      VOLUME  XXX1                                       ~TC.IL  1. 1955 - GRAND RAPIDS. MICHIGAN                                  NUMBER  13

                                                                                    Jesus is crucified.
                  MEDI-TATION                                                       It was the form of capital punishment reserved for
                                                                                 dangerous criminals such as murderers, robbers,  ancl the like.
                                  The Crucifixion                                   Ancl  it carried with it the iclea of the em-se of God. Listen
                                                                                to this revelation : "And if a man have committed a sin
                          "And when they were  cmle to the place which          worthy of death, and he be to be `put to death, and thou hang
                       is called Calvary, there they crucified  Him, and the    him on a tree : His body shall not remain all night upon the
                       malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on     tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day ; (for he
                       the left."  - Luke  23  23                               that is hanged is accursed of God  ;) that thy land  be  not
      In these few words you  re%l the reward which Jesus defiled, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inherit-
received of His own : numbered-with the transgressors !                         ance." Deut. 21 22, 23.
      You believe. that the Jews were His own, do you not?                      So Jesus was the accursed of God.                  .
      Attend unto the testimony of God who cannot lie: "He                          L&ten to Paul: "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse
came  uni-o His own, and His own received Him not." John                        of the law, being made a curse for  us:  for it is written:
1         :ll.                                                                  Cursed is everyone that ,Eangeth  on a tree." Gal. `3':13.
      They were His own, bone of His bone and flesh of His                          This curse of God is symbolized very plainly in  -cruci-
flesh. He was the special Gift to the Jews, the chosen people                   fixion. It expresses that such a  one is  c&t out from the
of God. Many years before His advent was prophesied: His                        earth: there is no place for such a one among men on earth.
picture was drawn with many particular details.                                 And such a one is not receiyed  in heaven either. There is no
      But when He came,  they received Him not.                                 room for the crucified. one in all- the world, in the  entirk
      This scandalous conduct was symbolizecl when there was                    Universe. Both  God and man  reject Jesus Christ  the Right-
no place for Him at His coming : there was no room for Him                      eous.
in  the inn. And when He first appeared in His own city                             Yes, both God and man reject Jesus.
they would cast Him headlong unto the rocks below.                                  But oh what a difference in this dual judgment.
      The end fits : He is crucified.                                               The judgment of man is wholly unrighteous.
      By His own. .,                                                                It is motivated by hatrecl and enmity against God.
      His own had plotted against Him. Remember the deal                            You  see, Jesus declared the Godhead among men. And
which the leaders had made with Judas  ? -The price of. a                       they had understood that very plainly.
slave: it fits.                                                                     He gave Divine answers on earth. He wrought Divine
      His own had come in the dead of night and with sticks                     works qn earth. He healed the sick and possessed ; He raised
and swords had captured Him.                                                    the  deacl.  And He forgave sin.
      His own pronounced Him guilty unto death.                                     He was really the sweetest revelation of the Godhead. All
      And the  Zmtlzos  of their rejettion of Jesus was reached                 God's virtuk  matic1 loveliness was reflected in the person and
when they came to the -juclge of the Gentiles and del&erecl                     works of Jesus.
Him over to His will.                                                               Moreover, there. was no one who could lay a finger on
      And even when he, that ii Pilate, would let Him go, they                  Him. He went through the land doing good. And that's all
screamed their denunciation of this Roman:  You  are not a                      `He did. He never once did evil. Even the devil will testify
friend of Ceasar if  you  let Him go I Crucify Him ! Crucify                    to that. When Judas was about to hang himself he cried:
Him !                                                                           I have shed the innocent blood!
      And His own prevailecl! Jesus i's given over`to be cruci-                    That is also the reason why they had such an awful time
fied.             -                                                             convicting Him. Before the Sanhedrin they have.  to look

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

 about for false witnesses. You do not act that way when you               And we cannot find the adequate answer. It seems to me
 have a just cause against an evildoer. Merely let the facts            you have to be a God to find the complete apstyer.
 speak for themselves. And before Pilate it is worse. The                  Yet we know something about it.
 heathen Pilate said three or four times :  I find no fault in          `. First, God died. How is that possible? `Yes, He died in
 Him and would let Him go. Look at the priests and scribes              the human nature. God, as God, cannot die. But every second
 ancl lawyers: they go about the crowd and stir them up to              that Jesus hung on the tree you are permitted, YOLI are corn--
raise the hue and cry : Crucify Him ! They threaten Pilate              manded to say: There hangs God in human nature. Ancl the
 with expulsion by the great Caesar.                                    Person Jesus hung His holy  head-   cr?~d  garvs  u$ the ghost!
        Oh, yes, Jesus  tias  jncleed  innocent. He was innocently          There is indeed one solitary text in the Bible which speaks
  condemned to death.                                                   of the blood of God! "To feed the church of God, which He
        And the niotive  was hatred against. God.                       llath  purchased with His own blood !" Acts 20 :28b.
        How different-, how beautifully different is God's judg-        -  ,. I ,dp not understand fully ; I cannot comprehend it; but,
 ment.                                                                  oh`y&,  I believe, I believe !
        God reveals  in the cbndemnation  of Jesus His infinite and         Wondrous Golgotha !                            _ :  ._
  eternal love. He is giving His only begotten Son so that who-             But there is much more.
  soever  believeth on Him would have eternal life.                         Here hangs one solitary Figure, but the sins and the
                                                                        guilt of many' millions are tioncentrated  on =Hiril. Nowhere
                               *  *  *                                  will  you  ever see anything like that phenomenon. One `is
                                                                        sent to~hell for millions who go free. Concentration of wrath.
        Jesus Christ is crucified by God!                               And therefore no one shall ever suffer like Jesus did. No not
        Look on that twisting and turning form. If you believe,         e v e n   B e e l z e b u b .
  you  see there the outpouring of God's holy and eternal wrath             Golgotha is the pinpointing of eternal wrath of millions
  over the Church, but visited  in its Head. God has lovecl you,        on the head of One. And oh, s>lch a One !
  my brother, and my sister, from eternity. He has chosen                   Third, here hangs HOLINESS and  RIGHTEOUS-
  you unto eternal life. But in Christ your head.                      NESS  ! Holiness in hell. Do you understand that? Right-
        But that ~same  God is filled with holy wrath against your      eousness. is treatecl  ds though He were evil and crooked and
  sin that you have committed. Your sin is `a monster. It had           perverse. But  I-le is L'INNOCENCE in PERSON.
  its inception in Adam and Eve. It became evident when you                 If I were  Sent to hell I would carry with  me`thk   con-
  were born. You  appearecl  in  thiS world as a  corriipt and viction that I belong there, that I fit there. But not so Jesus :
  guilty sinner. And from clay to day and from age to age               ,O, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?
  that monster of sin became more ugly, more abominable.                    Do you understand ?
        And God is  God..  That means that He must maintain                 And the  mo+ difficult question of all:  Jesus Christ, the
  Himself and His adorable virtues. His justice, holiness and           Son of God concentrates eternity in 3355  years. How is that
truth call for punishment. And the punishment is eternal                possible? If there had not been a Jesus for you and me,
  death, the curse, eternal desolation in hell.                         we would have lain under the rays of God's wrath for all
        But that entire Church of which youand I are members            eternity. He took our place, so that eternal death is His
  is in Christ and eternally was in Christ.                             portion  ; but attend to this : there comes a TIME that  the
        He, Christ Jesus, represents the Church of God in this          saith :-IT IS FINISHED ! There is the mystery.
  terrible hour on Calvary. That is the reality of Golgotha, the           Yes, I know that theologians tell us that the answer to
  place of the ~1~~111.                                                 that queztion is : Jesus is ,God and the Almighty and Eternal
        Even though the enemi& are instrumental in the killing          God sustained Him in His suffering so that eternal wrath
  of Jesus,  and even though they shall eternally carry away            could be emptied in time. I know all that, but still I am
  their reward for this foul deed, the death of the Son of God          amazed and do not comprehencl. I can but wonder . . . . and
  is the act of God's indescribable love for His own.                   worship.
        It is the hour of. judgment for both the church `and the            But the sweetest story of Golgotha I find to be the motive
  world.                                                                of Jesus' suffering and death.
        The world is judged, for they crucify the Innocent One              It is the motive of loving ob.edience.
  out of the motive of hatred and enmity against God.                       You see, His suffering and death are atonement.
        The Church is judged in its Head, and .God accepts the              And atonement is more than payment of the debt, of the
  price that is paid, for it is paid from the motive of loving obe-     eternal debt of sin and guilt.
  dience to the Father.                                                     The devils and the  reprobaies also pay, and they pay
                               Q  *  *                                  eternally. but they never atone.
                                                                            In order to atone, you have to suffer the wrath of God
        Jesus Christ was crucified!                                     and love Him even for the manifestation of that wrath !
        Many questions .arise  here.                                         In order to atone for sin, you must stancl  on the bottom-


                                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                                              291         '

 less bottom of hell in the midst of the terrible rays. of God's
 wrath, and there you must say: I love Thee, o my God!                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B.EARER
 That is atonement.                                                                Semi-monthly, except monthly  davriltg  July and  Augwt
    And that is what my Jesus did for me!                                        Published by @he REFORMEXI  FREE PUBLISHING ASSCCIATI~N
    Is it a wonder that the throngs in heaven sing to Him:                     P. 0. Box 881, Madison Square Station, Grand Rapids 7,  Mich.
 Thou hast redeemed us unto God by Thy blood ?                                                  Editor  - REV. HERMAN  HOEKSEMA
    And that Jesus is the Gift of God.                                         Communications relative to contats  should be addressed to Rev.
    Golgotha is the beating of the heart of God's love.                        H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S. E., Grand Rapids 7,  Mich.
    And so we say of the commemoration of that Cross : it is                  All matters relative to  subsoriptions  should be addressed to Mr.
                                                                               G. Pipe, 1463 Ardmore St., S.-E., Grand Rapids 7, Michigan.
 Good Friday !                                                                 Announcements and  Obituaries  mu&  :be mailed to the above
    GOOD Friday !                                                              address and  ~$11 be published at a fee of $1.00 for each notice.
    It opened the floodgates of the love of God fbr His own!                   RENEWALS   : Unless a definite  requ&. for discontinuance is re-
    Hallelujah ! Amen.                                                         ceived, it is assumed  &at  thte subscriber wishes the subscription
                                                                               to continue without the formality of a renewal order.
                                                                    G.V.                          Subscriptian price:  $4.00 per year
                                                                                Entered  as Second  Clars  matter at  Gratd  Rafiids, Michigan
' THE ADDRESS OF THE REV. H. `C.  HOEKSEMA
                       is after April 1 :
                       463 E. 164th Place                                                                  C O N T E N T S
                       S o u t h   H o l l a n d
                       Illinois.                                                  The  Crucifixion..........................................289
                                                                                       Rev. G. Vos

                                                                            EDITORIALS  -                                                                                                          >
         MY GOD, MY GOD, I CRY TO THEE                                            The Future of Our Churches - 3.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                                 .292
                                                                                  The  Letter  of the Rev. Kok.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                           .293
            My God, My God, I cry to Thee ;                                       Question Box.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                     .301
                                                                                       Rev. H. Hoeksema
            0 why hast Thou forsaken Me?
            Afar from Me, Thou dost not heed,             a                 OCR   D O C T R I N E -
            Though day and night for held I plead.                                The Triple Knowledge (Part III  - Of  Thankfuln~s) . .                                               .295
                                                                                       Rev. H. Hoeksema

            But Thou art holy in Thy ways,                                  THE  DAY  OF  SHADOWS-
            Enthroned upon Thy people's praise ;                                  The prophecy of  Maladhi.................................297
            Our fathers put their trust in Thee,               .            FRIXX  HOLY WRIT -
            Believed, and Thou didst set them free.                               Exposition of Romans 6 :22, 23.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .-. . . . . . . . . ,300
                                                                                       Rev. G. Lubbers                                                                       .'
            They cried, and, trusting in Thy Name,                          FEATURE ARTICLE  -
            Were save&  and were not put to shame ;                               Consistorial Supervision of League or  Federtiion Activities.  302-
            But in the dust My honor lies,                                             Rev. G. Lanting
            While all r'eproach  and all despise.                           CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH  -
                                                                                  The  Churoh and $he Sacraments.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .304
            My words a cause for scorn they make,                                      Rev. H.  Veld,man
            The lip they curl,. the head they -shake,                       THE  VOICE OF  OUR  FATHERS-
            And,  mocking,`bid  Me trust the Lord                                 The Canons of  -Dosrdmre&t (Art. 16, cont.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  .306
            Till He salvation shall afford.                                            Rev. H. C. Hoeksema
                                                                            DECENCY  AND   ORDER-
            My trust on Thee I learned to rest                                    Student-Preaching           . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30s
         When I was on My mother's breast:                                             Rev. G.  Vanden Berg
            From  l?irth  Thou art My God alone,                            ALL AROUND Us-
            Thy care My life has ever known.                                      Excerpts from the  Churuh Herald.. . . . . . . . . . . .  .`. . . . . . .  .310
                                                                                  A word to Enthusias:ts.,  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ,311
                                                                                       Rev. M.  Schipper
            0 let Thy strength and presence cheer,
            For trouble and  clistress  are near;                           CONTRIBUTIONS  -
                                                                                  The facts regarding the  Edgerton  Law Suit.. . . . . . . . . . . . .  .312
            Be Thou not far away from Me,                                              Rev. H. Veldman
            I have no source of help but Thee. Psalm 22 : l-6

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

                                                                    r    ours, we may be assured that the future is ours, no matter
              E D I T O R I A L S                                        what happens in the history of the church in the world.
 I                                                                           Hence, once more, the sole question is whether we be-
                The Future Of Our Churches                               long to the church-elect for whom are the promises; and to
                                                                         that church we surely belong if we are faithful to the truth
                                  3.                                     in confession and life. Only where the truth is preachecl.
        Fact is that, from the beginning of our separate history         maintained over against all gainsayers, and where that truth
 until the present time! no one ever dared to call us a sect             is revealed in the life of believers, there is the church. '
 or un-Reformed.                                                             We may read our future in the  seven letters to the
        In 1924 we did not depart from the truth of the Scrip-           churches of Asia Minor that are containecl in the second ancl
 tures and the Confessions. Even the  Gery synod of 1924,                third chapters of the book of Revelation. None of those seven
 that desperately tried to brand us as un-Reformed, failed.              churches exist anymore. But in these seven letters we have
 For, under the kind providence of our God, they were forced             a rather clear and definite answer to the qlrestion when the
 to admit, in.spite of themselves, thjt we were  Reformed ac-            church  in the world ~iay expect a future, and, therefore, also
 cording to the Reformed Confessions, though it be with a                to the question whether we as Protestant Reformed Church-
 tendency to one-sidedness. In this they condemned them-                 es may expect a future in the favbr of our God.
 selves.                                                                    In these letters we  lare taught that a church is on the
      And ever since we have sounded forth a clear Reformed              way to destruction when she leaves her first love. A church
 note in speech and writing. Our books `and pamphlets (and               may be very faithful to the truth for a time, so that she op-
1 there are many of them) have been spread abroad, not only              poses and casts out the heretics and even try those that come
 in our own country, but virtually over the whole Reformed               with the pretention that they are apostles. She may also be
 church world, in England, the Netherlands, and South                    very active in all kinds of good works and bear patiently
 Africa. The result is that we were recognized as being Re-              all kincls  of suffering in the world for the salce of Christ. Yet,
 formed. We were invited to attend the ecumenical synod and              if she loses her first love, if those that love not the Lord
 we were also asked to cooperate with the Reformed Churches              Jesus Christ and the brethren, gradually come to have the
 in the Netherlands in the revision of the Church  Order.                majority in the'church,  she is on the way to destruction and
      We certainly have survived the stage in which we wera              cannot have a future. For then the Lord will soon remove
 in danger of being called a sect because of the evil decisions          the candlestick out of its place. Without the love of the
 of 1924, and we are recognized as Reformed Churches.                    Lo;d Jeixs Christ the light of the truth cannot shine.-
      All this gives us  hop@ for the  futu,re.                             From these seven letters, it is also very evident that
      Yet: after all, the main qestion  is whether we haye any           only'the church that is faithful in every respect has a future.
 basis in the Wbrd of .God to believe that, in the future, God           The distinguishing marks of the church are usually saicl -to
 will preserve us as churches.                                           be  thr`ee:  the true preaching of the  Worcl, the proper  acl-
      Shall tie, as a small group of Protestant Reformed                 ministration of the sacraments, and  .the  exercise  of Chris-
 Churches, continue to exist, or shall we finally be swallowed           tian discipline: Of these, the first is the chief mark for
up in one of the larger denominations and dwindle away ?                 where the true preaching of the  Word fails, the other two
      Shall we, in other words, remain faithful to the truth?            marks cannot be maintained.
      That, within the space of thirty years, many already left             It is remarkable that, in the seven letters to the churches
 us, so that we became smaller rather than enjoy a normal                in the book of Revelation, there are  ,only two that appear
 growth in numbers, is not important. In the future we may               entirely faithful, to which the Lorcl addresses no rebuke
very well have another split: The history of the true church             whatever. They are the churches of Smyrna and Philadel-
 shows that it is very normal that, periodically, schisms oc-            phia, It is also tyorthy  of note that both these churches are
 cur in the church on earth.  T,his may' be expected. The                apparently  sliiall  and weak and poor in earthly means. More-
 cause, of course, is always the catnal  element in the church.          over it is evident that both these churches are characterized
 That this was the  cause of our recent schism is very                   by having to endure suffering for Christ's sake. To the
 evident from its entire history. But, once more, this is not            church of Smyrna the Lord writes : "I know thy works, and
important. The thing that matters is that we remain faithful             tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know
to the truth and that, too, in both confession and walk.                 the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are
      For then we may be assured that God's promises, as                 not, but are the synagogue of Satan. Fear none of those
they are revealecl in the Word of God, are for us.                       things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast
      God's promises are for the elect and for the elect church?         some of you into prison, that ye may be tried ; ancl ye shall
and for no one else.                                                     have tribulation ten days." And to the church of Philadelphia
      Those promises can never fail. If, in the light of the             He writes : "Because thou hast kept the word of my pa-
Word of God, we may be  assurea  that we belong to the                   tience, I will also keep thee  fr6m the hour of temptation,
church-elect, and that, -therefore, the promises of God are              which shall come upon all the world to try them that dwell


