     VOLUME  XXX1                                     SEPTEMBER 1,  1955--G~~Nu  RAPIDS, MICHIGAN                                       NUMBER  20

                                                                                   very eager to do His sovereign will. Religion  is. that we
            MEDITAT!ON                                                             submerge our will entirely in the will of God. And that will
                                                                        II         is that we love Him,  know  Him and obey  I& from the
                                                                                   motive of purest love.
                         Fixed  &nd  kious  People                                    And Israel must learn this. Therefore Joshua  casts the
                z                                                                  ball their way. Choose ye this day! . . . .
                     "And if it seem evil unto you to serve the  Lord,
                     choose ye this day whom ye will serve; whether the                                      qz  *  *-*
                     gods which your fathers served that were on the
                     other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites,            To Serve the Lord!
                     in whose land ye-dwell: but as for me and my house,
                     we will serve the Lord." Joshua  24:1.5.     .'                  That is very seemly, that is entirely proper, it is holy
                                                                                   obligation.
   But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord !                       ,     _  You  know, we are getting used to the most profound
     It sounds like a challenge! Do what ye will, I am going                       truths and to such an extent that the tremendousness of
  to heaven!                                                                       these truths does not touch us anymore. It takes lifelong
     At first flush it does, not sound very Zniuch like Joshua,                    striving,, study, endeavour to remain sensitive to these truths.
  who is commissioned to bring the people of God  .into the                           I have in mind the ground for the proposition that it is
  Holy Land. It seems as though he is using the wrong kind                         entirely obligatory to serve the Lord `God.
  of pedagogy.                                                                        That ground is this :. He .is our Creator.
     Listen to him, who is called upon to. lead Israel aright:                        When we read this we are inclined to say: that is nothing
  "And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose ye                       new. We know that God is the Creator of all men and that
  this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your                         we therefore must serve Him. And then we are inclined
  fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or                      to let the matter rest. But  there,is exactly our failing. We
- the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as                         let the matter rest. The truth is so stupendous, so great and
  for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." Joshua 24 : 15.                    profound that we do not even see it anymore. I am persu-
     Does it not seem very poor leadership to leave the people                     aded that if we saw this truth as clearly as the angels of God
  as it were to the inclination of their own hearts ? Would it                     see it, we w6uld be shaken to the depth of our being.
  not sound much wiser to say tb them: Don't you dare serve                            Serve God for He is your Creator. He made us.
  other gods ! Don't let me see the semblance of idolatry in                          Ah, we think of this truth mostly as if God made us
  your midst! Would it not work much better to whip them                           like the carpenter makes his house and walks away. We are
  into shape, like a dictator?                         *                           all to a certain extent deists. Practical deists.
     Ah, but Joshua is not the leader of a political,party  which                      For God did not walk away. He made us and we are as
  must be kept intact by hook or crook. He is no dictator                          it were in the very hollow of His hand. He made  us  knd.
who will stand or !a11 all according to the size of the follow-                    sustains US every moment. He preserves our being and EIe
  ing he has. Joshua is the type of Jesus Christ our Lord !                        it is that gives  US  being now and forever. His omnipotent
     And the theme of his discourse is religion, the service 01:                   and omnipresent power is around us and within us. And He
  ihe God of heaven  a?%d of the  em&! That makes a tremend-                       is so great and glorious that Paul bids us in this connectioh
  ous difference.                                                                  to fear and tremble. For it is God that  worketh  in  you.  l-Ie
     Religion, the service of God, is entirely a matter of .free-                  is so close to us every moment of the day, that we ought to
  dom, of liberty, of spontaneous endeavour. There is not an                       be filled with reverence and awe continuously and forever.
  inkling of compulsion in religion. On the day of the Lord                            We belong to I-Iim. He made  us  and keeps,  ils in the'
  of hosts,- He will have a people that are  iery willing and                      hollow of His hand.


 458                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEARER8

     We  b&long to Him `for `He made us for Himself. The                Yet. to serve the Lord is difficult.
.-very  devil is in God's own property. We are not our own.            .Diff&ult,  for He is very truth and righteousness and
 You cannot call even a mere thought your own. All-that is          holiness !
: and breathes is God's own property.                                   He is never content with lipservice. He must have
    Serve Him we ought for .He is our God that made us and          nothing of outward form, when such form hides a heart that
 sustains us.                                                       is full of dead men's bones and all outward manner of un-
                             *  *  *  *                             cleanness. He hates the self-righteous Pharisee and the
                                                                    feigning hypocrite.
     But there is fiiore.                                               He demands perfect holiness, utmost perfection, He de-
     We ought to serve God because He is the Ruler, Judge           mands that you be followers of God!
 and End of all things. Whether you are a heathen or a                  Moreover, we are idblatrous by nature.
 churchman, a man or woman or child. Whether we are                     Our idols abound on every side, without and within.
 devil or angel, man or beast, we are created for His glory.        There are the idols of the heart and mind. Of loves and
    The definite, determinate, absolute purpose of this world       affections for the creature or self. There are the idols around
 and its fulness is that they all should be to the praise of the    us. Their name is legion. In the world there is a creeping,
 Almighty.                                                          crawling, abominable mass of filthy idols that makes the
    That is revealed. Even the created things of this present       saint shudder, with  ldathing.
 world teach this. God has revealed it unto us by the things            And we are ever inclined to serve them instead of the
 that are made. They shout aloud of this glorious purpose.          glorious God, the Covenant Jehovah.
 They tell, nay, they sing a beautiful song regarding the in-           Yet we must needs serve Him.
 visible virtues of God. And singing they reveal the invisible          It is, oh, so difficult!
 virtues of God's power and Godhead. And the purpose of                 What do I say: difficult? It is impossible! God demands
 ,that song of created things is that we may serve and thank        the impossible of His people. Hear Him: Be ye perfect, as
 Him. Mind you, that is revealed. We have  .no excuse to            your Father in heaven is perfect! Is that not impossible, I
 offer when we have not served Him and must appear before           ask you`? How can you then serve Him ?
 His judgment seat. "That they may be without excuse."                                              *  * * *
 Romans 1.
    Hence, it is altogether obligatory that you and I serve            Well, there is an answer. Christ Jesus stands in your
 Him.                                                               and my stead and He served Him. He is  ,reall$ the only
                             8  * *  +                              One who served Him. We did not. Neither did Israel.
                                                                    Neither did Joshua. No one serves God but Jesus.-
    Moreover, He is the Lord.                                          Does this shock you ? Well, I would ask that you even
    That means that He is the  ~God  bf His everlasting cov-        now search your hearts. Where is your reasonable service ?
                                                                    Where is your perfect obedience? Where is your unfeigned
 enant. That He has had thoughts of everlasting peace and
harmony and unutterable. lovingkindness toward  men of His          love all the day ? Have ypu loved Him in the morning and
 goodpleasure, that is, the elect.                                  loved  Him in the watches of the night? Have  you not on
    He has revealed Himself as  such: He revealed Himself           the  cotitrary wasted your time in running after idols ? Of
                                                                    course, I mean the  ~children  of God. I mean the  .chosen,
as the Covenant God first of all in Paradise. And when..
man fell away from Him, He has again revealed Himself as            regenerated, converted children of God. I am riot talking
the Covenant God in the killing of the sacrificial animal and       now of the godless.
the altar. Also in the tabernacle and Temple. Also in the              Listen to Paul : Ah, miserable wretch that I am ! Or the
                                                                    publican. Or Job
people whom He chose to bear His name, even Jacob whom                                     and Abraham: I am dust- and ashes; I
                                                                    have a veritable horror of myself. I am sometimes inclined
.He loved. He revealed Himself as the Loving One  when              to ask Divine pardon for my service of the Almighty. We
He bowed down before His people in sweetest mercy when
they groaned in bondage.                                            are miserable sinners all.
   But the most glorious revelation of that Covenant God                                            *  *  * *
.we have in the Cross of Golgotha.  Ah, here we must needs             If you are not yet convinced, then compare yourself with
stammer. The view is so blindingly glorious. Here glitters          Christ. He went out in a solitary wild place to pray,  al2
a love that will be the theme of heavenly singing, world with-      sight!  How many among us ever prayed to God for one
out end !                                                           solitary hour? Compare  your&f with Christ indeed. Who
    The glorious Cross. It tells me that I ought to serve           even went into the abyss of eternal death for whores and
Him, who gave Himself for me, even for me!                          publicans who smote His blessed face 7 Who ever bore the
    Oh, serve' Him, you people of His choice, for you are           wrath of God from the purest motive of love ? Who of you
bought with a price, even the heart's blood of the Son of           ever stood on the bottomless bottom of hell and cried: I love
God. Serve Him for He went down into your agony, an                 Thee, 0 Divine God for the very rays of Thy holiness that
agony of eternal death. Serve Him, for He is the Lord.              burn me in unspeakable agony? Compare yourselves indeed


                                                    T H E 'S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                                            459

with the service of God of Christ ,and . . . . weep for shame.             -
     Be still therefore my heart, and mock not. One  only                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R   -
served God and that One is Christ.                                               Semi-monthly,  except  mo@hly   dwikg   Jme;   J&y  a.nd   Azbgust
     And He served God in your and my stead, beloved chil-                         Published by  tie  Rmomm  FREE   PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION
dren of God. His service was a vicarious service. And that                       P. 0. Box 881, Madison Square Station, Grand Rapids 7,  Mich.
service  ,shall'never end. He lives everlastingly to pray  fo7                                      Editor  - REV. HERMAN HOEKSEMA
us as the High-Priest.                                                           Communications relative to contents should be addressed to Rev.
     And all the true service that you have in the midst of                      H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S. E., Grand Rapids 7,  Mich.
your sins and abominations is Jesus. I would cry it once                         All ma&s relative to subscriptions should be addressed to Mr.
more and then from the housetops : All your and my reason-                       G. Pipe, 1463 Ardmore St., S. E., Grand Rapids 7, Michigan.
                                                                                 Announcements and Obituaries must be mailed to the above
able service by which we serve God is Jesus! It is Christ                        address and will be published at a fee of $1.00 for each notice.
Who lives in us. It is His Spirit that groans in us and  that                    RENEWALS:  Unless a definite request for discontinuance `is re-
cries : Abba ! Father !                                                          ceived, it is assumed that tine  subscriber wishes the subscription
                                                                                 to continue without the  formality of a renewal order.
     Where is then our boast?
     Our boast is eternally in God through Jesus and in His                                          Subscription price :  .$4.00 per. year
loving Spirit: Majesty and honor and praise and power and                         Eittered as Second  Class   #mutter   at Grand  RajuZs,  Michigan
glory is unto Thee, 0, our God, our Rock and our Deliverer !
     Let there be death and desolation to the detestable Pela-              -
gian in us !+
                                                                  G.V.                                         C O N T E N T S
                                                                           MEDITATION  -
                                                           3                        Fixed and Pious  People..................................4.!?7
                                                                                          Rev. G. Vos
                        WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
                                                                           . IXDI.~VRIAL.S  -
    On September 7, 1955, our beloved parents                                       Why Was It Not Published? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 460
                       REV. AND MRS. GERRIT VOS                                                                                                                             .. .
                                                                                          Rev. H. Hoeksema
hope to  celebr.ate  their 35th wedding anniversary.
    We thank our God for having spared them for each other and              OUR DOCTRINE -
                                                                                    Of Grace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...-...................461
us for these years. We pray that he may bless them in the                           The Triple Knowledge (Part III  - Ot  Thankfulness.)  . . .  .464
f u t u r e .                                                                             Rev. H. Hoeksema
                            T.heir loving Children
                                    Mr. and Mrs. John Poelstra             FROM HOLY WRIT  -
                                    Mr. and Mrs. Peter Vos                          Exposition of Matthew 19 :lO-12. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ,466
                                    Dr. and Mrs.  Benjamin  Zandstra                     Rev. G. Lubbers
                                    8 Grandchildren.                       IN HIS .FJZAR  -
                                                                                    A Snare for Our  Children  (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 468
                                                                                          Rev.. J. A. Heys
                              I N   M E M O R I A M   '
                                                                            CONTENDING`FOR   THE  FAITH  -
    It pleased the Lord to take unto Himself on July 23, our  be-                   The Church and the Sacramenmts..  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47O
loved Wife, Mother, and Grandmother:                                                      Rev. H. Veldman
                      MRS. ANNA BUITER, nee Vroom                          THE  VOICE  OF  OUR  FATHERS-
at the age of 46 years.                                                             The Canons of Dordrecht (Rejection of Errors) . . . . . . . . . .472
   The assurance that all the suffering of this present time is                           Rev. H. C. Hoeksema
not worthy to be compared with the glory  wh&h shall be revealed
comforts us in our deep bereavement.                                       DECENCY AND  ORDER-
                                        Mr. John Buiter, Sr.                        To the Utmost o'f Your Power.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .474
                                        Everett                                           Rev. G.  Vanden  Berg
                                        Mr. and Mrs. Walter De Vries       A
                                        Mr. and Mrs. John Buiter, Jr. .         LL  AR&ND   Us-
                                                                                    The Unbelief of Barthianism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .476
                                        William                                     Know Yourself . . . ._. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , .477
                                       Anne                                               Rev. M.  Schipper
                                        Clara
                                       Albert                              CONTRIBUTIONS  -
                                       Neal                                         Lest We  forget...:......................................473
                                       James                                              T!he Board of the R.F.P.A.
      -          -                     Jeanne                                       Missionary Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..-............. 47Q
                                       Richard                                            Rev. G.  Lubbers
                                       One Granddaughter
Tinley  @ark,   Illinois

