,. VOLUME-  xxx1                                       MAY 1, 1955 - GRAXD  RAPIDS, MICHIGAN                                       NUMBER 15
            7
                                                                               thinking, how "unscientific," is such a conception. For, first
                 M E D I T A-  T.1 0 N                                         of all, the text does not even speak. of men that are in the
                                                                               world, but of "the things that are in the world." And second-
                  "Love Not The World . . . . ."                               ly. such a conception must give `us a very strange and contra-
                                                                               d$tory view of things. For if by zvorld we must simply and
                    "Love not the world,  neithe; the things that  are         in every case understand abl lqzen, then Scripture here calls
                 in the world. If any man love the world, the love of          us  to hate the world which in John 3  :16 it teaches  us  that
        '        the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world,
                 the lust of.the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the      God loves. And is it possible that our heavenly Father re-
                 pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the iYorld.    quires of us to hate that which He loves  ? Moreover, is it
                 And the world passeth `away, and the lust thereof :-          actually possible that when in John 3  :16 we are told that
                 but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever."          God loved the world, that this means also that God loved
                                                             John 2 :15-l?     the things of this world, the lust of the flesh and the lust
    My little children. these things write I unto                              of the eyes and the pride of life? Still more : how~is  it pos-
                                                              you  that ye
sin not.                                                                       sible that this world passes away ? Is God's love changeable,
    For God is a light, and in Him is no darkness at all. As                   perhaps ? Or is the love of God, -the very thought of which
such He has revealed Himself in `Christ Jesus. And there-                      is blasphemy,  - impotent to save its object? Or can it be
fore, the children of God are children of the light, .and are                  that when God's only begotten Son dies for the world, He
called to walk in the light. In the light alone can they have                  dies in vain ? Hence, it must be plain that we `must read
fellowship with one another. And in the light alone can they                   Scripture sensibly, and must carefully distinguish between its
experience the cleansing power of the blood of Jesus Christ.                   various uses of the term zwoi*ld.
To walk in darkness, and to say that we have fellowship with                       And then it is clear,that the world which we are not to
the Father is the lie.                                                         love is an evil world, a world which is the object of the
    Therefore, sin not; for God, Whom ye call your Father,                     Father-is displeasure, His consuming wrath,  - so that it
is a light in Whom is no darkness at all.                                      passes away, - and a world which must therefore also be
    And therefore also : love not the world !                                  the object of loathing, not love, on the part of us, who have
    Ye, little children, whose sins are forgiven you for His                   the love of the Father in us.
name's sake . . . .                                                                E'orld. whatever its connotation, denotes an organic
    Ye, fathers, who have known Him that is from the be-                       whole, a unity, and orderly arrangement. It includes the
ginning . . . .                                                                whole of the earthly creation, with all that it contains, and
    Ye, young men, who have overcome the wicked one . . . .                    in all its inter-relationships, with man at its head. And here,
    Your calling with regard to the world is : love it not !                   the "world!' is obviously the fallen world, the world that ,is
    For if ye love the world, the love of the Father is not in                 governed by the principle of sin, the world that is dominated
you.                                                                           by the principle of enmity against the living God. It is the
  And: that world passeth away. And if ye love it, ye pass                     world as it develops in the sphere of sin, as it is character-
away with it.                                                                  ized by lust, and as it must inevitably. pass away. It is the
    Only he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.                        whole of reprobate, ungodly men, together with all the earthly
    Beware? therefore, lest ye love it!                                        creation. It implies all that is  ,produced  out of the earthly
                                  I     *     4:                               creation' by  .way of the development and use of all earthly
   What and where is that world which we must not love ?                       things in the service of sin throughout history. All its cul-
    Surely, it is evident that the world does not merely con-                  ture, all its intellectual and philosophical development, all its
sist of vnen, and that it is not all +nen.  How shallow and un-                inventions, all its scientific productions, all its literature, its


33s                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                             .:

music, its art, all its government and law and jurisprudence.       bond between you and the world. Let no affection for, no
all its economic and industrial productions, from the view-         attraction to that world be manifest in your walk., even while
point of the spiritual, ethical fact that it all stands in the      you are in the midst of it. Set not your heart upon it. Seek
service of sin,- that is the world.                                 it not. Let not the world and the things that are in the world
       0 yes, there'is  a certain beauty and harmony even about     be the object of your striving.
that world,  - a beauty that is certainly appealing to the              Love it not !
natural man.                                                            That means not that you shall assume a neutral attitude
       For it is the harmony and unity of a fallen and de-          toward that world. Such is impossible. Should you imagine
praved race of sinners. That harmony has its principle in           to be neutral, you would actually fall into the sinful way of
this, that there is in that world perfect agreement to live in      loving the world and its things. Your very nature is such
enmity against the living God, to employ all things in His          that you must either love or hate. If you love the world, you
creation  aga.inst  Him, not for Him. The fellowship of that        do not hate it; and if you love it not, you must needs loathe
world is the camaraderie of sin. Its beauty,  -  carnal,sen-        it with all your heart. Spiritually at odds with that world you
sual, -is essentially the ugliness of that which is without true    must stand. A fundamental disharmony between you and
virtue. Its glory and splendor are as vain and ephemeral as         that world must be manifest in your walk and conversation.
itself, - and it is not abiding; it passes away !                   Avoid that world you must. To despise its things, to turn
       For a brief moment that world seems to succeed. For,         away from its attractions in spiritual nausea, to oppose that
mark you well, it is out of this world that the power of            world with all your heart, - that is implied in your calling
antichrist rises. And as momentarily it dominates all of life,      not to love it.
- religion, political affairs, society, economic affairs, labor         Never is your calling any different. Never is there any
and industry, trade and commerce, science and art,-it makes         room for compromise. Always, unequivocally, and exclusively
one grand concerted effort to dethrone the Almighty, exalt          it is this : Love not the world !
itself in the place of the Most High, destroy His church,                                           * +  *
persecute His saints, proclaim itself the savior of mankind,
and reign supreme over all things, without God. And it shall            For that world is full of lust . . . .
deceive many !                                                          And that lust is not of the Father, but is of the world !
   But be not deceived ! The world passes away . . . . Love             How, then, can you, in whose heart the love of God has
it not!                                                             been shed abroad, love the world ? Your heavenly Father
   You  are in that world. Wherever you turn, you come              does certainly not love it !
into contact with it. It streams in upon your consciousness,            Sinful man, whose heart is filled with enmity  against God,
when you walk on the street, when you work in shop and              reacts upon the things which God has created, and he creates
office and factory, when you read your daily paper, when you        a world of lust,- the lust of the flesh and the lust of the
turn on your radio. You see it in its lowest and most open          eyes and the pride of life. No, the lust is not merely in the
forms in the movie and the dancehall and the gambling den           men of the world. It is in the world. In this world we are
and the houses of ill repute. But do not imagine that you           surrounded by lusts, objective lusts, all of which appeal to
can ever get away from that world. Even should you attempt          our old nature. For man, as he hates God, as he seeks not
to separate yourself locally from that world, you can never         God, as he has not the love of God in his heart, refuses his
escape it until you die. For you even carry it about with           calling to serve the Lord of heaven and earth. Instead, with
you in your sinful nature, your "flesh."                            all the natural light which he has retained after his fall he
                            * * *                                   reacts upon the earthly creation in enmity. He seeks himself.
                                                                    And he uses all things in God's creation, not in the service
   That world you, child of the light, may not love. And            of the Creator, but in the service of the creature. He desires
the things that are in it must not be the object of your love.      the world not as-a means whereby He may glorify the Most
   Nay, heed not the deceptive philosophy that would teach          High  ; but he desires the world as an end in itself, for his
you that it- is your calling to improve that world as much          own pleasure, for his own enrichment, for his own praise.
as possible,. that would lure you by means of the deceitful         And thus, reacting in sin upon all that God has made, he
message that you must not always "withdraw," that you               creates a whole world full of lust. He besmears  everything
must offend as little as possible, that you must exercise a,        he touches with his sinful and rebellious hands. And he sub-
measure of "tolerance,," that you must not only condemn the         jects all to the service of sin.
bad, but must also strive to bring improvement. Listen not             The result is a world full of lusts. There is the lust of
to those who proclaim that there is much good in that world         the flesh, the lust of the so-called lower desires, -gluttony,
yet, and that it must be the aim of the Christian to bring out      drunkeness, immorality. Man refuses to eat and to drink,
that good.                                                          to marry and to be given in marriage, as the servant of God.
   Scripture has but one word : Love it not !                       He says : "Let LE eat and drink and be merry, for tomorrow
   Let there be no harmony, no agreement, no fellowship, no         we die." And he creates a world of things that appeal to


                                                 T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEA.RER                                                                                                 339
    .
those lusts. The result is,: the lust of the flesh.  His higher
senses are also dominated by the power of sin. And to satisfy                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
the carnal desires of his eyes he creates a world of lust in the                    Semi-monthly, except mortth2y  during Jirly and Airgust
                                                                            ---
sphere of art and culture, painting, drama, music, philosophy,                Published by PIE REFORMED FRY PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION
literature, science, - all to satisfy' his sinful desires. And the          P. 0. Box 881, Madison Square Station, Grand Rapids 7,  Mich.
object in life that he sets up as the goal of all things is man,                                   Editor - REV. HERMAN HOEKSEMA
the glory and praise of mere man. He seeks himself. He                      Communications relative to contents should be addressed to Rev.
glorifies his own life, pure earthly "animal" life. He seeks                H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S. E., Grand Rapids 7, Mich.
the honor of man. He wants to be seen and praised of man.                   All matters relative to subscriptions should be addressed to Mr.
                                                                            G. Pipe, 1463 Ardmore  St., S. E., tid Rapids 7, Michigan.
And that is the pride, or vainglory, of life !                              Announcemews  and Obituaries mu& `be mailed to the above
    And that is "all."                                                      address and till 1b.e published at a fee of $1.00 for each notice.
    Nothing more- will you ever find in the world. No tiny                  RENEWALS: Unless a definite requwt for discont$mance  is re-
                                                                            ceived, it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the subscription
ray of goodness, no fruit of "common grace" will you dis-                   to continue without the formality of a renewal order.
cover. Nothing but lust, lust, lust . . . . .                                                       Subscription price : $4.00 per year
    And it is all of the world. There is nothing of your                     Epttered as Secol-td  Class matter at Grand Rapids, Miclzigan
heavenly Father in it. It is all godless, instead of godly. If you
seek it, you love what is of?he world; not what proceeds from
the Father. And if you love what is of the world, you love the
world, not the Father. Exactly so exclusive is the love of                                                     C 0 N T  % N T  S
God !                                                                 MEDITATION-
    If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not                       "Love not the World . . . . . . . . . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .337
in him . . . .                                                                           Rev. H. C. Hoeksema
    You, then, who are Father's children, Who are the objects         EDITORIALS-
of His love from eternity, who have had that love lavished                         Sdhism in History (II) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _ . . . . . . . .340
upon you in Christ, and who have that love shed abroad in                                Rev. H. Hoeksema
your hearts, - the love that is divine, the love that is the          OUR  DOCTRINE-
bond of  perfectness,  - love not the world. For the love of                       Tlhe  Triple Knowledge (Part III - Of Thankfulness) . . . .342
the Father does in every respect exclude the love of the                                 Rev. H. Hoeksema
world  ; and the love of the world excludes the .love  of the         THE  DAY OF  SRADOWS-
.Father. It is either . . . . or!                                                  The prophecy of Malachi................................344

                                                                      FROM HOLY  WRIT-
                                                                                   Exposition of Jolhn  3 :14-16 (Cont.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .347
                                                                                         Rev. G. Lubbers

    And remember this too : that world passeth away. It is            IN HIS FEAR--
on the way to utter destruction. Nothing of all its accom-                         Interesting and Revealing.. . . . . . . : . . . . . . . ; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .349
plishments shall be left. And he whose love is set on that                               Rev. J. A. Heys
world goes to destruction with it. He is one with that worl'd,        CONTENDING  FORTHE FAITH-
-one in sin. And he must be destroyed with it.                                     The Ohurch  and the Sacraments.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , . . . . . . . . .351
                                                                                         Rev. H. Veldman
    But he that doeth God's will abideth forever!
    such an ones belongs not to the world, but to the work            THE VOICE-OF 06~ FATHERS-
of God's grace in the midst of the world. He has been                              The Canons of Doardrefcht  (Art. 17). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .353
                                                                                          Rev. H. C. Hoeksema
delivered from the world, from sin, from death. He has been
rescued out of the power of darkness. He has been in prin-            DECENCY AND  ORDER-
ciple  trahsformed .into ti child of the Father. The love of the                   Student-Preaohing  (Coacluded)  :. . . . . . . . . . ;. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .355
                                                                                         Rev. G. Vanden  Berg
Father is in him. And therefore he loves the -Father's will.
And loving Father's will, he does it also in principle.               FEATURE ARTICLE--
    He belongs, therefore, not to the stage, not to the scaffold-                  Principles of Clhrisltian  Giving to the Offering in the
                                                                                   Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...357
ing, to that which shall be destroyed when Father's work is                               Rev. J. M~cCollam
finished in history. But he belongs to the work itself!               C
    And Father's work abideth forever !                                    ONTRIBUTIONS-
                                                                                   Brethren, let us speak the truth.. . . . . , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _. . . .359
    And he with it . . . .                                                                Cecil1  Vander Molen
    Glory to His name!
                                                           H.C.H.


