not discuss for          be required of him." (Art. 8 -carries)
       whereas it has been shown that your reasons for this action             Dec. 15, 1952, Art. 15 - "Motion is made to rescind our
       are groundless, it follows that your "Declaration" itself is         former actions declaring Rev. De Wolf's sermon of Sept. 14
       illegal, false tind contrary to all good order. Your course of       is partly heretical. Motion is DEFEATED."
       ecclesiastical mutiny has rent asunder the church of Jesus                                                     Rev. G.  Vanden Berg
       Christ. From this sin we beg you to return and plead with
       you by the merci_es  of Jesus Christ that you may come back                                    Humbug!
       to the truth which you have shamefully forsaken. Then our               This ,term characterizes much, if not all, of what is of late
       hearts will rejoice and we will render thanksgiving to the           being produced by both the Reformed Guardian and  Con-
       Go& of all grace Who is able to do above that which we ask           corclia.  If I were addicted to the use of slang in the public
       or think.                                                            press, I would use another word : hohzt:~~. Both terms' denote
                                        The Consistory of the Oak &a&       a fraud, a hoax, or, in other words: pure bunk.
                                        Protestant Reformed Church             My reference is; in the first place, to just one statement
                       (Excerpt of Minutes referred to in Letter)           in the,  Refonl~ed  Guaudkn,  Vol. II, Numb& 3, Page 4, by
              Oct. 22, 1952, Art.  8- "Motion made that this  con-          the Rev. J. Blankespoor: "Therefore it is often  tailed the
_      sistory maintains the sermon of Rev. H. De Wolf delivered            Episcopalian system or the Presbyterian system of  -Church
       Sunday evening Sept. 14, 1952, is partially heretical and not        government." There is, of course, much more "humbug" in
     . Reformed as expressed in grounds presented in the protest            this issue of the so-called defender of truth and justice. But
       of Rev. H. Hoeksema and this consistory condemns  the. this one statement is enough ground for denying any man
     sermon. as such." (Art. 14  - Motion put to  vote and  car-            either the intellectual or the ethical right to  sa.9 anything
       ried)                                                                whatsoever about matters of church polity. I suppose that
        I Oct. 27,  1952.  Art.  22- "Motion made to adopt the              there is many a poor'soul  among our people who is rather
       following as a request- to be made of Rev. De Wolf for the           taken aback by such terms as "presbyterian" and "episcopal-
       cdhtents~of a statement he shall make publicly from the pul-         ian," and .who is dazzled by the apparent learning of a man
       pit: "I am sorry that in a sermon I'preached on April  1 j,          who employs such terms. But one wonders how long people'


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                  95
                                                                                                            -----