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

I                                                                            I wish to make just one or two comments on the above
             --E D I T 0 R-I A  1  S                                  I missive :
                                                                             1. The letter states that my article was written "some
                                                                          months ago." Fact is that it was written over two years
                    Why Was It Not Published?                            ago.7I. It is true that when the committee approached for
       In one of my recent editorials I mentioned, in passing,           an article on "common grace" for "torch and trumpet" they
that I  had'written an article on the subject of "common                  informed me that my article was to be one of a series on the
grace" for. ",@cF ana! trztwz/vt" which was never published.              same subject written from different viewpoints. But the
`It `is evident &at the editorial staff of that paper took notice         excuse mentioned in the letter why my article was not pub-
of my remarlt-`and  .of the Rev. Schipper' in the same Standard           lished, namely, that "some of the articles we had definitely
Bmvr, for now I received the ,following  letter :
                 .`,  .,  `.                                              planned for this.series were not forthcoming" is .a very poor
        -          `_                            -  *June 30, 1955        one. Consider that, if I remember well, at least three articles
     The Rev. Herman Hoeksema                                             were published in "torch and trumpet" all in favor of the
     1139 Franklin St., S. E.                                             theory of "common grace" and the reader will admit that my
     Grand Rapids, Michigan                                              article, that defends the opposite conception, should surely
                                                                          have been published. This rather leaves the impression that
     Dear Rev. Hoeksema:                                                  "torch and trumpet" is biased.
             Herewith I return to you an article entitled "Of Grace,"        3. The second  ,excuse mentioned in the above letter is,
     written by you some months ago for torch and trwmpet at              if. anything, still poorer than' the first. It alleges that the
     our request. You will recall that this article was to be one        publication of my article might leave the impression that
     of a series in the subject of `Common Grace" written by              "torch and trumpet"  -is biased in favor of our side in the
     men of differing viewpoints.                                        controversy in the Protestant Reformed Churches. Such
             We regret that we have not been able to place this           reasoning I cannot understand. Did not the editorial com-
     article. This gives us some embarrassment, since we                 mittee ask me to write an article on the subject of "common
     asked for the article in the first place . But there were two       grace" ? Were they not aware of the fact that from my pen
     reasons why our editorial committee felt that it was for             they might expect an article opposed to theory of "common
     the best interest of the magazine not to publish the article.       grace" ? Did not everybody know that, by publishing my
     These two reasons are as follows,:                                  article, they would not leave the impression of also being
     1. Some of the articles that we had definitely planned on           opposed to theory of "common grace." How, then, could
             for this series were not forthcoming. Hence we were         they possibly be construed as favoring our side of the con-
             unable to carry out our project as described in para-       troversy in our churches? Was not the discussion of "com-
             graph one above.                                            mon grace" in "torch and trumpet" to be conducted on the
     2. At the time our committee called on  you  to  ask for            high, objective and scholarly level of men who are interested
             the article we were not aware of the full nature and        in the truth  ? And now they drag into the discussion the
             depth of the cleavage developing in your church. As         fear of being construed as being biased in a most miserable,
             the controversy continued in your church= several of        though very necessary controversy? In other words, "torch
             our men became hesitant regarding the publication           and trumpet" introduces into a. supposedly scholarly discus-
             of your article, lest such publication be construed as      sion personalities and personal motives. I say: shame on
             a bias on the part of our magazine in favor of one side     them !
             in the sharp controversy. This hesitaton was increased          In order. that the reader may learn exactly what I wrote
             when one of your men spoke in the columns of The            for"`torch and trumpet," I hereby publish the entire article
             Stan,dard   Beamr of  your being asked to write for         under the rubric "Our Doctrine."I
             tovck  and  hwrzpet.
             This combination of reasons kept the article out ot our
     magazine. We have delayed returning it to you in the                                              IN MEMORIAM
     hope that we might still be able to use it somehow. But we             The Young People's Society of the  OakLawn  Protestant  Re-
     have already held it too long. And a majority of our                .formed Church express their heartfelt sympathy with five of
                                                                         their members, Everett, Anna, Bill, Clara and Albert Buiter,
     editorial committee still feel it should not be published.          whose mother
             We wish to thank you for taking time in your busy                                      MRS. JOHN BUITER, Sr.
     life to write this article. We regret that we  .must return         the Lord took unto Himself on July 23, 1955.
     it to you, but feel this is the proper course for us to take.          May they be comforted in the knowledge that "Precious in
                For the editorial committee,                             the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints." (Psalm  116:15)
                                                                                                     The Oak Lawn Young People's Society
                                       Respectfully yours,                                                     Rev. G.  Vanden  Berg, President
                                                  Edward Heerema
                  ,..!          ,.,                                                .*.,q     __'               Grace Ipema, Secretary
                                                                                                                                  -


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R .                                             461

                                                                       him. Gen.  18:17;  Jas.  2:23. Moses knew God face to face.
            O U R   D O C T R I N E                                II Deut.  34:lO. This covenant relation of friendship is sym-
                                                                       bolized in tabernacle and temple : God dwells with His people
                                                                       under one roof. It is centrally realized in Christ, Immanuel,
                           OF GRACE                                    God with us. And it is literally expressed in many texts.
      Being asked by a committee of the staff of Torch  asd           John 17  :23; II Cor. 6  :16; Rev.  21:3.
  Twmpet  to write an article for this magazine on the ques-              3. God created in the beginning not an aggregation of in-
  tion of "common grace," I gladly -acceded to that request.          dividual creatures, but a kosmos, an organic whole. At the
  And in this contribution I will set forth what, ever since          pinnacle of this organic whole stood man, created after the
  about 1918, has been and still is my conception about what          image of God, so that in a creaturely sense he resembled
  is called. the problem of common grace.                             God, in true knowledge, righteousness, and holiness. Adam,
      Since, however, the problem is as wide as creation, and         who thus stood at the pinnacle of the whole earthly creation,
  concerns really all of theology ; and since, on the other hand,     stood at the. same time from the very moment of his creation
  the space allotted me is necessarily limited  ; I decided to        in covenant' relation of friendship to God. In that covenant
  write this contribution in the form of some definite proposi-       relation God was his Sovereign Friend, and caused him to
  tion, which I offer for thorough discussion and criticism.          taste the fellowship of His friendship, which is life. And in
      1. The problem of so-called "common grace" concerns             that covenant relation man stood as the friend-servant of
  in its deepest `sense the realization of God's eternal covenant     the Most High, as His officebearer, prophet, priest, and king,
  in time, along the line of God's eternal counsel, particularly      to represent Him in all the earthly creation, to glorify the
  the counsel of predestination, including election and reproba-      Lord his God in all the works of His hands, to love Him
  tion, and in connection with this realization of God's ever-        with all his heart, and to have dominion over all things in
  lasting covenant, the question concerning God's attitude to         the name of his Sovereign Friend. b In the heart of man was
  and operation upon the whole of created things in their             found the spiritual, ethical center of the organic whole of the
  mutual  .relationship  and affinity, the question concerning        earthly creation. And through that spiritual, ethical center
  grace and sin, God's favor and His'.wrath, nature and grace,        in the heart of man, the entire earthly creation was taken
  Adam and Christ, creation and redemption, and finally, the          up in God's covenant of friendship.
  question concerning the  place and calling of the people of             4. In this relationship a breach was struck by the sin of
  God in and over against the present world.                          Adam. Man violated the covenant of God. We must re-
     2. By the everlasting covenant of God I understand:              member that the breach struck by sin is of a spiritual, ethical
     a. Not an agreement between  ,God and man, with mutual           nature. Sin can never have the result that the essential
  stipulations, conditions, and obligations.  .Nor is the covenant    nature of the creatures, man included, would be destroyed,
  essentially identical with the promise, especially not in the       nor that the relationship between the creatures mutually
  sense of a well-meaning offer of salvation. Nor is the cov-         would be altered, so that the kosmos would change into a
  enant a way of salvation. It is not a way or means unto             chaos. True, the earthly creature, in connection with man,
  an end. But is is the end itself.                                   temporarily bears the curse and is subject to vanity. But
     b. But the covenant is the living relation of friendship         the organic affinity of the- earthly creation was maintained.
  and fellowship between God and man, in which God is the             Fallen man still occupies his position at the pinnacle of the
  Friend-Sovereign of man, and man is God's friend-servant.           earthly creation, even though after the fall he was very lim-
  It is that relation according to which God makes Himself            ited in his natural gifts and talents, so that he only has a
  known to man, opens His heart to him, reveals to him His            few remnants of them. But sin was a violation of God's
  secrets, makes him taste His favor and lovingkindness, and' covenant of friendship. A breach was struck in the relation
blesses him  ; and man knows God, loves Him, enjoys His               of man to God. The breach was of a spiritual, ethical nature.
 fellowship, and serves Him freely.,                                  He not only lost the image of God, but the operation of that
     c. The deepest ground of this covenant relation is the           image was turned into reverse. Instead of standing in true
 relation between the Three Persons of the Holy Trinity.              knowledge, he became darkness and loved the lie. His righf-
     d. This idea of the covenant is evident from all Scrip-          eousness  turned into iniquity, and his holiness into consecra-
 ture. Man was made after the image of God, in true knowl-            tion to the devil and sin. Instead of loving -God, man be-
 edge, righteousness, and holiness. God speaks to him, makes          came an ally of the devil. But even so, God by His almighty
him His friend-servant, makes him king over all the works             power and providence still upholds all things and governs
 of his hands ; and man knows and speaks to God. Gen. 1:29,           them in their organic relationship to one another.
 30; 2 :15-17; 3 :S. Enoch  walked with God. Gen. 5 :22. Noah            5. God is God, and He always fulfills His good pleasure.
 walked with God, found grace in the eyes of the Lord. God            All the moments of history are eternally in His counsel. That
 talks with him and reveals His secret counsel to him, estab-         counsel of God is never frustrated, but always realized. And
 lishes His covenant with him. Gen. 6 :S, 9, 13 ; 9 :9. Abraham       that realization of His counsel runs in a straight line in
 is called the Friend of God, and God hides nothing from              history. All things, the devil, sin, the fall of man, and the

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

       ungodly, must serve Him for the realization of His counsel.          and the operation of grace in Christ Jesus from the beginning
       Not in a- single moment; from the creation of the world to           the antithesis of sin and grace is called into being.
       the parousia, is that counsel of God frustrated or changed.            8. Grace is never common. The term grace as it occurs
       Hence, we cannot speak of the frustration of an original             in Holy Scripture `has many different connotations. Its basic -
       0rdinanc.e of creation, which in spite of sin and the devil is       notion, from which all the other meanings may be derived, is
       maintained by so-called "common grace." There never was              that of gracefulness, pleasantness, attractiveness. The Hebrew
       another plan of the world than that which is now, realized           word  then is derived from the verb chanan, which means
       through the fall of man and the grace that is in Christ Jesus.       "to incline," and in  pie1 signifies  ."to make fair, pleasant,
              6. Although the fall was effected through the wanton          gracious." Cf. Prov. 22  :l 1 : "He that loveth pureness of
      disobedience of man, it nevertheless took place according to          heart, for the grace of his lips the king shall be his-friend."
       the counsel of God. According to that counsel, God had               Grace here evidently has the meaning of pleasantness. The
       provided from all eternity some better thing for us. The             man of a pure heart speaks pleasant words. His speech is
       final rest was not attained through the rest of the- seventh         graceful, so that for its sake the king delights to have him
       `day. I It was only an image of the eternal rest, which shall be     around and commune with him. Secondly, this passage also
       attained in the eternal tabernacle of God with men in the            informs us that this pleasantness and gracefulness of speech
       new creation, in which all thingsin  heaven and on earth shall       is not a superficial beauty, but the pleasantness and attractive-
       be united and have their center in the heart of Christ forever.      ness of ethical goodness and purity. Cf. also Ps. 45 :3; Prov.
       For he is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of           31:30. The New Testament word corresponding to the
      every creature, and the firstborn from the dead, the head of          Hebrew  cken is  &al&. It is derived from' chairein,  which
       the body, the beginning, in order that He might have in all          means "to rejoice, to be glad." Accordingly, clmris denotes
       things the preeminence. All things are created in Him and            that which affords joy and delight, charm, loveliness, grace-
       for Him, and it is the good pleasure of the Father that in           fulness, pleasantness. Of the Lord we read that all bore Him
       Him should all the fulness  dwell. Col. 1 :15-20.  Hence, im-        witness and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded
       mediately after the fall God maintains His covenant in spite         out of His mouth. Lu. 4  :22. In Col. 4  :6 the apostle ad-
       of Satan and sin, but now as that covenant is eternally              monishes believers that their speech must always be with
       established in Christ. Christ stands behind Adam, and Adam           grace, seasoned with salt, in order that they may know how
       falls on Christ. Through the maintenance and realization of          they ought to answer every man. Cf. also Eph. 4 :29 ; -1 Pe.
      - God's eternal covenant of friendship, the alliance of fallen        2:20. And secondly, the word grace is used in Scripture
       man with the devil is put to nought ; and by the. operation          in the subjective sense, to denote an attitude of gracefulness
       of grace enmity against Satan is wrought in the heart of             or pleasantness, a gracious disposition, a friendly inclination
       man.                                                                 of the heart which one may reveal toward another. This is
              7: This operation of grace, however, does not concern         no doubt the meaning of the expression frequently occurring
       all men, but follows the line of election and reprobation.           in Scripture, "to find grace in the eyes of someone." This
       Election is the eternal counsel of God according to which            is also the meaning of the term in Lu.  1:30:  "Fear not,
       He, determined from before the foundation of the world to            Mary, for thou hast found favor with God." Cf. also Acts
       save and glorify the  new humanity, the body of Christ, in           7  :46,  -14  :26 ; Rom. 5  :15. It is easy to see how from this
       which all the individual elect have a place, and that too, in        meaning of the word grace the idea is derived of "undeserved,
       connection with God's  kosmosj  the new creation, of which           or forfeited, favor." Still the term has the meaning of friend-
       Christ shall be the Head over all, and in which He, as the           ly, or. favorable, or gracious disposition, the attitude of grace
       firstborn of every creature, shall have the preeminence. It          God assumes toward His people ; but now the freedom and
       is God's kosmos that is saved in Christ. John 3 :16. And the         sovereignty of the grace of God appears and is emphasized
       counsel of reprobation, which is the very antithesis of election,    by the state and condition of the objects of this grace and the
       is the eternal determination of God to lead the vessels of           subjects that receive and experience this favor of God. Thus
       wrath unto everlasting desolation. Rom. 9 :13-23. Not all the        in Rom. 4  :4 ; 3  :24  ;  11:6  ; Eph.  1:7. Grace in this sense is
       children of Adam, therefore, are ordained to enter into the          such a favorable disposition or friendly attitude of God as is
       eternal -covenant of God's friendship. Grace runs `along the         revealed even to those that are wholly undeserving in them-
       line- of election. The kernel, or pit, only is touched by grace.     selves, yea, who have  wholly  forfeited His kindness and
       The, shell is rejected. It is through this counsel of God and        favor, and are worthy of wrath and damnation.  Fourthly,
       its realization that the antithesis enters into the world. For       the term  grace  is used in Scripture to denote the power of
       also now, after the fall and after the entrance of sin and grace
       into the world, the creatures remain in their temporal, organic      God whereby the sinner is actually saved and delivered
       relationship. Even grace, no more than sin, does not bring           from the bondage of sin and corruption, and made pleasant in
       an essential change in the temporal existence of all things.         the sight of God. Important in this connection is the pas-
       There is, therefore, no dualism. Nature and grace are no             sage. in I Pe. 5  :lO, where the term  grace  is used in its  all-
       opposites. But through the  ~entrance  of sin into the world         comprehensive sense : "But the God of all grace, who hath



I.