340                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                                                                                                                .
                                                                         Also in this respect history repeated itself in the recent
               E.D I T 0  RM A  LS-                                   history of our Protestant Reformed Churches.
                                                                         Witness the report of  DeJong and  Kok in the Nether-
                                                                      lands according to the now notorius letter of Professor
                      Schism in History
         I.                                                           Holwerda.
                 HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF                                  Witness the fact that those that departed from  us. by
                       .-                                             hook and by crook, in speech and in writing, tried to in-
                                 II.                                  troduce the conditional theology of the Liberated, and to
       The rest of  t& quotations which candidate Harbach             undermine the Declaration of Principles.
 sent to us all  deal  with the  Arminian controversy of the             Witness the fact they advised many of our people not to
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Here is the first:               read the Standard  Bearcv  anymore.
          "On the subject of Predestination, there came an               I could mention more, but let this be sufficient. Such are
         open rilpture  between him ( Arminius) and Gomarus.          not the methods of those that are convinced that they are
         An attempt had been made to resolve this division into       fighting for the truth, confessed by the churches to which
       . .:a mere matter-of j~ealousy  on the part of Gomarus, and    they belong, but of heretics.
        `that the latter regarded Arminius as seeking to usurp           The quotations continue :
         authority over him. That Arminius may have sought                     "In this posture of affairs, several of the magistrates
         to weaken the authority of Gomarus is more than pos-           of Leyden urged Arminius to hold a conference  with
         sible, seeing the definite stand which Gomarus made               hiss colleagues in the University, before the Classis, re-
         for Calvinistic teaching, but the issues lay far deeper           specting those doctrines to which he had objections,
         than mere petty jealousy . . . The cry of jealousy is             that the extent of his objections might be known. But
         ever the usual one in all such cases, especially from           this he declined. In the same manner he treated one
         the lips of those who are the partisans of the real of-           proposal after another, for private explanation; for
         fender. The real issue in this case did not center in any         calling a national Synod to consider the matter; or for
         real or fancied affront to the dignity of Gomarus, but            any method whatever of bringing the affair to a regular
         lay in the duplicity which had been  practised  by Ar-            ecclesiastical decision. Now a,  Classis, then a Synod,
       minius,   this breach of the pledges which he had given             2nd at other times secular men attempted to move in
         and the heretical teachings which he was promulgat-               the case ; but Arminius was never ready, and always
         ing . .  ." (Calvir+~z,  by B. A. Warburton, in chap. 3,          had insurmountable objections to every method pro-
         ATminks  a.nd the  Synod of Dordt.  Wm. B. Eerdmans               posed for explanation or adjustment. It was evident
         Pub. Co., 1955)                                                   that he wished to gain time  ; to put off any decisive
       This last is, undoubtedly, true though, of course, Armini-          action  in` the case, until he should have such an op-
an writers will deny this.                                                 portunity of influencing the minds of the leading secular
       For me it & not difficult to understand that a man like             men of the country as eventually to prepare them to
 Gomarus could not get along with Arminius as his colleague                take side with himself. Thus he went on evading, post-
 at the University of Leyden. Nor must this be attributed to               poning, concealing, shrinking from every inquiry, and
 personal jealousy on the part of Gomarus as, is often alleged.            endeavoring secretly to throw every possible degree of
 On the contrary, the. cause must much rather be sought in                 odium on the orthodox doctrines, hoping that, by suit-.
 the sneaky methods of Arminius who, in different ways,                    able management, their advocates . . . .might be gradu-
 sought to introduce his heterodox views, well-aware that they             ally diminished, so as to give him a good chance of a
 departed from the views of the  keformed  Church, and at-                 majority in any Synod which might eventually be called.
 tempted to inculcate' them into his students. He did so by                    "This is a painful narrative. It betrays a want of
 lecturing on the New Testament which was not his proper                   candour  and integrity .on the part of a man otherwise
 field but that of Gomarus, And he did so by inviting stu-                 respectable, which it affords no gratification even to an
 dents to his home and by privately influencing them in favor              adversary to record. It may be truly said, however, to
 of his heterodox view of predestination as opposed to the                 be the stereotyped history of the commencement of
 doctrine of the church. It was such methods that provoked                 every heresy ivhich  has arisen- in the Christian church.
 Gomarus and set him against Arminius, not because of per-                 When heresy rises in an evangelical body, it is never
 sonal jealousy, but because he felt and had reason to feel                frank and open. It always begins by skulking, and as-
 that he could not trust his fellow professor and that the latter          suming a disguise. Its advocates, when together, boast
 was secretly corrupting the truth.                                        of. great improvements, and congratulate one another
       Duplicity and secrecy always characterize .the methods              on having gone greatly beyond the `old dead orthodoxy,'
 of those that intend to spread doctrines within the church of             and on having left behind many of its antiquated errors :
 which they know that they are heterodox.                                  but when taxed with deviations from the received faith,


                                                 T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEA.RER                                                     341

          they complain of the unreasonableness of their accusers,       the thought of election on the ground of foreseen faith.
          as they `differ from it  only  irz  zvords.' This has been        The definition of reprobation is, if anything, still worse
          the standing course of errorists ever since the apostolic      from the viewpoint of ambiguity. In apparently very strong
          age. They are almost never honest and candid as a              terms Arminius describes the decree of reprobation.  fie
          party, until they gain strength enough to be sure  of          speaks of it as the decree of God's anger or severe will, of
          some degree of popularity. Thus it was with Arius in the       His determination from eternity to condemn to eternal death,
          fourth century, with Pelagius in the fifth, with Arminius      and that, too, for the purpose to show his- power. and anger.
          and his companions in the seventeenth, with  Armyr-            But? in the meantime! the objects of this decree of reproba-
          aut and his associates in France soon afterwards, and          tion are not all men outside of the elect, but the unbelieving,
          with the Unitarians in Massaschusetts,  toward the close       who, by their own fault and by the. just judgment of God,
          of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth          are not to believe. Hence, not sovereign reprobation, which
          centuries. They denied their real tenets, evaded exam-         Arminius wished, by all means, to avoid, but reprobation on
          ination or inquiry, declaimed against their accusers as        the basis of foreseen unbelief.
          merciless bigots and heresy-hunters, and strove as long           Indeed, even this meaning he tries to camouflage. Does
          as they could to appear. to agree with the most ortho-         he not say that the reprobate are phced out of union with
          dos of their neigfibors  ; until the time came when, partly    Christ? Does he not plainly declare that, in God's just judg-
          from inability any longer to cover up their sentiments,        ment they me not to believe?
          and partly because they felt strong enough to come out,           Yes, but even this definition of reprobation is neither
          they at length avowed their real opinions." (Synod of          lsupra not infra. It intends to teach that God rejected men
          Dordt,  by Rev. Thos. Scott, D.D., from  Introductory          from  .&rnity only because He saw that they  would not
          Essay  by Rev. Sainuel Miller, D.D.,  pp. 12-13, Pres-         believe in Christ.
          byterian Bd. of Pub., Phila., 1841)                               The same ambiguity characterizes the language of those
    Yes, indeed, heretics for evermore conceal their real views          who, in the Reformed, really want to deny God's sovereign
as much as possible, stalling for time until they can hope to            decree of predestination.
have a majority in the church of which they are members.                    Think of 1924 and the "Three Points."
    In the meantime, they like to camouflage the truth and                  In the preaching of the gospel, God is not gracious to
to use all kinds of ambiguous terms, so that if they are chal-           the elect alone but to all that hear the gospel preached. On
lenged they can explain them in a Reformed sense, though                 the part of God, the gospel is a well-meaning offer  td all.         -
they  certainly  do not to convey by them the sound Reformed ,In other words, He would have all men to be saved.
truth.                                                                      Or think of the many preachers in the Reformed churches
    Thus,, for instance? in Feb. 1604, Arminius, when his                that hardly ever mention the doctrine of election, still less of
orthodoxy was quesioned, offered the following definition of             reprobation. For whom-the truth of predestination is a dead
predestination: "Divine predestination is the decree of God              doctrine ; certainly not the heart of the church.
in Christ by which He has decreed with himself from etern-                  Or again, think of the preaching that was heard in our
ity to justify, adopt, and gift with eternal life, to the praise         own Protestant Reformed churches, by those that apostatized,
of his glorious grace, the faithful whom He has decreed to               though they still try to sail under the name of Protestant
gift with faith. On the other hand, reprobation is the de-               Reformed.
cree of the anger or severe will. of God, by which He has                   God promises to every one of the hearers that they shall
determined from eternity, for the purpose of showing his                 be saved, if they believe. A general promise on condition of
anger and power, to condemn to eternal death, as placed                  faith, ! Yet, this plain and outright Arminianism was  SUP-
out of union with Christ, the unbelieving who, by their own              posed to be Protestant Reformed!
fault and just judgment of God, are not to believe."                        0, yes, in a way, even this language was meant to be am-
    At first sight, one wonders that a man of keen intellect             biguous. It was not a promise- for all, but only for those
and learning, as Arminius undoubtedly was! can make such                 that believe. And is not faith a gift of God? And is it not,
a bungling definition of-predestination. It is neither supra-            therefore, after all for the elect that the p.romise  is meant?
nor infralapsarian.                                                         Indeed, the language is ambiguous.
    But when one looks at this definition a little more closely,            Nevertheless, the express purpose of this kind of preach-
one soon discovers that is not lack of learning or even of               ing was to contradict the Declaration of Principles, adopt&d
logic that characterizes the definition but intended ambiguity.          by the Protestant Reformed Churches, and to proclaim a con-
   Who are the objects of God's election, according to this              ditional promise to all the hearers. And a conditional promise
definition? The faithful. Hence, Reformed scholars would                 depends on the acceptance of those that hear, ulfimately  on
accuse Arminius of teaching election on foreseen faith.                  the free will of man even though he receive the faith from
    But, if he were thus accused, he would, undoubtedly re-              God.
PlY : "But I teach that faith is a gift of God." Thus the                   I have one more quotation.
definition could work both ways, although he meant to convey                But this must. wait till the next issue.                 H.H.


342                                          T H E   STANDA-RD   B E A R E R

                                                                     Father," we cannot approach Him at all. And secondly, if
             O U R   D O C T R I N E                                 we cannot add "Who art in heaven," we make Him like unto
i                                                               II us, drag Him down from His excellency, and pray to an
                                                                     idol. As long as we must cry unto Him from the darkness of
               THE TRIPLE KNOWLEDGE                                  our present death, as long as we have not entered. into the
                                                                     heavenly glory, we will never find an address to our prayers
        AN  EXPOSITION  OF THE HEIDELBERG  CATIXFIISM                that is more perfect and all-comprehensive in its simplicity
                                                                     than that of the Lord's Prayer, acknowledging as it does at
                PART  III  - OF THANKFULNESS                         the sanie time the excellency of His majesty while bringing
                                                                     I-Iim very near unto us in His everlasting love and mercy.
                         LORD'S DAY 46                                   The Lord Jesus teaches us in.this  prayer to address God
                          Chapter I                                  as "Our Father."
                                                                         What does this mean ?
                 Addressing God as our Father                            Let us ask, first of a!l: to whom are these words ad-
                                                                     dressed? The answer must be, of course, to the Triune God,
       Also in the many prayers that are found in the Psalms         the one adorable .Being  of infinite perfections, Who is One
we find that God is usually addressed as Jehovah, the Lord           in Essence,  yef Three in Persons, Father, Son, and Holy
of all the earth and the God of His people Israel, that will         Ghost. By calling upon God as our Father, we do not ad-
surely save them. In the vision of Isaiah 6 we find that the         dress Him as the First Person of the Holy Trinity, but as
seyaphims are chiefly impressed by the holiness and glory of         the one God subsisting in threeness of Persons. This Triune
the Lord God. For they cover their faces and their feet, and         God is the Father of creation, Who of nothing made heaven
cry, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth        and earth. The same Triune God is the Father of our Lord
is full of his glory." When the apostles Peter and John were         Jesus Christ, the Word become flesh, 1;C'ho was delivered for
released from their captivity by the Sanhedrin, and return to        our transgressions and raised for our justification, and is now
their own company, the church of Christ lifted up their voice        exalted at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. And
in adoration and thanksgiving, and evidently addressed Him           again, this same Triune God is our Father for Christ's sake
as the Lord, Who is sovereign over all the kings of the earth,       only. It is true that we call upon Him as our Father through
and Who executes His own counsel not only in spite of them,          Jesus Christ His Son, and that it is only by the grace of the
but even through them. Cf. Acts  4:24-30.  And the  twenty-          Holy  Spiyit  that we can cry, "Abba, Father." Nevertheless,
four elders in Revelation 4 cast down their crowns before            through the Spirit of God, as the Spirit of Christ, and
the throne of God and worship Him, saying: "Thou art wor-            through our Lord Jesus Christ, as the Mediator of God and
thy, 0 Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for               man, we address not the First Person of the Holy Trinity.
thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are           but the Triune  God when we say, "Our Father Who art in
and were created." And the  &-eat multitude in heaven,               heaven." In Trinity the First Person is Father of the Son in
standing before the throne  .of God and the Lamb, clothed            the Spirit. But in relation to us the Triune God is our
with white robes and palms in their hands, cried with a loud         Father through Jesus Christ our Lord and by the operation
voice: "Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne,          of the Spirit of Christ, Which He has given unto Him and
and unto the Lamb." And the angels at the same time, stand-          unto us.
ing round about the throne, fell upon their faces and wor-              But what does it mean `that we call Him our Father ?
shipped God, saying, "Amen : blessing, and glory, and wis-              It surely expresses that He made us His children. And
dom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might,              this is a profound mystery. Surely, you can teach the smallest
be unto our God for ever. Amen." Particular circumstances,           child to address God in the words, "Our I'ather  Who art in
therefore, under which we pray, the peculiar state of  our           heaven." Yet, the depth of- truth expressed in these words
mind and heart when we pray. and the specific consciousness          is not readily fathomed. For it implies nothing less than that
of the needs we wish to present before the Most High often           the infinite, ,glorious, adorable God,` Who is the implication
cause us to think of God particularly in the light of one or         of all infinite perfections, Who is a light in Whom there is
more of His infinite and  ma-ellous  virtues, whether it be          no darkness at all, so made us, so formed us, that there is in
His sovereignty or His omnipotence, His forgiving grace or           us an affinity and likeness to the divine nature. As the
His abundant mercy. And we address Him accordingly.                  apostle Peter expressek  it in I Peter 1 :4 : "Whereby are given
     Nevert$eless,  in the first place, these glorious virtues of    unto us exceeding great and precious promises : that by these
God are all very really implied in the simple address of the         ye might -be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped
Lord's Prayer : "Our Father Which art in  .heaven."  And             the corruption that is in the world through lust." It also
secondly, this address is certainly fundamental, and the at-         means that on the basis of this likeness and this affinity,
titude presupposed by it is surely indispensable to all true         there is a communion of life and a communion of love be-
prayer. For if we cannot or dare not address God as "Our             tween God and us. It signifies that He made us after  ihe


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                   313

image of His eternal Son, so that in a creaturely measure we          into the sanctuary of God and to address Him in the words,
resemble Hi& and reflect His virtues, the virtues of knowl-           " O u r   F a t h e r . "
edge, righteousness, and holiness. It means that there is be-             This modern philosophy, however, completely ignores the
tween Him and us the living bond of love and fellowship, so           tremendous and terrible fact and reality of sin and death.
that we can know Him and trust in Him and believe that                It is true indeed that God is `our Creator. It is true too that
He will give us every good thing, and that we delight in              in creating us He made us after His own image, in true
seeking His glory and walking in humble obedience. to Him             knowledge of Him, righteousness, and holiness. By virtue
in the way of His precepts. It means, finally, that we have           of this image of God in him, Adam wasp indeed the son of
received the right of children, the right to be called by His         God. Cf. Luke 3 :35. But no longer is it possible to call upon
name, to claim His care, and to dwell in His house for ever.          God as our Father on the basis of that original relationship.
It means that we have the right to the eternal inheritance of         For by the fall and disobedience of the one man, Adam, we
glory which He prepared for all them that love Him. All               lost all the rights and privileges of sons. We became aliens
this is implied in the relationship between God and us that;          and strangers. We were expelled from Father's house. The
is expressed in the words,  "Our Father."                             image of God was subverted into the very image of the devil,
   We must not overlook the fact that here we have not the            and we are by nature children of wrath. Thus the Lord
expression of a mere doctrine of the Fatherhood of God or             spoke to the unbelieving Jews in Jerusalem in John  8  :44:
of the Fatherhood of God in Christ Jesus. Nor are we dis-             "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father
cussing the Law of God, that denlandS  that we love the Lord          y& will do." And the apostle  Paui writes in Eph. 2  ~2, 3 :
ciur God with all our heart and mind and soul and strength:           "Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of
But this is a prayer. It presupposes, therefore, that in these        this world, according to the prince of the power of the air,
two words he who prays and -thus addresses God is Con-                the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
scious of this relationship and confesses all that is implied in      Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past
it. He is consciously assured of his privilege to be called a         in the lusts of our flesh (fulfilling the desires of the flesh and
son of God, and feels in his heart that God is not ashamed            of the mind ; and were by nature children of wrath, even as
to be called his Father, and that He will not reject or repudi-       others." This means that of ourselves, by nature, we have
ate him. He is confident that he may approach God, that he            no right, neither are we spiritually capable to utter the first
may expect all good things from Him, that he may dwell in             words of the Lord's Prayer in spirit and in truth, and that
the sanctuary of the Most High. He is conscious of the fact           modern philosophy of a universal F'atherhood of God, which
that God has made him a reflection of His own virtues, and            would place the address of this prayer upon the lips of
that there is in his deepest heart a desire to be pleasing to         every  naked sinner, without Christ, is sheer presumption,
Him Whom he calls his Father: to be righteous, as He is               provocative of the fierce anger of the Lord. Would not even
righteous ; holy, as He is holy ; and to keep all His good com-       a mere sinful man be provoked to wrath and indignation if
mandments. He trusts that God loves him, and that He will             a person from the lowest strata of society, notorious as a
surely- give him all things necessary for soul and body, and          public enemy number one, would spread the story everywhere
in the end, eternal life in ,God's own tabernacle forever. It is      that he was his father ? How abominable, then, in the sight of
in that spiritual disposition of humble obedience, of filial love,    God must be the pride and presumption of the naked  sinned-,
and of childlike confidence that we approach the Most High            wh.o walks in darkness and loves iniquity, who reflects the
in His sanctuary `when we begin our prayers with thk simple,          image of his father the devil, and who nevertheless insists
but profound address : "Our Father."                                  that he may take the son's prayer upon his lips and call upon
   The question must be asked: how is it possible that we             the Holy One as his Father?
can call God our Father? What right can we possibly have                  The address of the Lord's Prayer, therefore, does not
to call Him thus  ? How can we have the assurance in our              refer to the Fatherhood of God  .in creation, but to that far
hearts that we are His children ? Whence is the confidence            richer and deeper Fatherhood which He revealed and re-
whereby we cry to Him, "Abba, Father ?"                               alized in Christ Jesus our Lord.
   We certainly cannot possibly have that right by nature.                We can distinguish between our legal and our spiritual,
   Many a modernist speaks of the universal Fatherhood of             ethical sonship of God.
God, and of the universal brotherhood of man, as if nothing               The eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has adopted
happened to destroy that relationship since God created us            us, who were not His children, and has conferred upon us
after His own image. God, so they claim, is the Father of             all the legal rights of sons. That is, first of all, the confession
all men. And all men are children of God by virtue                    of him that humbly enters into the sanctuary of God, crying,
of their creation. Man was made after God's  image.                   "Abba, Father." When he prays, and in his prayer addresses
That is the excellency of man above every other creature.             God as his Father, he thereby consciously and humbly con-
That is his real worth. On this fact of man's creation after          fesses that of himself he has no right whatsoever to be called
the image of God modern man bases his right to life and               the son of God.
liberty  and the pursuit of happiness, his right too to enter                                                                      H.H.