will continue to stand for such `humbug in supposedly Prot-                            CHURCH NEWS
estant Reformed circles. For the presbyterian and episcopal-          Neivs  frown the First  Protestah   Reforwsed  ChurCh of
ian systems of church government have absol&el$  nothing                         ,
in common.. They are terms which can by no stretch of the                                Holhnd, Michigan
imagination `be substituted for each other. If the Rev.                Sunday, Oct. 17; was indeed a day of joy and gladness
Blankespoor would go to any of the several churches which          for our C,ongregation  at Holland. For about a year. we have
maintain the episcopalian  form of church government (that         been without a shepherd because of the unfaithfulness of
is, church government by a system .of bishops), and suggest        him who has taken a stand with the schismatics not only, but
that they have the presbyterian form of church government,         of whom we may conclude was one of the ring leaders there-
they would certainly with all haste categorically deny his         of; who tried his best to tear us -apart from the pure &ani-
s'tatement.  `And a church which is presbyterian in govern-        festation of our Prot. Ref. truth which w-e hold dear to  oui-
ment, (that is, church government by elders, basically),           hearts.
.and suggest that they are after all episcopalian, he- would          Due  to these circumstances, now for a whole  yea? already
meet with the  same down-right disavowal. The simple fact is       we were compelled to seek temporary place of worship. We
that,. the form of church government maintained in our             are thankful to  our Covenant God- that He has -provided
churches from the very beginning, and maintained (with             bountifully, and altho there has been a strain on our' small
some corruptions) in all Reformed churches in name has al-         Consistory without a Shepherd to lead us, yet through God's
ways been called the presbyterian form of church govern-           grace and guiding hand we came through wonderfully. We'
ment. Even the supreme court of the State of Michigan de.          cannot help but see the guiding hand  bf our Triune Cov-
clared  once that it was hard to imagine a more preibyterian       enant God in all this. He has ndt only provided for us
church government than that set forth in the articles of the       a Shepherd, but looking back has prepared him for us, one
Church Order of Dordrecht !                                        of God's Servants coming from another denomination, who
    And of course, one  wio betrays such untrustworthiness in      in their confessional standards are far from us, and while
setting forth the fundamental.principies  of church polity can-    still in his other charge the Lord called him and led him ta
not be trusted at all to instruct babes in matters church          the fold of our Protestant Reformed Churches.  He laid down
political.      -                                                  his former office willingly and entered our Prot. Ref. Theo-
    But what is it, Rev. Blankespoor  ? Gross ignorance ? Or       logical School, in which he was taught for three full years,
a deliberate and wicked attempt to deceive the simple ? Of         and declared a Candidate for the Ministry in our Churches
this I am certain, that you never learned such church polity       after being examined by our Synod. This  training.in our
at the feet of the Rev. Ophoff. For he taught our students         Theological School, was in addition to his former graduation
that our churches maintained, and that rightly, the  "pres-        from the Theological Seminary of the Reformed Episcopal
byterian-synodical form of church government." And if I            Church of Philadelphia, Pa.
am not mistaken, you sat rn `court and heard him quoted to            The Lord moved the Congregation of Holland to extend
that effect by Mr. Tubbs.                                          to Candidate James McCollam a call, and after a short
                                                                   period of consideration he joyfully accepted, and at our last
    My second reference is to the present series of editorials     held Classis  of Oct. 6 and 7 he, successfully gave an excellent
written by the Rev. J. Howeriyl in Concordia. It is not my         account of himself. It was.  truly a joyful occasion for all
intention to criticize the contents of these articles in detail    those who witnessed this blessed event. At this Classis  our
at this time.' But I do want to point out that when he makes       Congregation was advised to proceed  with his ordination as
1924's fundamental issue  that of "world-and-life-view, of the     Minister  qf the Word and Sacraments, to which  we were
antithesis, of God and His calling to the Church to come out       very grateful and left no stones unturned. The Consistory
and be a  separate  people," he too betrays either the grossest    of the Hudsonville Prot. Ref. Chruch was immediately con-
ignorance of our history, or he deliberately twists history.       tacted for the use of `their Church Building for the Ordina-
If what the Rev. Howerzyl writes is true, it is highly ques-       tion ceremony,  whitih   was joyfully granted. And the date
tionable whether there would be Prot. Reformed Churches            of that occasion Friday evening, Oct. 15, will not easily be'
today. But he forget? &et puntje vah het Eerste Punt."             forgotten. You can be assured that a large audience was
Whatever the reason may be for this error, I am certain that       present including a wonderful attendance from, our neighbor-
the Rev. Howerzyl never learned these things when he and I         ing Churches. The Rev.  Vos our Moderator preached the
together attended the Prot. Ref. Seminary, -neither from           sermon, and Rev. Schipper read the form of installation, and
the Rev. Ophoff nor from the Rev. Hoeksema.                        the laying on of hands took place by a large number of
    But whatever else may be said, this much is true. both         Ministers and Professors present, after which the Doxology
the above mentioned writers produce in one word : humbug !         was sung and the benediction pronounced by-.our newly or-
    Or, if you will : hokum !                                      dained pastor, Rev. J. M. McCollam. Again we say a blessed
    Be not deceived !                                              occasion and our God has made all things well.
                                                       H.C.H.         On Sunday evening, -Oct. 17, Rev. McCollam preached


              I
I


                                                             \. .  .c .            .
                        .  .  .
      9c- -.--                                           T  H-E.-S  T-A-N  ,,  Arab-   jj  &-&k-P-   .  --I.  __.