                                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEA.RER                                                     463

  called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that                the other. The preaching of the gospel, therefore, is no grace
  ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish,                      for the reprobate ; nor is it ever meant to be grace for him.
  strengthen, settle you." God is the God of all grace. He is                 Cf. Rom.  9:lS; II Cor.  2:15-17,  etc.
  gracious in Himself. He is the source and author of all                         12. All things of this present time, rain and sunshine,
  grace. Apart from Him there is no grace. He works it and                    food and gladness, gifts aud talents, `house and possessions,
  bestows it as a manifestation of His own gracefulness. Cf.                  name, position, and power, etc., are means which God uses,
  also Eph.  2%; I Cor. 15  :lO, I Pe.  1:13. And thus we can                 but which also man, as rational, moral creature, employs.  _
  understand, finally, that the word grace in Scripture also has              Because God uses them, they serve Him in the execution of
  the meaning of "thanks." Rom.  6:17;  II Cor.  2:14;   9:15;                His counsel, both in regard to the wicked and to the right-
  II Tim.  1:3. The meaning is most probably that grace is                    eous. And because man uses the same means, they are gifts
  ascribed to God by those that are the objects of, and have                  to him whereby he is called and obliged to serve and give
  experienced the power of His grace, in order that thus He                   thanks to God. But in themselves they are no grace, nor a
  may receive the praise as the God of all grace.                             blessing. Men have all things in common, except the grace
     9. That this grace is never common, but is only for and                  of God.
  upon the elect in Christ Jesus_  is testified by all Scripture. By              13. The covenant of Noah is not a covenant of friendship
  common grace, no matter in what sense the term is used, and                 `based upon "common grace" and established with the sinful
 no matter what other terms may be used instead (love, lov-                   world as such and outside of Christ, but is a revelation of
 ingkindness, goodness, mercy, etc.), is always meant a gra-                  the one covenant of God's friendship in Christ Jesus as it
 cious disposition in God toward, and a gracious operation of                 embraces the entire kosmos, and as it is symbolized in the
  God upon the elect and reprobate, the righteous and wicked                  rainbow. For the present time the entire creation bears the
 alike. and in common. That this is never the testimony of                    curse. But presently also the brute creature shall participate
  Scripture, but that the very opposite is true, is abundantly                in the glorious liberty of the children of God. Rom. 8:19-22.
evident from the  follov+ng  passages: Rom.  9:13, ff.  ;  Mal.                   14. Man, according to our confessions, has some rem-
  1 :2-4; Ps. 1 :l-6; Ps.  2:4,  5;9; Ps. 5:5-7, 10, 11; Ps. 10:              nants of natural light, not of his original knowledge, right-
 2-18; Ps.  11:5; Ps.  14:2-5;  Ps.  16:4;  Ps.  17:13;  Ps.  18:27,          eousness, and holiness. The latter are not only. entirely lost,
 28; Ps.  21:9-13;  Ps.  28:5;  Ps.  32:lO;  Ps.  34:17;  Ps.  35:1-9;        but also, subverted into. their very opposite. It is for this
 Ps.  37:12,  13, 35, 36; Ps. 52 :3-7; Ps. 55  :24; Ps.  58:4, 7-12;          reason that the natural man entirely pollutes this natural
 Ps.  59:6-16;  Ps.  64:s; Ps.  68:1, 2, 7, 22; Ps. 69 :23-28.                light, and keeps it under in unrighteousness.
 Confer also Ps. 73, 78, 79, 83, 89, 91, 92, 94, 97, 101, 105,                   15. There is no operation of `rcommon grace" through the
 109,  llS, 119, 136, 139, 144, 145, 147, 149. Prov.  3:32, 33;               Holy Spirit, whereby the natural man, apart from the grace
 Prov. 10 :2, 3, 24-32 ; Prov. 6 :20 ; Prov. 11 :31; Prov. 12 :21 ;           of regeneration, is morally improved, or whereby the process
_Prov. 13  :25  ; Prov. 15  :9, 29  ; Prov. 16  :5  ; Isa. 57  :20  ; Isa.    of sin is restrained. On the contrary, bound up with the'
 57:21;  Nahum  1,2; John  3:36;  Rom.  1:18, ff.; Rom.  9:lS;                organic development of the human race, and directed by the
 I Pe. 5 :5 etc. The current teaching of Scripture, therefore, is             bridle of God's all-overruling providence, the power of si`n       .
 that God is gracious to His people in Christ Jesus, whom He                  develops as quickly as possible, also through an operation of
 has chosen from before the foundation of the world, and that                 God's wrath upon the sinful lusts of men. In that organic
 He hates the reprobate wicked, in time and eternity.                         development every man bears the fruit of the root sin of
     10. The grace of God is not to be understood in an in-                   Adam in harmony with his time and place in history, cir-
 dividualistic, particularistic sense, but is directed to the                 cumstances, means, inclination, and character. Cf.  Ram.
 organic whole of the church in Christ as her Head, and, in                   1:18-32.
 connection with this, with the organic whole of all creatures                   16. So-called civic righteousness is an attempt  of- the
 of the whole kosmos. Only, the reprobate ungodly is never                    natural and sinful man, who by his natural light observes the
 object of this grace, whether it is understood in the sense of               relations and laws established by God in the kosmos, and
 a disposition in God or of an operation of God upon the un-                  seeing the usefulness for himself of these laws and relations,
 godly. But just as there is an operation of God's drawing,                   to direct .his life, as much as possible and for his own good,
 saving, and glorifying grace directed to the elect kernel of                 according to those laws .of God in an external sense of the
 the kosmos, so there is also an operation of God's reprobating               word. If he succeeds in these attempts, God, Who always
 and rejecting wrath directed to the reprobate shell.                         binds Himself to His own ordinances and laws, gives him
     11. The preaching of the gospel is as such neither blessing              success. But success is no blessing. In the way of his suc-
 nor a curse. It addresses man as a rational, moral creature                  cess the ungodly becomes ever greater, becomes ever more
 that is responsible to God. God, however, uses this preach-                  responsible, and, under the wrath of God, aggravates his
 ing of the gospel to the execution of His counsel, the counsel               own judgment.
 of predestination, both of election and reprobation, so that                    17. In addition, and' in conclusion, let me state that. the
 He, without encroaching upon the moral nature of man and                     Reformed Confessions certainly do not speak of "common
 his responsibility, calls the one unto salvation and hardens                                   .' (Contimud on page 469)

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

                 THETRIPLEKNOWLE&                                     In the heart of Christ is the spiritual center of this kingdom
                                                                      of God. And through the Spirit of Christ  this glorious
        AN EXPOSITION  OF THE  HEIDELBERG  CATECI-IISM                dominion of God is realized in the hearts of all the people
                  PART  III  - OF THANKFULNESS                        of God. The kingdom of Christ, therefore, is  `God's rule
                                                                      through Christ by His Spirit and Word. In and through
                           LORD'S  DAY 48                             Christ God laid the foundations of His kingdom in right-
                              Chapter I                               eousness. Through Christ He makes Himself known to the
                 The Idea of the Kingdom of God                       subjects of this kingdom in all the glory of His *grace.
                                                                      Through the Spirit of Christ He bestows ,upon the subjects
        No one can ever dethrone Him, or even for a moment            of His kingdom all the spiritual graces necessary to enter
successfully dispute His sovereign power and authority. He            into and to function in the kingdom of heaven. For  This
guides the sun and moon and stars in their courses. He                reason the kingdom of God does not extend any farther than
causes the heavens to be covered with clouds, and the rain            the spiritual rule of Christ, which means that it is realized
to satisfy the thirsty ground. He clothes the forest with             in the church.
foliage green, and gives to the lily its garments more beauti-           There is a close relation between the church and the
ful than Solomon's raiment. The lightning and the winds,. kingdom of God, though there are also points of difference
the rivers in their course and the meandering brooks, the             between the two conceptions.
wild beasts of the forest and all cattle, the cry of the young          -`The church is the spiritual body of Christ into which all
ravens and the song of the lark, -all alike are- under the            the elect are in due time ingrafted by faith as members of
sway of His sovereign scepter, and obey His divine will.              His body. The kingdom of God is the commonwealth over
   Nay more, He is also the sole Governor of those creatures          which Christ rules in the name of God and under Him. The
that have a will and mind of their own and that consciously           church represents the house of God, His temple, in which God
choose their own way, men and angels and devils. For even             dwells with His people in most intimate covenant relationship.
the demons and all  ,the wicked of the earth, though they             The Kingdom emphasizes the idea of the servant-king rela-
rage furiously and though they imagine a vain tl&g against            tionship, in which God rules over us, we delight to do His will,
the Lord of all, can but execute His will and serve the               and as priest-kings in the name of Christ rule over all  the
purpose of the realization of His gdod pleasure. God  is- works of God's hands. With relation to the church, Christ
sovereign forever and ever. He rules by His power over                is the Bridegroom and the church is the bride. With re-
all creation, and all creatures must serve His pupose and be          lation to the kingdom, Christ is the King under God, and
in submission to Him.                                                 while doing His will we reign with Him as kings. The
        But this is not the dominion that is meant  in the prayer,    church, as the bride of Christ, is also the new Jerusalem,
"Thy kingdom come." In this kingdom He rules not by                   the everlasting capital of the kingdom of heaven. And the
force, but  by grace. He  is. enthroned not merely in the             church instituted on earth serves the cause of the kingdom
heavens,  l&t in the hearts of His subjects. In that kingdom          of God, especially through the preaching of the Word, the
His law is not merely an external rule of life, to which the          instruction of its members as citizens of the kingdom  of.
subjects indeed must conform themselves, which they are               heaven, and the gathering of all the citizens of the kingdom
obliged to obey, but which they also can and actually do              of God through the extension of the gospel to the uttermost
violate. But it is written. in the hearts of the subjects, so         parts of the earth. Nevertheless, the church and the king-
that they love to db His will, and have a delight in obeying          dom are closely related. The members of the church  are
His precepts. The King of this kingdom has a covenant with            also the citizens of the kingdom. They are the elect, the
His subjects. He is their  Friknd, Who is known and loved             believers in Christ. And the life of the kingdom be-
by all the citizens of the kingdom, who find their greatest           comes manifest only through, the members of the body of
delight in keeping His Word.                                          Christ. They have their unity in the same Christ, the King
        Such  is the kingdom of God referred to in the second         of the church and the Head of the body. Moreover, they
petition.                                                             imply the same spiritual blessings of grace, righteousness
        This kingdom of God, however, is also called the king-        and everlasting life. -Hence, the Catechism is certainly cor-
dom of Christ.                                                        rect when it interprets this second petition as  meaning  :
        Christ, the Son of- God in human nature, Who died for         "preserve and increase thy church ; destroy the works of the
our sins on the accursed tree, and was raised for our justifica-      devil, and all violence which would exalt itself against thee ;
tion, Who is exalted at the right hand of God the Father,             and-also, all wicked counsels devised against thy holy word."
and Who will come  ,again in glory, was anointed from                 For in the preservation of the church and in the destruction
before the foundation of the world to be the only visible             of the devil and the bringing to nought of all wicked counsels
representative of the invisible God, the chief Servant of the         devised against the gospel, the kingdom of God and its
Lord, as well as the Lord of all in the name of God, and              coming is being realized.
thus to be the Viceroy, the King under God, in His kingdom.              Christ, therefore;is  King in the kingdom of heaven.