3       4     4                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

II                                                                          ty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great ter-
             THE DAY OF SHADOK&                                        /I ribleness, and with signs and with wonders, and brought US
                                                                            into this place, and hath given us this land, even a !and that
                                                                            floweth with milk and honey.
                   The Prophecy of Malachi                                      And  no.w, behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the
                                                                            land, which thou, 0 Lord hath given me . . . . .
      V. The sinful withholding of tithes and offerings. 3 :6-12.               Look down from thy holy habitation, from heaven, and
      8. Will  a,  man  .rob God? For ye have robbed me. Yet                bless thy people Israel, and the land which thou hast given
ye my, wherein  h&z/e we robbed thee? In tithes ahd o,#euhgs.               us, as thou swearest to our fathers, a land that floweth with
                                                                            milk and honey (Deut. 26 :5-15).
      9. With a  came are ye cursed, for  me have ye robh3',                    Withholding  the firstfruits and the tithes was a denial
this whole nation.                                                          of the truths set forth in this word. It was a repudiation of
      10. Bring ye  all the tithes  &to  the  storehoatse,q  that  tlm*a    Jehovah as Israel's Saviour and Ring. Only the Israelite who
way be provision in my house, and  prove me in this, sazth                  denied his stewardship and thus exalted himself in his mind
Jehovah of hosts, -if  not I till open to you  the windows of               to the position  of. absolute owner of God's things would
hea.ven, aped pour you out a blessjng, that there shall ,not be             withhold the tithes. Such a one showed by his action that
roona enough to receive it.                                                 he refused to be with his possessions in the service of Jehovah
      11. And I z&l rebuke fog yo~u  sake the devoztver, and                as the sheep of His pasture. For the tithes and the  first-
not shall he destroy to you  the fruit of  the  gvouvtd,  neither           `fruits represented by divine ordinance the entire harvest. We
shall be unfmitful  to you the vine of the field, sai& the Lord             may add that tithing was a symbolical-typical institution;
of hosts.                                                                   it belonged to the things that waxed old and vanished away.
                                                                            It is no longer compulsory as was then the case. The will
.     12. And shall pronounce  you blessed a.11 na,tions; for yo'u          of God for us is: "Give as the Lord hath blessed thee," that
shall be a land of delight, saith Jelzovah;of hosts.                        may be placing one under the obligation of giving more than
.__. 8 .__,. Will a man rob God? - that is what they do. Yet ye             the tenths.
say, zoherein have we robbed thee?- They refute the charge                      T1'za.t there ITlay be food i,n `1%~ Iaoztse  - That there might
and demand an explanation.. In tithes and in offerings. -                   be provision for  God's. altars and for the ministers of the
These they wiihhold  and thereby they defraud Jehovah. The                  sanctuary.  Prove  p>ae-  Whether or not for Christ's sake
last word means literally heave offerings. Here it denotes. all             Jehovah prospers the penitent, the people that fear Him and
the offerings specified by the law. How the fraud was perpe-                keep His covenant. If I will not open to you the zwindows  of
trated is stated in 1 :6-14. The ordinance of the tithes is con-            heazjen  - Such will find that in the way of repentance bles-
tained in Deut. 14  :22ff.  ; Lev.  27:30ff. ; Num.  18:21ff.               sings will come like a pouring rain however ill-deserving they
Offerings and  tithes  Lvere  the only means of support for                 may be apart from Christ. There will not be room enough-
priests and Levites. Some portions of the tithes they may                   There shall be superabundance. According to the context tile
have been giving, but they w&e cutti?g down on the proper                   prophet has in mind rain in season and plentiful harvest.
percentage. 9.  With  a curse are ye  cztrsed. Jehovah has al-              Such material blessings were sent to the -true Israel of that
ready shown that He is angry with them, but still they con-                 day as a, token of Jehovah's love of them, it being the dis-
tinue in their sinful way. How the curse operates is not                    pensation of shadows. The seasonal rains by which Canaan
stated, but verses lo-12 imply that it causes scanty harvests,              was changed into a land flowing with milk and honey during
drought and perhaps a plague of locusts. And the curse                      -Israel's residence in it was a wonder of grace. And I till ye-
comes upon the whole nation, because the whole nation -is                   Z&e-The rebuke of Jehovah will make an end of the
guilty. 10.  B,ving ye  the whole tithes-  All the tithes. The              devourer, the locust, so-called because of his destructiveness.
emphasis rests on aIll. Defrauding Jehovah must cease.                      FOV your  s&es-The penitent, the true Israel. The im-
      That they commit a great sin is plain from what the Is-               penitent evildoers must be excluded. For they shall be  d.e-
raelite must declare while he still stands before  Jehcvah's                stroyed when Jehovah comes in judgment, 3 :6-12. YOZM-  vine
face with his offerings. It is this :                                       shall  no; cast her fruit in the field - Shall not fall from the
      A Syrian ready to perish was my father, and he went                   vine .before it ripens. Shall call yo'u blessed -The prosperity
down into Egypt, and sojourned there with a few and be-                     of God's people will be so remarkable that all nations will
came there a nation, great, mighty and populous.                            call them blessed. Thereby also they will express their ap-
      And the Egyptians evil treated us, and afflicted us with              proval. A delightsome land - A land where joy and blessed-
hard bondage.                                                               ness reigns supreme.
      And we cried unto the Lord of our fathers, the Lord                      We must hear the law in this connection. Lev. 18 ~5, "Ye
heard our voice and looked upon our afflictions, and our                    shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments : which
labour  and our oppression.                                                 if a man do, he shall live in them." Deut. 27  :26, "Cursed
      And the Lord brought us forth out-of Egypt with a migh-               be he that  confirmeth  not all the words of the law to do


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R   .                                              345

them." Let us take notice, "which if a man do he shall live               14. Ye ha.ve said, It is va.in to serve Gods and what gain
in or by them," that is, in the statutes and judgments of the         is it that we have kept kis ordina.nce,  and that we have walked
law. That man lived not in Christ but in the commandment              i,n black before Jehovah of hosts?
as did Adam in the state of integrity. Paul quotes both these             15. And  stow we  ca,ll  lmppy the proud; yea,,  are  3&t
passages, the first to describe the righteousness of the law in       the  workem of  wickednesss  yea,, they  tha~t  te&pt God  a:rc
contradistinction to the righteousness of Christ (Ram. 10 :5),        delivered.
and to show that, since all men are totally depraved, no man              Strong . . . . yozr.?*  words- Their words are hard., severe.,
is justified. by the law in the sight of God (Gal. 3 :2), and         wicked. They contain an accusation that brings Jehovah
the second to show that accordingly as many as are of the             under a cloud. Yet  yozl  say  -In lodging his charge the
works of the law-as many as vainly imagine that they                  prophet again speaks in general terms. And so his hearers
keep the law - are under its curse (Gal. 3 :lO), And so it            request that he be specific. He tells them what they have
is. For the law demands a  perfect  obedience and it curses           been saying. Serve  God . . , kept his ordiname . . . walked
the man that does not fulfil this requirement.                        in black -They claim that they serve God, do what the law
    It must not be imagined therefore that in admonishing             requires of them, fast and clothe themselves in sackcloth in
this ill-deserving post-exilic community to bring into the            token of their contrition of heart. But they argue, if they
house of the Lord the tithes, the prophet was telling them            have done this, they should flourish, be built and delivered.
that their only hope lay in their fulfilling the requirements of      As it is, it goes evilly with them. This is not explicitly stated,
the law. For then he would have been telling them that their          but it is implied in their complaint. But the point to their
case was utterly hopeless and would have been putting the             argument is not primarily that they do not prosper nor even
period here. Then his message to them would have been one             that they suffer affliction ; what especially perplexes them is
solely of dispair. For with the exception of a few!  the whole        that at the same time the wicked live in ease and prosperity.
people was guilty of withholding the tithes. But even the             The  Proatd - According to the context definitely the arrogant
most holy among them was in the service of God only in                persons within the Jewish community. There is no fear of
principle. They, too, were sinful men by themselves under             God in their hearts. Asaph (Ps. 73) describes these persons.
the curse. Though true children of God, they were still con-          They set their mouth against Heaven, and their tongue walks
tinually sinning. And so the prophet's admonition to the              through the earth.  Tlze  wm-kers  of  i&qa~ity  - Those that
effect that they cease cutting down on the proper percentage          oppress the hireling, widows and orphans. They that tempt
of their tithes was a call to repentance. It was, rightly con-        Gtid  a,ye delivered  --They that challenge God by their
sidered, and exhortation that the offenders, cursed of the            .wickedness  are helped of Him out of their difficulties. And
law, confess and forsake their abominations and cast them-            they are built and whatsoever they do prospers.
selves upon the mercy of Jehovah to be assured of Him that                It is this that makes it seem to the complainers that it is
.for Christs' sake, by whom all the requirements of the law           utterly vain, senseless, to serve God.
were to be fulfilled, they were forgiven and delivered from              Can this be the doing of a just and righteous God ? They
His wrath. To preach repentance in the true sense is to               were the sceptics in the community. The prophet excludes
preach Christ. And that is what the prophet (prophets) was            them from the class of Godfearing persons that he next ad-
doing always, as truly as let us say Paul. "Return unto me,           dresses. Yet they were not committing the unpardonable sin
and I will return unto you, saith Jehovah of Hosts" (3 :7).           so that they could not be brought to repentance. For the
"I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob              God fearing Asaph of Ps. 73 fell into the same skepticism.
are not consumed" (3 :6). This is Gospel, isn't it. The pro-          Yet there was a  differance.  From fear that he would be
phet was no more of a legalist than Paul was a legalist.              oijEending against the generation of God's true children Asaph
   The elect by the grace of God did repent. And by faith             kept his thoughts to himself. Moreover he went with his per-
they kept the commandments of God in principle. That was              plexities into the sanctuary of God where all was made
their privilege, chosen as they were in Christ unto life in           plain. But these sceptics did not go into the sanctuary of
glory. And the Lord did open to them the windows of heaven            God but instead they gave public expression to their unbe-
and poured out blessings for Christ's sake, and in token              lief. It seems to have been a topic of daily conversation with
that they were the object. of His favor. `And at His second           them. What it indicates is a malicious spirit rather than
coming they shall appear `with Him in glory on the new                honest doubt. They hated God and therefore made far too
earth. Certainly at no time in Israel's history was the Lord          much of the inequalities of which they complained. It is not
sending rain in season and giving abundant harvest because            invaribly true that the wicked prosper in this life. It was not
His people were fulfilling the requirements of the law. He            invariably true then. To say that it was is to make the same
blessed them always solely for Christ's sake.                         mistake that the three friends of Job made.
                                                                         16.  Then spake they that  fea.yed Jehovah each to  his
   VI. A new vindication of Jehovah's justice, 3 :13, 4 :3.           covlJ,panion:  and listened the Lord and heard, a~nd was written
   13.  Stro+lg against  me  ha,ve  been  yoz~  woyds,   mid  .Te-    a book of remembrance  before hipvt that feared. the Lord and
1zova.h.  Yet ye say, &at have we spoken aga,inst  thee?              thought upon his name.