                                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                   2      9    3

  upon the earth." Evidently, from these letters it is plain that           All this is a warning to us as churches. We must be
  it is not a question of large numbers, or of material.strength,       strong in the` truth, and faithfully expel from our midst the
  whether the church in the world shall be able to exist. It            evil ones. Only then we can expect a future as Protestant
  is purely a question- of faithfulness, even  untb death and           Reformed Churches.
  even in the midst of the suffering - of faithfulness of this              The third of the three mentionecl is the church of Sarclis.
  present time whether or not the church or a particular                Next to the church of Laodicea, she is the most miserable of
  church shall have a future. This surely we may apply to our           the seven. It can  harclly be said that the chief  troublk with
  own Protestant Reformed Churches. We may be small in                  her is that she was lax in discipline, although this also was
  number and we are; we may be weak in material resources,              true. She is dead, though she has a name that she lives.
  and we are ; men may despise us, and they do ; but if we arr:         Peihaps,  she still maintained the' true doctrine, but if so it
  faithful, we know that the grace of our God is still wi'th us,        was dead orthodoxy of the worst kind. She certainly did
  the promises of God are still upon us, and we may expect a            no`t walk in the truth, for her works were not found perfect
  future as a ch&ch of Jesus Christ in the world.                       before God. She is ready to die! A Church may be ever so
      It is also remarkable that three of the churches mentioned        sound in doctrine, but if that sound doctrine is not ac-
  in these seven letters are rebuked because they are lax in            companied  by and manifest in good works of faith, and she
  discipline, though this laxity has  clifferent  causes and ap-        does not cast out those that walk in evil ways, she has no
  pears in different degrees : the church in Pergamos. that             future. Let us remember this !
  in Thyatira, and that in  Sardis.                                       Then, finally: at the end of the series, is the church of
      Of these. three the first is the strongest. It? evidently, had    Laoclicea, the most miserable of all. She is lukewarm. neither
  been strong in the truth, had kept the faith, and had been            cold nor hot, unconcerned about anything spiritual, nauseat-
  willing to suffer for Christ's sake. But. perhaps, because the        ing to the Lord: he will spew her out of His mouth ! She
  days of persecution belonged to the recent past, and because          says that she is rich and has need of nothing, but in  -the
  the church in Pergamos dreacled  qore or less another period          meantiine  she is in want of all spiritual riches of grace. The
  of persecution, she began to suffer those that taught `false          Lord already stands outside of the church; calling to those
  doctrine. For the Lord writes to them: "But I have a few              that are still faithful to come out and separate themselves
  things against thee,, because thou hast there them that hold          from that most miserable church.  The Lord preserve us
  the doctrine of Balsam,  who taught Balac to cast a stumbling-        from ever presenting the picture bf the church in Laodicea !
  block before the children of Israel, to eat things  sacrificecl           Thus, then, is the picture of the church in the world.,
to idols and to commit fornication. So hasf tliou also them                 Let us  study it.  And'froin  it let us gather the  truth that
  that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate."       the promises of God are always upon His elect church, and
  It is plain that the fault of the church of Pergamos was that         that, if by the grace of God. we walk in the truth and pre-
  they suffered- those that  taught  false doctrine. They were          serve it unto the end, and are faithful to cast out the evil
  lax in discipline.                                                    ones, we may  expects  a. future as Protestant Reformed
      This was also true of the church in Thyatira, aithough            C h u r c h e s   !                                         ..H.H.
  it was for an entirely difierent  reason. In many respects that                                      --
  church presented a lovely picture. The Lord writes of her:
  "I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and
  thy patience, and thy works ; and the last to be more than                           The Letter of the Rev. Kok
  the first." That, indeed, is a beautiful picture of a church.             Here follows the letter which, soon after his return from
. We would almost expect that the Lord could not have any-.             the Netherlands, the Rev. Iiok read, or had read, to his con-
  thing against that church for which to rebuke her. Yet he             gregation. The consistory of our church in Holland was kind
  has. At the same time, in that church existed a most hor-             enough to furnish me with a true copy of the letter and gave
  rible condition. This is expressed in the words: "Notwith-            me their  conSent to publish it. Of course, it was public
  standing I have  a. few things against thee, because thou             property already for the letter was read by Kok at a meeting
  sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophet-        of Classis  East last-year.
  ess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication,                                                          August 13, 1949
  and to eat things sacrificed unto idols." How, we ask, was
  this possible in such  a<. lovely church? My answer is that           Belovecl Congregation :
  Thyatira was a sort of a mystical church. She lived by feel-'            With deep and sincere gratitude to our coven& God we
  ing. She was not strong in the truth. That is the reason              have again returned into your midst, and into the midst of
  why she accepted evidently the word of the woman that called          nly family and loved ones. The Lord gave us a very prosper-
  herself a prophetess. She did not discern the truth clearly,          ous and profitable journey to the land of our birth, and for
  and this was the reason for her laxity in discipline. She             most of us the land of our fathers. It was indeed a wonderful
  suffered the lie of Jezebel in her midst, Bnd also suffered the       experience for which I shall always feel deeply grateful to
sin of fornication and of eating meat sacrificed to idols.              you,  aricl, to all who have made it possible,

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

       The great joy of returning home,  and of coming back into      conception there is ample room," in our Protestant Re-
the midst of the congregation, was marred? however, by two            formed Churches.
things: first, that according tothe  doctor's report, my throat
is still very much inflamed, so that I shall not be able to              I do believe, however, that the Liberated brethren in the
                                                                      Netherlands love the  Reformecl  faith. In re the doctrine of
preach the Word in your inidst in the immediate future. This
is indeed a great disappointment, especially because I had            the covenant, in my opinion they have much to learn, but in
                                                                      re the doctrine of `Common Grace' they speak our language,
evefy reason to hope that my throat would be better upon my           and express time and again that they have much to be thank-
return. May the Lord give grace to be submissive to His
will.                                                                 ful for to our churches.
                                                                         We sincerely regret that the Prof. Holwerda has so mis-
       The second reason why the joy of our'homecoming was            construed our position, and it is our hope and prayer that in
marred was the article which appeared in the Standard                 due time he will rectify this serious error.
Bearer of August 1, in which it is alleged, that  the Prof.
Holwercla of  -I<ampen, ascribed  mite me (and to the Rev.               Hoping that this will clarify our position in the midst of
De Jong) statements, which if true, would be a betrayal by            the congregation, and praying for the welfare and peace of
me, of our Protestant Reformed Churches and its doctrines.            Jerusalem, I remain,
I can well understand that the consistory and congregation                                          With Christian Greetings
were deeply shocked and grieved upon reading this article.                                                                          Bernard  Iiok
To me it was also a shock. I am at a loss to understand how                                                                               Your Pastor.
that the Prof. Holwerda, whom I regarcl as a sincere servant
of God, could write as he did, and thus put both the Rev.                Note by the editor:
De Jong and myself uncler  a cloud of suspicion.                         It is  very evident that  Kok, in this letter! makes Prof.
       Thk fact in the- case are these.  We were invited to at-       Holwerda a liar. According to  Kok, virtually none of the
tend a meeting at Kampen with the deputies for correspond-            statements made by the late Prof. Holwercla, are true. He
ence of the Liberated Churches, together with several in-             siniply  invented them all.
dividuals who had protested the decision of. the Liberated               At the classical meeting Iiok was asked whether he ever
Churches to seek carrespbndence with the Protestant Re-               informed Prof. Holwercla of this- or sent him a copy of the
formed Churches, among whom was also the Prof. Holwerda.              above letter. He replied that he did not. Yet, he piously(  ?)
Let it be remembered that we were merely present as in-               states in his letter that "it is our hope and prayer that in,
vited guests, not  Bs representatives of the Prot. Reformed           due time he will rectify this serious error."
Churches.                                                                It is our opinion that this act of  Kok is thoroughly im-
                                                                      moral for especially two reasons:
       At  this meeting it was our contention that there should be
correspondence between the Liberated Churches in the                     1. He never informed Prof. Holwerda of the whole
Netherlands, and the Protestant Reformed Churches, on the             matter. It is, therefore, an act of backbiting. Besides, I have
basis of Scripture and the, Three Forms of Unity, and the             plenty reason to believe that it is also downright slander.
Church Order of Dordt. It was pointed out that in distinction         I corresponded with Prof. Holwerda about this matter and
from the  Synodical -Churches in  the Netherlands, who are            he never denied that he had written the truth. Besides, at a
bound by the decisions of 1942 and 1946 in rk the doctrines           certain occasion, Kok and De Jong were in my study. At that
of &-e-supposed regeneration, and the' Christian Reformed             time;  I<ok said that the letter of Holwerda was not` quite
Churches here, who are bound by the Three Points of 1924              true. De Jong, however, denied this. Besides, the state-  -
in re the doctrines of "Common Grace," that we as Prot-               ments made by Holwercla in his. letter to Canada are so
estant Reformed Churches are bound only by the Holy Scrip-            definite that they could not have been invented.
tures as interpreted in our Three Forms of Unity.                        3 Morally, the matter becomes even
                                                                         I.                                                            much worse be-
       From this position it appears that the Prof.  Hblwerda         cause Kok waited with publishing his letter by reading it to
drew the wholly. unwarranted conclusions which he wrote in            the  classis after Holwercla had died, so that he could not
that alleged letter to an immigrant in Canada, and which was          have a come-back.
published in the Standard Bearer. These unwarranted con-
clusions are not true, and I deny them with my whole heart.              I sincerely hope that some of the Netherland brethren
It is not true that the teachings of the Rev. Hoeksema in re          that were present at that conference of which Kok speaks in
election are not held among                                           his letter, will clear the good name of Prof. Holwercla from
                                 us in high esteem. Neither that
it is our opinion `,`that most (of the Prot. Ref.) do not think       this vicious slander and backbiting. Some of them get the
as Rev.' Hoeksema and Rev. Ophoff  ." Neither do we  b,e-             Sta~nda~d  Ben~el-   and I am awaiting their.reaction.
lieve that there is "great sympathy for the Liberated in the                                                                                         H.H.
matter of their doctrine of the covenant," and that "for that                          _  (Cofztill~Ifed   011"   pngc   3 0 1 )


                                                    .            `
                                                                      .     ,_         `
                                                                                        .               _;                     ,.-
                                                   :      :
           `.                         `.:::                                                        j

 ~:IREPIORT~~~~-C-~~SSIS  .:WEST-IN.:EDCiER'I?ON;  MINN.;- MARGH: 16, 1955.
 .j. :  ..,.,  k,  .,  ;  I  l,.  ,z.  :;."  ._'  /  ,.  :._ .                                .          :.             `
                                                                                                                         .            _
  ,,,,  Classis;W;es$,met  ii,n classical,  session'March  16,  1955,  `iri.Edgerton,  1Minnesota.
We,lmet,i< the  Rum+  Hall where  `our'congyegation conducts its  services'pending
the  detision:`bf  the  -court  ieiativd  the name  .and property  ,of our church in
Edgerton.`  :  i  _,,-  ;, ,  `_  ,)  ;,  `,                   .(                 _                                      .`
 . . . Cla&s':  welcolned' Rev.  J;:  14.  Heys into its  .fellowsltip.,`,`And  that brother. I.
p&ide,d  `a;  o$,;clas,si&l  `edfing.  `,  ._  ,,  ,y.
 `:_ FpurIchur.ches   w,~~e,r~~p;ese~?t,ed  at:  this. classical meeting.  Lynden-was unable
                 _
 to send a  dele,gat@~+.;   The,  .C!ass$s   ,f,elt,:arrdY expressed that our churches should
send a delegation to our classical meetings if at all possible. Matters come up
for  discussion   Chich~should  be' discussed by all the consistories, and it is at times
 difficult to make decisions which involve a certain congregation when that con-
gregation is not represented.
    The  Classis adopted a proposed constitution for our classical `committee. A
 committee had been  appointe-d which, in conjunction with a similar committee
 appointed by  Classis East, would draw up such a constitution for the classical
 committee. Having adopted this proposed constitution, the  Classis  decided to
 forward it, as revised and adopted (the committee of  C`lassis East had met,
 drawn  up- a constitution, and sent it to our committee for approval), to the
 committee of  Classis West.
    Edgerton requested  Classis West that it be permitted to ask for collections in
 Classis West to help pay the espenses because of the court trial in Pipestone,
 Minn., and forward a similar request to Synod for permission-to ask a collection
in our churches of  Classis East.  -This request was granted.
   -Routine matters, such as voting' for members of committees, synodical dele-
gates, and the approval of subsidy requests were treated and decided at our
meeting. The  Classis also received the report of its Church Visitors.
    Voting for synodical delegates, the  Classis decided to elect 3 ministers and 5
-elders to represent our  Classis at the sessions of Synod nest June. This action
was taken because of the shortage of ministers in our  Classis.  We felt that the
principle of equal representation of the Classes at the Synod was weightier than
the principle that each  classis should be represented by an equal number of
ministers and elders.

    The voting for synodical delegates resulted as follows:
                                                                                       Elders:
Ministers :                                     Primi                                                   Secundi
J. A.  Heys                          H. J. Blankespoor                                             M .   G a a s t r a
H. H. Kuiper                          R. Brunsting                                                 G      .             Gunnink
1-I. Veldman                         J .   Dotter                                                  P. Jansma
                              T .   F e e n s t r a                                                N.  Kooiker
                                      E .   V a n   Egdom                                          B. Van Maanen                           -
    The  Classis decided to meet, the Lord willing, in  Doon,  Iowa, Sept. 14, 1955.
At the conclusion of the meeting,  the. chairman, Rev. Heys, addressed a few
appr.opriate remarks to the Rev. H. C. Hoeksema who is leaving our  Classis
inasmuch as he has accepted a call to our church at' South Holland. We are
loathe to see the brother depart and wish him the Lord's blessing. Rev. H. C.
Hoeksema closed our meeting, after responding to the remarks addressed to him
by the chairman.
                                                                (over)


   Classical appointments were given  to, the  chuyches of Lynden  .and  Doon..  In
connection with Lynden, it "was decided to ask that consistory to seek pulpit
supply from the East for the  sunmer months of June, July, and August. Rev.
Heys will preach there April 17, 24, and May 1,  aud Rev.  Kuiper-will   speud three
Sundays there in the month of May.
   We  enjoyed this meeting of  Classis  West. It is true that we are small in
number. This situation  may be rectified at the meeting of Synod  next June. But,
although small in number, we are  .one in  the truth  ouce  .delivered to us, and we
may go forward in the assurance that  .the Lord, Who has called us to the
proclamation of this glorious truth, will never forsake or  .leave.us.           .