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                              465

   It is through Christ as the King that ,God increases His        defend and to preserve  I-Iis church over against  all her
church and that He preserves her unto the' end,                    enemies.
   Christ as the exalted Lord, the King of His church,                Many enemies the church has in the world and tluougl~-
to Whom is given all power in heaven and on earth, in-             out all the history of it. And these enemies of the church
creases His church by gathering all the elect from the four        are powerful. And they are able to use many means tp reach
winds of heaven. He does this by His divine, efficacious           their purpose. Theirs are usually the wisdom and the power,
calling, through the preaching of  the gospel. For Christ is       th@ riches and the resources, the might and dominion oT this
the Son of God ifi the flesh, Who revealed the Father, Who         world. It is by way of exception that God's people are found
merited for His church all the blessings of salvation, Who         in high places. The world is in power. It is in a position
is exalted at the right hand of God, Who has received the          to employ various means and methods to seek the destruc-
promise of the Holy Spirit. And it is by His divine and            tion of the church and the destruction of the kingdom of
powerful Word, through His Spirit, that He increases His           heaven. Not only does the world attempt to entangle be-
church and gathers her out of the corrupt human race. Only         lievers in their false doctrine, to lead them astray from the
when He speaks His Word to the sinner does  he hear the            way of truth and righteousness. But they also make the
voice of the Good Shepherd, gathering the sheep which His          place of the faithful very narrow, take away their name and
Father gave Him. His is the mighty Word of God unto                their job, their place and their very bread, and fill them with
salvation, whereby the sinner is called out of darkness into       reproach, persecute them, leave them no standing room in
light, out of death into life, out of the natural fellowship of    the world, and kill them all the day long. Thus the world
the guilty and sinful human race into the fellowship of His        seeks t-o destroy the kingdom of God and the church of Christ
body, the communion of saints, the church of the living God.       Jesus our Lord. But she shall never succeed. The Lord of
And this divine and powerful Word reaches the sinner               the church, the King of the kingdom of God, Who loved and
through the preaching of the gospel. This does not imply           gave Himself for her, is Lord also of the world. He defends
that through this preaching the increase and gathering of the      and preserves His church against all her enemies. The ene-
church becomes the work of man. For we may literally say           mies cannot possibly touch them, but by His will and clirec-
that the gospel is Christ. And in the preaching of the gospel      tion. To be sure, it is the will of the Lord that believers
it  ig always He that speaks through it. And the gathering         shall suffer with Him, and that they fill the measure of His
of the church does not become the work of man when. the            suffering. But this defensive and preserving power of Christ
Lord commissions and calls the preachers of the gospel and         nevertheless keeps them in the midst of all tribulation and
institutes His church and gives unto her pastors and teachers,     suffering. The elect' shall never be deceived and finally fall
that throtigh  them the church may proclaim the gospel unto        away. The wicked world can  -attack  and can realize its
all nations: For without the King of the kingdom of heaven,        wicked devices to destroy the church only under the direction
there could be no preachers. It is He that calls and prepares      of Christ the Lord, Even, as Scripture instructs us, when
the preachers. It is He that sends them whithersoever  IHe         toward the very end the world will unite for a while under
will. And it is He that speaks through their preaching by          one head, and the man of sin appears, and under him the
His Spirit to gather His church. Even though it be through         forces of darkness will unitedly attack the true believers, the
the instrumentality of the preaching, therefore, the church is     power of Christ preserves the faithful  even unto the end.
always increased and gathered not by men, but by Christ,           And also this is implied in the prayer of the second petition:
the Son of God, through  l%s Spirit and Word. And there-           "Thy kingdom come."
fore we pray in this second petition of the Lord's Prayer:
"0 God of our salvation: gather and increase Thy church               The same kingdom of God, which is the kingdom  .of
through Jesus Christ, Who is exalted at Thy right hand.".          Christ, is also called the kingdom of heaven. In the very
   But it is also Christ that preserves His church, and de-        beginning of His ministry Jesus preached: "Repent: for the
fends her against all the powers of darkness.                      kingdom of heaven is at hand." Matt.  4:17. And with the
   Christ is King over all things in the whole world. All          same message He sent out His twelve disciples. Matt. lo:/`.
power is given unto Him in heaven and on earth at His              In the beatitudes He blessed the, poor in spirit because theirs
exaltation at the right hand of God. By Him God governs            -is the kingdom of heaven. Matt. 5 :3. And again, &Ie blesses
all things in heaven and on earth. He rules over the brute         them that are reviled and persecuted for righteousness' sake
creation, as well as over all the affairs of men. He governs       because theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Matt. 5 :lO. And in
and directs all matters of war and peace, of business and          verse 19 of the same chapter, the Lord teaches: "Whosoever
industry, of social and national  rand international relation-     therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and
ships. He even rules over the secret intents of the hearts of      shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom
men, and controls all their plans and counsels. He is King         of heaven': but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same
over all the powers of darkness, the devil and all his demons      shall be called great in the kingd,om  of heaven."
and all their secret devices. And this power He employs to                                                                   H.H.

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

  1)                                                                       ,I
  II                                                                              sayings of the Bible. To receive it and understand its mean-
                   F R O M   H O L Y   -WRIT                               II ing is a gift of Gbd. Surely that this is a gift of God does
  IL                                                                       "I -riot imply that only a few of God's children understand its
                                                                                  spiritual import. The church has received the Holy Spirit,
                     Exposition of Matthew 19:10-12                              and principally understands all things. Therefore when we
             Evil men and scoffers always contradicted Jesus. They               interpret this Word you who are Spiritually minded and not
* do this in spite of the fact that they are all convinced that                  simply natural man, you will say : that is the way I really
  Jesus  is no common teacher, but that he speaks as one                         always understood this passage -even though I did not al-
  having authority. Legion are the times that the scoffers and                   ways see this thus clearly from this Scripture passage. Hence,
  unbelievers of Jesus' day attempted to ensnare Him in His                      they to whom it is given to understand this passage are not a
  words. They do not really intend to wield the Sword of                         gifted fkw amongst the children of God, but all of God's
  the Spirit by rightly dividing the Word. Rather they are                       children, enlightened by the Spirit of Christ, understand.
 constantly engaged in a battle of words, in "Worter-krieg."                     Hence, not a few of a higher "spiritual order!' as. is the in-
 They do not come with the "thus. saith the Lord," neithe?                       terpretatidn of Romanism.
 do they bow-before the Word of the Lord. They  are  only                            Because God's people understand, the spiritual minded
 interested in their attempt at self-justification. Luke 16 :i.5.                will understand, we will try to interpret God's Word here
             Our Lord, Jesus Christ, never engages in mere  batt!e  of           without fear or favor. We will not help evil men justify
 words. He fights  the battle of  the  Word. He wields the                       themselves in the hardness-of their `hearts, but will listen to
 Sword of the Spirit unerringly. And he  lays all the secret,                    the infallible exegesis of Jesus of the Scriptures of this point,
 evil thoughts of men bare. And His word is sharper thqn                         to His fearless application to life, laying low all the evil
 any two-edged  sword-  and passes through to the dividing                       inventions of men. For what has become the accepted CLIS-
 asunder of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Hear  him                     tams  of men in regard to marriage and divorce in the Courts
 say : "Ye are they that justify yourselves in the sight of men ;                of our land and in the "popular" thinking is an abomination
 but God  knoweth  your hearts ; for that which is exalted                       before God! And when church counsels begin to write very
 among men is an abomination in the sight of God."  Luke                         learned(  ?) reports of this question and set aside the simple
 16:15.                                                                          teaching of the text, evidencing ,that it is not given to them
             Underneath  the attempt to ensnare Jesus in His Words               to understand this word, then that refined learning is too an
 is the desire and futile purpose of breaking the bands of                       abomination unto the Lord!
 Christ's Word as He convicts of sin, righteousness and of                           For the Word  stands:   What God hath joined together,
 judgment. Hence, they wrest all of the Scriptures to their                      let no man put asunder ! Matt. 19 :6.
own destruction, and would stop the mouth of the chief                              And so we stand before the task of interpreting this
 Prophet who came to reveal unto us the secret counsel of                        Scripture passage ; nay, better still, we must simply listen to
 God concerning our redemption.                     _                            Jesus' interpretion of the Scriptures, bowing our neck under
             That was true of these false prophets along the whole               the easy yoke and light b&den of Christ.
 line of the law of God as the rule for Christian thankfulness.                                           * 9  I  *
 But this was, in the case of our Scripture passage, particularly
 true when it came to the matter of the question of giving a                        The disciples present a certain question of exegesis and
 wife a writing of divorcement. Then the "hardness of your                       of ethical importance to Jesus.  They ask the very clear-cut
 hearts" certainly revealed itself with equal force and in-                      question whether it is "permissible" for a man to put away
 tensity to that of the stiff-necked fathers in the wilderness.                  his wife for every cause. They bring up this question  not
 And when the Word of God is maintained `by Christ, when                         because they have put off all malice and envy and evil
 the original ordinance of God is maintained by Christ, then                     speaking, and thus hunger for the pure milk of the word to
 even the "flesh" in the'disciples of Christ manifests itself so                 grow thereby, but rather to catch Jesus in His Words.
 that they say: "If the case of a man is so with his wife, it                       This was a very evil question. Its formulation reminds
 is not expedient to marry." They argue that they would                          us of the first evil question that was ever directed to man
 then rather play the safe side and riot be married at all.                      on earth by the Serpant in Paradise. He said: may you not
             It is at this point that Jesus comes with the seeming dark          eat of any trees at all. He said this to tempt Eve. And so it
 saying as recorded in Matthew 19 :lO-12, which `reads : `Not                    is here. May we put away our wives for any cause ? Those
 a.11 men can receive this saying, but they to whom it ,is given.                who ask the question seem deeply concerned about the evil
 For there are  Eunuclzs  thwt were so born  from their  mother's.               of "lightly putting away  bf a man's wife." They are the
 womb: and there be Eunuchs  that  Were  uiade  Eztftuchs by                     orthodos, they are the.menewho  take the law of God serious:
 men;  amd  there be Eunuchs  thnt  mgde themselves Eunuchs                      ly  I Oh, they are not opposed to putting away of a wife-
 for  tlz'e  kingdom.oof  heaven's sake. He that is able  to receive             if the reason is good. But they do not will to do this for
 it let  him receive it."                                                        every cause. Very righteous men these are, one would say!
        This saying of Jesus seems to belong to the very dark                    They must. be sure about the meaning of the text.


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                 467
                      -..._ --_-

     What text?                                                      an earlier and .a all-determining passage, "grundleggund" in
     They have in mind the word of God through Moses in              character and a later passage which Moses gave as the law-
 Deuteronomy 24:1-4  where we read: "When a man taketh               g i v e r !
 a wife, and marrieth her, then it shall be, if she find no favor        This latter passage was given not as something con-
 in his eyes, be$ause he hath found some unseemly thing in           structive and normative in the life of the Christian in a
 her (uncleanness) that he shall write her a bill of divorce-        normal world and life, but it was given for the sake of the
 ment, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house.       "hardness of your hearts !" This provision in Deut. 24 :l is
 land when she is departed out of this house, she  maj, go           a indictment, it is a accusation. Forsooth, it belongs to that
 and be another man's wife. And if the latter husband hate           part of the Scriptures which is a "handwriting against us."
her, and write her a. bill of divorcement and give it in her         One must always say where one sees a writing of divorce:
 hand, and send -her out of his house ; or if the latter husband     here was and is the callousness of heart, and insensibility for
 die who took her to be his wife ; her former husband, who           the things of the Spirit and of the kingdom of heaven.
 sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after             The former passage is the norm of the perfect life of the
 that she is defiled,  for that is abomination before Jehovah:       regenerate child of God. And that is to be the norm of our
 and thou shall not cause the land to sin, which Jehovah thy         life. Here there is not accusation against us. It was not given
 God giveth' thee for an inheritance."                               for the sake of the hardness of the. heart, but rather it was
     There were really two known and accepted interpretations        given as the inner law of the Spirit of life in the niarriage  tie.
 of this passage at the time of J&us.                                And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away then that
     There was the  schoo!  of Hillel. These hkld  that` the         one jot or tittle of this fundamental ordinance would even
 phrase "if she find no favor in his eyes" referred. to the fact     p&s away.
 that if later a man found that wife was not as pretty as                We will write more about this in a future article. In the
 she  tised to be, or if she had burned his biscuits, he could       meantime, dear reader, think about this question: Did Jesus
 give her a bill of divorcement. This was the liberal school. Of     come into the world to make Deut. 24:l a reality? Or is the
 course, such was not the interpretation of the pharisees.           reality of Deut.  24:l such that it all was a handwriting which
     These was also the school of Shammai. This was the              Christ must nail to the Cross with His .own blood, in order
 more orthodox school. They were more exact ivith the text           that we as the church might in thankfulness to God once
 in Deut. 24:l and insisted that Moses only has reference to         more live according to Gen, 2 :24 ?
 adultery  tihen  he spoke of a man finding something dis-               He that is able to understand this let him answer!
 pleasing in his wife. Surely Jesus would have to agree with                                                                       G.1,
 them, one would think. One might still argue in a casuistic                                     -        -
 way  a> to what really constitutes adultery, where the very
 act begins on a pharisaic basis, yet they were, one would                                QUESTION BOX;
 think, on the right track. And, incidently, experience teaches
 us that there be many of these "pharisees," orthodox sticklers          P.K. of Grand Rapids, Mich. asks :
 for the correct rendering of the text in Deut. 24:1, in God's           Is it principally and fundamentally wrong to have a
-. church even today. Divorcing a man's wife - well only in          sermon recording in divine worship if it is impossible to
 the case of adultery! And then that is the final and only           obtain either a minister, candidate or student for divine wor-
 consideration - and men justify themselves with this word           ship ?
 of Moses.                                                               Answer :
     However, Christ. brings up another consideration from              "Principally and fundamentally wrong;" That is strong
 the Word of God as the chief Prophet, who reveals unto us           language. It leaves the impression as if there was a debate
 the full Counsel of God concerning our redemption. -The             about this question and some maintained that there is, in-
 Word of God to which Christ refers is an earlier Word of            deed, something "fundamentally and principally  wrDng"
 the Lord spoken already to Adam and Eve in Paradise in              with recording a sermon in divine wbrship. Hence, I wish
 the "beginning." It is the passage recorded in -Genesis 2 :23,      that the questioner had produced the arguments against it.
 24; where we read : "And Jehovah caused a deep sleep to fall        As it is now, I cannot see the wrong of, it, provided the
 upon the man, and he slept; and he took one of his ribs, and        sermon recorded is by one of our own ministers and the
closed up the flesh instead thereof: and the rib, which Jehovah      preaching of it proceeds from the consistory. The chief
 God had taken from the man, made he a women and brought             question is: will and can Christ speak His own Word to the
her unto the man. And the man said: this is now bone of              assembled congregation through a sermon that is either
my bones and flesh of my flesh, and she shall be called woman,       preached, read, or recorded  ? And this question I answer
because she was taken out of the man. Therefore shall a man          positively. The sermons that are "preached" over the radio
lea.ve  I& father  and  mother, and shall cleave to his  mnfe and    are also  mbstly  recorded. And I can see no difference be-
 they  shall be  one flesh."                                         tween this and recording a sermon in divine worship.
    Mark you well, dear reader. Two Scriptures passages                                                                           H.H.