       his in&&al  sermon: his -text was taken. from Remans  -1 : 16,                   covenant children holding fast that no one take our crown.
       "The Gospel as a Power of Salvation." Again we lift our _-                           After this edifying speech of Rev. H. C. Hoeksema `we
       eyes on high for all the blessings bestowed on us. Although                      enjoyed a trio` from our  Edgerton  Ladies Aid.  .Next Rev.
       small  in-tiumber  tie are again  a-~Congregation,  one in spirit                H. Veldman most capably answered the questions supplied
       and one in faith. We wish to express our thanks and deep                         by  our various societies. The questions answered by him
       Appreciation publicly for all the faithful help we received in                   were as follows.
       this past  jrear; from all our' Professors, Ministers,  atid Stu-
       dents who  preathed.  for                                                            1: Why are hymns prohibited in our churches ?
                                           us  and served us with advise,
      .e&pecially  pev. Vos our Moderator, for his excellent s&vice                       - 2. In Rev. 3  :5 we read, "And I will blot out his  na&'
     ;;. ,                                                                    :
                   May  the:God of all peace cause us at all times to put               out of the book of life." Does this imply it is possible?
      `our complete trust and confidence in Him, and give us the                            3. What cloes  the bible say of Christians attending fairs.?,
       full assurance that He will never forsake  us His Beloved                            4. In Ezekiel  33:15  and 19: Can a truly righteous man
       Church, as He has &-omised.                                                      clie in his sin ? Who is the wicked man in verse 19 ?
       -                                Consistory of the                                   5. Matthew 24 :22 - What is meant by the term "And
                                        First Protestant Reformed  Church-              except those clays be shortened, there should no flesh be
                                        Holland, Michigan                               saved ?"
                                        by Peter Schipper, Clerk                            6. At what age should children attend church ?
                                                                                           A music?1  tiumber  was the; supplied by our Hull society.
                                                                                        A Psalter number was then .sung during which a collection
                     Report of the Western Ladies. League                               was received for the "Reformed~  Witness Hour." Our meet-
                   Our Fall meeting of the Ladies League of Protestant                  ing was closed with prayer by Rev: H. Veldman. The after-
       Reformed Churches, which was held October 23, was opened                         noon' was concluded by refreshments served by our Ladies
       by  singieg  several  tiumbers  after which our president, Mrs.                  Aid of  Doon,  Ia.
       l+I. Veldman, opened with prayer and read Rev. 3 :l-13, and                          We feel that God has richly blessed  us in an afternoon of
       a welcome was extended to all the ladies present.                                true Christian fellowship. May He continue to bless us and
                   M&utes  of our previous league ineetings  was reid aft'er            grant us a. rich measure of His grace. May this and future
       which the treasurer gave the financial report. Our ladies than                   activities be done to the glory of His name.
       voted for a theme song for our league. Psalter No. 298 was                                                         Reporter : Mrs. R.  B&sting.
       chosen as our theme song. Our president then introduced
       the speaker for.the  afternoon the Rev. H. C. Hoeksema. His
       topic was "Holding Fast" based on'Rev.  3 :ll.                                               CONTROVERSY MAY BE  A DUTY
                   "Holding Fast." What?  To the truth as it is in Christ                   "Controversy in religion is a hateful thing. It is hard
       Jesus. It is .a precious possession and worthy of- being kept                    enough to fight the devil, the ivorld, and the flesh, wit'hout
       A gospel revealed to us in 66 books of the Bible and not a                       private differences in our own camp. But there is one thing
      gospel to be sketched on the thumb nail. God infallibly leads which is even worse than controversy, and that is false cloc-
      his pegple  in his truth to the crown of salvation by his grace                   trine- tolerated, allowed, and  per&tted,  without protest or
      alone. We as covenant mothers must be repeatedly  ad:                             molestation. It was controversy that won the battle of the
      monished to instruct our children of this precious possession                     Protestant Reformation. If the views that some men hold
       which controls us in all things in this life.                *--                 were correct, it is  plain we never ought to have had any
                   Why? Not because salvatioh  `is dependent on man. Not                Reformation at all! For the sake of peace, we ought to have
     `that. The elect believer never fails to reach the goal, but only                  gone on  war-shipping   the Virgin and bowing-down to images
      because of the faith which was implanted in us. He reveals in                     and relics to this very day ! Away with such trifling. There
      us the riches of his grace overagainst the dark background of                     are times when controve?sy is not only a duty but a benefit.
      the world. We, as Christians, must expkct  a cofitinued  b$tt.ie                  Give me the mighty thunderstorm rather than the pestilential
      and it will flare up repeatedly.                                                  malaria.- The one walks in darkness and poisons us in silence,
                   HOW?  The answer is .by God's redeeming grace and                    and we are never safe. -The other frightens and alarms for
      saving faith. Then the holding fast will follow in the home,                      a little season. But it  soon clears and it clears  .the air. It is
      school, prayer, etc. By way of constant struggle `and pcrse-                      plain Scriptural duty to contend  earnestly for the faith once
      cution  we pass through this world, to the crown of Christ.                       delivered to the saints." (Jude 2)
      We. must be aware of our unique privilege as mothers of his
                                           ,                                                        by J. C. Rule in  "So~z&mn   Pu-eshyterian  Jo,wnaP