                                                   Rev. H.  Feldman, Stated Clerk.


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                               295

 II                                                                 preach  the throne of grace with our petitions. And to dis-
       ;  .OUR  D O C - T R I N E                                   cover these we must not be too hasty to analyze the Lord's
                                                                    Prayer and to expound its details ; but we must rather tarry
                                                                    a while, to contemplate the beauty and meaning of its con-
                THE TRIPLE KNOWLEDGE                                tents and style.
                                                                        And then we may .notice at once that this prayer is char-
        AN EXPOSITION  OF  THE HEIDELBERG  GATECI-IISM              acterized by simple brevity, on the one hand  ; yet, by fulness
                                                                    and completeness, on the other hand.
                 PART  III  - OF THANKFULNESS                           In the immediate' context the Lord had taught His dis-
                                                                    ciples that they should not use "vain repetitions, as the
                          LORD'S DAY  45           _                Gentiles do : for they think that they shall be heard for their
                                                                    much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them : for your
                            C h a p t e r   2                       Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before `ye ask
           The Requisites of True Prayer (continued)                Him." Matt.  6:7, 8. This principle is certainly embodied in
                                                                    the Lord's Prayer. It is so brief and simple that it requires
       And thus, finally, we will also approach Him in the atti-    no more than half a minute to recite it, and a small child can
 tude of confidence, the confidence that He will surely grant       very easily learn it by heart.  .This does not mean that we
 us our petitions. For he that cometh  unto God must believe        may not dwell in this holy place of prayer  muc11  longer
.that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently      than the time required to `recite this prayer. Nor does it
 seek Him. Heb. 11 :6. We shall be able to close our prayers        imply that we may never employ more words in our prayers.
 with a real and true  A-~uIc~~, confident not merely that He       The contrary is true. It is well for  us,  who are often so
 shall give us something, but that He shall grant  us exactly       occupied with earthly matters that it" is difficult for  us  tb
 what we asked of Him according to His will. And the                enter into the sanctuary and to lift up our hearts to the Holy
 blessed fruit for us will be that He will abundantly give us       One, that we take much time to separate ourselves unto
 His grace and Spirit, and that "the peace of God, which            prayer. And when we really pour out our hearts in prayer.
 passeth all understanding, shall keep our. hearts and minds        we may well have need of many more words than we find in
 through Christ Jesus." Phil. 4  :7.                                the Lord's Prayer to worship and adore and glorify the
                                                                    Most High, and to drink from the fountain of life and all
                            Chapter 3            .      "     1     good. But it does mean that we must never assume the at-
              The Perfection of the Lord's Prayer                   titude of, one that presumes to inform God about mundane
                                                                    matters, nor of the headstrong child that seeks to obtain
       In the last two questions and answers of the present         what it wants by its importunity. Your Father knows what
 Lord's Day the Catechism refers briefly to the prayer which        you neecl before you ask Him. Hence, you need not employ
 the Lord Himself has taught us, and quotes it.                     vain repetitions in order to explain your  neecls to Him:
       All the rest of this work on the Heidelberg Catechism        neither do you have to persuade Him to fulfill your  real-
 will be devoted to a discussion of that most perfect prayer        needs. Your Father is always ready to grant YOLI that which
 which the Lord Himself taught us.                                  you ask of Him according ,to His will.
       Before we enter into a detailed discussion of this most         But while the Lord's Prayer is very brief, it is not lacking
perfect prayer, before we. set our feet across the threshold        in contents on that account. On the contrary, it is a perfect
 of this holy of holies,  and dwell for a moment in every hall      whole. It contains a fulness of petitions. The Christian can-
and chamber of this sanctuary, we will do well to examine           not think of anything more to ask than that which is  es-
the grandeur and beauty and perfection of the whole. For            pressed in this model prayer. Whatever he prays in addition
it is not only from the separate petitions of this model prayer     to the contents of the Lord's Prayer, or contrary to it, is cer-
that the Lord Jesus would have His people learn how they            tainly not according to the will of  Gocl. The marvel of this
should pray. But He also would teach us some of the most            prayer then is that while it is so extremely simple and brief,
fundamental underlying principles of true prayer by the order       it fully expresses all that the Christian in this world needs.
of the various petitions and by their relation in which they           Looking once more at this most perfect prayer, to con-
stand to one another.                                               template its perfection, we notice that the prayer presupposes
       In Matthew  6:9 the Lord introduces this most perfect        a certain subject and a certain standpoint of that subject.
prayer in the following words : "After this manner therefore        The subject of this prayer is the Christian. And it is the
pray ye." This does not mean that in the Lord's Prayer we           Christian as he stands in the midst of this present world.
have a fixed form from which we may never depart in our              ' This prayer is frequently uttered in public gatherings,.
own prayers. But it certainly signifies that it is a model,         and before mixed audiences in the world. There seems to be
the main lines of which we must always copy, and the chief          a notion that it is .especially  adapted for this purpose. Noth-
principles of -which we may really never violate when we ap=        ing, however, could be farther from the truth. It is not the


2 9 6                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

world of the ungodly, that cannot pray. nor mere man as             ourselves only in the second place and for His name's sake.
 such that is the subject  -of, the Lord's Prayer. But very         NOW  this is a `very important, yea, even the all-important
definitely it is the redeemed and regenerated and sanctified        principle underlying all true prayer. All things in heaven `and
child of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. From the address of          on earth exist for God's sake. The glory of God is the
this prayer to the doxology there is not a petition that fits       purpose of all that exists in all creation. That, in fact, is the
in the mouth of the natural man,-not even the prayer for            sole purpose.  You  and I, all men, the righteous and the
 daily bread. It is the believer that is able to address God as     wicked, angels and devils, as well as all the wide creation,
his Father in heaven, that is concerned about the name and          must serve that one and highest purpose. Even all the work
the kingdom and the will of God, that is in need of the for-        of salvation, with Jesus Christ in the center, is aimed at that
giveness of sins, and that longs for the deliverance from evil,     purpose only. There are even in this respect no two ultimate
that is the subject of this prayer. It is the Christian that        purposes, `the glory of God and the salvation of His people.
truly acknowledges that God's only is the kingdom and the           But the latter is subservient to the former. And it is the
power and,the  glory forever that speaks in this prayer. But        sole and full happiness and blessedness of the saved, of the
it is the Christian as he is. in this world. In heaven, in the.     redeemed in Christ Jesus  our  Lord, that they may forever
new creation, wherein righteousness shall dwell, we shall           willingly  ancl consciously serve that purpose of their existence
certainly also pray. But we shall then be able to pray the          and calling. That, in fact, constitutes their highest  blessecl-
Lord"s Prayer in this form `no longer. Then God's name              ness. It is this truth that is embodied in the Lord's Prayer
shall be forever hallowed in perefection.  Then His kingdom         and that is revealed in the order of the two main groups of
shall have come in its final glory, and therefore His will shall    separate petitions, the first pertaining to Gocl, the second to
be done in earth and in heaven without a fault. Then we             us.
shall no longer need bread ; and we shall not bye in daily need            This form of the Lord's Prayer reveals indeed a most
of forgiveness; nor shall there be any more evil or danger
of temptation. It is in this world only that we need bread,         significant and fundamental principle of all prayer. And how
and that we need it for just one day,, no more. And it is           deeply and keenly we feel, as-we compare our average- prayers
in this world too that we need the grace of forgiveness and         with this perfect model of the Lord's Prayer, that we have
                                                                    as yet  ,but a small beginning of that new obedience that
of deliverance from the evil one. The standpoint of him that
utters his prayer,, therefore, is that of the believer in this      enables us to pray. And what a close- connection there is
present world and in the state of the present imperfection and      between a godly life and prayer. For let us not forget that
                                                                    this deepest principle of prayer cloes not mean that we seek
battle. Let no one deceive himself into imagining that this         God and His glory. His name, His kingdom, His will, first;
prayer is especially adapted to be prayed in public gatherings
or mixed audiences. On the other hand, let no one assume            and then, next to it, and on a par with it, ourselves. But it
                                                                    implies that in our prayers we make all things subservient
the position that- it requires ultimate perfection to pray after    to that one supreme purpose, God and His cause, His glory.
the manner of the Lord's Prayer.                                    His name, His kingdom, His will. It means that `we desire
         Let us now look somewhat more closely at the structure     and seek and ask for our daily bread only in as far it may
and composition of this perfect model of prayer, at the             be in harmony with His will conducive to the coming of His
number and order of the separate petitions contained in it.         kingdom, and tending to the glory of His name, and that we
We notice that it consists of three main parts : the address,       would  rather go hungry in this world than that because of
or alocution, the various petitions. and the close, or doxology.    our bread God and His cause should suffer. It implies that
The meaning and contents of these several parts we expect           we desire earnestly the forgiveness of sin, that we flee from
to discuss in the future. At present, however, we must              and fight against all temptation, and long for the deliverance
examine especially the order of the different petitions. It         from all sin, because sin dishonors the name of God, is in
strikes us immediately that these petitions- may be divided         conflict with the righteousness of His kingdom and opposed
into two groups. and that the  f;rst of these groups is con-        to the perfect will of our Father in heaven. How often is the
cerned wholly and exclusively with God and His cause in             disposition of our heart directly the opposite from what this
the world, while the second group has reference to our needs.       principle of the Lord's Prayer requires it to be. How often
The first group contains three petitions. And if we may             are we inclined to seek our own ends regardless .of what may
distinguish four petitions in the second group, which is not
impossible, we find the number~of  God Triune and the num-          become of God's glory, of His kingdom. and of His will.
ber of the world, or of the creature, represented here? `to-        Well may we humble ourselves deeply before the throne of
gether symbolizing the perfection of God's kingdom and              grace, and well may we, after we have hearcl the Lord Jesus'
. covenant  by. the  rmmber  SBVBK Be this as it  may?  there       injunction, "After this manner pray ye." get on our knees
is a very definite principle clearly taught in the order of the     and earnestly beseech Him, "Lord, not only give us a model
two groups, the principle, namely, that in our prayer we are        prayer, but above all give us grace to pray."
concerned with God above all and in the first place, and with                                                                  H.H.


                                                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                      297

II                                                                                               is; From everlasting to everlasting. have I loved Jacob and
                  THE DAY bF SHADOWS                                                        II hated Esau. This amazing discrimination as coupled with
                                                                                                 the fact that this "Jacob have. I loved but Esau have I
                                                                                                 hated" was said to the mother before the children were born
                          The Prophecy of Malachi                                                ancl before they thus had done any good or evil," proves
                                                                                                 that the Lord has mercy on whom He will have mercy and
       Title-THE AUTHOR  AND THE SUBJECT OF THE                                                  that He  harclens whom He will. that in a word, His loves
                             PROPHECY. Chapter 1  :l.  '                                         and hatred are sovereign.
                                                                                                     The meaning of the words "love" and "hate" must- not
            1.  The  w o r d   of  the  L o r d   Il.n,to  I s r a e l   b y   the  hand  o f    be toned down into loving more and  loving  less. To `hate
       Mndnclzi.  The word of the Lord comes to Israel, the  post-                               is the opposite of love as is clear from thk way the Lord
       exilic remnant that has returned from the captivity of the                                expresses His love of Jacob and His hatred of Esau, the
       Bab$lonian  exile. In the final instance Israel is the church                             Eclomites. He sets Esau's mountains a desolation and his
       of the elect as comprehending both Jews atid. Gentiles.                                   portion for the monsters of the wilderness. Esau's portion -
           I. The prologue-Jehovah's love for Israel, 1  2-5.                                    the  mou&ains of Seir that the Lord in His providence but
           2. I  hn.ve  loved you  mid  Jehovah. And ye  my,  wJ~erein                           not in  HIS -favor had given him for a habitation. It is a
       lznst   thou loved  us' Was not  Emu   JacolYs brothel-? said                             matter of record that Esau was driven. from his portion by
       JeAovah:  Yet I loved Jacob,,                                                             the Arabs and that his mountains became a desolation. But
           3.  And  Esau I hated. and laid  Iris  ~u~ountains   aud  his                         Esau refused to see the hand of the Lord in all this. Con-
       portion   waste   for  the   dragom  of the  alildemess.                                  tinuing clefiant, he said, "we are broken in pieces, but we
           4.  W%ereas   Edom   saith,,  we  -arc  broke?l.   is~x  f&es,   lmt                  will return and build the ruins." Bilt it would be to no lasting
       WC  will  retwn. and  bzrild  tllc wins;  thus   mid Jehovah of                           avail. For the Lord said, "They will build but I shall pull
       hosts,  ~T&y  shall  hdld,   blrt I  zvill  throw down;  axd  they  shall                 down." The meaning is that Edom shall never be rehabili-
       cnll  them,   The border of wickedness, and the people against                            tated. It hasn't till this day. Edom as a nation became  e?-
       zwho~~r   the  L o r d   Ilath  i&igna.tiort   fol-ever.                                  tinct.
           5. And  yo~ta-  eyes shall see,  nnd ye shall  my, The Lord                               Ancl they shall call then,the  borders of wickedness and
      is  yre0.t   from  ,lrfiorz and to  the  border   of  Israel.                              the people against whom the Lord hath indignation forever.
           I  base   loved  yorr . . Qua1 perfect. The tense of the verb                         They that thus call are the believe&. For they see with their
      lboks back to Jehovah's loves of Israel throughout its &ire                                own eyes Esau's permanent desolation. And they say, Let
      history i and all eternity.                                                                the Lord be magnified. from, upon and to the borders of
         IN  wlznt   hast   tlmc  loved  ,tl~s? This word espresses the                          Islael." The meaning is : Let the  redeelned  of God from
      objection. Life had not been easy for the returned remnant.                                one end of Israel to the other magnify the Lord.
      The Samaritans had been bitterly hostile. They had accused                                     This is the prophet's reply to thk skepticism of God's
      the Jews `of disloyalty that had resulted in. the issuing of a                             people as expressed by the' question,  "In what hast thou
      decree forbidding the building of the city walls (Ezra 4  :6ff).                           loved us ?" That is, what is the proof? This,  thaf in His
      There had been harvest failures 3s a result of drought and a                               eternal hatred of Esau the Lord sets Esau's portion a
      plague of locusts (Mal. 3  :9ff, Hag. 2  :19). The glowing                                 perpetual desolation. This certainly proves that the  Zord
      visions of the preexilic prophets were not realized. The na-                               hates. Esau. But how can it serve as proof of the Lord's
      tions were not shaken as had been foretold (Hag. 2  ~6, 7.                                 love. of Israel ? It is plain that more is implied in the reply
      The preexilic prophets particularly Isaiah). On the contrary,                              of the prophet than is actually expressed.
      Persia remained supreme, while Judah remained governed by                                      The Lord expels' Esau from his portion and  clestroys
      foreigners.                                                                                him as  a  nation  and sets-his portion an everlasting desolation
           The  prophkt introduces his reply by another question,                                in order to save Israel from his clutch. But the Lord did
      YWas not  broth   Emu  to' Jacob?"  Indeed they were twin                                  not set Israel's heritage a desolation and destroy His people
      brothers and the offspring of the same godfearing parents.                                 so that they became extinct as a nation. He did lead Israel
      One would expect therefore that the Lord should assume the                                 into the captivity of the exile, that is Judah.  But- He again
      same attitude toward both. But such was not <he case. "iind                                had  mei-cy  upon  His, people. After the seventy years He
      I  `loved  Jacob  but  Esnzt   I  lmted."  Jacob  - the ancestral                          turned their captivity and reestablished them in-the promised
      father and his elect natural offspring-. In the final instance                             land of their abode. All this is implied in the prophet's reply
      Jacob is the church of the elect as comprehending both Jews                                to the unbelief.of  the returned exiles. It proves marvelously
      and Gentiles. Esau- the ancestral father and his offspring                                 the Lord's hatred of Esau and His love of Jacob.
      the Edomites of ancient times. In the final instance Esau                                      But we cannot end -with this prophecy in the remnant
      is the reprobated portion of humanity.  "`Have loved .  _ .  _                             of Judah and in the Edomites of the Old Dispensation. Eclom
      har~e   hated."  The tense of the verbs (Qal perfect) again car-                           typified the reprobated portion of humanity, the world that,
      &s  us  back to God's counsel, so thjt basically the meaning                               lies in darkness and  for which Christ does not pray. Now