,468                                            THE.STANDAKD   B E A K E R

                                                                        experience -that .there are mothers and fathers living today
                  I N   H I S   F E A R .                               who, having punished their children severely for attending
                                                                        the movie,  today can hardly be torn away from their tele-
                                                                        vision sets when the films of these sawLe movies and of even
                  A Snare for Our Children                              more corrupt ones are shown today. The entertainment of'
                                                                        the movie house was condemned. The same entertainment
                                   (4                                   thru the medium of television is eagerly sought.       z
        A Roman Catholic, given the opportunity to teach your              Grandma and Grandpa, who were so strict about these
                                                                             ;;. <-
children, will instruct them in Roman Catholicism.                      things for their own children, now set a snare for their
        There can be no doubt about that.                               grandchildren by taking them into the movie house of their
        A Protestant, hired to teach your children, will give in-       living room with its television set!
struction that reveals the Protestant position.                            But to return to our line of thought. The tree of sin
        And he will do so in opposition to the Roman Catholic           which was sown in Paradise is bringing  fo&h more and
position.                                                               more corrupt fruit ; and the fruit is becoming more poisonous
        An unbeliever, having your children  before  him for in-        and spiritually bitter as time rushes past us.
struction, will transmit to them instructipn that is colored by            In a little more than one thousand years sin had developed
his unbelief.                                                           so fast that it was ready for the judgment of the flood. Ancl
        He will do so in opposition both to the Roman Catholic          thru the flood God delivered His church from that corrupt
and to the Protestant position. He will oppose all the                  world that sin had produced. That sin had developed so fast
"faiths" in his teaching,                                               is undoubtedly due to a great part to the fact that men lived
        These are cold, hard facts. Psychologically, evep, it is        to be as much as nine hundred years old before they died.
extremely difficult, if not even impossible, for j man to give          They were able to teach their evil "tricks" and sinful pradtices
instruction from a diferent viewpoint than that of his own              not only to their children and grandchildren ; they were able
faith or unbelief.                                                      to teach the grandchildren of their great-grandchildren ! They
        It is, therefore, and amazing phenomenon wheti  a Prot-         were able  .to lay a snare not only for their immediate off-
estant, who sees the snare for his children in exposing them            spring but to draw the net tight for several generations that
to Roman Catholic doctrine  ancl teaching, dares to expose              their offspring would, beget.
them to the teachings of unbelief. A false belief that ad-                 Principally the case is the same today. Men do not live
vocates image worship frightens him. But unbelief, that                 to the ripe old age of nine hundred years anymore. But the
denies the cross of Christ and presents it as nothing more              influence of ungodly men, of false teachers, of heretics and
than a martyr's death, he considers safe for his children.              of the servants of the devil is becoming increasingly wider in
        If it were true in the past 2 and it was ever since the fall    its scope. Today the means of propagating the lie, of spread-
of man in Paradise -it is even more so true today that to               ing it far and wide are so highly developed. Today evil
give your children over to tlie world for instruction five days         practices may so quickly and easily be taught to the whole
a  .week  in the philosophies of Atheism, Evolutionism,                 world. The printing press, the radio, the television not only
Modernism and the like is laying a snare for your children.             serve in this evil propogating of sin, vice, false doctrines
Unbelief is rooted in the sable  evil principle that image wor-         and the like but the means of transportation which make the
ship is : Jehovah.is  not God !                                         world so small also serve in the development of sin. -
        Whether  y&u say that by setting up an idol to worship             The idols of the world-not simply of the land in which
in His place ; or whether you say that by ruling Him out of             we are citizens but of the whole world  - are dangled before
all things and out of your life, it makes no difference. You            the eyes of ,our children in countless number of ways.
lay the same snare for your children. You set a trap for                And shall we approve of them. by sending our children
them to turn their backs upon Him and condetiln a walk in               to the schools of the ungodly to be taught further in regard
H i s   .fear.                                                          to these things?  Do we dare to send our children to the
        Because by nature we are children of our age, we easily         world that the mental images of their antichristian philoso-
lose the perspective. And today out life is such a mad rush             phies may be made still more alluring to them ?
that we hardly find time to look batik and compare the past                Would we dare, then, tell the All-wise and Sovereign
with the present. But the Scriptures a'r& still there, to relnitid      God that we do this in order to bring up our children in
us and teach us that always from the sowing of the seed of              His fear?                               . ,
sin in Paradise, thru all time and until the man of sin ap-                The  civil"?ourts in our land  wotild take hold of parents
pears, there is a continual development of sin. Our present             who  mixed'.:p+son with the food which they served their
age IS more evil than the preceding one. There can be no                children. They will also hold guilty those parents who sent
doubt about that either.                                                their children to others to be poisoned by them. Will the
        3neplittle  observation from life today will suffice to show    Holy One of Israel, then, approve of our action of sending
that. We make bold to state-by personal  obseivation  and               our children to those who can do nothing else but poison the


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                   469

minds of our children in regard to His sovereignty, justice ?        world. The beast in Rev. 13 had seven heads and ten horns.
They simply do not believe these truths of His sovereignty,          Five of these. heads were  ; one is and the seventh -the
justice, grace and glory themselves. How can they give any           antichrist-still  cometh.  To that kingdom of the antichrist
instruction other than according to their own unbelief which         all history is leading. I&s kingdom will be the climax of all
is spiritual poison to the minds of the child of God.                the kingdoms of this earth ; borrowing the strongest points
   The world simply repeats in word of instruction and in            of each and for a brief time overcoming all the weaknesses
deed the words of godless Pharaoh: "Who is the Lord that             of those. that served to bring it forth.
I should obey him?" That principle permeates all the                     To present the history of this world apart from Christ
teaching  /of the world even tho it may allow- (but never            and His kingdom, apart from His birth, death, resurrection
demands and advocates) a little Bible reading and prayer in          and ascension to receive power in heaven and earth over
the school room.                                                     ALL things is to give antichristian instruction.
   Its books and its instruction does not present Him as the             Shall we enroll our children in the schools of the anti-
God of history. Christ does not come to His own in the               christ ?
history class of the schools of the world  ; even tho this is            Shall we lay a snare for them to be entrapped in philoso-
called a Christian nation. A few words may be devoted to             phies that cry for his appearance and defend him as the
that period of history of the Roman Empire when Christ               saviour of this world  ? Especially today, when man fears
lived, died and rose again the third day. However that               that he has the power to wipe out civilization with his
resurrection, you may be sure, will not be presented as a            hydrogen and cobalt bombs, the world begins to cry for a
historical fact and as the firstfruits of them that sleep. It        saviour of mankind. And the schools of the world will strive
will not receive the emphasis that it deserves as one of the         to inculcate into your children the need and the glory of
most important historical events. that this world has seen.          such a man.
The discovery of America will outshine it. The invention                 Christ, the Prince of Peace, will. more and more be
of the steam engine, the cotton gin, electricity, the atomic         presented as a dismai failure. No, not in so many words.
bomb will in that instruction overshadow this event that             That is the devilishness and the antichristianity of it. The
signifies for the church of Jesus Christ her justification before    children of the world (and yours, if you send them there)
God and pledge of eternal glory.                                     will be taught the need of someone else: the antichrist.
   Kingdoms, their rise and fall, their rulers and traitors,             Shall we strive to defend that snare for our children?
their victories and defeats will receive much attention. But         Shall we throw down this article in disgust and defend the
Christ, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords who now                  antichristian snare  ?  Shali  we philosophize that a little poison
"has dominion over land and sea" and His kingdom are                 will not  kiil  them?
brushed aside as so much mythology. Christ does not come                 Let us walk in His fear.
to His own except in a  Christian  School. And the school
that does not so present history so that Christ comes to His             And walking in His fear let us take our children by the
own is not a Christian School.                                       hand and bring them where Christ is properly recognized
                                                                     and taught as the Lord of Lord's and king of kings, the
   We will not take the time to show the difference be-              Prince of Peace, the Saviour of His Church.                     t
tween the Christian School instruction and the schools of                                                                       J&H:
the world in the other subjects that are taught. We simply
want to emphasize that the school wherein Christ does not
come to His own is an antichristian school. What is not for
God and His Christ is against Him and His Christ. -The                                          OF GRACE
schools of the world are not neutral when they fail to teach                             (Co&w-d  front page 463)
Him and show the importance of His birth, cross and resur-           grace," except in the Arminian sense of the word, and that
rection for the history of this world. They are not neutral          therefore the Synod of the Chr. Ref. Churches in 1924 .erred
when they ignore Him. They are positively antichristian              and began to sail into Arminian waters, when they never-
and their teaching is and must be in the service of the rearing      theless tried to prove from the Confessions that the theory
up of the antichrist. It is, therefore, also becoming in-            of common grace is Reformed.
creasingly plain that the schools of -the .world  are going to           I would have liked to develop these several propositions
instruct their children  (God' forbid that they do so Zion's         a little more elaborately. But I am afraid that already I
children) as to the position and worth of the godless unions         occupy too much space  in  Torch  and  Trumpet.  And there-
(and presently the justifiablity of the mark of the beast).          fore, with thanks for the opportunity offered me, I will now
   Let us not .forget that the kingdom of the antichrist will        close, and sign myself
be part of the history of this world. Let us likewise re-                 Yours for the development .and preservation
member that he comes as the product of the developments                                 of the -Reformed Truth,
of the several kingdoms that have been and now are in the                                                             H. Hoeksema

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

 1.                                                                 position. It could not claim apostolic origin. However, tradi-
            Contending For The Faith                           I tion relates that the evangelist, Mark, was- active in its
                                                                    founding. Besides,  .it was the second largest city in the
                                                                    Empire, the greatest seat of learning and culture, and for
            The Church and the Sacraments                           centuries far more splendid than Rome itself. There, too,
                                                                    flourished a famous theological school, in which' Origin, the
       VIEWS DURING THE SECOND PERIOD (300-750 A.D.)                greatest scholar of the Church up to that time, had taught.
                                                                    Hence, Alexandria's position and background enable us to
                 THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH                         understand the strategic importance of its bishop or patri-
                                                                    arch.
                             THE PAPACY.                               Another church which was held in high esteem was the_
       We concluded our preceding article with the observation      church in Constantinople. This city had been founded as a
that the bishop of Rome began to occupy the leading posi-           Greek colony. Constantine the Great, the first "Christian"
tion in the whole Church, and that this- was not difficult to       emperor, head changed his residence from Rome to this city.
understand. Various circumstances united to bring this to           This explains why the town was renamed in his honour and
pass. It is now our purpose to trace this amazing phe-              called Constantinople, it previously having been known as
nomenon, the rise and development of the papacy, as set forth       Byzantium. Constantinople owed its importance solely to
by Philip  Schaff  in his History of the Christian Church.          the fact that in it was located the residence of the emperor.
However, before we begin with this a few general observa-           However, this constituted a sufficient reason why its bishop
tions may be in order which will throw considerable light           should occupy a commanding position in the Church.
upon this amazing development.                                         Last, but hardly least, is Rome. Rome was the first city
       It is understandable that the bishops of big churches in     in the Empire. Not only  .is it true that Paul had labored
the_ large cities should be regarded as of higher rank than         there, but tradition has it that the church at Rome was
the bishops of smaller churches. These bishops of the larger        founded by the apostle Peter (this tradition is unfounded).
churches came to be called  metropo1ita.n  bishops.  In the         To that apostle, it is claimed, Christ had entrusted the keys
course of time the churches of five of the cities came to be        of the Kingdom of Heaven, and Peter had transmitted the
regarded as having very special importance. These cities            power of the keys of the Kingdom to the bishop of Rome.
were Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, Constantinople, and            In almost every controversy the churches, in the east, as well
Rome. The bishops in these cities came to be called  patri-         as in the west, had appealed to the bishop of Rome. In the
aTchs. And it happened that the bishop of Rome gradually            great controversies about the person and nature of Christ,
began to have more influence than the other four.                   orthodoxy had gained the victory because of the influence of
       The church in Jerusalem was naturally held in high           the West under the leadership of the bishop of Rome.
esteem. In Jerusalem Christ had been crucified, had risen           Jerusalem was no longer a leader among the churches, and
-again, and had ascended to heaven. In Jerusalem the Holy           its voice bore no weight in the controversies. There was
Spirit had been poured out into the Church on Pentecost.            always the keenest rivalry between the patriarchs of Antioch,
Jerusalem was, historically, the beginning of the Church of         Alexandria, Constantinople for supremacy, and none of them
God as it developed in the New Dispensation. It was the             was willing to acknowledge the supremacy of the bishop of
mother church. And the mother church is always held in              Rome. However, in their struggle for supremacy they often
high esteem.                                                        sought the support of the bishop of Rome. The same Council
       The case of the church at Antioch was entirely different.    of Chalcedon which permanently crippled the power of the
In Antioch the followers of Jesus were first called Christians.     patriarch of Alexandria, adopted a canon which declared the
There, as well as in Jerusalem, Paul had labored. There             patriarch of Constantinople to be of the same dignity as the
the work of missions among the gentiles had its beginning.          bishop at Rome. This proves indeed that the bishop of Rome
Antioch is known as the first missionary church. Hence, the         was not viewed as the supreme bishop. In fact, we may say
church at Antioch occupied a tremendously important posi-           that against the canon ~of the Council of Chalcedon, which
tion as far as its relation to the gentiles is concerned. It is     declared the patriarch of Constantinople to be of equal
the mother church of a multitude of churches in Asia Minor          dignity with the bishop of Rome, Pope Leo I vainly pro-
and in Greece. It had .-many notable bishops, and it had also       tested. This Leo I died in 461. Is it not remarkable that, at
become the seat of an important school of theological thought.      this late date, he should protest in vain  ? The Roman
Besides, next to Alexandria Antioch was the largest and             Catholic Church can derive little comfort from this.
most important city in the East, and the third city in size            We know, I am sure, the Scriptural claims which the
and importance in the entire Roman Empire. It is not dif-           Roman Catholic Church advances in support of the papacy.
ficult to understand why  the,partriarch  of Antioch should be      The belief grew that the church at Rome had been founded
regarded with  tremendqusly  high esteem.                           by the apostle Peter. Had not Christ said to him: "Feed
       The church at Alexandria also occupied an important          My sheep, feed My lambs"? Had the apostle, therefore, not