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

       17. And they shnll be for me, said Jehovah of hosts, fog          God and him that serves Him not. For in that day it will be
the diay i?z which I shall act, a peculiar possession; and I             so obvious who the wicked are and who the righteous that
will pity them, as pities a `yycan his son the one that serves hi?x.     every excuse for being confused and maliciously accusing
       18. Then shall ye return and discern between the right-           Jehovah of injustice in His dealings with His moral creatures
eozts and the wicked, between him tha,t serves God and l&n               will be gone.
that serves him not.                                                        It is doubtful whether this return of the sceptics must be
                                                                         construed as a true conversion. For it takes place in the
                              Chapter 4                                  judgment day when every tongue shall be justifying God
                                                                         including the tongues of the wicked who perish in their sins.
       1.  For behold  &e day  cometh,  tha,t  sha,ll  burn as an        It would seem therefore that these sceptics must be com-
oven; and shall be all the pro,ud and all that do wickedly               prehended in the class of godless in the community that did
for  stubble: and the  day that  cometh shall bum them  up,              not come to repentance. Supporting this view is the fact that
saith Jelzovak of hosts, tlaat it shall not leave thefn either root      they are excluded from the class of Godfearing persons.
or  bran&.                                                                  Chapter 4  :l.  Fov  - connects these verses (l-3) with
       2. But shall  pise unto you that  fear  q"lzy  nante  the  sun    3  :18. The sceptics shall discern because of the doings of
of riglateotisness  arad with henling in Ais wings; and ye  slaall       Jehovah set forth in these verses. The day tha.t co?>aeth, that
go forth and thrive a.s calves ,in tlae sta,ll:                          shall burpa as an oven - The manifestation of Jehovah's fierce
       3. And ye shall tread down the wicked; and they slmll             anger on that day shall be like a fire that burns in a furnace :
be ashes under the soles of your feet ,in the day that I act,            it consumes everything combusfable such as stubble.  All  t/iat
said Jehovah of hosts.                                                   do wickedly-  though they now prosper, on that day they
                                                                         shall be for stubble  ; they shall be burnt up by Jehovah's
       Then  (vs. 16) -When the sceptics were giving expres-             anger root and branch.
sion to their doubts,  They that  fea.red Jehovah-  The true                The sun  of  pigkteoatsness-This  is a title that must be
people of God within the community. They had passed                      applied directly to #Christ, because then only does it take on
through the same perplexities but their faith had not faltered           for us a real meaning. He is the Sun. The sun of our
but had continued to blossom. They spake ea.& to his COWL-               earthly creation is His symbol. The virtue of its light reflects
partion  - Daily they sought out each other. It is -not stated           in a creatural way the goodness of His light. The healing
what they said. But that can be easily conjectured seeing                power of His light, here compared to wings, is marvelous.
that in such circumstances the conversations of the faithful             It causes the dead to live, the blind to see, the deaf to hear
always run in the same well-known channel. They spake                    and the lame to leap. It dispels all the gloom of the weary
words of exhortation, consolation and encouragement. They                night of sin and transforms the wilderness into a garden of
told each other that sometime Jehovah, breaking His silence              delight. It fills those in whose heart it shines with peace and *
and making an end of His inactivity, would manifest His                  makes them to shout with joy.
righteousness in the punishment of the wicked and in the
rewarding of the just. They thought upon His name, His                      Such is the virtue of His light the reason being that He,
revelation of self through all His marvelous works of the                the Christ, is the Sun of  righteousness.  Implied is the fol-
past: They declared His praises and their soul waited upon               lowing. 1. He loved righteousness and practiced it. He knew
His salvation. And listened the Lord and heard  - He was no sin. There was no deceit .found  in His mouth. It was His
attentive to their conversations. And was written a book of              meet and drink to do the will of His Father. 2. He fulfilled
revtzef+azbrance  - So pleased is He with them - they are His            for His own all righteousness and bore their curse as activ-
workmanship-that their names are written in His book.                    ated by a pure love. 3. And He gives life and righteousness
According  to~another  figure (Isa. 49  :16) expressive of the           not alone but He is our sanctification, justification and re-
same idea, they are always before Him as engraved on the                 demption forever. Believing in Him we have life. And in
palms of His hands. For the da.y on which I shall act (vs.               the final judgment He shall again rise unto them that fear
17) -When He shall come in judgment, these faithful ones                 His name. And the result will be that they shall rise from
shall be for Him a peculiar possession. He will not destroy              their graves unto life in glory. In the imagery of our text,
them with the wicked.  And will pity  theppa-  In His pity               they shall go forth and thrive as calves in the stall.
He will spare them and give them life in ,glory. As pitieila  a.            And they shall tread down the wicked (vs.  ?i)  -Not
-waa,n  his  son the one that  serves  him  -This pity is a  crea-       apart from Christ but through Him their head and glorified
tural reflection of the Lord's pity of them that fear Him.               Lord in whom they are forever grafted by a faith living and
Then shall ye yetarm and d&e?-ra (vs. 18) 1 Indicated is the             indestructible because  I$e prays for  them..and with whom
skeptics. In the day of reckoning they shall return. They                therefore they reign. For they shall be ashes under the soles
shall cease accusing Jehovah of injustice then when they see             of  yoztr  feet in that day  -Their victory over the adversary
the wicked destroyed and the faithful exalted. Then they                 will be that complete and absolute.
shall be compelled openly to discern between him that serves                                 (Coihtrcd  011. page 356)


                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                               347

Il.                                                                     posses&s of everlasting life! The  point of  depwture  in the
             FROM HOLY WRIT                                        II Argument, here is regeneration, faith, and not the Cross.
                                                                           Hence, we have a very marked duty to perform. In this
                                                                        study we must point out that John 3  :16 is not a mere
                  Exposition of John  3:14-16                           aphorism, a little text of Scripture into which we may place
                                                                        our own meaning, as do the Arminians and all, who teach
                             (Continued)                                the "free-will" of man. For them John 3 :14-16 simply teaches
        May we, and all. who formulated the letter of "testimony"       that God in Christ made salvation "possible" and that now it
to  Classis  East, put off the shoes from our feet and submit           is up to man whether he will believe in this "offered" Christ.
our every thought to  .the instruction of Christ as this was            And they can do this only by placing this text in their own
given `to a "teacher in Israel," Nicodemus. That is, indeed,            context and by pulling it brutally and  unb&ievingly  out of
salutary and sobering, leading to the true sobriety which can           the contest in which Jesus Himself placed it. Such "study"
compare spiritual things with spiritual. I Cor. 2 :13.                  of Scripture is indicative of neither faith nor godliness. It is
        Then may we notice particularly that in this entire section,    a denial of the "testimony" of Jesus and the Word of His
                                                                        patience ! For they will say :' Christ made salvation possible
the verses 3-21, our Lord unfolds to us the entire Mystery of
godliness that is great. This Mystery is that only reborn men           for all, but a TeaJity  only for those who shall believe. Here
                                                                        the distinction between meriting of salvation and the applica-
and women, those born from above, can see the Kingdom of                tion of the same is employed to deceive the innocent. In this
heaven. Says Jesus "Verily, verily, I say unto you, except
a man be born from above he cannot see the Kingdom of                   category of thought one will surely wish to preach every-
                                                                        where: God promises every one of you, that, if you believe
heaven." It is a question of having an entire new birth in              you shall be saved ! And such Arminians will surely insist
our hearts, our will and mind. All the hatred and rebellion
must be taken out of us and new life must be infused into,              that such is the "face value," the simplicity of the Scriptures
our mind and will. It is wholly the Wonder of grace. Man                here, and insinuate that, they, who will to read this text in
must be saved., And Jesus came exactly to save His people               the light of Jesus' entire discourse to Nicodemus, will not
from their sins; He is an entire and a complete Savior.                 receive Scripture at "face value," but are making a simple
Either He saves alone and completely or He is no Savior at              thing so complex and involved that "only the elite" and those
                                                                        that study "Thayer's Lexicon" (Dictionary) can understand
all.                                                                    such an involved Gospel. Forsooth, only the so-called "face-
        Such is the teaching of Jesus. And all, who would main-         value" of the text is the "simple Gospel."
tain and keep the `unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace?               But we shall, however, cling to the aged old and tried
will here with bowed head and holy adoration say: Amen!                 rule of sound exegesis that Scripture mus't be interpreted in
0, some may with Nicodemus say : How can these things be ?              the light of Scripture. That is the analogia fide, the analogy
I venture that even some "leaders in Israel" may ask this               of the word of faith.
question of Nicodemus, or at least ought to ask this question              Applied here we will then see that John -3 :14-16 is Jesus'
so seriously and fundamentally that they study this question            answer to Nicodemus' question as to how this new birth by
to salvation and to the keeping of the unity of the Spirit in           the Holy Spirit, Who blows sovereignly and powerfully
the bond of peace. And from this latter group I' shall not              where He desires, is realiied. -He receives an answer to the
count myself exempt. It is with this sobering reality in mind           question how such a profound and glorious reality can be
that I have set myself to this study.                                   realized, come to pass (genesthai)  .under  heaven. It is, in-
        Notice, then, how Jesus teaches that the birth froli our        deed, a strange matter that a "teacher in Israel" does not
parents out of Adam profits nothing. The flesh profits noth-            understand these things. And, yet, we should realize that
ing. It is the Spirit that giveth life. We must be born out             rklatively this is true with the best of us, and absolutely this
of water and Spirit, that is, out of the Spirit. of the Christ,         is true with those who pervert this Scripture to their own
who shall be lifted up, even as Moses lifted up the serpent in          destruction as they do with all the Scriptures ! That our
the wilderness. Num. 21  :S, 9. That birth alone makes our              birth in Christ is a matter of sovereign grace, a matter in
seeing the Kingdom and our entering into it  .a reality. By             which we do, not cooperate in the least, nor that it is simply a
that birth from above this seeing of the Kingdom is made a              matter of  OZU~ believeing with aiding grace, is certainly a
reality, it is brought about.                                           truth that we must  so. thoroughly understand and confess
        Notice too that the subject Jesus is here discussing is         that we never let go of it, but keep it in our hearts as a
not simply the fact of the Cross in history, but he looks at            cherished gem, a matter for which we will sell our all to
the Cross as the realization of O~UY new bi& in Chist. John             keep it. For only thus do we see the kingdom of God, and
3 :3-21 is really speaking about  a.$+lied  salvation, Soteriology,     only thus do we give indication that we ourselves are born
and not simply about what Chiist did for us on the Cross.               from above and give God, our Father, all the glory in His
No, Jesus is speaking of this salvation as it is such a reality         church, world without end !
in our heart, in our mind and will, that we are indeed the                 This is the matter in which Nicodemus is here instructed.


      348                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                             _... -.-.__  _---
             He asks : How are these things able to realized ? `How         in our hearts by which we have life. That is  too simple! It
      can one elect child be born again ? How will this be realized         is too much the oneness of God works in which man cannot
      in the 144,000 out of every tongue, tribe, people and nation ?        at all find himself as contributing something. It says too
      That is, indeed, the "face value" of the text, as is evident          much "the Lord our God is one Lord" and "He is a Rock
      for all who are not blind with the blindness .of unbelief. All        and all His works are perfect." He stumbles at the simplicity
      whd have eyes to see the Kingdom of heaven and its glory              of the Gospel, and, therefore, proclaims a "simple gospel"
      will know that the subject here is: how can a man be born             which is neither Gospel nor is it simple, as a manifestation of
      Again, one man or thousands upon thousands, who shall sing            the simplicity of Gocl in all His virtues.
      the song of Moses and the Lamb!                                          This simplicity of God's works in Him, the Son of Man,
             I repeat : the subject here is not how did Christ make sal-    Jesus here underscores in this portion of Holy Writ.
      vation "possible-' but that it is most emphatically-as to how,           He does two things here.
      accol-ding to  the will  a.nd  love of God, salvation is made a'
      "reality"- in the hearts of all of the elect. Jesus here tells us        He first of all shows how the eternal foundation of our
      explicity  how He saves His people from their sins in their           salvation, of the rebirth of all the -children of God is brought
      inmost heart and life. Of this His "signs" speak. Blessed is          about. It is given in verses 14 and 16a. Here we read in
     he who is not offended at such a Savior !                              each respective passage "Even as Moses lifted up the serpent
                                                                            in the wilderness thus must the Son of Man be lifted up . . ."
             Bearing the foregoing in mind let us pay a little closer       And, again, "For God thus loved the world that He gave His
      attention to the terms in the text..                                  only begotten Son . . .  ."
             Notice then that Jesus here calls attention to a certain          Secondly,  He also indicates in this passage who the
      "pattern" of things in the realization of the salvation of the        objects and recipients are of this lifting up of the Son `of
      elect-believers. It is the pattern of the "heavenly things."          Man. They are: every one believing in this lifted-up Son of
      The "earthly things" are here distinguished from the "heav-           Man ! And by this "believing" we may know whether we, are
      enly things." These are not two different realities, entities.        born from above by the sovereign blowing of the Holy Spirit
      Nay, they are the same work and wisdom of God in our                  or not.
      salvation viewed from the viewpoints of what is wmninifest  of
      salvation in faith and walk and of what is the  Divine de-               And this is not performed by God, according to whim or -
      sign, pattern and Pu.rpose  of God in all of this., The latter are    fancy, but it is performed according to the "manner of God's
      the "heavenly things" and the former are the "earthly things."        love." And this love is elective love, directing the Spirit in
      Now, if one does not understand what rebirth is in his own            the hearts of all His own! This God constitutes them be-
      life, faith, conversion, the fruit of the blowing of the sovereign    lieving children, by the Spirit of the Son, whom He hath
.     power and grace of the Spirit, how shall he possibly ever             exalted on high. And everyone that believes surely will not
      have any knowledge of the  great love and design of God,              perish but have everlasting life.
      the Architect in this work of salvation. Then all these things           Yes, unto that faith all are called in the external preach-
      of the "depths of Divine plan and purpose in all things"              ing of the Gospel, to whom God in His good-pleasure sends
      are foolishness. And we will never really truly have life             the Gospel. But in this preaching "eternal life" is not "prom-
      eternal in knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ,                ised to all, if they believe." It is promised to "everyone be-
      Whom He hath sent.                                                    lieving." It is a general preaching of a very particular
             Those who do not love God in all of His virtues, His           promise !
      praises, surely have not been called by regeneration out o'f             Such a general preaching of a particular promise is faith-
      darkness into God's marvelous light. Then surely God's                fully performed by those who heed the "Verily, verily, I say
      elective love is not the "heart of the Gospel" in John 3 :16.         unto thee, except a man be born again . . ." and who there-
      The "heart of the Gospel" is then "whosoever believcth"               fore understand that "everyone believing" in the text in John
     - considered as dissected from the sovereign and elective love         3 :14-16 may not be read as if it read, "That evel*yone, if they
      in the first part of the text. The "pattern" of God's love is         believe,  might have everlasting life."
      mulitated with the shears of man's misinterpretation, by                 Only the blind cannot see this distinction.
      separating what God had in elective love joined together.                One marvels how sane man will call this a "like passage"
      The "golden chain" is broken. And as separated and dis-               with the "Statement" "God  firo?lLises  everyone  one of you,
      joined links they are no Gospel, neither does this make               that if you believe, you will be saved" And one is equally
      a simple Gospel, understandable to God's simple people, who           amazed how "every one believing" could be  intevpvetated
      love the simplicity of all God's attributes and works!                (not sophisticated) as being a prerequisite to enter the king-
             The simple Gospel, in which all God's virtues come to          dom.
      manifestation, simply cannot be seen by the man, who is not              Yet, a "Classis" thus stated it, and mirabile dictu, under
      born again. He cannot see the simplicity of our rebirth, the          the alleged banner of Reformed truth!
      blowing of the Spirit where He listeth, and the resultant faith                                                                  G.L.