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

the portion of Esau is this earth in its present state. Though                  meant to foreshadbw the sinless Saviour in His suffering and
it belongs to God's people by promise, it  ii in the actual                     dying for the sins of His people. As uncorrupted the sacri-
posession of Esau of this present time. But God is always                       fices by blood were the.w.ord  of God, the Gospel of Christ,
spoiling. this earth, Esau's portion, through His curse as                      the revelation of God in' 4.&rist's `face, .so that in corrupting.
operative in flood, storm, earthquakes, pestilence, heat, cold                  polluting these sacrifices priest and people were guilty of
.and especially war, thus also through the agency of Esau                       corrupting, polluting God's self-revelation, His name. Of that
himself. The nations of the earth make war upon each other,                     very sin the prophet accuses them.
and wars are terribly devastating especially modern. war. But                       The priests were appointed. to make  atonemerit  for sin
now, too, Esau in defiance of Christ is always saying,  "we                     and to intercede, for offenders.  Ancl  therefore the  prochet
will return and build the ruins.`" That is what the world said                  urges them to beseech the face of the Lord that He may be
after the last world war. And Europe is today largely                           gracious unto  "us" priests and worshipper including the
rehabilitated. But it is to no lasting avail. For the Lord has                  prophet. But he at once assures theln  that the Lord will not
said, "They will build but I will pull down." There are new                     regard their person, hearken unto their intercession, seeing
wars in prospect. The Lord will continue to spoil Edom's                        that they corrupt his table.
heritage. At His second coming there will be the final world                         10.  W'ko among  yozf that lie  -may  slzut  the doors  ix
catastropl!e. The elements will melt. All the works of men                      order  tlmt  yc  Ina.  *tiot kindle  my  a,lta.r in vain.  There   ,is not
will be rolled up as a scroll. Edom's portidn shall then be                     to  `me  pleaSure  in  >loc4,  scrith  the Lord of hosts. And  .o.frr-hg
that region of eternal torment  -and outer darkness -hell.                      do  not'I  delight  from  you+ hand.
At the same time there will be new heavens and a new
earth upon which shall dwell righteousness and to be  `in-                          The meaning is this : Would that someone were among
hei-ited  by. Jacob, the redeemed of God. And their eyes shall                  you to..shut  the doors of the temple, so that all worshippers
see and they shall say, "The Lord be  rilagnified  from upon                    will be excluclecl  an?l in consequence all sacrifice will cease.
and to the  borciers of Israel." But Israel will then  beg the                  That is, it is far better that they close the doors of the temple
new earth. And 511 is the fruit of Christ's aton&nent.                          and  extinguisjl  the altar fires than to continue this sort of
       Of these workings of the Lord the calamities of Esau  and                service. This applies with equal force today. Better no meet-,
the turning of Judah's captivity and the reestablishment of                     ings for public worship at all than meetings on which the
the remnant in the land of Jadah were the prophetic types.                      Gospel of Christ'is corrupted ancl the Lord's &me profaned.
They prove God's love.of  Jacob and his hatred of Esau.                              11.  For  f"r.0711,   the  ri&zg of  the sun  and  unto the  goirzg
       II. The Lord rebukes priest and people for  profaning                    dozen  grea.t  `sly  na.me   anzo;utg   the  Gerztiles.  And  i,n  every place
His altar.  16-8,  10.                                                          incense  will be  bffeved  to  my  rzmxe and  offehzg   pm-e.   Fo.1
                                                                                grea,t  my  nappze   among the  Gcntiiles,   ;mitA   fehovah  Sebaotlz.
       6. A  son  honors  father  a.rzd   a- servant' his  mmter; if                This is -a prophecy of the coming of the blessings of
then  CII father  am I,  wke-ve  is  my  honor?   A,nd  if  ma,.stes  a,m I,    Abraham to the Gentiles in the fulness of  tim.e  The Gen-
where is  way few? s&z Jehovah of hosts unto you 0 priests                      tiles will see all God's marvelous works of redemption
despisers of  wzy  name. And ye say, In  w1zat  despise we thy                  presented to them through the Gospel preaching, and they  _
n a m e ?
       7:                                                                       will praise and magnify His name.                    _
             Ye are offering upon my  al&r  bretid  polluted, and ye
say,, In  whnt   poll&e we thee  8i Ipz  tAa.t  ye say,  The table                 .12. But ye  `a.re profaning  lzin~  in  tha,t ye say. The table
of Jehovah is contemptible.                                                     of the Lord is  polhted.,  and his  fmit is  depised.   thnt   is,  his
       8. And if ye  ofer  the blind for a  sun-&e,  it  ,is not `evil.         food.                -
And if ye  offw tke  lalne  arzd  the sick, it is  ,not evil.  Ofer it              13. And-ye mid.  Behold!  what  zvea.piness,   wtd ye  mufed
~zozv  to  you  governor,  will  he be pleased  @t?l.  thee  or lift  up        nt it,  snid  Jehova./z   Sabaoth.  ..Tlms  ye  bro,zzgght  the  st~ipj~d
thy  fa.ce,  smith Jehovah Sebao tlz.                                           Qnd  t h e   la.me  a n d   the sick;  ths   y e   brolcght  the  ofle&zg.
       Instead of  giviing Jehovah the `honor due, to  `Him as                  Should I  be'plea.sed   zeritlz   ,it  ~YOIH   yolcr   ha.nd?
Father and master, priests and peope despise His name. This                         They  saicl that the table of the Lord was polluted. They
they do by offering polluted bread, that is, blind, lame and                    abhorred the sacrifices by blood. The'entire ritual wearied
sick animals for a sacrifice. The rebuke .is addressed to the                   them. They snuffed at it, despised it in their heart. The
priests as the soul of national life, but it applies with equal                 flesh of the animal sacrifice was. eaten by the priests and `in
force to the people as it is they that supply the altar. The                    some cases by the worshippers. They despised this food.
priests should have refused to accept improper offerings from                   This was the posture of their heart with regard to the Lord's                     '
the worshippers and should have instructed them in their                        table. Hence anything was goocl enough to be offered unto
duty. But they do not guard the interests  pf Jehovah. The                      the  Loyd. What it came. down to is, that they despised the
law required that the animals selected  $or the altar, Jehovah's                blood of the atonement, that is, they were the forerminers  of
table, be perfect specimens of their kind without spot or                       such despisers. Their attitucle was that of those  who crucify
blemish. And with reason. The sacrifices by blood  were                         Christ afiesh and put Him to open shame.


                                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                          299

     14.  And  cui*sed   the one  deceivhg.  And  tlzere is  itz  his                       of their land, the increase of their kine and the flocks of
flock a male, and he  ZJOWS   a+zd  offers  the  comrpt  thing unto                         their sheep. The curse is already in operation for they are
the Lord. For I  a.rrr  ai great king, said  Jelzova,lz   Scbaotk,,  a,nd                   not taking it to heart (vs. 2 j . He will pollute unto them their
my name is  fea,md  a.mon.g  the  Gefztiles.                                                offspring, visit the sins of the apostates unto their generitions.
     The deceiver made a.vow that demanded a perfect sacri-                                 He will spread the dung of their solemn feasts upon their
fice but offered one that was unfit. The Lord curses  the,                                  faces.  Dung- that which was left in the forecourts by the
cleceiver. For He is a great king. His dominion is the whole                                animals used for sacrifice on the feastdays.  Ancl  one shall
earth. And His greatness comes out in His ability to effica-                                carry them away to the dungpile probably as corpses. This
ciously curse and also to bless? -that is, to make alive or to                              seems to be the meaning (vs. 3). So, from their honorable
blight and kill by the word of His mouth. And the Gentiles                                  position He will cast them down and their  seecl and make
fear Him. This is an extension of the.phophecy  of vs. 11 (see                              them base and contemptible befdre all the people (see vs. 9).
above) or it means that the Gentiles tremble with carnal fear                               When these-calamities shall overtalce them, they shall know
at the thought of Him. For His power- and divinity is mani-                                 that it was the Lord that mandated them and not a man (the
fested in &em through the things made.                                                      prophet)  - mandated them, the tribe of Levi and the priestly
C h a p .   2:1-S                                                                           Order to which these apostates belonged because He had
                                                                                            purposed that His covenant should be not with these
     1. Now to  yozz  is this  co~~nlzand~w~~zt,.~  0 priests.                              apostate priests and their carnal seed  but with Levi God's
     2. If you do not  hear  apad  do  plot set  yol4r  hea+t  upon it                      elect (vs. 4). And Jehovah's covenant of life and peace was,
to give  g1ol.y  to  `IIZ~  `?za.nre.  sa.id Jehovah of hosts,  tlzerz  I will              with him incleecl. The Lord gave them to him (life  .ancl
sepzd   among  yo'zt.  the  czrs-se   and I  will  cz~se  ~OEW   blrssings,                 peace)  fol- fear, that is, that he might fear. Ancl he did fear
a.?zd also I lzavc  cursed it,  fog  you  tiw  not laying  ~2y c o  m-                      the Lord and bowed before His name (vs. 5).              '
m a  ~1.  d  111 e  ~1 t  ,u@n.  y o  zt  I' heart.                                             He was the perfect priest. The law of truth was in his
     3 .   B e h o l d ,   I   a.m  pollztti~ng   t o   yozt,   the  s e e d   arzd will    mouth. It was the duty of the priests to instruct the people
s/mad   du.ng   zlpon  yozw  farm.,  the dung of  yo-w  solemn feasts,,                     in the law of Jehovah. This duty Levi fulfilled faithfully. He
a.n.d one will  benr  you away  to it.                                                      gave instruction according to the truth. He did not teach for.
     4.. And ye  shall!  k~tozv tlzat I have  sent  you this                                r&a&l, nor did he call good that which was evil. His life
                                                                                 COIIL~
ma.mhrent  that  my  covmmzt may be with Levi,  sclid Jehovah                               agreed kvith his words; he gave truthful instruction, and he
Of hosts.                                                                                   "practiced what he-preached." In a word, he was a friend of
                                                                                            Jehovah. He walked with Him in peace and uprightness, by
     5.  My  coeienaltt  was  with.   him of life  apzd  peace,  and I                      His side like an intimate companion; so. to speak. By his
ga.vc   tlzem  to  him  f o  Y  fess, and  lzc did  @al-   ??ze and  bozved                 teaching and upright walk of life he turned many away from
before  way   name.                                                                         iniquity (vs. 6):
     6.    Tlze  laze of  truth  was in his  ,mozt.th  and  irziquity  was                     He was what the priest should be. He corresponded to
not  found  .in  lzis lips;  in  peace  and  upriglztrzess  he walked                       the purpose of Jehovah of hosts concerning Levi the elect.
with  `me,  atzd many  ha  tm-nrd  frolu i&pity.                                            For the lips of the priest shall keep knowledge that it may
     7.  - For the  lifis of the priest shall keep knowledge,  and                          be possible for the God-fearin g to seek it from his lips Gt all
the  lasv  they  shoztld  seek front  !zis  ,llzoMtla:  for a.  nziniste~   oj              times, he being a messenger of Jehovah of hosts to His people.
Jehovah of hosts is he,                                                                     And Levi did just that. His lips kept knowledge without fail.
    8.  Bzl  t   y e   h a v e   tztrvzed   a,side                                          Never did he spew it out of his mouth because it had be-
                                                        fsowa   the   zmy,,   a.+zd   yg
caused  ,man_ir  to  stmzble at  the  1a.w;  ye  lmve  com4ptcd  the                        come loathsome to him. It was always His meat and drink.
coveharzt  of Levi, said  Je1zova.h  of  hosts,                 _                           Knowledge  - the self-revelation of the triune `Jehovah in
                                                                                            the face of Christ and the knowledge of His will (vs. 7).
    9. Therefore  llazte I also  mnde  you  corztemjtible   -and                               It is plain that in the first instance Levi is Christ. This
ba.se  before all  the people, according as ye  hazre not kept  ncy                         accounts for his being called  tjze  Levi (see the. following
word,,  but have  lifted' ,I,QJ y o at  1'  fnces  at  the  1a.w.                           verse).
    This  comn~andment  (vs. 1) must look back to the man-                                     But how different it is with regard to the apostate priests.
dates  inplied in vss. 6-14 of the-preceding chapter- man-                                  They turned aside from the way of Jehovah's ordinances for
dates to the apostate priests that they repent, foresake their                              them. They caused many to stumble in the law both by their
abominations and bring the proper sacrifices. If they do not                                wrong esplanations of it and by destroying its authority
hear and lay it upon their heart to give glory unto Jehovah's                               through their disregard of it in their own lives. The covenant
name by rendering unto Him the uncorrupted service that is                                  with the Levi was not with them. It was with the Levi only.
His due, He will then send the curse by which such wicked-                                  The apostates were not included in it. The proof is that they
ness is  always  visited (compare Deut. 27 :15-26; 28  :lSff).                              corrupted the covenant of Levi in both its parts, the whole
He will curse the blessings, the priestly income implying that                              idea of it as presented to them by Jehovah through His
the curse shall be in the field of the people and in the fruit                                                   (Cofztimred  olt page 303)