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                              471

  been put in charge of the entire flock ? Moreover, to Peter         Fourthly, the position of the bishop at Rome was greatly
 had been entrusted the power of the keys of the Kingdom of        affected by the Mohammedan conquests. This  series  of'
 Heaven. Consequently, that Peter was first in importance          Mohammedan. conquests was finally concluded at Tours;
  among the apostles was generally beligved at that time, and      France, in 732. Prior to this date, however, these barbarians
  the idea grew that the bishops of Rome were the successors       had..swept  in from the  ,East and nothing had been able to
 of Peter, who was fabled to have been the first pope.             resist them. They had  swept through Syria, Palestina, and
     Moreover; the position of the Pope at Rome was                Egypt, and had  remov2d  forever the patriarchs of  Antioch,
 strengthened by the course of history. Circumstances in a         Jerusalem, and Alexandria as rivals to the bishop of Rome.
 very remarkable way favored the growth of the papal power.        This Mohanimedan conquest had swept through North
  The whole chain of historical events of that time seemed to      Africa and removed the bishop of Carthage as a possible
 lead to a gathering of authority in the bishopric at Rome:        rival in the West- to the bishop of Rome. It crossed over
 Let us briefly review these steps.                                into Europe at the Straits of Gibraltar and swept. through
     First, the barbarians who .invaded  Italy had  corn; under    Spain. This mighty invader crossed the Pyrennees into
 the spell of Rome. Rome finally fell in the year, 476, al-        France and was finally halted at Tours, France, in the year,
 though it had been invaded and plundered already some             732. The Mohammedans finally retreated into North Africa,
 sixty five years earlier. These barbbrians had embraced           leaving ruin and destruction in their wake. But, removing
  Christianity and stood in awe of the bishops of Rome. We         forever the patriarchs of Jertisalem,  Antioch, and Alexandria
 must bear in mind that when the emperor had been unable           (Constantinople was the sole exception)) they had greatly
 to protect the people from the barbarian invaders, the un-        increased the power of the bishop of Rome.
 armed bishop of Rome. had been able to shield them to a              One more factor  -contributed  heavily toward the establish-
 certain extent from the worst excesses of the barbarians.         ment of the papacy. .This amazing phenomenon tias also aided
  Pope Leo I had been able to restrain, in a measure at least,     by deceit. Documents known as the "Donation of Constan-
 th'c fierce Attila and the wrath of the Vandal chief. Rome's      tine" and the "Isidorian Dedretals" greatly aided the Pope
 difficulties and troubles certainly served, therefore, to         at Rome. The former was a document, issued by Con-
 strengthen the position of the bishop of Rome in the eyes and     stantine the `Great, in which, upon leaving Rome, he-ordered
esteem of the people. And we may rest assured that these           all office-holders in the Church to be subject to the pope
 bishops were not negligent in their efforts to take full ad-      and his successors upon the papal throne, and, furthermore,
 vantage of this.                                                  he also transferred to the popes the city of Rome and all the
     Secondly, the destruction of the Roman Empire by the          provinces, districts, and cities of Italy and of the western
 barbarians gave another- tremendous boost to papal author-        regions. The "Isidorian Decretals" purposed to show that
 ity, This is not difficult to understand. There was no longer     all the rights claimed by the popes in the ninth century had
 an emperor in Rome to overshadow the bishop. His com-             been  esercised  by the popes from the earliest times. We
 petition no longer existed. The pope now stood alone. The         need not discuss these do-cuments  at this time. They will be
 bishop of Rome now held the most important office in the          discussed, the Lord willing, when we discuss the following         .
 entire West. The destruction of the Empire (Rome finally          period of the history of doctrine. We may remark' at this
 fell in 476) certainly aided the bishop of Rome tremendously      time that both documents are false. They have been proven
 in his quest for power.                                           to be false. Greater frauds than these documents are hardly
     Thirdly, another important factor which strengthened the      conceivable. But, people accepted `them as true for many
 position of the Pope at Rome was the work of the mission-         centuries. And they certainly contributed heavily to the
 aries who were sent out from Rome. Churches.were founded          position of the popes in the midst of the Church. The Lord
 among many tribes in the northern part of Europe. And             willing, we purpose to trace this amazing development of
 these missionaries were sent out from Rome. The great             the papacy in several subsequent articles as set forth by
 misionary, Boniface (he was killed in the year, 754,              Philip  Schaff  in his History of the Christian Church.
 by the Frisians in what is now the little city of  Dok-                                                                      H.Y.
 kum, at the age of 73), the Apostle of Germany, had stood
 in very close relation to the bishop of Rome, and had carried
 on his mission work in his name. And it is not difficult to
 understand how this served to increase the strength and                               A n n o u n c e m e n t
 prestige of the. bishop at Rome. A person who is convicted           The Theological School of the Protestant Reformed
 by God under the preaching of a certain pastor will always
 regard that pastor very highly. The churches which had            Churches will, the Lord willing, resume its sessions on Sep-
 been founded through the labors of the Roman missionaries         tember 14. 1955.
 naturally regarded with gratitude amounting to veneration                                                           The Rector.
 the head of the church in Rome, which had sent these mis-
 sionaries to them.


  472                                             T H E   STAN.DARD   BEA,RER

                                                                      him, of course, to discover his meaning. This general and
             The Voice of Our FathersII                               indefinite election had no reference to certain definite per-
                                                                      sons, but concerned men in general and certain indefinite
                                                                      persons, even though ii: did not mention men at all. but con-
                   The Canons of Dordrecht                            sisted in an election of certain conditions. We will give more
                              PART  -TWO                              detailed attention to this in connection with Artcle  III. The
                                                                      insidious character of this error, however, was that it al-
                     EXPOSITION OF THE CANONS                         lowed the Arminian to say that God's election was sure.
                      FIRST HEAD OF DOCTRINE         L                He would mean, of course, "sure" in the sense that the
                     OF DIVINE PREDESTINATION                         reward of eternal life was surely attached to the fulfillment
                    REJECTIONS OF ERRORS                              bf the necessary conditions. In the second place, the Arminian
                                                                      might also have in mind. a "particular and definite" election.
                        Article II (continued)                        Again, you would have to ask him in order to discover his
         When qne reads this description of the Arminian doctrine     meaning. Under this "kind" of election he could even speak
  of election, it is not difficult to understand that the fathers     of. God choosing certain definite persons in distinction from
  felt constrained to add to their positive presentation of the       others, so that, unless you investigated his real meaning, you
  truth a negative section. For  the. treacherous part of the         might bk deceived into thinking he was Reformed. Of these
  Arminian position consisted exactly in this, that while they        things  the fourth and fifth articles of rejection speak, as
  retained the zerord "election," they did  not at all retain the     weli as the sixth ; and we shall note the details at the proper
  Scriptural and Reformed concept of `election ; and thus they        time. These certain definite persons were those, of course,
  were able to deceive and to confuse people. Their false doc-        whom God foresaw as meeting the conditions of salvation.
  trine, therefore, stood, and still stands; in need of being ex-     But wait a moment ! The Arminian conception of election is
  posed.                                                              well-nigh a dodtrinal  maze, through which' one finds his w;y
         The fundamental error mentioned in this article of rejec-    only with difficulty. Even this particular and definite elec-
  tion is that the Arminians taught a manifold election. The          tion, though in some cases it may be complete (ending in
  result of this teaching of various kinds of election was am-        eternal life), irrevocable (not being recalled and revoked at
  biguity, of course. Whenever the Arminian spoke of election,        -the last moment), decisive (so that it definitely means that
  it was necessary to inquire whether he really meant that one        you are of God's saved ones)? and absolute (not uncertain
  was chosen unto everlasting life. and `glory, or whether he         and conditional, that is, after the last condition has been met
  merely mouthed the term, meanwhile reducing the idea of             at least), might, on the other  .hand,  be incomplete (so that
  divine election to nothing, or less than nothing. For, you          you never reach the goal), revocable (so that you  epd a
  understand too; the Arminian would not present a nicely             reprobate), non-decisive (so that it determines nothing at
  outlined scheme of his doctrine of election such as the fathers     all concerning your final state), and conditional (so that the
_ present here in the Rejectjon of  &roys. Then, of course,           decision still remains in your hands). To be sure, the  Ar-
  there would have been little difficulty in discerning their         minian  does not explain how in any real sense such an
  error. But the scheme which the fathers here outline, though        election dan be particular and definite. He does not, because
  frequently left unexpressed by the  Arminian heretic, was           he cannot. For in last instance, the only kind of election that
  nevertheless in his mind when he spoke so freely of election,       he really knows is one that is general and indefinite, and
  and it was the scheme which logically enabled him to present        which is for that very reason no election whatsoever. And
  the error of freewillism and conditional salvation. You can         thus, finally, with the above scheme the Arminian is able
imagine the confusion and difficulty  til$ch this caused.             to'speak  also of one election unto faith, which has a Reformed
  People would hear a Reformed preacher denounce the                  sound, but of another election, that is, an election of a
  Arminians for their denial of election. .-And then, probably        different sort, unto  Sal&ion..  The result is that he could
  from the same pulpit  even, they would hear an Arminian             play such doctrinal "hocus-pocus" that he would actually
  preacher  freely speak of election. And: not comprehending          end by maintaining that though a man was chosen unto
  the clever arid intricate scheme of a manifold  election which      justifying faith, that is, faith by which we are judged right-
  lay behind the Arminian preaching, people would be greatly          eous before God in Christ, nevertheless that did. not neces-
  troubled, and would begin to wonder whether  the Arminians          sarily mean that he would be among the saved on the day
  were not being falsely accused, and perhaps they would  .even       of judgment.- It would then be an election unto justifying
  be inclined to sympathize with those "poor, misunderstood           faith without. being a decisive election unto salvation.
  men." For after all, what heretic worthy of mention ever
  comes "wearing wooden shoes  ?'                                        By this time one may well say that any resemblance be-
     But now notice all that is involved when the Arminian            tween the above and the Scriptural teaching of election is
 speaks of election. First of all, he might have in mind a            strictly coincidental. So thoroughly did the Arminians cor-
  "general and indefinite" e&ion. You would have to ask
                                   .                                  rupt the true doctrine of election in this scheme that it is