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                349

                                                                    man's fulfilling of conditions but lays all the emphasis upon
             I N   H I S   F-EAR Co3 in Christ.
                                                                       Along these lines we presented   the trflth  alid` sought to
                                                                    be loyal to the churches which had sent us out to do mission-
              Interesting and Revealing                             ary work amongst these Liberated. One of the  members
                                                                    of the Mission Committee, located at present very close to
   Christ or Conditions.                                            the undersi&ed,  had given him advice simply to take along
   That essentially is the doctrinal issue that brought abouti      sermons that would "edify." It becomes plain now why he
a "split" in the Protestant Reformed Churches.                      `gave that advice. He wanted then already to sell the Prot-
   Thus we wrote more than a year agd.                              estant Reformed Churches down the river to the Liberated.
   By those who prefer conditions we were criticized for            But we felt it our duty to point out the differences between
taking this stand. But the farther we proceed in this struggle      us and them in order tom instruct them and in order to find
to maintain the truth over against those that introduced a          out how strong and great these differences actually were.
false note into the preaching in the Protestant Reformed               The first remark made after calling the sermon a terrible
Churches, the clearer it becomes that the more conditions           sermon was that although Adam was not there before his
are preached, the more Christ and His cross are relegated           creation and therefore could not and did not fill any condition
to  the. background in the preaching.                               unto  it! he was created in a conditional relation. He was
   The reality of this fact that it is Christ or conditions was     created to fill the condition of the "Covenant of Works."
brought to our attention very forcefully over five years ago.       The  rexder  will recall that according to this so-called "cov-
To be exact it was in the late afternoon of Sunday, October         enant of works" God gave to Adam a promise, a condition
30, 1949 after preaching for the second time that day in            and a penalty. The promise was eternal life. The condition
Chatham,  Ontario for those who became Protestant Reformed          was that obedience which consisted in refraining from eating
in name but at heart intended to remain Liberated.                  from the forbidden tree. The penalty was death if' he would
   We went hpme after church with the leading figure in             disobey and eat that fruit.
that movement, as was the custom of 511 who went to preach             This custodian of .the Liberated heresy in Chatham  - he
there.                                                              was well named-then tried to defend that theory of the
    Because we preached a Protestant Reformed sermon on             "Covenant of Works." We asked him to show us in the
Ephesians  2:lO in which Christ came to His own and was             Scriptures where that theory was taught. He opened his
presented unconditionally, we wei-e  told that it was a "vreese-    "Staten  Bijbel" and wanted us to read a page that was in-
lijke  preek," a terrible sermon.                                   serted in that Bible between the Old and the New Testaments
    That could, of course, be the case and for those who care       where a short treatise was given, I believe, on the relation
not for the truth of Scripture it must have been a "vreeselijke     between the Old and New Testaments, in which that "Cov-
preek." But when we- began to discuss the statements  to            enant of Works" is mentioned and defended. We asked him
which objections were made, it became so very clear that            to give us something out of Scripture itself.
for the Liberated it is conditions rather than Christ.                  Instead he began to argue, for he had not a text to quote.
   The remarks made in answer to our defense of the truth               Indeed, at first he quoted the verse:  "In the day thou
of the text are indeed interesting and revealing.                   eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die." We admitted there was
    In our sermon that afternoon on the text of Ephesians           a condition to death. We admitted that mention was made
2 :lO we pointed out the unconditionality  of our salvation as      there of a penalty. But we insisted that he give us proof
presented in the te2t. The text reads thus: "For we  are His        that God promised etemal  life to Adam if he continued to
workmanship,  .created  in Christ Jesus unto good works,            be obedient.
which God hath before ordained that we should walk in                  All he had left was an argument.
them." We poirted  out that according to Scripture creating             He philosophized that this was implied, that if Adam
is that act of God whereby He called into being the things          remained obedient he would receive eternal life.
that are rtot as though they were, He called into being things         We took the time to show him that a continuation of
that before the calling were not. So He created Adam ; and          Adam's earthly life which he could receive in the way of
this Adam did not help God along with his `creation, did not        obedience was not the same as the eternal life which we now
ask God to be created and surely filled no condition to being       obtain through Christ. Adam would have continued, if it
created in such glory. And such a word, a word that leaves          so pleased God, to continue to live in Paradise as a friend-
man entirely out of the picture until God acts, is used in the      servant of God. But through Christ we now receive eternal
text. We are  created  in Christ unto good works. Thus be-          life as children in the New Jerusalem. We pointed out the
fore we perform one good work, God works. He brings into            higher glory which is eternal life in comparison with the glory
being those who spiritually are not and who fill no condition       of Paradise.
for their becoming His workmanship and for performing                  Then we got a glimpse into the mind of conditional theo-
good works: The word "created" leaves nothing at all for            logy.


 350                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A K E R
  -                                                                                                                             ..-__  -

        His next statement revealed that their love of conditions      a. church political issue." That they have the-men to teach
 is so great that Christ and His cross and the glory in Hiln           in such a Seminary is of secondary importance. Their calling
 falls entirely away:                                                  in of help from outside for the first step in their new mis-
        He said, in all eagnestness,  that he would be satisfied if    sionary project shows that they could solve that problem.
 Adam had not'sinned,  if he had fulfilled the condition and           The big problem is actually what is to be taught. For it is
 we with Adam were now in Paradise ; and then, as far as he            not "solely a church political issue." And they  cod1 solve
 was concerned, Christ would not have needed to come.                  this Problem as to what should be taught if they did not con-
        If you please,!                                                tinue to try to tell their people that they are still Protestant
        That is where your "different emphasis" and "different -Reformed and that they have not changed. As long as they
 approach" gets you, Rev. Blankespoor. These are the men               talk like Rev. Blankespoor wrote in opposition to  thz De-
 for whom you could preach and never be criticized. These              claration "All this does not mean that we would sacrifice any
 are the men whom you will defend over against the  Declara-           onk of the truths we as Prot. Ref. have confessed and preach-
tion by giving them the "benefit of the doubt."                        ed during the past years," they will  continuk  to have this
        What did you preach in their midst?                            problem. In 1951 he may have felt that way, and then
        We showed him the awfulness of his statement by  callilig      the problem of what to teach in such a Seminary was not
 his attention to Colossians 1 :15b that Christ is the "firstborn      a problem at all.
 of every creature." He will remember that, if he reads these             But now since condemning the `Declaration and defend-
 lines. l?or when we showed him that in the counsel of God             ing Rev. De Wolf's heresy, what will they teach in their
 -not in time, of course -Christ is first, even` before Adam,          course of Dogmatics  ?
 even before the creatures created and born before Adam's                 Let us put it very pointedly: whose dogmatic works are
 creation- he readily admitted that he did not know that this          they going to use as a textbook? Hodges, which the Re-
 text in Colossians 1 was in the Bible.                                formed Churches in America use ? Berkhof's as their students
        And Rev. Blankespoor speaks of the ZW~~O~CZ Wo& of God.        are now being taught in Calvin Cdllege ? (By saying that it
 There are definitely passages that the Liberated do not know          is the best that they can do at the moment Rev. Hofman
 are in the Bible and when they have their attention called            shows that they do not want that either.) Some work of
 to them they reject them.                                             a Liberated Theologian  7
        No, Rev. Blankespoor, we have the whole Word of God.              Surely they do not intend to use the Rev. H. Hoeksema's
 Conditional theology needs to ignore important passages of            dogmatics work, do they? With it they cannot agree, for
 it. And Colossians 1 :1.5 is an important one and forms the           they claim that we departed from the truth. And Rev. Kok
 basis for all election, which the Liberated hate.                     is sure to object that you cannot use the works of a  -man
        The conditional-theology mind is so concerned with man         who is "broken in mind and in body."
 that it finds no need of Christ, if only man can have glory,           _ What then  ?
 be it but the glory of Paradise. The glory of God in Christ,             By rejecting the works of the Rev. H.  Hoeksema, they
 or as Paul writes to the Ephesians (1  6) "To the praise of           will show that they have departed from the Protestant Re-
 the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted              formed truth.
 in the Beloved," is of minor significance to the mind of those           But now the suggestion of Rev. Selles.
 who want conditions to glory.
        Indeed, with them it is.conditions  rather than Christ.           He says, wouldn't Kampen extend the helping hand  ? He
                                                                       has no doubt that their Theological School is open f?r such
                             + $1:  *                                  students. After all, he argues, one of  `the Protestant Re-
                                                                       formed students did study there already. He has Carl Reits-
        Another interesting and revealing matter we found  in          ma in mind, no doubt.
 the March 5, 1955 issue of the Canadian Reformed Magazine,               Then this giveaway sentence "In every instance that
 a small paper put out by the Liberated in Canada.                     (Theological School) is `closer' than Calvin College or Semi-
        Rev. L. Selles makes comments on Rev. Hofman's article         nary where the remaining students now attend."
 in Concordia, concerning the problems those who left us
 would have to face this year. First he tells- them that  t'o             Not closer by miles or feet, Rev. ,Selles.       '
 return to a combined  Classis  meeting is from many view-                Doctrinally we'will grant you that it is closer. You agree
 points a step backward. Then `he goes on to give advice( ?)           one hundred percent with Rev. De Wolf's statements and
 in regard to Rev. Hofman's "problem" about where to send              simply underscore our claim and the claim of Classis East in
 their students for training to preach .in their pulpits.              May- 1953 that these statements are Liberated.
        Now before we give the suggestion of Rev. Selles let cs           But where do you get that "closer" in quotation marks ?
 state that we agree that those who left US surely do have a              Did Rev.  Kok or Rev. De Jong tell you that in the
 problem in regard to their theological school. And that               Netherlands, when they sold us down the `river t6 you ? Are
 problem reveals that they have falsely tried to sell to their         you quoting them when you say Kampen is "closer" to
 people the propoganda of Rev. Blankespoor that it is "solely                               (Coiltimcd   mt  t)agc 352)


                                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                  351
  ,II                                                                the bishopric. An assemblage of 70 bishops in Carthage
             Contending For The Faith                                (A. D. 312) declared the ordination invalid. MAJORINUS
                                                                     was then elected Bishop of Carthage. His successor was
                                                                     DONATUS THE GREAT. Through a combination of
              The Church and the Sacraments                          many influences, this conflict led to the formation of two war-
                                                                     ring churches sharply opposing one another, the Catholic and
         VIEWS DURING THE  SE&ND  PERIOD  (300-750 A.D.)             the Donatistic. The pride of the martyrs, the spirit of piety
                                                                     quickened anew under the stress of persecution, the idea of
                  THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH                         the holiness of the church, archaistic religious reminiscences,
                                                                     the pressure soon brought to bear by the civil authorities, the
         The Donatist controversy, we noticed in our preceding       league of the Catholic church with the state, social distress,
 article, was, according to the eminent church historian, Philip     perhaps also national motives, all united to expand the per-
 Schaff, a conflict between complete separation and catholic-        sonal dispute into the great schism which distracted the
 ism. The Donatists started from an ideal and spiritualistic         church of Africa for a century. The African church was
 conception of the visible church in the midst of the world.         really split in two (in A.D. 330 there were 270 Donatistic
 The church must be a fellowship of perfect saints. This also        bishops at a council, and  in,A. D. 311, at Carthage, 266).
 determined their conception of the sacraments. Unholy               Outside of Africa, Donatism secured no following worthy of
 priests cannot administer the sacraments.. That which is holy       mention (a bishop in Spain and another in Rome are spoken
 cannot be imparted by unholy men. And this applied especi-          of, gesta collationis I. 157), only Caecilian and his followers
 ally the traditors, who had been unfaithful during the times        being recognized. The emperor, Constantine, after being
 of persecution and had delivered the sacred writings to  gov--      drawn into the matter by the Donatists, assumed a similar
 ernment officials. Augustine, on the other hand, although           attitude. He ordered  an investigation of the subject; then
 maintaining discipline, maintained the catholicity of the church    examined it himself, deciding that Caecilian and Felix were
 and that "apostolic connections" constitutes another true dis-      innocent, but that their assailants were contemptible slander-
 tinguishing mark of the Church of God in the midst of the           ers. Stringent laws were enacted against the latter, but, prov-
 world. The parables of the tares among the wheat and of the         ing ineffectual, they were soon revoked. But the most im-
 net constituted the chief exegetical battleground in the con-       portant measure was that adopted, under the influence of
 flict between these two contending parties.                         Constantine, at the council of Arles (A. D. 316, according to
         As stated in our previous article, we wish to quote from    Seeck, I.  c., p. 508 f.; cf. Eus. v. C. 44,  45),   i. e., the esta-
 another recognized authority in connection with this Donatist       blishment of the milder view on the ground of principle. It
 controversy: The History of Doctrine, by Reinhold Seeberg.          was here decreed that even the ordination administered by a
 What he writes is partly a repetition of what we have already       "traditor" is valid, provided only that the persons so or-
 written. It can do no harm, however, to quote from this             dained "remain reasonable" (can 13)  ; also, that persons
 authority as he describes this controversy and states the doc-      who had been baptized by heretics should be questioned only
 trinal differences between the two parties.                         upon the Creed, and that, if it be found that they have been
                                                                     baptized in the name of the Triune God, only the laying on of
                         REINHOLD  SEEBERG.                          hands shall be further administered to them (can. 8). Ac-
         The greatest schism in the ancient  church  arose from      cording to .this, ordination and baptism are not dependent
 personal and local conditions in the congregation at Carthage.      upon the worthiness of the administrant. Thus a doctrinal
 As in the case of the Novatian schism, a persecution furnished      diderence runs parallel with the personal and historical con-
 the occasion. Various courses of action were advocated in           flict. The agitation spread with great rapidity, especially
 North Africa in response to the demand for the surrender of         among the lower ranks of society. Socialistic ideas as to
 the Scriptures during the Diocletian persecution. Bishop            property and a reckless fanaticism, leading to a complete
 MENSURIUS OF CARTHAGE represented the milder                        outward separation, to frightful deeds of violence, and to
 view (surrender of other writings of indifferent character          wanton and contebptuous  surrender of life, became distin-
 permitted). He and his archdeacon  C.AECILIAN  also op-             guishing inarks of the church of the saints (Circumcelliones,
 posed the exaggerated veneration of confessors and martyrs.         Agonistici, vid. Opt. II. 18 f. 21  ; VI. 1 f.; III 4. Aug. unit.
 SECUNDUS OF TIGISIS advocated a rigoristic view.                    cccl. 19. 50; c. ep. Parm. II. 3. 6; c. Crescon. III. 42.  46;
., After the death of MENSURIUS, Caecilian, who was hated            brev. III. 11). Against this, church and state were alike
 by the strict party in Carthage, was chosen  bishop and con-        powerless. Restrictive. measures under  CONSTANS  and
 secrated to the office by FELIX OF APTUNGA, whom the                CONSTANTIUS,  a$ under JOVIAN, VALENTINIAN,
 strict party regarded as a "traditor." This election awakened       GRATIAN, and HONORIUS, were unable to suppress the
 great' indignation among the "pious" (Lucilla) , which was          movement. The most serious obstacle encountered by the
 encouraged by the foreign rigotists. The Numidian bishops           party was its division into mutually antagonistic groups  (PO-
 had sent Docetus from Casae Nigrae to -Carthage as vicar of         gatus, Tyconius, Maximian, and  Primian   ) -the fate of all