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

 I                                                                                 The first is : shall  `iYe remain in sin  `.that grace may
            F R O M   H O L Y   W R I T                                   II abound ? And the answer is : impossible. The reason? We
                                                                               who have died unto sin, who have legally been cut off from
                                                                               sin  ; sin has lost its legal right to have dominion over us.
                  Exposition of Romans  6:22, 23                               We have the right not to be slaves of sin since we have
                                                                               died with Christ on the Cross and have been raised up with
       The passage which calls for our attention in this essay                 Him in newness of life. We are legally no more under sin,
is wellknown to nearly all who have but a scant acyuaintaucc                   but we are under grace. For Christ was, indeed, delivered
of the Bible. But to simply refresh our memory it can do                       for our offenses, but He was r&sed  for our justification. Ancl
no harm to quote it here once more. It reads as follows:                       this means that we are not under the law of such who are
 "But now  lzaz&g been, made,  free   fi'oz~  sin  md  hazkg  been             legally under  siri. Were we under sin then we would be
made  tt%e servants of God,  3re  ha.ve   you  fmit unto  holiness,            simply  under law, where sin abounds, but we would then not
 the  end  everlasting  life. For the  wag`es of sin is death.,  butt          be under that dispensation of I;od where grace does much
I the gift of God is  etemal  life  t&mrgll   Jesus   Clu-isf  0.~1' Lord."    more abound. Those who thus speak, therefore, about "re-
       This passage from Holy Writ is often quoted By preach2                  maining" in sin know nothing of the things whereof they
 ers of the Word of God, but it is not always understood as                    conficlently  affirm.
 it was meant by the Holy Spirit, who lead Paul into all                           The second is : since we are not under law but are l&e!-
the truth. The reason is that verse 23 is quoted as an                         grace  it is no. longer possible for us to  -walk  as if  wr  zvere
 aphorism, a mere fragment by itself without proper regard                     .zmdcr-  sitz. God forbid ! 0, indeed, when we were "under
for the main subject which Paul is discussing here in the                      sin" then we were hz OZU~ .~zilzds not at all under the obligation
.6th Chapter of  Remans. Paul is here not speaking directly                    to serve God and walk in His righteousness. But now that
 about the subject: the great gift of God! This marvelous                      has all changed. We are under grace  ancl now  we- are to
 truth of the great gift of God which is eternal life. however,                place our members in the service of  God. We are now no
 is brought in to shed light on an other question, which is of                 longer free from righteousness in our mincj.  but we feel the
 the greatest importance. It is the question of the proper                     new obligation to serve the Lord in spirit and truth. We
 spiritual inference that must be drawn from the Gospel                        feel that if God so  (thus)  lovecl us,  we ought also to love
 truth. that wlze~  sin abounds  grace does ~~rmlz ~kbore  a.boz<nd!           one another and walk in our new liberty in Christ Jesus..
 And `then the question arises whether the conclusion is not                       All things are different for us "now." Heretofore we
 warranted -to say: Let us- remain in sin that grace  l?ay                     were slav& ofian  other master. We were the servants.of sin.
 abound ! Such is the vain and foolish contention of the                       But now this is different for us. Now we  l!ave been made
 scoffer  Andy  the unbeliever. And in this sixth chapter of                   free from  .sin and servants of God, serving God in a pure
 Romans Paul gives the only possibly reply to this, evil and                   consci&ce.
 unwarranted conclusion from the doctrine of free, sovereign                       And since this is the dase with  us,  "we now have our
 grace.                                                                        fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life." Verse 22..
       What is this answer?                                                     What does it imply that we have our  ,fruit unto holiness
       Briefly it is : God forbid !                                            and the end everlastii;g  life ?
       Why Paul breaks forth in this strong "God  forbid"~  he                     In the. first place this means that our life is fruitful to
 shows iri this Chapter, and particularly in the last two verses               God since  zve  aye  the  serzm&ts  of God.  We have been con-
 of this Chapter, the verses 22, 33, which are quoted above.                   stituted God's willing servants. Wherefore we are glad and
 It is the  nature  of-the "gift of God." The gift of  Gocl is                 blessed in the keeping of God's commandments. hating evil
 etemnal   life. And when this  eterngl  life in Jesus Christ be-              and loving righteousness. The term "fruit" indicates that the
comes our portion it is a spiritual impossibility to remain in                 positive holiness to the Lorcl is manifested in our life; the
 sin that grace may abound. A good tree bringeth forth good                    purpose unto which God has created us is thus manifested
 fruit,  &d an evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree                in us. We manifest the image of God. In this walk we say:
 cannot bring forth evil fruit, nor can an evil tree bring forth               it has not yet been re?ealed  what we shall be, but we know
 good fruit. By the fruits we shall be known. And this good                    that when it shall be revealed we shall be like Him for we
-~ fruit of a good tree reveals itself in the "God, forbid': when              shall see Him as He is.
 it is stated or insinuated that  those.who live out of free grace,                In the second place this means that we have our fruit
 are men, who love to live in sin that grace may abound.                       unto holiness. This implies that our fruitfulness is more and
 Liberty must never be used as an occasion to the flesh. We                    more in the direction of- holiness ; it is a gvozvtlz in sanctifica-
 are by love to serve one another. Thus we have pointed out                    .tion. This growth in sanctification may never be presented
 in earlier -essays on the book of Galatians. And we must                      as being self-improvement as the modernistic man loves to
 here too listen to what Paul has to teach us on this score.                   speak of. Also this holiness, this sanctification, Christ be-
       Paul here asks two questidns which are decisive `in                     came -unto us from God. We are under grace and not under
 n a t u r e .                                                                 law. Hence, under grace, we also walk in holiness. This


                          .-                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   ,BEARER                                                  301
                      _ _.- ,.. . -- -
"sanctification" is part of the "complete redemption" where-            that grace may abound. The nature of the free-gift in Christ
with Christ has redeemed us, His people. And this sancti-               will not permit it. Were it so that we were still  uncler   the
fication is always such that it follows upon and is most                "wages of sin" then we  would still walk in sin. But now
closely related to justification. Hence, the more we taste that         this is all changed. For the gift of God is eternal life through
we are. freely justified in Christ's blood the more we shall            Jesus Christ, our Lord. God forbid, therefore, that we, who
also desire to walk in thankfulness which reveals itself in             have died to sin exactly in  this free-gift,  shoulcl  walk any
good works proceeding from a true faith, according to the               longer therein.                                              G.L.
law. of God and unto His glory. The Christian cannot live
an antinomian life when he walks in. the strong consolation
that his sins are no more, that he is free from sin. Nay, we                                      EDITORIALS
thus have our fruit unto holiness.                                                          (Colttimed   frofn  pa.ge  294)
    In the third place, they who thus walk may be assured
that they will surely inherit eternal  liie. For the end of                                     Question Box
such a life is eternal life. The term "end" here means the                  I received the following question :
appointed encl of d thing. Thus the "end" of the :`seecl-time"          Editor of the Standard Bearer . Dear Rev. Hoeksema :
is the harvest. And so the harvest time, the  Gocl-appointecl
fruit, is everlasting life in the ages to come. Then in body                The Ladies Aid Society of Grand Haven are studying
                                                                        from the 1st epistle of Timothy. Our pastor is our president.
and soul we shall~forever  be perfect and know God even as
we are known. And this knowledge spells                                 He hacl asked the ladies to close with prayer. When we came
                                                    cvdasting  lijc.
    This end is held before us in our battles as believers              to the second  chap&r where women must keep silent and
against sin and unbelief.                                               should not teach, a remark was made that some thought it
    Now in so doing Paul  cloes  not hold  this- before us as           is wrong for women to pray when a man was pretiegt.
something which is offered to all upon condition of faith.                  Now we would like to have some light on this. Is it
When Paul here speaks of this eternal life he has more in               wrong for women to close in prayer because we have a man
mincl than a "gift of God which is eternal life" ancl is offered        in our presence  ? Would you kindly answer this in the Stand-
to whosoever is ,willing  to take it.                                   ard Bearer 1       Yours in Christ,
    You ask for our grounds for this latter observation?                                    Ladies of Grand leaven  Prot: Ref. Church
Then we refer you to what Paul says about the "free-gift of                                 Mrs. Ralph De Jong, Secretary.
God" in. the former Chapter, verses  1.5-19.  It is very clear          Adswer': If one compares, with this passage in I Tim. 2, that
and evident  fro_ni  these verses that the "free-gift" of God           of'1 C6r. 11:2ff. and especially I Cor .14:34, 35, it should be
is sdmething  far greater than a mere offer of salvation. The           kviclent  that the apostle is referring, not to any gathering in
"free-gift" refers to the entire economy df salvation in Jesus          the church such as, for. instance, the Ladies' Aid, but of the
Christ, even as God sent His Son into the world, to assume              public assemblies in the church. This, to my mind, is the
our flesh and blood, to suffer and die for us, to rise again on         meaning of the words in I Cor. 14:34:  "Let the women keep
the-third day, and to ascend bn high to ever live and pray for          silence in the churches." And this, undoubtedly, also applies
us. That is the free gift.                                              here. The mother is surely called to teach her children in
    It is called. the free-gift exactly because it is grace, and        her own home. And the women may certainly discuss the
the principle of the quickening Spirit  over against all the            truth of Scripture in their meetings in the. Ladies' Aid.
principle of law, which proclaims that the man that doeth the               Besides, it is not merely a question of prayer, but of
law shall live thereby. Paul draws this contrast very beauti-           keeping silence in general. What sort of a gathering of the
fully in Romans 5  :15-19. And he does -this in a threefold             Ladies' Aid could we have in the church if the minister or
manner. In the first place (verse 15) he contrasts the  greati          sol!ie  man merely taught and all the members kept silent?
transgression in Adam with the free-gift in Christ Jesu`s  our          Granted now that this were even possible in a gathering of
Lord. If the offense in Adam abounded unto many,  m?ch                  ladies !
more the free-gift in Christ shall abound unto. many.                       Finally, the passage has nothing to do with the- presence
    The second contrast is, that even as through the offense            of a man. If it should be wrong, eon the basis of Scrifiture,
of one many were judged and condemned, much &ore would                  for a woman to speak or to pray, it would be wrong in prin-
the free gift in Christ out of many offenses abound unto                ciple, and not because a kan is present. The text in I Tim.
many to justification.                                                  2 says nothing about forbidding a woman to pray or  to. teach
    The third contrast is that whereas sin reigns through the           when a mah is present, but speaks entirely in general.
one in the many. thus also as many as receive the free-gift                 Once more, therefore, this passage does not refer to
shall f*cign.  through faith unto life eternal.                         praying or speaking in any place or gathering at all, but
    The"`free-gift"  makes us alive and changes us. Sin's clo-          merely to the gatherings of the church as a whole for public
minion is broken in us by means of this gift of God.                    worship. The pastor of Grand Haven is perfectly right .when
   And, therefore, we must not and cannot remain, in sin                he ?sks one of the ladies to close with prayer.           H.H.


302                                            T H E   STA'N.DARD   B E A R E R
                           .
 CONSISTORIAL SUPERVISION OF LEAGUE                                    and that in connection with its calling to maintain the pure
              OR FEDERATION ACTIVITIES                                 preaching of the Word, and the rightful administration of the
                                                                       sacraments. It has the authority of Christ Himself, to deter-
       The subject of the proper relation of consistories to the       mine the membership of the institute in order that no one
existing societies, leagues or federations is often a matter of        desecrates thk sacraments, so that it may exclude all unbe-
doubt or misunderstanding. In some instances this  ma;J even           lievers and such as lead offensive lives. Here the authority
be stating the matter rather mildly. On the one hand, at the           of the consistory ceases. It may not rule and govern the'
simple suggestion of some jurisdiction or supervision by the           individual lives of its membership. The consistory may not
consistories, one happens upon the outcry of hierarchy. On.            cletermine  what its members may  dr may not do, nor how
the other hand, in discussing the relation of consistories to          they must live. Therefore, we also conclude that no  con-
the above named organizations, we find the opinion that  con-          sistory has jurisdiction over the affairs of a free and volun-
sistories should exercise not only stipervision,  but also juris-      tarily constituted society, even though its members are like-
diction over all the activities. Then too, we hear of  .douht          wise members of  the institute.
in the matter.                                                             However, when we speak of supervision, of oversight,
       It is not our purpose in statin,w these various observations    the picture changes, to some extent at least. For, when it
to lay a charge at the door of any of those holding these              comes to the matter of supervision the sphere of the  con-
various opinions. Fact is: that history, also that of our Prot-        sistory's authority broadens. It has &right and the author-
estant Reformed Churches, shows that consistories, as well             ity to supervise, to oversee the lives of the members -of the
as the activities of a league of societies,  may be partly re-         local institute. This is its calling as consistory. And it is
sponsible for the existence of especially the first two opinions       necessary that the consistory have this authority to super-
mentionecl above. When a consistory endeavors to "seize"               vise. In order that it may be able to rightly rule and govern,
control'of  a society, it may expect. among its membership, a          esercise its rightful authority over the preaching of the  Worcl
fear for any and all official action. And, when the activities         and over the sacramentsl  it must see to it that each and every
of leagues or federations assume a questionable character, the         member of the congregation deports himself in harmony with
result will produce the opinion that consistori&  should have          his membership. And, it matters not whether a member be-
more to say in these activities. Hence, we do not purposk to           longs to a society or has part in the affairs of a league or
cast reflections in any specific direction, but rather mention         federation, the consistory has a right to oversee and in-
these facts to point out  the- existence of different opinions         struct that member in his conduct  ancl deportment, and, if
and the dangers involved: For, as long as the relation of              necessary, to admonish ancl exhort.
consistories to these various organizations is based oh opin-             We must add, however, that  ,such  oversight  ancl super-
ions, it remains a matter of majority rule rather than a matter        vision is also limited. For,, it  filnd,s  its ground and basis in
of truth and verity, or worse still; is a matter. to be-decided        the right to govern and rule! over the preaching of the Word
according. to  the whims and wishes of each consistory. At             and administration of the sacraments only as this takes place
one time; therefore, should there exist rights and privileges          within the local institute. Never has the consistory, as an
of an organization, these privileges would be trampled under           official body, the right and authority to supervise outside the
foot and the consistories would commit the sin of hierarchy.           boundaries of its own membership. Hence, also from this
At another time,  t&e being no relation between the  con-              point of view. we conclude that a consistory has not the right
sistories and organizaGons,  the consistories may find them-           to overSee the affairs and the activities .of a league or federa-
selves unable to carry out their specific callipgs.  And these         tion. Such affairs and activities lie outside the boundaries of
dangers are always nigh at hand.                                       the consistory's supervision. To enter upon the affairs or
       We would call to'mind the fact that our subject concerns        activities of any society or league or federation  of societies,
the relation of the consistories to the activies  of these various,    with the purpose of either jurisdiction or supervision, con-
organizations. It is not a question as to the relation of con-         stitutes on the part of the consistory, a sin against the liberty
sistories  tb the individual members of these organizations.           and privileges of these organizations, and casts a reproach
Nor, let  us  note, does our subject treat the matter of  juris--      upon the church of Christ.
dictibn  over league or  fed&-ation activities. In fact, with a            There  wotild, however,  be something wrong if in the
view of this latter, we believe that the committee, in assign-         organic life of the church the paths of our leagues and `feclera-
ing to us this specific topic, did so in the conviction that no        tion and that of the individual consistories would never' meet.
such jurisdiction, or rule may be exercised by consistories            Fact is, that it is not only. most natural, but also reality
over these various organizations. And with this we heartily            that  ahnost   .a11 the activities and affairs of these organizations
agree. The  Gight  and authority of a consistory to rule and           are  conductecl in the churches of the various societies.  .In
govern lies entirely within the sphere of the institute of the         order to cary out their various activities, these organizations,
dhurch, while the various organizations belong to the organ-           through their various member societies, naturally make use
ism. The consistory, therefore, rules and governs, has juris-          of the facilities which are at their disposal. In this way, as
diction only over the membership of the local congregation,            already mentioned, they have access to the various church


                                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A K E R                                                                303

  buildings, kitchens etc. With these facilities as starting points     that is not in harmony with the standards of  judgement;
  they carry on their activities in other ways. The member-             the consistory  .seek by way of admonition and advise, to
  ship meetings of the various leagues? the conventions of the          rectify these errors. And finally we would add, let our leagues
  federation of Young People's Societies,  singspirations,  in-         and federations submit the&elves willingly `to such super-
  spirational meetings, and what have you, are all activities           vision, on the. one hand jealously guarding their liberty, while
  that make use of the facilities of the local congregation. And,       on the other hand also recognizing those lawfully called to
  to our mind, it is at this juncture, and here only, that our          be officebearers in the house of God. And in this way all
  consistories have-  anything to clo as official bodies with the       concerned will find themselves in harmony with the injunc-
  various leagues or the federation.                                    tion of Scripture, "let all things be clone decently  ancl in
      The  cdtlsistories  are administrators of all congregational      order."
  buildings and property. In behalf of the congregation they                                                                           G, Lanting
  are duty bound to supervise the material affairs, the care
  an$ also use of all that is the property of the local organiza-
  tion. And  we- add, that this supervision  moist always har-
  monize with the calling and duties of their office. It stands                      UKTO  THEE, 0 LORD JEHOVAH
  to reason that anyone living in a glass hou$e  will not allow
  their children or friends to throw stones. How  mucl~  less                           Unto Thee,  0 Lord  J&ovah,
  will those, called to rule over the preaching of the Word and                         Do I lift my waiting soul.
  administration of the sacraments, allow others to use that                            0 my God, in Thee I trusted;
  which belongs to their.care to the detriment and destruction                          Let no shame now o'er me roll.
  of the Word and  the.  aclministration  of the sacraments. In                       On my enemy be shame,
  other words, consistories must be discreet and careful in their                       Oft without a cause transgressing:  "
  calling as overseers of local buildings and facilities. This iS                       But all those who trust Thy Name                  _
  their calling as officebearers, and their obligation to the con-                      Honor with abunclant blessing.
  gregation, as well as to the churches in the federation to                                                                         Psalm 25 :l.
  which they belong.  .It is unreasonable to think that any
  Protestant Reformed consistory would allow any activity to
  take  place within its sphere of supervision that would conflict
  with the three forms of unity that  forin the basis for its                               THE DAV OF SHADOWS
                                                                                             (Ccmti;lmed  
  affinity with other churches. It is still less reasonable to think                                          frorlc /huge-  299)
  that it would allow that which is contrary to the word of             organs the prophets. It means that they destroyed the,cov-
  God.                                                                  enant  conceptually, brake it in pieces, trampled it with their
      It is at this point then, that we advocate  consistorial          feet in their hatred of it, of its covenant God, of its life and
  supervision over league or federation activities. Fact is, that       peace and obligations (vs.  sj.  Their corrupting the cov-
  at `this juncture consistories are duty bound to oversee the          enant was their failure to keep the word of the Lord of
  gctivities of any< organizatibn  requesting the use of its facili-    hosts and their lifting up their faces at the law, that is, their
ties. And, we would add, that at no time, with a view to                contempt of the law, their regarding it with disdain. Sowing
  any of our leagues or federations, should the consistories be-        contempt, that is also what they -shall reap. Jehovah will
  come  lax in their duties. History, even our own, produces            repay them in kind. He will make them contemptible and
  sufficient grounds. Duty requires unfailing vigilance.                base before all the people. For Jehovah is not mocked (vs.
                                                                        9).
      It might be well to emphasize once more that we are                      It is plain that the message of vss. 2-5 "Jacob have I
  advocating supervision and  not jurisdiction.' The freedom            loved and Esau have I hated" is radically related also to
  and liberty of the organic church may not be grouncl under            the instruction contained in these verses  (6-9).  Levi is
' the heels of hierarchy. And on the other hand, let us beware          Jacob, Christ, thk church of the elect, the Gentiles of whom
  that liberty and freedom do not develope into licentiousness.         it is here stated that Jehovah's name shall be great among
. Or, better said, let us  beware  that licentiousness does not         them and that they' shall offer incense and a pure offering
  take the place of true liberty and freedom.                           unto Jehovah. And that they shail  because His covenant of
     With th& in mind it would be well that in conclusion vre           peace and life is with them. Esau, the apostates of all ages,
  attempt to point out a few things that will help us retain            the despisers of Jehovah's covenant,  p.riests  and people alike,
  the correct  reldtion  between the various organizations in-          will be destroyed. For Jacob He  loved, Esau He hated.
  volved. In the first place, by supervision we refer to the            This is the supreme reason.  Esau is. the type of the carnal, the
  careful study of the program of activities, considering it in         profane, the reprobated seed in the church of all ages. (See
  the light of scripture and the confessions `and not that of           Heb. 12 :15-17).
  private opinions. Seconclly,~ that in case something is found                                                                                G.&I.(C).