                                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                473

 neither necessary nor, I would almost say, possible to ~quote                     saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not  ac:
 Scripture to refute them.  - One is well-nigh at a loss as to                     cording to our works, but according to his own
where he must begin his criticism. Evidently the fathers felt                      purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ
this, and saw, moreover, that once this clever scheme is set                       Jesus before times eternal." II Tim.  1:9.
forth in plain language, it is so evidently false that no argu-            In this third article of rejection the fathers elaborate on
ment is necessary. They condemn it as  "a fancy of men's               the Arminian heresy of a "general and indefinite" election,
minds." They make bold to say that it is invented "regard-             already rejected in Article II. By way of distinguishing, we
less of the Scriptures," -thought up outside the bounds of             may say that the present article rejects the error of con-
Scripture, as  .the Dutch has it. In other words, when the             ditional salvation,  while the next article rejects the error
Arminian corruption of the doctrine of election is preached,           of  conditional  elechon.  As we have had occasion to remark
or underlies the preaching, you hear. not the Word oi God,             bef&e,  the two errors are logically inseparable. It is simply
but the word of man! In our day this boldness of the fathers           impossible that the fathers could combat conditional election
to call an error by its correct name is almost unknown. In-            without combatting conditional salvation, even though the
stead error is excused and covered up by the sickly claim              contrary has been alleged also in our own recent controversy.
that the proponents of this false doctrine are "sincere and            Logically, since salvation has its source in election, if salva-
.pious students of the Scriptures, who put many a Reformed             tion is conditional, then election must needs also be condi-
man to shame." But let him who claims to be Reformed,                  tional ; .and if election is unconditional, then salvation must
who claims to be a Calvinist, yea, who claims to acknowledge           also be unconditional. This consequence cannot be avoided.
the Scriptures as the only infallible rule of faith and practice,      That this is true is very evident in  the present article. For
imitate the fathers of Dordt, then, and condemn that which             while it rejects the idea that the act of faith, as well as its
is invented "regardless of the Scriptures."                            incomplete. obedience, is a condition of salvation, on the
    Nor, mark you well, is all this without practical signific-        ground that it ennervates the merits of Christ and the grace
ance as far as the people of God are concerned. The fathers            of justification, it at the same time speaks of the good
point this out when they accuse the Arminians here of                  pleasure and purpose of God. And it insists that also his
breaking the golden chain of our salvation, that is, the chain         truth is denied, and the good pleasure of God made of none
which inseparably links predestination and glorification,              effect.
through calling and justification, with eternally and divinely             The error that is here rejected is not difficult to under-
-forged links. Actually, of course, that chain cannot be               stand. It contains the following elements:
broken. Doctrinal and conceptually however, the Arminians                  1) God indeed has a good pleasure and a purpose. Again,
do break it by corrupting'the truth of election.  .And when            let it be rioted,  .we have to do  here with Scriptural terms,
this is done in the preaching, the child of God is cut adrift          which the Arminians could not very well' ignore, lest their
as far as his assurance is concerned. This the Reformed                heretical tendencies should be too obvious. The fathers also
fathers discerned, and about it they were concerned at the             point to this in the words, "of which Scripture makes men-
Great Synod. And, practically viewed, this is always at                tion in the doctrine of election."
stake in the Reformed controversy against the Arminians.                   2) This good pleasure and purpose of God, however,
    In conclusion, we emphasize our opening remark under               does not  consist in an election of certain persons  rather
this second article : who has a simple gospel, -the Arminian,          than others. Here the idea of a general and indefinite elec-
with his error of various kinds of election, oi- the Reformed          tion is negatively introduced. In this part of the Arminian
man, with his Scriptural teaching that there is but one                doctrine, therefork, one could not speak of  .elect persons
decree `of election ?                                                  and reprobate persons.
                                                                           3) When establishing His elective purpose and good
         Article III. Who teach: That the good pleasure and            pleasure, God was faced by a choice of all possible conditions
            purpose of God, of which Scripture makes mention
            in the doctrine of election, does not consist in this,     unto salvation. There was the condition of perfect obedience,
            that God chose certain persons rather than others,         the condition of the works of the law, the condition  of, the
            but in this, that he chose out of all possible condi-      act of faith, the condition of the imperfect obedience of faith.
            tions (among which are also the works of the law),.        And thus there  tias "the whole order of things" from which
            or out of the whole order of `things, the act of faith,    God could make a choice in establishing a condition unto
            which from its very nature is undeserving, as well as      salvation. God's good pleasure, therefore, consists in  chaos-
            its incomplete obedience, as a condition of salvation,
            and that he would graciously consider this in itself       ing  one condition rather than another. And whoever fits
            as a complete obedience and count it worthy of the         into that conditional scheme, or rather fits himself into it,
            reward of eternal life. For by this injurious error        shall be elect; whoever does not shall be reprobate. No one
            the pleasure of God and .the merits of  .Christ are        does God  cali by name from eternity. He merely deter-
            made of none elect, and men are drawn away by              mines upon the condition of salvation.
            useless questions from the truth of gracious justifica-
            tion and from the simplicity of Scripture, and this                               (to be continued)
            declaration of the Apostle is charge& as untrue : "Who                                                               H.C.H.

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

                                                                     way of which we enjoy His blessing and favor or rebellion
            DECENCY and ORDER                                        which invokes His just displeasure and wrath. And He
                                                                     speaks.  to us with `unmistakable clarity :
                                                                        "And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children,
            To The Utmost Of Your Power                              and shalt talk of them when thou sittest  in thine house, and
                                                                     when thou ivalkest by the way, and when thou liest down,
   In our previous articles, dealing with the subject matter         and when thou risest up." (Deuteronomy  6:7)
of the Twenty-first Article of our Church Order, we have                "Train up a child in the way lze, slzoztld  go ; and when he
attempted to make clear the following : (a) The origin and           is old, he will not depart from it." (Proverbs 22 :6)
history of this  arficle, (b) That good Christian schools are           "And ye fathers . . . nurture them in the clzastening and
those that thoroughly furnish the child of God unto  every           admonition  of the Lord." (Ephesians 6 :4)
good work, (c) That requisite  .to the establishment of such            To these other p&sages can still be added but this is
schools and, therefore, the basic problem of Christian itduca-       sufficient to place us directly before the express Word of
tion, is the capable and properly trained instructor, (d) That       God. Whether the Lord says it once or a hundred times
the consistory is obliged to do its utmost to procure such           does not al&r the fact that is so strikingly evident from the
teachers for the instruction of the youth of the church as           passages quoted. The command is "teach them .diligently  . . .
well as see to it that the parents use the best possible means       train them in the-way they should go . . . bring them up in
aviiiil'able  for the instruction of their children.                 the nurture and admonition of the Lord." Pious parents
    In connection  .with this last-mentioned matter, we will         will understand that the realization of this high calling of
discuss this time the responsibility of believing parents to         God necessitates a complete system of education and train-
provide Christian education for their children and, more             ing that is based upon sound and pure principles of faith . . .
partcularly, the duty of Protestant Reformed parents to estab-       the truth of the Word of God. So important a matter may
lish and maintain schools for their children wherein they            not be entrusted to those.who  do not confess the truth. We
are instructed in harmony with the principles of the Prot-           would not think of asking a physician without surgical
estant, Reformed faith. Failure to realize this  responsibilit$      knowledge and experience to  pei-form  an operation upon our
will give justification to the cry of our children who, with         child nor would we have those who know nothing of den-
the prophet Jeremiah, will say, "Our fathers have sinned             tistry look after their teeth. Why then do many of us persist
and  are not; and we have borne their iniquties." (Lamen-            in having those who do not confess the truth train our chil-
tations $ :7 j                                                       dren ? Are we unaware of the serious ill-consequences such
    That the duty to educate rests firstly and prjncipally  with     practices inevitably bring forth ? Let us be consistent ! We
the parents is evident from all Scripture. It was once cor-          confess the truth and that truth we strive to live by in our
rectly said, "Parents feel duty bound to feed, to clothe, and        worship in our churches, in our homes, in our manifestation
to provide shelter for their own offspring. We believe that          of life in the world of business and labor, in our recreation
the upbringing of the children intellectually and spiritually        and pleasure! And the truth is the Protestant Reformed
(as well as their upbuilding physically) is a divinely  ivtfiosed    faith! Indeed so ! Let us then also be Protestant Reformed
parental responsibility. Unfaithfulness in the discharge of          in the rearing and instructing of our children!
this our God-given dtity is unfaithfulness toward God Who                In this way our vow before God, made in the baptism
ordained it thus." And another said, "Let us always remem-           of our children; comes to its more perfect fulfillment. Be-
ber that the duties of parents to children a;e two-fold: They        lieving parents are reminded that "baptism is not a custom
must give them both physical and spiritual nourishment.              or superstition but an ordinance of God." Using this'ordin-
Tell me how a parent divides his money, his time, and his            ante  they are urged to answer  sincePely  this question:
effort in the discharge of these two parental duties, and I'll       "Whether you promise and intend to see these children, when
tell you what his personal interest is in the Kingdom !"             come to the years of discretion, instructed and brought up
    The seriousness of this matter lies in that we have to do        in the aforesaid doctrine, or help or cause them to be in-
with GOD, THE LORD, before Whose eyes-all things are                 structed therein to the utmost of your power ?" To this, we
open and naked. If it were a matter of personal choice or            who have our children baptized, answer sincerely, "Yes !"
even of conflicting opinions of individuals as to whether we             Before God we answer, "Yes  !" Befdre His church,  in8
should or should not sacrifice and struggle to provide our           the presence of many witnesses, we answer, "Yes !" Further
children with a daily training that is commensurate to our           that "Yes" is  sincere!
faith, we might ignore  the tihole  matter with impunity but             Two things are of special importance in connection with
never  is thi,s so when we deal with God.. We are confronted         this answer. Before we speak of these, we wish to freely
with His Holy Word and then it is not a matter for us to             translate a few lines of the writing of Rev. B. Wielenga in,
decide for HE HAS DECIDED IT FOR US ! His word                       "Ons Doops Formulier." (Our Baptism Form). He writes
is never retractable simply because Jehovah is the immut-            in connection with the third question of baptism:
able One. He speaks and for us it is either obedience in the             "There we read further : `to tile .utmost of your power to


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                                                                                                            0



                                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                    475

 instruct or to be instructed'. In these words the principle            promulgated by the ungodly and unbelieving and to the many
 (beginsel) of CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION is expressed.                      religious views that are not considered under the nominal
 The father, ordained of God, is the instructor and the mother          heading  of `Reformed' but also to those views which are
 is the natural instructor of their seed. But where they them-          generally regarded td be historically Reformed but is aciuirl
 selves evidently cannot do this, because of time or ability,           fact are not.  In that doctrine we promise to instruct our
 an agreeable organization must be set up where the baptized            children..
 children are instructed in agreement..with  the foresaid doc-              Secondly, we promise to do this "to the utmost of our
 trine.                                                                 power." We will  go to every possible limitation. We will
     Such an establishment is first of all the Christian School         endure every necessary hardship, to say nothing yet of a few
 which, on the basis of the baptism promise, may not proceed            minor inconveniences which we frequently -complain about.
 from the state or some other organization apart from the               We will forgo luxury and pleasure. We will sacrifice all
 state or some other organization apart from  the parents but           things that our children may be instructed in this doctrine.
 must be established and maintained by the parents them-                Nothing that we can possibly do will be left undone in the
 selves.                                                                realization of this task for we promise "to the z&utost  of our
     The founding and maintaining of the school with the                power." Just as our baptism form speaks of our part in the
 Scriptures is the giving of instruction to which parents, with         covenant of God as consisting in this, "that we love the
 an oath, have obliged themselves: Unnecessary it is to say how         Lord our God with ALL our hearts, with ALL our souls,
 great in the light of the doctrine of baptism and the promise          with ALL our strength," so do we promise to use ALL  our
 of baptism, is the sin of parents who entrust their children           power in the realization of our calling to properly educate
 to a school which in practice honors atheism and brings up             our children.
children in unbelief.                                                       Do we?
     But, from the promise to instruct, also follows the task               Are we not rather inclined to exert but little  eflort and
 of parents to work with the ministers of the Word who give             when that meets with the least obstacle, we become dis-
 official ecclesiastical instruction to the baptized children of the    couraged and doing nothing try to convince ourselves that
 church and to support him in this task with all the means              the Lord requires of us the impossible ? That is our sin ! To
 at their disposal. Parents must consider that the catechetical         be sure we must understand that  zoe cannot  &ducat&  our
 instruction of the minister, in part at least, is the fulfilling       children as we ought in oatr power but the "utmost of our
 of their baptismal promise. They are obliged, therefore, to            power" is equal to "the utmost of our faith" and faith is                  _
 work with the minister and at home to exercise-careful con&l           not a power of us but of God. By faith we can! By it the
 over when and how the children perform their assigned tasks.           seemingly impossible and insurmountable obstacles are con-
     May it be that also in this respect the proper significance        quered for faith is victorious. It stops for nothing until
 of the baptism promise be somewhat more felt by us `Re-                complete triumph has been attained.  M.ountains which ap-
 formed people'. How much more pleasant and agreeable for               pear impossible will appear before us!
 our teachers and ministers would then their difficult and now              But, then, do not the Scriptures speak of removing
 so often unappreciated task become.                                    mountains by faith ?
     But notice also  that.it says, `TO THE UTMOST OF                       Lord, increase our faith !
 YOUR POWER to instruct or be instructed'. Two things                                                                           G . V . D . B .
 we note here. The moral sluggard who is always ready to
 let it fall upon someone else instead of himself is herein
 condemned. On the other hand, herein is a duty laid upon
 Christians to lend a helping hand to those parents for whom                                     I N   M E M O R I A M
 it is manifestly impossible to have their children instructed             The Ladies Society of the Oak Lawn Protestant Reformed
 `in the aforesaid- doctrine'. For the hearer, who has endugh           Church mourns the loss of one of its faithful members,
 on a half-word, it lies in this baptism-promise that the                                    MRS. ANNA BUITER
 church has the duty through a `Supply or Charity Fund' to'
help needy parents attain Christian training."                          who passed away  dbring the early morn  df July 23, 1955.
                                                                           Expressing our sympathy with the husband and  childreri  who
     It is evident then that in the third baptismal question,           remain, we find our comfort in the words of I Thess.  4:13, 14,
 we firstly promise to bring up our children, to instruct them          "But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning
 "in the aforesaid doctrine." The aforesaid doctrine is the             them which are asleep, that ye soirow not, even as others, which
 doctrine contained in the Old and New Testaments and in                have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again,
 the Articles of our Christian faith  as  taatgjazt  (interpreted,      even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him."
 maintained) in the Protestant Reformed Churches. This                                The Ladies Society of the
                                                                                                Oak Lawn Protestant Reformed Church
 doctrine is the Reformed Truth, the Reformed way of life.                                             Mrs. C.  Haak, Vice-President
 It stands opposed not only to the atheistic way of life                                               Mrs. R. Hoving, Ass't Sec.-Treas.