  352                                          T H E   S.T'AND>ARD  `B E A R E R

  separatists. Augustine, soon after entering upon the episcop-         liei; in the  invalid&v  of the Catholic sacraments. The moral
  acy., addressed all his energy to the work of reconciling the         unworthiness of the bishops of the traditor-church robs their
  opposing factions. This resulted in the three-day conference          sacraments of value : rrH~w can he give who has nothing to
  at Carthage in June, 411 (vid. gesta collationis in M. IV,            give  ?" (Opt. V. 6 ; cf.  gest. III 258). Hence the repetition
  and Aug. brevic ~011.).  Both the historical and the doctrinal        of the sacraments, the second baptism, and the repetition of
  questions were here discussed. No reader of the proceedings           extreme unction are necessary (Opt. I. 5 ; III. 2; IV. 4;
  of this assembly can escape the impression that the Donatists         V. I. 3 f.; VII. 4). Yet it is going too far to regard re-
  here appear in the light of embittered fanatics, incompetent          baptism as, without any modification, a characteristic mark
  but vain, adepts in the most trifling legal quibbles, in ques-        of Donatism. The Donatist Tyconius advocated the validity
  tions of formality and in intrigue, always seeking to impede          of the Catholic sacraments, and maintained that this was the
  the progress of the proceedings. The imperial presiding of&           genuine Donatist view -a position that is supported by his-
  cer (Marcellin) accorded the victory  y~o the Catholics upon          torical evidences from other sources (Aug. ep. 93. 43; cf.
  bdth points of dispute. His decision was a just one. Augus-           HAHN,  TyconiuS-Studien,  p. 102 ff.). But, since the  Dona-
  tine continued to labor in the same spirit. Strict imperial           tists have the full~observance  of the sacraments, they are the
  edicts forbade assemblages of the Donatists upon penalty of           Catholic church. Hence, Christ and true baptism  a're to be
  death and  .their churches and church property were given             found only among them : "For how can it be, if the church is
  over to the Catholics. The power of Donatism was broken,              one and Christ unclivided, that anyone located without may
  and it soon after disappears from church Fistory.                     obtain baptism (gest. III. 258)  ?"
  The doctrinal difference between Donatists and Catholics                 The Catholic position, on the contrary, is a follows: The
  inay  be briefly expressed.  Donatislll  does not question the        orthodoxy of the Donatists is acknowledged, as well as the
  eijiscopal  ioundation  of the church. It demands only that the       validity of their sacraments, and they are regarded as Chris-
  bishops be holy men, and maintain that only when they are             tiati brethren (gest. I. 16, 55, 62; II. 50. Opt. I. 4f.  ; IV. 2) :
  such are the sacraments administered" by them effectual. In           "Both among you and among us there is one ecclesiastical
  this, as at other  ~points, it could appeal to Cyprian. It was        life  (conversatio), common texts, the same faith, the same
  well known that Cyprian denied the validity of heretic bap-           sacraments of the faith, the same mysteries" (Opt. V. I).
  tism- (p. 184-we, too, have already called attention to this          Even their baptism is unassailable, for baptism is baptism.
  in preeedilig  adticles  - H..V.).  H'e taught that there was no      even though administered by thieves and robbers (gest. I.
  virtue in the sacrifice or prayers of fallen priests (referring       62) : for it is not a man, but the holy Trinity, which here be-
  to John  9:31),  and warned against the contamination of their        stows a gift (Opt. V. 7). The Trinity is necessary in bap-
  touch  (p. 181, n. 1). When Donatists appealed to the mira-           tism, and also the faith of the recipient. These elements are
  cles performed by their bishops, to visions and dreams (Aug.          unchangeable  ; but the administrant is a variable element.
unit.  cccl. 19.  49), they had in this also a precedent in  Cyp-       "Administrants may be changed, but the sacraments cannot
  rian (p. 181, n. 3). They maintained, further, that they were         be changed. If, therefore, you consider all who baptize, they
  the only true and real Catholic church (gesta  ~011.  I. 148,         are administrants, not lords; and the sacraments are holy in
  202; III. 22, 91,  165), the holy, persecuted church of the           themselves and not through men" (Opt. IV.  4?  I). Thus
  martyrs (ib. 1. 45; III. 116). The Catholics are not a                regarded, the Donatists are also a part .of the church."- end
  church, but adherents of Caecilian, traditors, and blood-             of quote from  Seeberg.  We will halt at this point, as far as
  thirsty oppressors  (Optat.  II. 14, 18; gest. I. 148; III. 14,       our quotation from Reinhold Seeberg  is concerned, and con-
  i9, 258). The Donatist church is in reality the holy bride of         tinue with it in our following article. The rest of this quota-
  Christ, without spot or wrinkle, because it requires holiness         tion will be brief, but we desire to give it in its entirety.
  of its bishops and its members (ib. III, 75, 249, 258. Optat.                                                                      H. V.
  II. 20; VII. 2). They apply the term Catholic, "not to prov-
  inces or races," but: "the name Catholic is that which is
  filled with the sacraments" (sacramentis  plenuin, gest. III.
  102, cf. Aug. brev. III,  3)) or, "thou shouidst interpret the                                     IN HIS FEAR
  name Catholic, not from the fellowship of the whole world,                                     (Chtimud from page 350)
 but from the observance of all the divine commandments                 those that left us for Rev. De Wolf's statements than the
  and of all the sacraments" (Aug.  e@. 93. 7. 23). In accord;          Christian Reformed Churches  with their Theory of "Com-
  atice with the holiness of this church, its members are to care-      mon Grace ?"        .
  fully avoid association with all who are not in its fellowship,          ,We will probably never  find out.
  all such being regarded as no better than heathen. Any con-
 nection whatever of the church with the civil government is               But that, too, would be interesting and revealing, to find
  regarded with abhorrence : "What have Christians to do with           out who you quote when. you say that Kampen is "closer"
  kings, bishops with the palace  7" (Opt. I. 22  ; Aug.  `c..-litt.    to those that left us to' embrace -your conditional theology.
  Petil. 92. 202). The dogmatic reason for' this. separateness                                        .                             J.A.H.


                                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                 353

II                                                                      dren that grow to maturity ?" This question can ,only be an-
           The Voice of Our Fathers                                     swered in the light of the Arminian controversy itself. The
                                                                   II Arminian denied both the election and rhz reprobation of m- .
                                                                        fants, in the first place. This was, `of coluse, a necessary con-
                 The Canons of  Doidrecht                               sequence of their "conditional theology." It stands to reason
                               PART TWO                                 that if predestination depends on the condition of foreseen
                   EXPOSITION  OF  THE CANONS                           faith or unbelief, then one cannot speak of the predestination
                    F                                                   of infants who are as yet incapable of the act of faith or un-
                          IRST HEAD OF DOCTKINE                         belief. And, it may be added, that the Arminian must also
                   OF  DIVINE PREDESTINATION                            necessarily exclude all infants from any covenant relation on
                               Article `17                              the same basis. Consequently he must also deny infant bap-
                                                                        tism. And this also explains why ,in the histarp of the church
                 Since we are to judge of the will' of God from his     it is so extremely difficult to cling to the doctrine of infant
              Word, which testifies that the children of believers
              are holy, not by nature, but in virtue of the covcuant    baptism in. any more than a mechanical and traditionalistic
              of grace, in which they, together with the parents,       manner.  Logicaly  considered, Arminianism excludes the
              are comprehended, godly parents have no reason to         baptism of infants, just as it excludes any organic view of a
              doubt of the election and salvation of their chiidren,    covenant of grace. It is individualistic. Strange to say, how-
              whom it pleaseth God to call out of this life in tneir    ever, while the Arminian denied the possibility of election
              infancy.                                                  and reprobation of infants, he did not deny the salvation of
      Especially the words "have no reason to doubt" are not            infants, but rather' insisted on it. Instead the Arminians
a very ,exact  rendering of the original Latin of this article.         charged the Reformed with maintaining a monstrous and
The original has: dubitut-e non debent. And this might bet-             cruel conception, namely that God would eternally destine
ter be rendered by the simple words : "ought not to doubt."             little babies to everlasting destruction. They pictured  Re-
The Dutch version, with its "moeten niet twijfelen," is more            formed men as having delight in the idea of a hell full of
correct here. We may add that this is a rather important                small, innocent babes. And it is in this light that we can
change in the meaning of the article. The words "no reascin             understand that the fathers were virtually compelled to say
to doubt" introduce into the article a certain objective note           something about this subject and inserted this brief and
which .the original does not express. A~comparison  with the            rather incomplete and unsatisfying article.
original will reveal- further that our English is correct in                It may also be helpful, in view of the difference of inter-
leaving off the Scriptural references which the Dutch version           pretation that have arisen with this declaration of Dordrecht,
adds. The original does not insert these, although it may be            as well as in view of its unquestioned lack of the desired
admitted that the passages are pertinent to the thought of the          measures of clarity, to consult the "Acts of the National
first part of the article. It must be remembered, however,              Synod of Dordrecht," in order to gain, if possible, some idea
that these passages from Scripture do not furnish any ob-               of what the fathers themselves thought of this question, and
jective proof for the main proposition of the article, that             thus some idea as to how this article found a place in the
"godly parents have no reason to doubt (or : ought not to               Cnnons.
doubt) of the election and salvation of their children, whom                Of the foreign' delegates to the Synod, we may notice, in
it pleases God to call out of this life in their infancy." With         the first place, that the British delegates expressed themselves
these corrections made, we may proceed to discuss the article           extensively on the subject. In treating the seventh proposi-
itself.                                                                 tion  of  wi;at are  called "Unscriptural Propositions Concerning
      For a correct understanding of this. article, it is first of      Election; Which We Reject," (this proposition reads:  ,,Van
all necessary to -bear in mind the occasion and background              kleine  kinderen, voor het gebruik der  reden stervende, is
of it. It must be admitted that this particular. subject of the         geene  verkiezing.")  they  write  as follows:  ,,Eene  valsche
salvation of infants who die in infancy seems to appear here            leering gesteld zijnde, komen  er vele overhoop. Dit namelijk
rather suddenly and without warning. It does not seem to                rijst daaruit, dat ze in alle verkiezing vereischen het voorge-
fit in smoothly with the previous trend of thought of the First         zien geloof, waarop zij gebouwd  wor`dt. Deze kan, voorwaar,
Head of Doctrine, but is rather arbitrarily inserted at this            in de  kinderen  niet voorzien  worden.  Maar wij bewijzen,
juncture. In fact,, if one puts aside all feelings and all emo-         integendeel,  dat deze dingen  tegen de rechtzinnige Theologie
tions that are very easily stirred by this question of the sal-         strijden.
vation of infants, and views the question with what might be               ,,In betrekking to diegenen, welker inleiding in `t  eeuwige
called a ,"cold" objectivity, one might well ask, "Why were             leven in den tijd toegestaan wordt, is, zonder twijfel, voor de
the fathers concerned about infants that die in infancy, and            tijden der  wereld,  de verkiezing ten eeuwigen  leven.  Anders-
not about all infants of believers ? What reason was there              zins zoude het  getal  der verheerlijkten te boven gaan het
to think that God dealt in His sovereign predestination any             getal  der gepraedestineerden  ; maar dat moet wederkeerig en .
differently with children that die in infancy than with chil-           even  gelijk gesteld worden ; die Hij te voren geordineerd


  354                                          THE.STANDARD   B E A R E R

  heeft, die heeft Hij ook  verheerlijkt; die,  namelijk,  niet        de jar-en des onderscheids; wij hopen van hen het beste. En
  anderen, gelijk  Augustinus  zegt, de Predesti. Sanctorum,           wij twijfelen niet, dat de Engelen van zoodaniger kinderen,
  Cap. 27.                                                             dewelke  zijn dienstbare en zeer liefhebbende geesten van de
         ,,De Schriftuur veronderstelt, dat de namen van sommige       teere jonkheid, die altijd het aanschijn Gods zien, om dezelve
  kleinen  zijn geschreven in het boek des levens, en dat die          meest uitgezonden  worden,  en hun ambt getrouwelijk  be-
  gesteld zullen worden  voor den troon Gods, Openb. 20 :12 ;          dienen."
  en toegelaten in het nieuwe Jeruzalem, Qpenb. 21 :27. Insge-                Here, therefore; we find something said directly about
  lijks Luk. 18 :16 ; Zoodaniger is het Iioningrijk  der Hemelen .     children that die in infancy. The Swiss  .theologians?  while
  Die nu uit loutere genade in het rijk d.er hemelen toegelaten        they insist that the line of election and reprobation also
  worden,  die waren,  naar het onverdiende welbehagen te voren        carries through in regard to children, do not dare to say
  verkoren tot het.rijk der hemelen. Nu zoo velen uit de kin-          anything positive and objective  .about the children of be-
  deren' in den  Hemel  gaan. dien is het eeuwige leven een            lievers. They say only: "We hope the best of them." And
  geschenk  door  .Jezus Christ, Rom.  6:23. Derhalve, zij zijn        then they add that interesting word that they "do not doubt"
  daartoe verkoren geweest in Christus. Of, indien dit de zin          that their angels are sent .out mostly for them, and serve faith-
 is van deze Stelling  : Daar is geene verkiezing  der kinderen,       fully in their office.
  dat is, onder de kinderen  des eenen.voor  het andere, alsof ze             The Wetteraw theologians also express themselves very
  allen zonder onderscheid  zalig werden; voorwaar, ook deze           carefully, and, again, subjectively: ,,A1 is het, dat God om de
 ,stelling  heeft geen fondament; en die toegestemd  zijnde, zal       erfzonde de  kinderen   verdoemen   mag  ; nochtans  moeten  de
  daaruit de voorzegde stelling niet volgen. Want om de reden          Christelijke ouders van de zaligheid  hunner kinderen  geens-
  van de verkiezing te stellen of weg te nemen, is de omstan-          zins twijfelen; want hun en' hunnen  kinderen  is de belofte
  digheid des tijds eene onbetamelijke  zaak en werket gansch          gedaan, Gen. 17 :7; Marc. 10:16;  Hand. 2 :39."
  niet.  Schoon gegeven dan, dat alle  kinderen  zalig  worden,               Here we find the idea that  ,,de erfzonde," original sin,
  niet een voorbijgegaan zijnde. nochtans,  dewijl de verkiezing       is sufficient ground for the condemnation of children, even
  en het voorbijgaan op de massa  ziet, niet op den ouderdom,          if it be so that they are not yet capable of actual sin. But,
  hoewel ze uit  bet  getal  der  kinderen  niet zijn afgezonderd,     while a connection is established here between believers and
  nochtans zijn ze afgezonderd uit de gemeene  massa  der zon-         their children in relation to the promise, we still find no
  dige menschen, `t welk genoeg is  om de reden van de  ver-           definite statement that all such children are saved. Besides,
  kiezing te stellen.                                                  we find no distinction here between children who die in in-
     ,!De schatten der goedheid Gods zijn uitgestort.  op den          fancy and children who grow to maturity. Christian parents
  oorsprong van sommige  kleine  kinderen, in dewelke  noch  de        are in no wise to -doubt of the salvation of their children, -
  voorgaande,  noch volgende Godvruchtigheid verkoren wordt.           any of their children, we may conclude.
         ,,De kleinen,  nog geene willen  hebbende, en geene eigene           The  Bremen  theologians are a bit bolder apparently:
  handelingen,  worden   niet zonder Gods oordeel afgezonderd,         ,,Van de kinderen  der geloovigen alleen, die, eer zij de leer
  sommigen worden  aangenomen  tot erfgenaam,  en, sommigen            kunnen  vatten,  komen the sterven, oordeelen wij, dat God  de-
  worden  gehouden voor schuldenaars.                                  zelve liefheeft, uit datzelfde welbehagen om Christus' will,
         ,,Den  kleinen,  die Hij wil, komt Hij te hulp, ook hoewel    door Christus, en in Christus, uit hetwelk Hij de volwassenen
  zij  noch  willen   noch  loopen, die Hij voor de grondlegging       liefheeft; derhalve zijn zij ook,  ten'aanzien  van  `t verbond,
  der wereld in  Christus verkoren heeft (Prosp. de Liber.             heilig. Om dit te bevestigen,  worden  zij door den  heiligen-
 Arbitr. Prosper Epist. ad Augst..de  bono Persever, cap. 11)"         doop ingehuld, en doen Christus. aan."
     This is rather extensive and clear statement of position.                They speak directly of the children who die in infancy.
  In it, without saying very much about children of believers          They define these children as those who are not yet able to
 who die in infancy, the British delegates nevertheless insist         receive the doctrine. And they "judge" that God loves them
 that the lines of election and reprobation are carried through        out of "the same good pleasure, for Christ's sake, through
 also in regard to infants.                                            Christ, and in Christ, out of which He loves the adults."
     The Swiss theologians devote the following proposition            And they make mention in this connection of the seal of
 to:the subject (Paragraph VIII, on Predestination) :                  baptism.
     ,,Dat er is eene verkiezing  en verwerping der kinderen,                                                                   H.C.H.
 zoowel als der volwassenen, kunnen wij tegen God, die de
 nog niet geborenen  barmhartiglijk   bemint  en onstraffelijk
 haat,  niet ontkennen. Maar wat aangaat de  kinderen  der                                        TEACHERS
 geloovigen ; dewijl God uit kracht des genadigen verbonds               The Free Christian School of Edgerton, Minn., is in need
 bun God is, en Paulus  dezelve, uit een geloovigen Vader  en          of two teachers for the 19551956 school term.
 moeder, ten minste  uit, eenevan  beiden geboren heilig noemt,               Please send qualifications with application to
. en de Heere des Hemels dezelve verklaart erfgenamen des                                             Ray Bruinsting, Secretary
 hemelschen  rijks, zoo zij in  hunne   kindsheid   sterven?  voor       :                            R. 3, Box 35, Pipestone, Minn.