304                                          T H E   ST4NDARD   B E A R E R                          -__  - _.-

                                                                    the subject, and set the whole African church in motion
           Contending For The Faith                                 against them. They feared his superior dialectics, and  avoiclecl
i                                                              i' him wherever they could. The matter, however, was brought,
                                                                    by the- order of the emperor iri 411, to a three clays' arbitra-
            The Church and the  Sacramknts                          tion at Carthage, attended by two  hunclrecl  and eighty sis
                                                                    Catholic bishops and seventy nine Donatist bishops.
     VIEWS DURING THE SECOND PERIOD  (300-750 A.D.)                    Augustine, who, in two beautiful sermons before the be-
                                                                    ginning of the disputation, eshorted to  lov`e, forbearance, and
                 THE  DOCTRINE   OF THE CHURCH                      meekness was the chief speaker on the part of the Catholics ;
                                                                    Petilian was the chief speaker on the part of the schismatics.
       We concluded our preceding article' with the remark that     Marcellinus, the imperial tribune and notary, and a friend
we would call attention in this article to the historical back-     of Augustine, presided, and was to pass the decisive juclg-
ground for the conflict between Augustine and the Donatists.        ment. This arrangement was obviously partial, and secured
We must do this as a prelude to the role which Augustine            the triumph of the Catholics. The discussions  relatecl to
later played in this important drama. And, as we observed           two points : (1) Whether the Catholic bishops, Caecilian ,incl
in our preceding article, we are again indebted, also for this      Felix of Aptunga, were traclitors (men who  hacl delivered
material, to Philip Schaff's History of the Christian Church:       up the sacred writings to the heathen persecutors)  : (3)
       Although defeated- in their attempt to reverse the action    Whether the church loses her nature and  attributecl  by fel-
which gave Caecilian universal recognition as the bishop of         lowship with heinous sinners. The balance of skill and argu-
Carthage, except in Carthag-e  itself, and notwithstancling  the- ment  was on the side of Augustine though the Donatists
fact that. Emperor Constantine declared against them in             brought much that was forcible against compulsion- in reli--
Milan in the year, 316, and threatened to banish their bishops      gion, and against the confusion of the' temporal ancl the spirit-
ancl confiscate their churches, the Donatists, in the year, 321,    ual powers. The imperial commissioner, as might be  es-
were granted full liberty of faith ancl worship by the emperor.     petted, decided in favor of the Catholics. The separatists
And at a council in the year, 330, they numbered two hundred        nevertheless persisted in their view, but their appeal to the
and seventy bishops.                                                emperor continued unsuccessful.
       Constans, the successor of Co&tantine,  resorted again to       ,More  stringent civil laws were now enacted  against them.
violent  measures ; however,: neither threats nor promises made     These civil laws consisted in this, that the Donatist clergy
any impression on  the party. It came to blood. -The  Gir-          were bBnished from. their country (the same thing also hap-
cumcellions,  a sort of Donatist mendicant monks, who wan-          pened to the arminian  clergy at the time of 161%1619)?  fines
dered about the country  amon g the cottages of the peasantry,      were impo?ed upon the laiti; and the churches of this schism-
carried on plunder, arson, and murder, in conjunction with          atic party were-confiscated. In 415 they were even forbidclen
mutinous-peasants and slaves and in crazy zeal, for the             to hold religious assemblies .upon  pain of death.
martyr's crown, as genuine soldiers of Christ, rushed into             -Augustine himself, who had previously consented only
fire and water, aAd threw themselves from rocks. Yet there          to spiritual measures against heretics and had attempted to
were Donatists who disapproved this revolutionary frenzy.           use the means of instruction and pe&uasion to lead them back
The insurrection was suppressed by military force, several          into the church, now advocated force to bring them into the
leaders of the Donatists were executed, others were banished,       fellowship of the church, out of which there was no salvation.
and their churches were closed or confiscated: Donatus the He appealed to the command in the parable of the supper,
Great died in exile.- He was succeeded by one Parmenianus.          Luke 14 23, to "compel them to come in ;" however, the word
       Under Julian the Apostate the Donatists again obtained,      "compel" in this text cloes not necessarily refer to physical
with all other heretics and sch@matics, freedom of religion,        force and violence.
and returned to the possession of their churches, which they           New erruptions of fanaticism ensued. A bishop, Gauden-
painted-anew,  to redeem them from their profanation by the         tius, threatened that, if the attempt were made to deprive
Catholics. But under the subsequent  empero&  their condition       him of his church by force, he would burn himself with his
grew w&-se,  both irom persecutions without and clissensions        congregation in it, and vindicated this intended suicide bir
within. The quarrel among the two parties extended into all         the example of Rhazis, in the second book of the Maccabees.
the affairs of daily life  ; the  Donatist  bishop, Faustinus of       The conquest of Africa by the Xrian Vandals in the
Hippo, for example, allowing none-of the members of his             year  425, devastate'cl  thy African church, and put an end to
church to bake bread for the Catholic inhabitants.                  the controversy, as the French Revolution accomplished
       At the end of the fourth century, and in the beginning of    centuries later in France. Yet a remnant of the Donatists, as
the fifth, the great Augustine, of Hippo, where there was also      wk learn from the letters of Gregory I,  perpetuatecl  itself
a strong congregation of the schismatics, made a powerfui           into the seventh century, still proving in their ruins the power
effort, by instruction and persuasion, to reconcile the Dona-       of a mistaken puritanic zeal and the responsibility and guilt
tists with the Catholic Church. He wrote several works on           of state-church persecution. In the seventh century the en-


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                 305
 -_                                                                                                                                 -

 tire` African church sank under the Saracenic (Mohamme-             That is evident from  the above quotation. However, in his
 dan j conquest, which Mohammedan onslaught carried out              denunciation of the Donatists in their zeal to realize a perfect
 of Asia Minor, swept through Northern Africa and through            church in the midst of the world, he writes as follows : "Not-
 Spain into France, and finally halted and stopped at Tours,         withstanding, far be it from the servants of the father of the
 France, in the year 732.                                            family that they should be unmindful of the precept of their
    What was  realiy  the Donatist controversy  ? The  Dona-         Lord, and be so inflamed with the fire of holy indignation            I
 tists were not a heretical but a schismatic group. They are         against the multitude of the tares, that  Chile they seek to
 not known for the heresies they proclaimed but for their            gather them in bundles before the time, the wheat should
 break with the Catholic church (again we remark:' not the           be rooted up togetl!er with them. And of this sin these men
 Roman Catholic church of today  j  . They maintained that the       would be held to be guilty, even though they showed that
 church visible must be pure and advocated a strict discipline.      those were true charges which they brought against the
 The Church must exist onl) as the true spiritual people of          tmd~itom  (we again remark that these "traditors" were those
 God. Augustine admitted the necessity of Church discipline,         who were accused to delivering the sacred writings  up  to
 but maintained that absolute purity could not be attained           government officials - H.V.  ) whom they accused ; because
 for the church of  the Lord in the midst of the world. The          they separate. themselves in, a spirit of impious presumption,
 true distinguishing marks of the Church according to the            not only from the wicked, whose society they professed to
 eminent Church Father are : Catholicity (the true Church is         be avoiding; but also from the good and faithful in. all nations
 spread through all lands)  ancl apostolic connections (con-         of the world, to whom they  could  not prove the truth of
 nections with the church& founded by the apostles). The             what they said they knew; and with themselves they drew
 Donatists, we remarked, were not heretics  b&  schismatics.         away into the same destruction many others over whom they
 During the severe persecution by Dioclesian many Christians         had some slight authority, and who were not wise enough to
 had lapsed ; that is to say, they had denied the, faith. The        understand that the unity of the Church dispersed through-
 Donatists thought that the lapsed should not be permitted           out the world was on no account to be forsaken for other
 to re-enter the Church. Some bishops had surrendered their          men's sins." -thus far this quotation of the learned Church
 copies of the Bible to the government officials to be burnecl       Father. Hence, Augustine laments the fact that the Donatists
 by them. They believed that such bishops were noteworthy            separted themselves not only from those against- whom true-
 to administer the sacraments or ordain others as bishops. And       charges had been brought but also from the good and faithful
 so they withdrew and organized  churches of their own. There        in all nations of the world whom they could not prove to be
 were many Donatist churches in North Africa.          r             gtlilty:  It is evident from this  quotatiqn  that all the charges
    That Augustine advocated Christian disdipline is evident         which the Donatists had brought against these  "traditors"
from the following quotation of the eminent Church Father,           were not all equally, substantiated  ; nevertheless they had
 taken from Volume -IV of the Nicene and Post-Nicene                 separated themselves also from those who were not proven
 Fathers : "Nor would I therefore be understood to urge that         guilty of the things wherewith they had been charged.
 ecclesiastical discipline should be set at naught and that every    Augustine although believing in church discipline, set him-
 one should be allowed to do exactly as he pleased, without          self sharply over against these Donatists.
 any check, without a kind of healing chastisement, a lenity                                                                     H.V.
 which should inspire fear, the severity of love: For then what
 will-become of the precept of the apostle, "Warn them that
 are unruly, comfort the feeble-minded, support the weak, be
 patient toward all men ; see that none render evil for evil unto           YE GATES, LIFT POUR  H.EADS, THE
 any man  ?" At any  iate, when he added these last words,                            GLAD SUMMONS OBEY
 "See that none-render evil for evil unto any man," he showed              Ye gates, lift your heacls,  the glad summons obey,
 with sufficient clearness that there is no rendering of evil              Ye doors everlasting wide open the way.
 for evil when one chastises those that are unruly, even though            The King of all glory  high honors await,
`for the fault of unruliness be administeied  the `punishment              The King of all ilory shall enter in state.
 of chastising. The punishment of chastising therefore is not
 an evil, though the fault be an evil. For indeed it is the                What King of all glory is this that ye sing?
 steel, not of an enemy inflicting a wound, but of a surgeon               The Lord, strong.and  mighty, the conquering I&g.
 performing an operation. Things like this are done within                 Ye gates, lift your heads, and His summons obey,
 the Church, and that spirit of gentleness within its pale burns           Ye doors everlasting, wide open the way.
 with zeal towards God, lest the chaste virgin which is es-                The.-Ring of all glory high honors await,
 poused to one husbancl,  &en Christ, should in any of her                 The King of all glory shall enter in state.
 members be corrupted from the simplicity which is in Christ,              What King of all glory is this that ye sing?
 as Eve was beguiled by the subtilty of the serpent."                   Jehovah of Hosts, He of glory is  IiilJg.
    Augustine therefore surely believed in church discipline.                                                               Psalm  2%


306                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
II                                                                      atic1 we ought "diligently to perservere in the use of the
       The Voice of Our Fathers                                         means." 3  j And over against all dead intellectualism, the
                                                                        fathers ins&t  upon the way of conversion and sanctification,
                                                                        as is abundantly plain from the entire article. A healthy
                 The Canons of Dordrecht                                distinction must therefore be maintained be`tween  the poze~`l'
                            PART TWO                                    of faith and the nct~ivity  of faith, between the h&g of faith
                                                                        and the zve&b&ng  of faith. The former may be present with-
                   EXPOSITION OF THE CANONS                             out the latter for a time. And the latter my also be lost for
                    FIRST HEAD OF DOCTRINE                              a time, though the former can never be destroyed. This ex-
                   OF DIVINE  PREDESTINATION                            plains the possibility of the various reactions to .the mention
                        Article 16 (cont.)                              of reprobation, reactions which are not necessarily at all
                                                                        times the same in the same Christian. And this explains the
       It is of prime importance when we are dealing with these         need of a healthy self-examination on the part of the children
matters concerning the assurance of  electton  and the con-             of God, that is, a self-examination that asks the question, not
viction of reprobation that we remember that these are es-              whether we haztc the faith, but wether  we are ,irt the faith.
sentially  spin&d  matters, and that the  eficacious  work of              The article mentio'ns,  first of all, those who may be called,
Gocl is the ultimate cause thereof. We very  easily  fall into          for want of a better term, seeking souls. This article -char-
the error either of a false  objectivism, according to which            acterizes them in a two-fold way. In the first place, they are
we seek to establish by a rational and logical process that we          those who persist in the use of the means of grace. you will
are or are not children of God, basing our conclusion on                find them -present when the  Word is preached. They will
various objective facts, such as that we are members of some            cliligently  attend catechism. They are present when societies
church in this  world, or that we are bapitzed, or that we              gather to study the Word of God. Probably,  - at least, if
have believing parents, etc.; or we fall into the error of a            they never have had much assurance, -you will not find
false subjectivism. according  ~to which we look for certain            them at the communion table, because you would hardly ex-
marks and evidences of faith in ourselves, and thus try to              pect that such persons will have  made confession of faith.
conclude that we are elect. On the other hand, there is also            Or, if such an individual is an older person and has at'one
the attitude of false mysticism, which waits for some special           time made confession of faith, but is troubled by doubt;you
revelation or whispering of the Spirit to assure us that we             may find him absent froni  the Lord's table? or at least fear-
are children of God, that is, apart from the objective testi-           some about partaking  of, the Lord's Supper. For., in the
mony of the Word of God as contained in Scripture. Now                  second place, they are those who do not yet experience a
it is to be noted that the fathers carefully avoid condoning            lively faith in Christ, and therefore lack an assured confidence
any of these errors. And there `are abundant evidences of               of soul, peace of conscience, an earnest endeavor after filial
this in this Article. They are the following: 1) They very              obedience arid a glorying in God through Christ. This de-
plainly indicate that the matters under discussion are matters          scription itself is clear enough that it needs no further ex-
of grace or a lack of grace. For they speak of the  fact that           planation. Any child of God who is of this type will readily
assurance, peace, and filial obedience are "efficaciously               recognize his own picture in these words. And it is also
wro;ght." And they speak of waiting for a "season of richer             readily understandable that such a person  woulcl be alarmed
grace," There can be no doubt, therefore, that the  Cn.n.ons            at the mention of reprobation and be inclined to classify
recognize the fact that assurance is at bottom a matter of              himself with the reprobate. However wrong he may be in
gmce. God must through the Spirit of His Son witness with               his attitude, however morbid and sickly his attitude  may be-
my spirit that I am a child of God, or I will never have that           come, nevertheless I say, it is readily uticlerstandable  that he
assurance. From this point of view we must emphasize too                becomes alarmed. After all, if one lacks assurance, what else
that the assurance of which we here speak is an assurance of            can be the result than such alarm ?
fa:ith,   that it is  spontaxeozu,   and that it cannot be' reachecl       Nor do I believe that such an experience is as much of an
in the way of any kind of process of deduction, but is obtainecl        exception as it is  &metimes   iinagined  to be. I can conceive'
spontaneously by our walking in the way of thjt assurance.              of it that a young man or young woman who is brought up
2) Over against all false mysticism, the fathers insist upon            in the sphere of the covenant, who has been instructed in the
the persistent use of the irzeo,ns of grace as the only way to          truth of the Word of God and has been trained in the way
experience a lively faith in Christ. This can only be due to            of God's, covenant from infancy on, and who therefore for
the fact that the fathers understood clearly that God, while            that very  reason never experiences a sudden  conversion-
He indeed works assurance by the witness of the Holy Spirit             change. He may have received the Holy Ghost  ancl been
with our Spirit, nevertheless does this through means, ancl             regenerated  hy the Spirit in infancy. But -the power of
that these God-ordained and God-employed means are the                  faith in him has' not yet fully blossomed out into faith's
preaching of the Word and the sacraments. God "bath' ap-                certain knowledge and hearty confidence. Of a special trans-
pointed" certain means "for working these graces in us  ;"              lation out of darkness into God's marvellous light he knows


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                  307

 nothing. Now and then he may feel more or less of a love              covenant by His Spirit and Word ? Where can I ever learn
 toward God in Christ. And there is a rather latent love for           to boast in  Gocl through Christ, except  there, where  God
 the  colllmunion  of saints. But the clear consciousness of           makes known the riches of `His  sovereigri  grace? Let  .FTis
 faith and the free and confident appropriation of the grace           children then diligently persevere in the use of the  God-
 of God in Christ is missing. Being instructed also in the             ordainecl means of grace. And  thirclljr, the  Canons here
 truths concerning election and reprobation? and undoubtedly           speak of humbly and devoutly waiting zfor a season of richer
 hearing of reprobation' in  the preaching of the Word, he             grace. Notice by the way, that the fathers do  preSuppose
 begins to ponder the subject with regard to himself, -as              grace: for they speak of a season of &Jzer grace. But what
 what earnestminded covenant child will not do ? A measure             is to be done until that season of richer grace arrives? The
 of alarm arises in his soul; which, if it is not put clown, in-       Ca,n.ons  here remind one of the teaching of the  Heidelberg
 creases and -more and more takes a hold on his mind and               Ca~tt~c1~i.w~  concerning the necessity of prayer for Christians.
 heart. And, as he falls prpbably  into a false subjectivism and       There, in Lord's Day 45, we are taught that prayer is
 looks for striking evidences of his being a child of God in           necessary "because God will give his grace and Holy Spirit
 vain, he is almost ready at times to class himself with the           to those only, who with sincere desires continually ask them
 reprobate. He can have great, anxiety of soul at such times.          of him, and are thankful for them." This, in my opinion,
 He teeters on the brink of indifference, and may be ready to          espresses the chief idea of this "humbly and devoutly"
 give up in despair  ancl to cease using the  qeans of grace.          waiting for a "season of richer grace." We ought, firs&of  all.
 And, if the grace of God does not keep him, that is exactly           not to be dissatisfied, but to be thankful' that God has al-
 what he will do.                                                      ready given us His Holy Spirit and a-measure of His grace.
    What about such a situa&on ? What must such a person               And, in the second place, there is but one other thing to io
 be told? What must his parents tell an adolescent covenant            when we desire a lively faith in Christ, an assured confidence
 child when he comes to them with such troubles of soul  ?             of soul, peace of conscience,. an earnest endeavor after filial
 What must a pastor say about these things in the catechism            obedience, and glorying in God `through. Christ. That one  -
 room ? Or what must he tell a lamb of the flock when he               thing is : take it to the Lord in prayer ! After all, the God of
 gets personally close enough to such a person that he con-            our salvation is the source of all these blessipgs.  To whom,
 fides his soul's anxieties to his pastor?                             then, shoulcl  one look for them but to Him ? And when wee
 The  Cnnons have some. sound counsel on this subject.                 do look to Him, we may be "fully persuaded that he, not-
 First of all, they  tkach that such a person  orrglzf riot to be      withstanding that we are unworthy of it, will, for the sake
 alarmed at the mention of reprobation, arid  o,wglzt  not  to rank    of Christ. our Lord, certainly hear our prayer, as he has
 himself with the reprobate. Why not? The reason, is not               promised us in his word.". Then that season of richer grace
 difficult to find. A genuine  reprgbate  will never assume            will in due time arrive. And the doubtful and hesitating
 the attitude described above. This is the attitude and the            seeking soul will develop into the firm believer who will not
 anxiety of a seeking `soul. Basically, this is a soul that is         be alarmed any more at the mention of reprobatiotibut who
 troublecl about sin, even though before his own consciousness         will have attained the blessed assurance of his eternal and
 such a soul may say : "Yes, but the trouble is that I am              unchangeable election and who will see in reprobation a  '
 not troubled enough about my sin." This is a soul in which            peculiar illustration and recommendation of the eternal and
 the love of God has already been shed abroad, even though             unmerited grace of election.
 he may say: "Yes but that love is not fervent enough." Actu-                                                                    H.C.H.
 ally it is already a saved soul. And in clue time the lively
 faith in Christ, assured confidence of soul,, peace of conscience,                                    `     .
 an earnest endeavor after childlike obedience, and a glorying
 in God through Christ, will also blossom forth and he will
 effectively experience these graces. Secondly, the fathers                               MONEY WILL BUY:
 esh'ort  that such a person should diligently persevere in the
 use of the means of g-race. How sensible the fathers were !                         A bed? but not sleep.
 After all, God has appointed those means of grace for the                           Bobks, but 60 brains.
 very purpose of working a living faith in His children. And                         Food, but not appetite.
 He always operates through those means. How foolish,                                Finery, but not beauty.
 then, it would be to cease using those means which God has                          A house, but not a home.
 appointed. That would be spiritual suicide. Where can  I                            Medicine, but not health.
 obtain an assured confidence of soul. except there, where the                       Luxuries, but not culture.
Word of His love is heard ? Where can I attain peace of                              Amusements, but not happiness.
 conscience, except there, where God speaks peace unto His                           A crucifix, but not a Savior.
people ? Where can I learn filial obediende, except there,                           A church pew, but not Heaven.
where God makes known  His will and the way of His                                                           - Pilgrim Holiness Advocate


 30s           -                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
 -        -                                                            _'         .-
                                                                        It is also an open question as to whgther  or not this revision
`II                 DECENCY and ORDER                                   represents an improvement.
I'                                                               `I           In the third place, the entire matter of student-preaching
                                                                        ought to be clarified. To do this, Article 20, in its present
                        Student-Breaching                               form, is- hardly adequate. It speaks of "speaking a word of
         "Students, who have received permission according .ta          edification" but fails to give a clear meaning of the term it-
 the rule of this mat&r, and persons who have according to              self. It says nothing of the status of those who are licensed
 Article S been judged competent to be prepared for the                 to speak in the churches under this provision. These matters
 ministry of the Word, shall, for their own training, and for           deserve our attention because they determine the validity of
 the sake of  beconling  known to the congregations, be allowed         this entire practice. This does not imply that we frown upon
 to speak a word of edification in the meeting for public               this practice. Not at all ! Rather than plead for the abolition of
 worship.`? (Art. 20, D.IC.0.)                                          the rule itself, we must try to find a solution to some of the
         The above provision of our church order alloivs two clas-      intricate problems which are involved in the established
 ses of persons to speak a word of edification in the churches          practice of the churches wherein she permits those who are
 during the meetings of public worship. The majority group              not ordained in office into her pulpits. Or, are we perhaps
 consists of those students who are preparing themselves for            sacrificing principle for expediency?
 the ministry in the seminary, and are licensecl by the faculty               Fourthly, while speaking of these things, we would at
 to speak in the churches. The minority group consists of               least raise the question as to whether or not Article  30 is
 those specially gifted persons who seek admission to the               complete ? Shouldn't it express more? It states that students
 ministry under the provisions of Article S of the church orcler        are allowed to speak a word of edification in the meeting of
 without persuing  the usual course of study in the seminary.           public worship "for their own training." If then the training
         That the validity of this practice, which is sometimes         of the candidate is the'consicleration that entitles him to this
 called `student-preaching', is subject to questioning may be a         right to speak, should not the same consideration be a valid
 bit surprising to some of  us.  This has been an established           reasons. to allow him to, at least in a measure, engage in all
 practice in our churches from the very beginning. Its cor-             of the labors that constitute the ministry? Shoulcl not practi-
 rectness has never been publicly  challengecl.  Furthermore,           cai, as well as theoretical, training be given him in visiting
 it has the sanction of the church order and it is practiced in         the sick? teaching catechism, administering the sacraments,
 other Reformed Chui-ches  as well as in ours. We have never            participating-in  consistorial  work, etc.? Isn't this the  con-
 doubted that it was proper to: have a student preach for us            sistently  logical'conclusion  that will be reached when the rule
 when our minister, for some legitimate reason, could not be            of Article 20  `is fully applied?. Or is it principally correct
 present in the pulpit. Why then do we suggest that its                 to limit the practical training of candidates for the ministry
 validity be questioned ?                                               to "speaking a word of gdification  ?"
       We do not do this because we wish to criticize or con-                 In light of the foregoing then,  we will consider this matter
 demn this. practice nor do we have any desire to see it                and express our own opinion. with respect to  E3me of the
 abolished: We think it should be continued and our reasons             problems involved.
 for this we shall present later. However, we do wish to
 question some phases of this matter which, for various                                          THE HISTORY
 reasons, we feel will bear an investigation. By probing into                 Already in 1568 the  Wezelian  Convention decided that
 some  bf these things, we may discover tinknown  defects in            churches which had ministers with exceptional ability should
 our own practices and uncover avenues through which these              institute  "proposit&,"   i.e.> classes for men with gifts and
 defects may possibly be corrected.                                     desires for the ministry, in which men should be trainecl  in
         In the first place, then, the history of the niatter of        preaching,  not publicly but privately. In 1586 the Synod of
 student-preaching in Reformed Churches will clearly reveal             `s-Gravenhage ruled that students for the ministry might
 that there has not always been agreement in the actions                teach in the public assemblies of the churches only after they
 taken by the various Synocls. In its very nature this question         had passed an examination and been ruled competent. Then
 is debatable. It will have to be admitted that there is a pro          in 1618-19, the Synod of Dorcltrecht returned again to the
 and a con to it. History bears this out and it will be interest-       Wezelian position and ruled : ,,In de  kerken waar meer  be-
 ing to find out what the underlying reasons for  clisagree-            kwame predikanten zijn, zal m.en het gebruik der  propositien
 ment  are.                                                             instellen, om door zulke. oefeningen eenigen tot den dienst cles
         In the second place, it should be known that the present       Woords voor te bereiden, volgende in dkze de orde, daai-aan
 article of our church order is not a product of the Synod  of          door deze Synode bijzollder  gesteld."
 Dordrecht,  161S-19,  but is handed down to us from the                      This originally constituted the twentieth article of our
 Christian Reformed Church. It is a product of the church               church  order. Freely translated, it reads : "In churches
 order revision of 1914 and took the place of another ruling            where there are' more competent ministers, the use of pro-
,made  by the great Synod of Dordrecht on a related matter.             positien .shall be instituted, that by such practices some may

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

be prepared for the ministry of the Word according to the            found in the Christian Reformed Church. Our students are
rule of, this matter established by this particular Synod."          given permission to speak in the churches as soon as the- .
   Obviously the reason that the churches originally took            faculty considers them competent to do so. The only clif??er-
this iosition was that there were at first no theological schools    ence in the Christian Reformed Church is that, this matter is
where persons aspiring to the ministry in Reformed Churches          regulated by the Board of Trustees instead of by the faculty
could be trained. The need of ministers necessitated this            and they have many more rules and decisions governing this
private training by the most qualified pastors. Later on when        matter than we do. Some of these we will, D.V., consider
the students were trained in the schools, they were given            the nest time.
permission. to speak in the churches after they had success-                                                               G.V.d.B.
fully passed an esamination which was given either at the
school or before the  Classis.  However, at the time of the
Synod of Dordtrecht, 1618-19,  the Synod obviously for good                    UNTO THEE, 0 LORD JEHOVAH
reasons; no longer trusted the faculties of the schools to give                 All the pathways of Jehovah .
these esaminations and rather than stirring up additional                       Speak of truth and mercies pure
trouble by ruling that these esaminations  were to be given                     Unto such as keep His covenant
only 5)~ the Classes, they discouraged student-preaching al-                    And His testimony sure.
together: It must be remembered that this was during the                        For the glory of Thy Name
time of the great struggle with Arminianism, which had made                    .Pardon,  Lord, my epil-doing :
deep inroads into the schools as well as the churches.                          Grievous though my sin and,shame,
   In 1834, the time of the  ,,Afscheiding," the churches of                    Hear my cry, Thy love renewing.
the Secession again permitted student-preaching with the                        Who is he that fears Jehovah,
stipulation that an examination must be take? and the-con-                      Walking with Him day by clay?
sent  .of the professors obtained. At  tha't time there was a                   God will lead him safely onwaid,
great dearth of ministers and provisions had to be made to                      Guide. him in the chosen -way.               .
supply the pulpits of the churches. It seems as though the                                                                                    .
                                                                                Then at ease h?s soul shall rest,
pressing need forced a reversal .in the position of the church                  In Jehovah still confiding;
but then in lS86 the churches of the Doleantie again did not                    E'en his children shall be blest
favor the practice of student-predching.  It appears that fail-                -Safely  in the land abiding.
ure to strike at the root of the problem and to `come  up
with an answer to the question as to whether or not it is                       Yea, the secret of Jehovah
principally correct to have students preach is the reason for                   Is with those who fear His Name ;
this repeated change. This continued also in later Synods.                      With His friends in tender mercy
d 1892, the Synod of Amsterdam  ; in 1896, the Synod of                         He His covenant will maintain,
Middelburg ; and in 1899, the Synod  `of Groningen, all spoke                   With a confidence complete
out as favoring this practice but overagainst this and taking                   Toward the Lord my eyes are turning,
the reverse stand we have the Synods of Amsterdam in 1908,                      From the net He'll pluck my feet ;
of Zwolle in 1911, and `s-Gravenhage in 1914.                                   He will not despise my yearning.
   The Hervormde Kerken  took the position that students                        Turn Thou unto me in mercy;
are not to be permitted to preach until they have been made                     Have compassion on my 
candidates for the ministry. In some of the Netherland's                                                   so$
                                                                                I am sore distressed and lonely:
Reformed Churches, and also  aniong  the English, German                        Waves of trouble o'er me roll.
and Hungarian Reformed Churches, still another practice has                                                                              -
                                                                                Myriad woes beset my heart,
been instituted. Students and candidates of  the- seminary                      Myriad doubts and bitternesses ;
are made assistant-ministers: given the right to preach the                     Thou who my Deliverer art,
Word and administer the sacraments, although they are                           Bring me out of my distresses.
not as yet actually ordained in any particular church. They
simply serve as assistants to the minister of certain churches                  Keep my soul, 0  gracibus  Savior:
and? in some instances, also draw a salary from the church                      Come, I pray, deliver me,
they serve. The Reformed Churches in America use many                           Lest my head with shame be covered,
of their ministerial candidates in this manner during the  suede-               For my refuge is in Thee.
mer months of the year.                                                         Trusting in Thy power supreme,
   At any rate, it is obvious that there has been no unanimity                  Lord, I wait for Thy salvation ;
of opinion on this matter. The historical precedents are of                     Come; Jehovah, and redeem
little value in determining the right or wrong position. In                - Israel from tribulation.
our churches virtually the same position is adopted as is                                                 _ Psalm 25  :5, 6, 7, S, 10