                                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                  355

                                                                              applied by Christ and the preached word applied by Christ?
                    DECENCY and ORDER                                         Both are spoken by man and in themselves are ineffective
                                                                              but are made  powkrful  by the mighty operation of the
                                                                              Spirit of God!
                          Student-Preaching                                       Then, too, the conclusion cannot be escaped that if a
                                                                              student does not preach the Word, the churches that engage
                                (Concluded)                                   students do not, on those Sundays, have preaching of the
         The difference between the official preaching of the Word            Word. Sometimes it will happen that a student will serve
     by the ordained minister and the unofficial speaking of the              a particular church' for several consecutive weeks or even
     word of edification by the unordained student or candidate               months. Is the Word then not at all preached in such con-
     may be variously illustrated. And oft used illustration is that          gregations during that time ? Surely the very fact' that the
     of the ambasasdor who is sent by the government to a foreign             consistory meets before  t'he service and during the service
     country. Let us suppose, that the government has a very                  exercises oversight and supervision of the word spoken in-
     important message which it wishes to have conyeyed  to the               dicates that the word is regarded in some way as  offiicial
     head of another country. Two men are equally informed of                 preaching. If it is not, there is a most striking inconsistency
     this message. Both are fully qualified to deliver it. However,           in our current practices.
     only one of these receives the official mandate and is given                 To mention but one more thing, if a student does no more
     documented credentials to represent the government in the                than speak an edifying word, what would prohibit a church
     matter. He is officially sent. The other is not. Even though             to permit a gifted layman to do likewise ? Undoubtedly there
     both of them may speak the same thing, the words of the one              are many capable laymen who are able to speak so as to
     are backed by no authority while those of the other are. The             edify. Why must one first receive permission through the
     most that can be said of the one is that his message is` in-             school which amounts to authorization by the churches ? This
     formative. The other's message, however, is authorative In               action or requirement in itself, it seems, gives some official or
     the latter case, the message is brought with all the force and           authorative character to the student's speaking.
     power of the government sending it behind it.                                Realizing that it is a departure from precedent, and risk-
,        Now, if this distinction is applied to the official preaching        ing possible criticism, I Genture to advocate the position that
     of the Word and speaking atid edifying word in the church,               regards student-preaching as official preaching of the Word.
     it would mean that in the former case the Word is ministered             He, the student, speaks through the office of the church for
     to the church upon the authority of Christ Himself. That is              the office of the ministry of the Word does not reside in the
     preaching. Christ calls and sends the preacher and through               person but belongs exclusively to the church. If this were
     him speaks to His church. (Romans 10:14, 15) The word of                 not so there would be no necessity in a minister being in-
     the preacher is the authoritive Word of God. However, in                 stalled when he transfers from one charge to another. The
     the case of the student speaking, this cannot then be the case.          church preaches the Word through her  offices, sometimes
     He does not speak officially. He is not called and by ordina-            using the ordained minister and at other times a licensed
     tion authorized to preach. He can only speak informatively.              student. That student is then regarded as having been called
     To maintain this distinction, either in theory or in practice,           by the church that requests his services and, by virtue of that
     seems to me, necessitates this conclusion.                               calling, is authorized by the church to preach. It is true that
         It is my opinion that this conclusion is untrue and, there-          the student is not formally ordained and that his occupying
     fore, the entire distinction ought to be discarded. It may               the office is only temporary but this can serve as no real ob-
     readily be granted that there are problems involved here                 jection. Christ can, no doubt also does, speak much more
     which do not lend themselves  to a simple solution but, it               through one who, without formal ordination (student),
     seems to me, that the students ought to be licensed to offici-           preaches the pure Word of God than through many, who with
     ally preach the Word for the objections lodged against this              formal ordination, fail to speak the truth. In the case of the
     are not as great as those that may be lodged  against  the               latter there is no real preaching although, theoretically at
     present manner in which students are granted admission to                least, we regard it as such, while in the case of the former
     the pulpit.                                                              where the essence of preaching is indeed manifest, we hesitate
        For instance, if students speak unofficially, Christ does             to call it such.
     not authorize them to speak and, consequently, also does not                 This dos not mean that the church can' place anyone in
     speak through them, . . . . officially at least ! If that is so, they    its pulpit to preach. Not at all! One must first be judged
     cannot even speak an edifying word in the service for Divine             by the churches as competent or qualified for the ministry
     worship because the word must be sanctified unto the hearts              of the Word. This is done through the theological school and
     of the hearer`s through an operation of the Spirit of Christ in          by the office beareres of the church who are appointed profes-
     order to edify. And, if Christ does apply that word, it is no            sors. Hence, whereas the ordination to office consists of two
     longer simply "an edifying word" but it is "preaching." What             things -the calling and qualification - the student essenti-
     possible difference can there be between an edifying word                ally has both of these when he is declared qualified by the

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

 Seminary and called by a particular church to minister the           right, to perform any of these functions and should not be
 Word. He lacks only the  fov!uLal  ordination which he re-           allowed to "speak in the churches" and deprive them of the
 ceives when the calling takes on a  pei-manent  instead of a         "pre&hing  of the Word."
 temporary character. In the formal sense of the word, it                   No doubt there are also objections that can be lodged
 may also be said that a minister who preaches in another             against this position. All. of the difficulties are by no means
 church is not ordained in the office in that church. Yet, he         solved. However, we have tried to show that the distinction
 certainly preaches the Word, pronounces  the.!  b&d&ion,             made between "speakin g and edifying word" and "preaching
 etc. I see no real reason why students, who according to the.        the Word" is not above criticism and is in need of further
 rule in the matter have received  p&mis&on,   sh6tild riot be        clarification if it is to be usable. Adopting this distinction,
 authorized to do likewise,                                           `wthout  clarifying it, we havk solved no difficulties at all but
        If this position- were adopted, the 20th. Article of the      habe only created many of them for the phrase "speaking an
 Church Order must needs be revised to read something like            edifying word" can mean so many ,things  that it, in practice,
ihis :                                                                applied to Art. 20. results in meaning "preaching the Word."
        "Students who have received permission according to           And why not then say "preaching" instead of camouflaging
 the rule in this matter, and have been judged competent for          the matter ?
 the ministry of the Word, -shall, for their own training and                                                                 G.V.d.B.
 for the benefit of the churches, upon the request of the
 churches be permitted to preach the Word of God in the
meetings  of public worship."                                                             THE DAY OF SHADOWS
        Consistency would then require that we go a step or two                            (Coutimled from  page 346)
farther. If students may preach the Word, there can be no                  . Tlze SUY~ of righteoruness  - some conceive of this right-
 principle objection to their performing other ministerial            eousness as a personal attribute of God and translate: The
 labors in the same limited capacity in which they are per-           Sun, namely righteousness (of Jehovah). By its revelation
 mitted to preach. As occasion requires they should then be           and operation the wicked are destroyed and His believing
permitted to administer the Sacraments - Baptism and the              people healed from all the hurts and pains that now afflict
 Lord's Supper - ; give instruction in the catechism classes          them. But also this exposition `necessitates bringing in Christ.
which they also in Some instances do : they would be called           r
                                                                      ..:or  the righteousness of God would ndt be righteousness
to visit the sick and bereaved, conduct some family visitation,       were it not operative as a saving healing power on the ground
and sit in at least at consistorial meetings, etc. All of this        -of Christ's atonement- and for His sake. But the chief ob-
would be of great practical advantage to the student and en-          jection to this exposition is that it makes God's righteous&s
rich his training for the ministry. A student who would               an abstraction. The exposition that applies the expression
~`first, visit the sick or conduct family visitation, for example,    directly to Christ is well founded. Elsewhere in the Scrip-
with an experienced minister would be in a position to not            tures Christ is called the light of men, the light of the world,
only learn much that would not have to be learned during              a light to the Gentiles (Is. 49 :6), a great light (Is. 9 :l), the
the first years of his ministry but also, profiting from `the         true light, the day-spring on high, sun and shield.
other's experience, would avoid later mistakes. It is not prin-                                                                 G.M.O.
cipally consistent nor correct to draw the limitation of his
practical  training to a single aspect of the work of the
ministry. Practical training should include, as much as is
considered expedient by his instructors, all that is involved                              CALL TO SYNOD
-in the practical labors of the minister of the Word. Not only             The Consistory of the Fourth Protestant Reformed Church
would the students, themselves profit from this but the               of Grand Rapids, Michigan, the calling church according to
churches as well would be beneficiaries for they would re-            the decision of the last Synod, hereby notifies our churches
ceive  candidates who are practically as well as theoretically        that the 1955 Synod will hold its opening session on Wed-
trained.                                                              nesday, June 1, D.V., beginning at 9 A.M. in the above
        This conception, of course, stands or falls with the cor-     mentioned church .
rectness of the supposition that the work of the ministry can               The pre-synodical service will be held on Tuesday eve-
begin, not at the time of the "formal ordination" but at the          ning, May 31, at 8 o'clock in the Fourth Church.
time of the "essential ordination." When one is declared by
the churches `qualified. for the work of the ministry and is                Delegates to this Synod, needing assistance for lodging
requested by one or more of the `churches to engag&,in these          arrangements, please inform the Clerk of Fourth Church: J.
various labors, essentially he has the light to-perform them.         Veltman. 1112 Prince St., Grand Rapids 7. Michigan.
The requisites for ordination he then possesses. Christ then                                                Consistory of the
authorizes him to "Go forth  !" If this is not so, he has no                                                Fourth Prot.~ Ref. Church


                                              T H E   STA,NDARD  B E A R E R                                                       357

  PRINCIPLES OF CHRISTIAN GIVING, APPLIED ing from the very poor in lieu of an animal sacrifice. (Lev.
     TO THE OFFERINGS IN THE'CHURCHES                                  5 :11-13).  When the whole vegetable offering was placed on
                                                                       the altar with the intention of having the whole offering con-
      The principles of Christian giving, in the offerings in the      sumed by fire, it corresponded to the burnt offering, which
  churches, are set before the church of all ages for its instruc-     was entirely consumed on the altar of sacrifice. This activity
  tion and admonition, in the offerings and sacrifices instituted      was observed at the consecration of the high priest and at
  in the church of the old Dispensation. .These offerings and          the cleansing of a leper. (Lev. 6 :19-23 and 14 :10,20).
, sacrifices that God gave to His church through the agency               The animal sacrifices of cattle, sheep, goats of both sexes,
  of the prophetic Scriptures and their authors, were visible          and (rarely) doves, easily conformed to the principle of the
  and tangible representations of the invisible and abstract           shedding of blood. The corresponding reality which was
  principles of the true religion of Jehovah God. These prin-          symbolized by the bloody sacrifice was the passion and death
  ciples lay hidden to the eye of .the worshipper under the types      of Christ, who shed His blood as the true Lamb of God (John
  and shadows of the ceremonies that God instituted for the            1 :29) for the sins of His elect church, His people.
  proper worship of Himself and His thrice holy Name. It was
  only when the child of God, the believer, by grace, was lifted,         Now the reason why the sacrifical system of the Old
  in his worship, out of the realm of the sensual and earthly to       Testament Church was instituted by God as a means of ap-
  that of the spiritual, that he worshipped God in spirit and in       proach to Him, was the sin of Adam and Eve, whereby the
  truth.  WJhen the offerings and sacrifices of Jehovah's  wor-        whole human race was plunged into sin, corruption, and
 _ ship were seen by the believer to be pictures of the re-            misery. For in them the race of mankind was organically and
  demptive revelation of God concerning the salvation of His           legally united. The fall of man was a cause for the institution
  church in Christ, then the religion of Jehovah was revealed          of the blood sacrifices. The eternal Jehovah's word and com-
  to be one of fervent principle and deep spirituality. In order       mand were transgressed  ; His Covenant  was trampled under
  that the -child of God may worship the Lord in spiritual             foot; the image of God in man was turned into its very op-
  benefit to his soul when he presents his gifts and offerings to      posite  ; and man became worthy of death, judgment, and
  the church, it will be helpful to earnest worship to determine       Hell. The way of fellowship and communion with the  a
  what are the principles of Christian giving represented in the       eternal God was closed. But the revelation of, God was not
  sacrifices and offerings of the church of the Old Dispensation.      frustrated by man's sin. God is on the throne-even while
     `Of the offerings that God instituted there were three            man sins. God continues His revelation
  main classifications : Drink, Vegetable (or meat, A.V.), and            This revelation is that God is One  ; His counsel is one
  Animal. The offering could be made public in behalf of the           as He is One God. Sin does not change the counsel of God,           -
  nation, or Israel  ; `or made privately in behalf of the offender    for God willed to reveal in His own way the glory of the life
  himself.                                                             of His `Covenant in its highest and purest manifestation. This
      The important thing to notice about these offerings,             highest and most beautiful revelation, which is the Covenant
  whether they were public or private, is that the shedding of         `life of God, was not to be reached in Adam; but in Christ.
  blood was a necessary accompaniment, except in cases of ex-          Therefore, the fall of Adam was determined according to
  treme poverty. Even then, in connection with the poor, their         God's counsel and His eternal good pleasure. In the concep-
  offerings were made and accepted only in connection with the         tion of the eternal good pleasure of God, all things revealed
  blood of the altar.  (Lev.. 5 :ll-13). Without the blood shed        in the Scriptures take on their true meaning as they are re-
  by the sacrificial offering, the sinner had no right of approach     lated to all things. Since the revelation of God is the revela-
  to God. This principle was the standard of the acceptance            tion of His eternal Covenant life of living friendship with the
  of the offering made by the offender. The lesson taught by           persons of the divine Trinity, He, in sovereign good pleasure
  the offerings #was  this : without the shedding of blood there       and mercy, is pleased to reveal this life to the creature. Main-
  was no remission of sin. (Heb. 9 :22). This is the basic prin-       taining His Covenant by visiting the transgressor with
  ciple.                                                               wrath, death, and the curse, He reveals His Covenant as life,
      This same principle of the sacrifical offering was met by        fellowship, and joy in Christ. The way of approach to Him-
  the non-animal offerings: namely, the Drink  and the Veg-            self He has ordained, and the basis of communion and fellow-
  etable offering, in the.following'way  : the Drink offering was      ship is the supreme sacrifice of Christ as a redemptive pro-
  made only in connection with the meal offering, which ac-            pitiation for sin and offense. On the basis of Christ's bloody
  companied all burnt offerings. (Numbers 15 :l-12).                   sacrifice on Calvary's cross God's covenant children are again
      The Vegetable offering,  too? had to conform to the              taken into the blessed fellowship as friend  servants of the
  principle of blood-shedding, because this offering, when it was      Living God. In this relation they experience the forgiveness
  offered in part, or when it was offered whole, was consumed          of sin, a right relation to the Most High on the basis of im-
  on the altar. When only part of the offering was placed on           puted righteousness, and the impartation of a new life in
  the altar, then the remainder belonged to the priest, as in          abiding communion with the body of Christ, the Church,
  private voluntary offerings, and when accepted as a sin  offer-      forever. Man once again worships God by elective love and