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

                                                                         but  never  beyond His reach. We may have macle a mess of
-II            A L L   AWUND  U S                                   II life, but He is still able and eager to redeem us.
                                                                              "The Salvation Army has a saying that `A man may be
                                                                         down, but he is never out.' This is a simple and sure state-
 Exce@ts   from the  ChwcJ~   Hudd.                                      ment of the Christian philosophy. We believe that there is
        Recently I paged through a small bundle of Church                always hope for any individual. No matter how Clark or cold
 Heralds, a weekly publidation of the Reformed Church in                 thk soul there is still a spark- of the divine love. and the
 America. As I scanned through some of the more recent                   divine life that waits only to be flamed into a new flame. All
 issues, ,my eyes fell on a series of small articles written by          that is needed is for you and me to give God a chance to
 a Rev. Wm. R. Buitendorp of Tarrytown, N.Y. I called it                 show what He can and will do if we will but turn to Him.
 a series. Really that is incorrect, for his articles have  no,               "Our Lord gives  us this assurance: `Him that cometh
 connection. Rather they are intended to convey to the                   unto me, I will in no wise cast out.' All the rest is up to
 reader  sotie little  ,practical thought which is easy to read          you.`j
 and easy to relilember.  In appearance these articles are quite              In the February 25th issue of the Church Heralcl appears
 similiar to the "Word a Week" column which appears reg-                 a letter to the editor relative to the above article which gave
 ularly in the Banner, the Christian Reformed publication.               me some relief  ancl with which I mostly agree. The letter
        If the theology expressed in these articles is the accepted      reads as follows.
 belief of the Reformed Church of America and worthy of a                "Dear Mr. Editor:
 rubric in their weekly periodical, then I am inclinecl to say :.             Since the Church Herald is open for the discussion of
 Alas, how has the gold become `dimmed !                                 Reformed doctrines, I deem it my privilege to make use of
        I herewith give the readers of the Standard Bearer three         it. The article by the Rev.  Wjlliam  R. Buitendorp in the
 samples and offer a few words of comment.                               Church Hera@ of February 4 does not reflect the Reformed
        In the January 7, 1955, issue we read the following from         view but rather  A'rminianism  or Pelagianism. He writes,
 the pen of Rev. Buitendorp, entitled: "Answering Their                  `There is still a spark of divine love no matter how dark
 P r a y e r s . "                                                       ancl cold the soul. What, not `dead in trespasses and sins,'
        "This is as marvelous as it is trtie, that` you may touch        as Paul says in Eph. 2 :l ? `All that is needed  is to give God
 another's life through prayer, or that your life may be af              a chance,' he says. Did Adam give God a chance when he
 fected  by the prayers of someone else. Isn't it wonderful that         did  ? Did Saul of Tarsus ? . . . .
 no matter where you are you are never beyond the reach of                   `Him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out,'
 someone who loves you ?                                                 Jesus truly said, but He also said, `Ye will not come unto
        "Someone was telling how he used to sail on a fishing            me that ye may have life' (John 5  :40). Let us reject  Ar-
 schooner with his father. One night they were near the Arctic           mini%n teachings. Sincerely `yours,. __. ._. . . _.. _:_._. __ ____ . .."
 Circle when it suddenly became very dark, the fog closed in,                I certainly agree with this critic when he calls this  &r-
 and the sea began to churn, as the waves ran high. He said              minianism or Pelagianism. It is amazing that the Church
 he was at the wheel doing his best to keep the ship on its              Herald will allow such stuff to appear,  ancl then too as a
 course. His father was standing beside him. They both knew              feature article, in their so-called Reformed publication. Is
 they were in for a bad night. `Well,' said his father, `about           this the  stuff they are teaching in their Seminaries ?  ' One
 this time the little woman at home is offering up her prayer            :woriders.
 for us to the God Who holds the waves in His hand.' Then,                   In the February 11th issue of the same paper we find
 after a pause, he shouted his dommand  to the crew, `All hancls         another article  .from  the pen of Rev. Buitenclorp, entitled:
 on deck, put a close reef in the mainsail, and let run the jib,         "Others Call It Gocl."  Writes he :
 we have got to get that prayer answered."'                                  "The tides are as interesting as they are mysterious. At
        I ask, did you ever read an article in a religious periodical    Cape God- we watched the tides come inland up a little~stream
 that -in so little space contained so much non-sense as this            and turning a vast marshland into a lake. The waters of the
 one ? I presume the man who wrote it is supposed to be a                sea rose and filled.the bay and then filled the river, and then
 man of learning and of considerable theological training.               the little stream, and then  every  little space between rush and
 Surely the above article speaks well neither fen- his .learning         reed. E$en at a great distance the tide is felt. Albany is over
 nor for his theology. The questions could not be suppressed,            a hundred miles up the Hudson River, yet the tide in the
 What happened to God in this story.? and, Who answers                   Atlantic Ocean may be measured in. the river at Albany.
 prayers 7                                                                   "`It seems that whereever the tide can flow it comes in
       But the second article to which I refer appeared `in the          with its lifting power to raise both the distakt and the near
 February 4th issue. It is entitled: "God Dropped a Spark."              to new heights. And isn't the love of God like that? Given
 This is much worse.                                                     a chance to come into our hearts God's love searches out
       "The wonderful thing about the Christian faith -is that           every little place to lift even the least significant of us to a
no ope is ever beyond the love of God. We may wander far,                new meaning and `purpose. All that any of us need do to


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                                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                               311

  experience this wonderful love of God is to let it come in,          have  no anchorage. They thrive on the thrill of new  6x-
  and God's love will do all the rest. Neither does it matter          periences. They are the  exitable  type, fickle, gidcly, visionary.
  how far away you are. If you open the way to the sea the             Highly volatile, every spark ignites them.  It takes so little
  tide of His great love will come in no matter ivhere  you are.       to stir their fancy and fire their enthusiasm.
             `Life's tides on the crescent sea beach                      `These are the people that rave over every new fashion,
              When the moon is new and then,                           ancl run themselves breathless trying to keep up, `that roll
              Into our hearts high yearnings                           before the winds of opinion like dry autumn leaves, that fall
              Conle welling and surging in -                           for all the fads. They provide an easy living for the quacks
              Come from the mystic ocean                               and a sure target for the cults and sects."
              Whose rim no foot has trod-                                 The text of Scripture which the agthor placed over this
              Some of us call it longing                               Meditation is found in Matthew 8:19-20,  "And there came a
              And others call it God.' "                               scribe, and said unto him, Teacher, I will follow thee whith,
     I say; not only a "mysterious tide," but also a mysterious        ersoever thou goest. And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes
  god. A gocl who really wants to-love us and cause his love to        have holes, ancl the bircls  of the heaven have nests; but the
  be shed abroad in our hearts, but he can do nothing until you        Son of man hath not where to lay his head." Concerning this
  remove all the obstacles out of his way. Such a god is no            passage the author writes:
  better or greater than the god of the Hindu about which I                "The man in this text need not have been a fickle en-
  read in a recent article of Life magazine. Verily Christianity       thusiast. But it is certain our Lord would have him be-true,
  according to Buitendorp has not risen very far above pagan-          for he leaves him under no illusions about the meaning of
  ism. How thankful I am that God has put me in a Prot-                discipleship. And _ though this procedure would not likely
  estant Reformed Church where I may learn to -know Him                receive approval from many  chprch  leaders today more anxi-
  as He really is, the God of my salvation who really saves,           ous' for impressive statistics than for the conversion of the
  and not an iclol, the figment of my imagin&tion.          -          lost and the glory of God, it is really a kindness to the: fickle
                                                                       as well as to the strong.
  A Word to  E~nthsiasts.                                                 "Why this man made his choice, we are not told. Was
    - Much more acceptable to our theological taste than the           it the teaching of our Lord ? . . . Perhaps the mighty works
  articles found in the Church  Heralcl  was a meditation we           brought out this decision . . . .But even if prompted begGod
  read in the February 15th issue of the Presbyterian Guardian         reasons, the commitment could be honest and lasting  only
  under the title above named.                   ;.                    if it could stand the -cost. And because our .Lord wants fol-
     The author, Rev.' Henry P.  Tavares!  begins his short            lowers of fixed  purpose, he tells this man at once what the
  meditation with this interesting paragraph :                         journey is like that he proposes to take.-
     "Some folks in- this world drive a normal person close               "There will be privations. -This could be very important
  to clesparation by the  ,tenacity  with which they hold to tradi-    to a man whom Matthew calls *a scribe. Can he -leave his
  tions. The new to them almost always looks suspicious. And           comfortable home  ? He is but a shallow enthusiast, if the
  it usually meets with a stanclarcl  reaction: `We never did it       life of the wanderer is too much for him. And if he is, there
  that  way: or `That is not the way I was brought up.' This           is hope for him only if he will face the truth. True clisciple-
  is their way of saying they don't like `it: they don't want it."_ ship involves conversion from the roots up. Christ is not jiist
     The author disagr,ees  with this stark traditionalism when        another teacher of religion in time to be outshined by a better.
 he declares f&her :                                                   It is to insult him, to place him with philosophers of the good
     "But to freeze in tradition is to overlook the fact that even     and the beautiful. He is not just a light. He is  (lze Light of
the past had its sinners and its mistakes. And history is not          the world. There can be neither partial nor temporary allegi-
 a kind of assembly line, pouring out identical articles. Each         ance to him.
  day brings new developments, new demands, new insights.                 "But just because he is not of this world, the wol'ld' can
 And since no age can claim that it has arrived, there should          never absorb him, but always finds him indigestible. It re-
 be progress, development, growth, improvement. Even the               fuses him, and even labors to destroy him. And all who
 Church should mature and advance. The, Reformed church                identify themselves with him share in some form his re-
 should be always reforming, as the sages say. A thing is              proaches. There can be no room, therefore, for mere enthusi-
 not perfect just because it is old. Truth and not bare anti-          asts in the following of our Lord. Discipleship is for those
 quity must be, our light. To worship the past is but a form           firmly rooted in a heaven-born conviction, and fully com-
 of idolatry."                                                         mitted to the high calling of, God in Christ Jesus."
     However, the author envisions an  ophosite  extreme which            Indeed no man-will come to Christ unless he is drawn of
 is just as evil and perhaps much more dangerous. It is that           the .Father to Him, and no man will follow after -Him unless
 over-balanced zealousness for something ,new.  Writes he :            it is given him from above. And how true it is that they
     "But if some are over-stayed, there is no lack of those           who follow Christ bear His reproach.
 who are over-stirred. These are not stuck in a rut. But they                                                                       M.S.


312 --            -~ --           y&g,             ST*ND*RD                  BE.AR.&R             -            .'     -.


                                                                    perty the more `they  woulcl be expected to pay. Anyone is
                C6NTRlBUTlONs                                       able, I. am  sure,`to  understand this.
                                                                       The.group  of Rev. P. De Boer submitted to us a counter
                                                                    proposal during the latter part of January of this year. NOW
   The facts regarding the  Edgerton  Law Suit  -. we should bear in mind that this prop&al is the only effort
                                                                    put forth by thein to seek a settlement out of court. Rev. P.
 In the  Concofdia  of March 10, 1955, appears  an  article         De Boer speaks in his article of "serious efforts" put forth
by Rev. P. De Boer in regard. to the  Edgerton   Law. Suit.         by them. Well: apart from the question how "serious" -this
We need' not quote the  `enfire article..' In  this article the     effort was, the fact is that they put forth one effort and not
Rev. P: De Boer. writes, and I. quote : "During  1the last few      efforts. We wonder whether-Rev. P. De Boer is using the
nionths  we have made seriotis efforts on our part to-seek an       tactic of the RevI De wolf Who, at a congregational meeting
out of court settlement. It is in regard to this out of court       of his followers after Judge Taylor's  decisioh,  fold  his. fol-
settlement that we are writing. Our proposal, submitted the         lowing that they had macle three or four offers tom us for an
latter part of January of this year,  assunied  the form of a       out of court settlement. We must also bear in mind that
counter proposal. The reason for this was that the Veldman          our court trial in Pipestone, Minnesota,, had been set for
group had come to LIS with a proposal . . . . We w&e told           January 31. It was later changed t6 February 28, upon the
that .in case we did not submit now the damages would be            request of their lawyer. We received their counter proposal,
much higher. . . . . This was their proposal and the  only `their only proposal (mind you, both meetings with them in
proposal the Veldman group made. It is true that in  *he            their lawyer'se office proceeded from us) the evening of Jan.
early part of the year before (`54) a meeting  w_as  held, at       27, 1955. They bad drawn  LIP this counter proposal the
their request, in our lawyer's  office, -but neither we nor the     evening of Jan. 21, but it came to us through their attorney,
Veldman group made any proposal regarding the proper- `and we received `it at a meeting held on Jan. 27. This means
ties . . . . . We state that because there have been rumors that    that their only proposal came to us very shortly before the -
the Veldman g?oup- offered a proposal for settlement of the         trial in Pipestone (we do not know whethkr they knew the
property question before their injuction was. served.  The          evening of Jan. 21,  when they  ctimpdsed their counter pro-
above are the facts in the case. It  was in answer to their         posal,  wlyether  the trial would be postponed).  We rejected
pne proposal, that our  .counter proposal was drawn. up- and        this counter proposal at our meeting of. Jan. 37 because the
sub&tteil to them . . . . Hkre"&&ws the counter-proposal,           Articles of  Incorporatitin   contr%dicted.  this counter proposal
which speaks for itself. We only add  thxt we received no           and also because of the  Chilrch Order which  forba$   us to
answer to it; not even an acknowledgment of the feccipt." -         enter i&o such negotiations with them. Our lawyer tias told
end of quote. These are Rev. De Boer's facts in the case.           by the undersigned to acquaint  the group of Rev.' P. De Boer
   First,- the "Veldman  grbup"  which  the Reverend P. De          with our decision. However, he did not give their group any
Boer mentions repeatedly in his article, did make a proposal        word of this decision. He did not think it wise to do so.
at the meeting-  which was held in the office of thkir lawyer,      Now the Rev. De Boer writes that they received no answer
L. Himmelman,  which was held in the early part of the year,        form us, not even an acknowledgment of its receipt. Well,
,1954.  We made a proposal at that tinie regarding the .pro-        Rev. De Boer, and to` all those who follow you, may I tell
perty. We made the proposal to them that both sides would           you that, at a pre-trial hearing which was  h$cl Jan. 28 be-
agree to submit to the court decision of Judge Taylor in            tween the two laywers and the judge, our lawyer told their
Grand Rapids. They rejected this proposal. Hence,  -it is           lawyer that their couriter  proposal was ndt acceptable to us.
certainly true that we submitted a proposal to them for an          Hence, we surely did notify their attorney.. I do not know
out, of court settlement before we -served an injuction on          whether Mr. Himmelmati  notified his clients of our decision.
them in April of 1954. The question of Synod did not-come           Besides, it was not necessary to notify them of our refusal
up until our proposal had been presented and rejected.              to accept their counter proposal. The fact is that we made
   Secondly, the Rev. P. De Boer presents the proposal cor-         them  our final proposition during the early part of' January.
rectly which we subsubmitted to them during the early part                                                                            H.V.
of January of this year. However, he writes, and we &ote:
`<We were told  that in case we did not submit now the
damages would be much higher." The reader must remem-                          OFFICE  BEARQRS  CONFERENCE
ber that, in our bill of complaint, we were seeking damages             All past and present office bearers are invited to attend
to the extent of $250 a month. Assuming that we obtain              this meeting to be held at 8 p'clock  in our Hope Protestant
pqssession of the properties in March of this year, this would      Reformed Church on April  5, 1955.
total some $4,500. We felt  .that  .$2,000 was considerably           Discussi&  on the subject of excommunication will be
cheaper than $4,500. And it is certairily  true that the longer     continued. Let us reserve this date and all be present.
we are restrained from taking possession of our own  pro-                                                                   ,J. King. Clerk. ,