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

 grace in true spiritual worship, through the sacrifice of                  and need. Since no part of these oHerings  was eaten by the
 Christ. This sacrifice was pictured in the Levitical offerings             offerer, as in the peace offerings, the worshipper came be-
 brought by the pious to the Tabernacle and Temple. On the                  fore the sanctuary as one unworthy of communion with God.
 basis of blood which was shed (Lev. 17  :ll) the Covenant                  These offerings indicated the sacrificer's need for atonement
 children of God performed the sacred rite of sacrificing and               on account of his sins. Being brought into the knowledge of
 offering. In this way they drew near unto God.                             his need. by grace, he is brought into contact with the virtues
         It is interesting to note too that the drawing near unto           of Christ's atonement, as the only satisfaction to God's of-
  God by the pious of old was put positively to Israel by way               fended majesty. In the consciousness of the need which may .
 of a prohibition. Never could the faithful appear before God               be satisfied only by Christ, the worshipper approaches God's
 empty-handed. That is, never may Israel approach God with-                 house in true humility.
 out an offering. (Ex. 23 :15) This prohibition was repeated                    The peace offerings of which there were three kinds, too,
 in the second giving of God's law recorded by Moses. (Dem.                 were used of God to teach His children how to approach
  16:17) Because the worshipper must always come to God                     Him, with their gifts and offerings. First, the thank-offering
 with his offering, the pious, who were the poor of the flock,              was given as an expression of thanksgiving for God's un-
 could approach -God's house with the special provisions that               merited blessings. Secondly, the votive offering was given to
 were given in the law for the destitute and needy. No matter               express the believer's joy that he may make a vow unto the
 how straitened private circumstances were, God must be                     Lord. (Lev. 7 :ll-21). Thirdly, provision was made to per-
 approached with a gift of the worshipper. The principle of                 mit God's people to give vent to their love for the Lord by
 the shedding of blood as a satisfactory propitiation to divine             the offering of any animal  authorrzed  for sacrifice, of either
 justice was realized in the Cross of Christ. To the offender               sex  ; but no bird. (Lev. 3 and e.g. Judges  20.:26, II Sam.
 who worshipped with his offering in Tabernacle and Temple                  24 :25). The offerings, in these instances, were an expression
 it meant that he did not have to die ; he is covered by the                of the love of God presented by the unworthy worshippers,
 blood of his offering, as a picture of the forgiveness of his              who experienced God's love which He shed abroad in their
 sins by the true Lamb of God, the Christ, who shed His pre-                hearts. This love finds expression in Israel's peace offerings.
 cious blood on Calvary. With his sins covered, the offender,                   When mention is made of the specific offerings  - the
who is engaged in the act of worship, was not cut off from the              Vegetable, Burnt, Trespass, and Peace offerings-it must
 congregation of Israel. Positively, it signified to him that he            be remembered that the form of these offerings in the church
 had a place in the sanctuary of God and an entrance into                   is now gone. No longer does the church have the form of
 the heavenly Canaan. On the basis of blood atonement the                   the Levitical sacrificial system. It has given way to the
 Covenant children of God have a right to perform the sacred                coming of the True Sacrifice, Christ. He is both Priest and
 act of sacrificing and offering to Jehovah God. It is on the               Victim in the New Testament Church. But the essence of
 basis of Christ's perfect love for His Church, for which He                the offerings remain. The spiritual principles whereby the
 shed His blood as an atonement, that God's people bring                    pious assemble and worship in God's church are inviolable.
 their gifts and offerings, as an expression of their right to              They are the principles of utter self-consecration, deepest
 worship God in sincerity and truth;                                        humility, personal need of divine mercy, and irrepressible
         There were other principles taught by the system of                love. By means of the sacrificial system of the Old Dispensa-
 sacrifices and offering in the church of the Old Testament.                tion God taught His church these beautiful spiritual prin-
 These principles are very helpful for the worshipper of the                ciples in order that the church - even today -may worship
 New Testament to know, because it indicates to him what                    Him in spirit and in truth.
 is the proper attitude of heart of the worshipper who brings                  To worship God in spirit and in truth by their gifts and
 his offering to his church. These offerings in Israel were                 offerings is the desire of God's people. This desire is the
 specifically designed to touch the heart of the elect sinner of            longing of their hearts. But how do they really do this ? The
 all ages, who by grace desires that his own heart is rightly               answer is not far afield.
 disposed to worship the Most High God. The following are                      True worship of the Lord, in the believer's giving to the
. the spiritual lessons of the specific offerings.                          Church, is the fruit of the priesthood of the Gospel. This
     The burnt offering, which prescribed a male lamb, bullock,             priesthood is manifest in God's house, His Church, together
 ram, goat -or in the special provisions provided in the law                with the prophetic and' the kingly offices. These offices to-
 for the poor and the destitute in  -Israel  (Lev. 5 :ll-13) --             gether, manifest the presence and fullness of Christ in His
 was the expression of the complete self-dedication of the                  Church, through these offices which He has instituted. In
 offerer to Jehovah. In the complete combustion of the burnt                the midst of the church, constituted of those in the office of
 offering, the pious symbolized his utter consecration to Je-               all believers, with their spiritual seed, the offices of prophet,
 hovah.                                                                     priest, and king function. The priestly office of Christ in
     The sin offering and the trespass (guilt) offering, with               His Church functions through the office of the ruling and
 the'special provisions for the proper observance of these                  teaching eldership. The teaching elder, who is also the ser-
 offerings, spoke to the worshipper in terms of deep humility               vant of the Lord, serving as the preacher, through the office


                                                 T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                           359

  of Prophet, shouts forth the power of God unto salvation             weary and heavy laden. Usually God builds up His church
  through the preaching of the Word and the administration             in the generations of the believers. Sometimes. He adds
  of the Sacraments. The servant, as the preacher, proclaims the       others, from outside, through means that He ordains. All the
  piercing sword of the 1TJord to the organism, the Church. This       monies expended in the maintenance of the Institution have
  sword of the Gospel slays the people of God. It goes forth           not been spent in vain. Through the  &ffs and offerings to
  as the Word of Christ, as a sharp two-edged sword, quick and         the church institute, the needy of heart are reached, ivho are
  powerful, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and          the truly meek. and humble, by elective grace, whom God
  spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and as discerner of the        has redeemed. out of every kindred, tongue, people, and na-
  thoughts and intents of the heart. The sword of the Gospel           tion.
  going forth from the prophetic office accomplishes its two-              It is these blessed principles of Christian giving that we
  folcl effect: a savor of death unto death, and of life unto lifz.    may apply to our offerings in the churches, and it is these
  (Heb. 4 :12 and II Cor. 2 :16)                                       principles that regulate the maintenance of God's house, the
      It is life unto life in the believers, because the Gospel by     temple of His truth.
  grace wounds and pierces the innermost recesses, until, by                                                           J .   McCollam
  the power of grace, the soul is broken in spirit. With the
  proud rebellious heart slain by the sword of the Spirit and
  under deep conviction of sin, the believer cries out in con-                         CONTRIBUTIONS
  fession of his sins: "Lord, be merciful unto me, a sinner."
  With heartfelt contrition and hulkbled  in dust and ashes,  he       Dear Editor of the Standard Bearer:
  receives the assurance by the same sword of the Gospel', i'I
  am thy God,.and I cleanse thee in the blood of my sacrifice,             Would you please place the following in the Standard
 .Christ, from all thy sins and miseries. and I grant thee, by         Bearer for me ? Thanks !
  my grace, eternal life and glory."                                       I would like to tell the readers of the Standard Bearer,
      Being broken in spirit, and receiving the assurance of sin       especially those in  Peila and Oskaloosa, something about
  forgiven, God's people return unto God, being renewed by             the way that Rev. M. Gritters reports to you readers of
  the Spirit, dedicating themselves to God, with aA1 that they         Concordia on the letter of me and M. Sietstra to the  Con-
  have, and devoting themselves to God's cause in the world,           sistory of Pella. It grieves my soul a lof that I must call
  with all their earthly talents and belongings. This is the           your attention to this. I have sorrow in my heart for Rev.
  sacrifice that Paul refers to in Remans  12 :l as the believer's     Gritters' sake and for the sake of Consistory and for the
reasonable service. Slain and renewed, they offer themselves           whole congregation. How I long that they would come to a
  to the Lord. Their gifts and offerings are now presented             "hearty repentance, and stand with us in the same principles
  out of the love of God in their hearts. To do God's will             and tenets we have always maintained as Protestant  Re7
  becomes their meat .and drink, and they offer up Spiritual           formed Churches." That's what we asked of them in our
  sacrifices unto God, in unreserved obedience and with pure           letter. And they turned a deaf ear to our pleadings. That
  joy. Then the saying, "It is more blessed to give," becomes          gives me great sorrow every day. But now they make mat-
  a reality in the heart of the elect sinner.                          ters worse yet. Rev. Gritters, President of the Consistory
     Lest the meaning of complete self-consecration, with all          and Clerk of "Classis West" doesn't even tell the readers of
  the talents and properties that God divides severally as He          Concordia the whole truth. He  witholds  some of the most
  will amongst His children, be misunderstood, it may be well          important facts of our letter.
  to point out the meaning of the offering of Abraham's son                Brethren, let us speak the truth. Even in a worldly,
  Isaac, and in this connction  the offering of Jephtah's daugh-       secular court the record is kept straight: Even there we must
  ter. In both instances it was the attitude of heart that char-       solemnly swear to speak, the truth, the whole truth, and all
  acterized these two servants who would not withhold -in              the facts!
  each case- an only child. It  was' not necessary to actually            Rev. Gritters writes only the following concerning  tlze
  sacrifice. The disposition of heart bespoke complete  self-          content  6f our letter: "In it (the letter) they resolve and
  consecration. Thus, for God's servants  ; they consecrate  them-     petition to reestablish their (should be "our") relationship
 ,selves  with all things unto the Lord. It  was this principle        with the true continuation of the . Protestant Reformed
  that fhe Lord commends in the poor widow who cast in her             Churches, as represented by Classis  West, of which Rev. H.
 two mites. (Mark  12':42),                                            Veldman is Clerk `They further' maintain their, (should be
     God's people receive comfort in the knowledge of the fact         "our") claim on the property of the `Protestant Reformed
 that the offerings and gifts of the household of faith support        Church of Pella, Iowa with all its physical assets' and give
 the church as institute. Through this institute the poor are          the Pella Consistory u&l January 31, 1955 to join -them."
 fed the Living Bread from Sabbath to Sabbath, and others               =  1 am afraid that there is no room for the publishing of
 come in. The public worship supported by"the  slain  is main-         our entire letter. I shall simply tell you what parts Rev.
  tained with a view to others who have not heard- the                 Gritters omitted and quote it. Then the readers in  our`


360                                            T-HE.STANDARD.*BEARER

churches may read it for themselves and judge whether Rev.              they not join  us,  we would then  tie necessitated to take
Gritterstold them all of the facts.                                     measures ourselves to seek to be reestablished with the Prot-
       Rev. Gritters omitted the body of our letter. This reads:        estant Reformed Churches as represented by the  Classis
"Dear brethren, We,  lhe  updersigned,  come to  yqu with               West of which the Rev. H. Veldman is clerk.
heavy hearts, yet also with strong conviction that we are                                             Cecil Vander Molen
called by our God to build His church. We are convinced,                                              Pella, Iowa, 201 Morningside Dr.
after long and prayerful consideration, that our consistory,
and therefore we also, have grievously. sinned in breaking
down  God's church `by supporting' ,Rev. De Wolf and his                                           IN MEMORIAM
deposed elders in their schismatic action. We realize  nO<                 On April 6, 1955, we were cast into sorrow when the Lord
that we  have been grossly misinformed about the happenings             took unto himself our beloved husband, father, grandfather, ~017
in First Church of Grand Rapids. We must confess, in as                 and brother,
far as tie also have made ourselves guilty, that we sinned                                     BENJAMIN RIETEMA                             r'
before God in supporting this schismat+  group."                        at the age of 58 years.
       That is the chief part of .our letter. Here we confess ihat'        May we be comforted by the Holy Spirit in the assurance
we have sinned. We  kepented of this sin and do repent of               of faith that all things work together foi good unto them that
it.  ,Why did Rev. Gritters keep this information from  ) his           love God and are cal!ed according to his purpose. Rom. 828.
readers? Was it "lest his deeds (too) should-be .reproverl?"                                                            The Rietema Family
John 3  :30,  0, brethren, let  us together  .humble  ourselves
and in the way of repentance build God's Church and be built                                       IN MEMORIAM
in the faith. Then we shall in love rejoice together in the                The Senior Society of the First Protestant Reformed Church
truth. That will be a healing of the terrible schism in our             of Grand Rapids hereby wishes to express their sympathy to
churches as far as Pella is concerned. Do not stand in the              one of its members, Mary Lou Rietema, in the death of her
way of this way of repentance, Rev. Gritters. Bow down  next            father,
                                                                                            MR. BENJAMIN RIETEMA
to nie and then tell all the facts, and admit the grounds on
our confession : Nbne rejoices in this terrible sin of supporting          May the; be comfoited that he now rejoices in the heavenly
si3hismatics  and of casting out the'faithful  office-bearers, as we    mansions above with his Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
in*.Pella have done as  Consistol;y  in August of 1953, and                                                    Rev. C. Hanko, President
which evil we have helped perpetuate on the Classis  of Sep-                                                  Jeannette Faber, Secretary
t e m b e r   1953!
. Let us in repentance remove this evil.                                           0 GOD, THOU HAST REJECTED US
       Rev. Gritters also omitted the reasons and grounds for
our claim to the property. He omitted "as has been established                      0 God, Thou hast rejected us,
in the Articles of Incorporation of the Protestant Reformed                              And hast afflicted .sore  ;
Church of Pella, Iowa." He presents this as the chief part                          Thou hast been angry but in grace
of the letter. That it is not. If Rev. Gritters would awaken                             0 once again restore.
to the seriousness of OUY sin as Cons&tory  he would see that                       Lo, Thou hast torn and rent our land,
we have come to that bridge in the road by our act< so that                              Thy judgments dread appall;
dnly by confession and return  &n we claim the property                             0 heal her shattered strength before
which has been believingly and prayerfully dedicated to these                            She totter to her fall.
who maintain the doctrine and Church :Order of the Prot-                            Through ways of trial and distress
estant Reformed Churches. Otherwise `God takes from us in                                Thy people Thou hast led,
every  sense what we think to have.                                                 A bitter sup Thou give&  us
       Brethren, let us return to God in sorrow as did `the                              Of misery and dread.
Prodigal son. Then will prosperity be  `&thin our gates and
pea& within our palaces.                                                            A glorious banner Thou hast given
       Then  we will not need'to  keep back any facts.                                  .TG   those who fear Thy Name,
       They are all open and naked anyway before God. He is                         A banner to display abroad,
not mocked.                                                                             And  .thus the truth proclaim.
   Just one more remark. The reade;  must understand that                           That Thy beloved may be saved
when we gave the Consistory till January  31, 1955, to join                              And from their foes set free,
us in. condemning the wrong and loving the right, we `di'd                          Help with the might of Thy right hand,
not have in mind that then they  Gould need to vacate the                           In  &ercy  answer me.
buildings of the church of Pella, but we intended, that, should                                                              Psalm 60 :1-S