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

                                                                       1952, he avows, on the first page. of the preface, that he
              A L L   A R O U N D   U S                                accepts what he calls `the results of Biblical criticism'. In
11                                                                     the same volume he ridicules those who hold that `the whole
The Unbelief of  Barthianisw.
                ,  ,                                                   Bible is God's infallible oracle' (p. 213). In his latest book
       That is the title of a little booklet a friend sent to me to    Eterna.1 Hope, published in Zurich in 1953 and in Britain in
peruse. Its contents is an address delivered at the Annual             1954, he has a section on `Mythological Elements in the
Meeting of the Bible League by the Rev. W. J. Grier, B.A.,             New Testament Message' (pp. 114-120) and does not hesi-
and published by the Evangelical Book Shop whose address               tate to say that Jesus was mistaken (pp. 127-129).
is 15, College Square East, Belfast. It purposes to be "A                 "There are others who contend that while Brunner's
Criticism of the Views of Doctors Barth and Brunner."                  teaching is too much like that of the old liberals or modern-
       For one who knows little or nothing about the theology          ists, that of Barth is far truer to the evangelical faith. The
of Barth or Brunner and he would like with little  effort to           truth is that in `this matter Barth stands where Brunner
find out what they teach, here is a pamphlet of twelve pagI?s          stands. He, too, ridicules the historic Christian doctrine of
that you can digest in 15 or 20 minutes and have a fair                plenary inspiration, declaring that it substitutes a  self-
idea.                                                                  sufficient paper pope for a living pope (Otto Weber's In-
       In the opening paragraphs Rev. Grier writes: "The               troductory Report on Barth's Church Dogmatics, p. 61).
names of Dr. Karl Barth and Dr. Emil Brunner are widely                He scoffs at the idea of `the Bible affording a divine in-
known . They are extremely able men, and are forces to' be             fallible history.' He says, `The Bible is God's Word so far
reckoned with in the theological world today. They have                as God lets it be His Word, so far as God. speaks through
written many books, and lectured in various lands; their               it'. (The Doctrine of the Word of God, p. 123) . . . .
followers among, clergy and theological students may be                   "But Doctors Barth and Brunner go further. According
numbered by tens of thousands. Their teaching is variously             to them it is not only that there is no direct or complete
known as `Dialectical theology', the `theology of crisis' or           revelation of God  ; they deny that any such revelation is
`neo-orthodoxy.'                                                       possible. They hold that revelation must always be God in
       "What is the nature of their views  ? `Are they in line         action, God speaking to man. They declare that a direct.and
with the historic Christian faith, or do they constitute a             finished revelation would fetter God; that it would limit his
serious challenge to it? Are Doctors Barth and Brunner the             freedom." Rev. Grier concludes this part of his pamphlet with
true successors of the Reformers, as they sometimes claim,             this sentence : "It is clear that in this matter of the Scriptures,
or are they the foes of almost all that the Reformers held             `their rock is not our rock.' "
dear? Or does their true position lie somewhere between                   Under the sub-title : "Their Views on other Christian
these two extremes ?"                                                  Doctrines", Rev.  ~Grier challenges the teachings of these men
      In what follows, Rev. Grier, under three separate head-          on such doctrines as the Virgin Birth, the Bodily Resurrec-
ings, tenders valuable criticism of the theology of these men.         tion, the Second Coming, the Trinity, etc.           _
Under "Their Views on Inspiration" the writer, using
several quotations from the writings of both Barth and                    And under the sub-title: "The Foundational Error of the
Brunner, shows that they deny the fundamental truth of the             `Dialectical Theology' " Rev. Grier admits that "what has
infallible and complete inspiration. of the Holy Scriptures.           been said thus far reaches only to the fringe of the subject.
Naturally, if this truth is denied all the rest of their theolo-       It leaves untouched a diagnosis of the root error of the
gical argument will be pure philosophy. Evidently this is              `dialectical theology' of Barth and Brunner. Quotations
also Rev. Grier's conclusion since he begins his criticism with        from their writings are often found in the pages of undoubted
the treatment of this subject.                                         Evangelicals.  Is it right for them to be found there? To
      Writes  Rev: Grier: "Let us first examine their attitude         answer this question another must be asked. When these
to the Holy Scriptures. That they reject the doctrine of their         dialectical theologians speak of Sin and Atonement, for ex-
plenary inspiration and accept the conclusions of the  moclern-        ample, do they mean what historic Christian .doctrine-  means ?
ist higher critics is plain beyond doubt. There may be details         The answer is that they do not. They use the terms as
of their teaching that are puzzling to the average Christian,          `limiting concepts', not as `constitutive concepts', that is to
but here at least the issue is clear."                                 say, not as constituting the truth, but as pointing to the
      Then follow several quotations to prove this. "In his            truth. Their philosophy seems to be that thought cannot
TheoZogy  of  C&is Dr. Brunner makes the following state-              grasp reality, and that therefore its validity is only relative."
ment : `Lest we open the door to misunderstanding, let me                 Further, Rev. Grier points out how Barth and Brunner
say that I myself am an adherent of a rather radical school            deny the historical fact of atonement as well as the fact that
of Biblical criticism which, for example, does not accept the          that atonement is a once for all transaction. In beclouded
Gospel of John as an historical source and -which finds legends        language these men speak of the atonement as a fact that
in many parts of the Synoptic Gospels' (p. 41) . . . . . . In          can be known only by faith, not ag an historical fact; and as
the second volume of his Dogmatics, ,issued in England in              to atonement as a once for all- transaction, a finished work,


                                             T H E   STAND,ARD   B E A R E R '                                                     477

 Barth rather speaks of the atonement as belonging to  "super-       badly depraved one. The best of us are but a step.&@-frog
 history." Grier points out that essentially this is double-talk,    the worst." So far,  .so good. We approved'of the  messa@
philosophy, which is bent on confusing the issues as well as         thus far simply because it spoke the. language. of, Scripture
 the minds of men who are interested in these subjects. Rev.         and our experience.
 Grier writes : respecting the subject of the atonement as              But when you come to. page .7 of this recorded message,
 seen through the eyes of Barth and Brunner as a Divine              you find a different tone, with which  we. certainly  .can-
 Act of the Atonement. "In other words, it is and it isn't ;         not agree and one, we believe, which simply destroys what
 it is yes and no. The dialectical theology places the student       he presented in the preceding. As Grier said inrespect to
on a whirling wheel, and he scarcely knows whether he is             Barthianism : "In other words, it is and it isn't ; it is yes. and
 coming or going."                                                   no," so we would say of Dekker's presentation of depravity;
     On the subject of election Barth teaches : "All men are         It is and it isn't; it is yes and no. He believes in total
 loved and elect and called and made God's possession in             depravity, and he doesn't. Man is totally depraved ,and he
 Christ from all eternity (Dogmatics Outline, p. 91). Divine         isn't. Said Rev. Dekker : "This brings us to, a very important
 election, according to him, is not `quantitative', that is, that    question. Why is it that some people are worse and some
 certain` individuals are being saved and that certain individu-     are better ? Why-is one lawless and the other law-abiding ?
 als are being lost; it is `qualitative', and found within the       One a criminal and the other a solid citizen ? One a traitor
 individual. Each man is both a Jacob and a Esau. All are            and the other a patriot? One immoral and the .othei.decent?
 lost ; yet all are saved."                                          This question is answered in different waysI" `He, then pro-
    And so the little booklet of Rev. Grier goes on to show          ceeds to mention these different explanations such as, hered-
up the philosophy of world-renowned theologians. Though              ity, environment, emotional complexes, and social `groupings.
 we had read several books produced by these men just to see         And he says though these are important, and worthy of study,,
 for ourselves what they taught, after reading the little book-      they do not give a satisfactory answer.                      .I
 let we  :now consider all that reading a waste of time. We             "The answer", he says, "to this momentous questiqn  was
could, have read it all in twenty minutes in this little booklet     once given by -Richard Baxter . . . . He was watching. a
 and come to the same conclusions. How much non-sense and            condemned man go to the gallows. Reflecting for a moment
 deviltry can roam around in big brains ! And, how  .many            on this dire .event, with great feeling he said, `There, but for
little brains with little in them can be attracted to such big       the grace of God, goes Richard Baxter !' That's it. The grace
                                                                                                                         :
brains with so much non-sense and deviltry in them, we find          of God . . . ."
hard to figure out. But that's the way it is in the world,             "Now what do we mean by grace  ?" And after ex-
also the world of Theology.                                          plaining that it is unmerited' favor, he continues by saying;
                                                                     we must distinguish between two kinds of grace, common
K n o w   Yozt.rselJ.                                                and special. The first is' to all men in general,, the latter
     Such is the title of a radio sermon delivered recently on       to those who are saved by a true faith in Jesus, Christ.
the Back to God radio program of the Christian Reformed                 The rest of the speech is an excited appraisal of common
 Church by the Rev. Harold Dekker and sent to me by an               grace according to which we are to thank God that He so.
aggrieved listener.                                                  restrains sin that all men are not as bad as they might be-
    The Reverend began his radio speech by calling attention         come. True, he says, common grace does not save, you or re-.
to the reference in II Kings  8:7-15, to Hazael, a chief             move your guilt. And between Peter and  judas, who  both                      _
officer and advisor of Benhadad, King of Syria. The gist of          had remorse, there is quite a difference. But, oh that com-
the story was that Hazael did not know what potential acts           mon grace, that is simply `wonderful!                              `.
of depravity lay hidden in his breast. As friend and advisor            No proof from Scripture is given to sustain this philoso-
of the King he did not know that he was capable of murdering         phy of common grace. It is only `philosophy. Does not Rev.
him as he later actually did according to the word of                Dekker know that God is in His heavens and He rules by
Elisha.                                                              His providence even in the hearts `of men and devils, and
    The Reverend Dekker goes on to say that the doctrine of          they do His will ? That God takes car.e of His world and so
man's total depravity, taught throughout Scripture, con-             governs all things, even the wicked, that they serve' to
cerns a reality actually existing in every man's nature. And         realize His Church, the election of grace, and ultimately His'                     -
this is not the assertion of Scripture and "of some pessimistic      own glory ? That .when the wicked is restrained sin is `not
writer" or preacher, but this is also openly admitted by             checked, but that it develops in other directions, and that
such a non-Christian scholar and scientific philosopher as           ultimately the wicked with all his "common grace" goes to'
Sigmund Freud. Mr. Dekker uses several illustrations taken           hell  ? What grace is that ? The lion, though he purrs like a'
from life and recorded in newspaper and radio news casts             kitten in his cage and is fed everyday his meat, is still the            .
to show up this universaldepravity. "How bad can ordinary            ferocious beast that will tear you to pieces  ,given  an op-
people become ?" such is the question  ,he repeatedly asks:          portunity. Is that grace that he is locked in his cage  ? Or
And the answer is : -+We have a common nature and it?s a             is man different than the beast which perishes ?            M.S.


478                                          - T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                        `

II  .                                                                  Calvinistic circles alone that the truth concerning God's
                   CONTRIBUTIONS  :                                    covenant was developed and given a central place in the
                                                                       system of doctrine, is that in those circles more than in any
                                                                       other strong emplasis was placed on the glory of God as
                        L&t we forget:                                 the sole purpose of all the work of God, both in creation and
These remarks by the board of the R.F.P.A. are only                    in re-creation, and that this glory is realized in the highest
for those who appreciate The Standard Bearer as a witness              possible degree in the revelation of God's covenant. Es-
of the Reformed truth.                                                 pecially is this true if the very essence of that covenant is
                                                                       found, not in the idea of a pact or agreement, or in a way
       At the annual meeting of the R.F.P.-A., held Septeniber, `of salvation, but in the fellowship of God's friendship, the
1945, our editor in a speech gave the following answer to the          highest revelation of the covenant-life of the Triune Him-
question  : "But what do wR mean, when -in this connection,            self. When, therefore, we say that it is the  .purpose  of  The
we  .speak of the Reformed truth and of witnessing for it Standard Bearer to send fsrth a .specifically  Reformed testi-
through  The Standard Bearer? To  be sure, by Reformed.                mony, we mean especially that it purposes to witness con-
truth  w& mean the truth of Scripture  as. it is briefly" and          cerning the covenant of God, as He Himself realizes it
officially expressed in the Reformed Standards, particularly           through Jesus Christ our  .Lord, according to His sovereign
in the Three Forms of Unity : the Netherland Confession ;              good pleasure, in the way of sin and grace, and along the
the Heidelberg Catechism, and the Canons of Dordrecht.                 antithetical lines of election and reprobation ; and that, too,
The Standard Bearer intends to be confessionally Reformed.             in connection with the organic development of all -things.
However, this is not to be understood in the sense of a dead           Of this truth  The Standard Bearer  means to be a witness."
Orthodoxy, that is perfectly satisfied with what our fathers
developed and expressed  6f the truth, and proceeds from                  Who could have foreseen, at the time these words were
the assumption that they have said the last word about it.             spoken that the church must needs experience the unrest and
Such an attitude would be the expression of a conservatism             upheaval which. it did before 10 years had elapsed. We may
without life and love of the truth such as our Reformed                thank the Lord that  The Standard Bearer,  throughout this
fathers certainly would have condemned. No, we do not                  history of heresy and schism remained true to its calling to
`intend merely to repeat, and rise in defense `of, what has            witness for the Reformed truth.
been officially laid down in our Standards; But taking our                History teaches us .that Geneva in Calvin's day when it
stand on the basis of those Confessions, we make it our aim            .was the stronghold of Reformed truth was also at the same
t6 continue in the direction  plainly  indicated by them, to           time tfie hot bed of heresy. This shows that where the truth
criticize much that is offered as Reformed truth, and is not,          is faithfully proclaimed, there too, you.will  find. the greatest
and, always endeavoring to maintain the very heart of tbe              reaction: it is there that the devil will do his utmost to
Reformed .faith  as our starting point, to advance to a purer          destroy. It is just there, where the decisive battles of the
an< richer development and expression of the truth as such,            church are waged.
and its application to every  phase of the life of the believer
in this present world.                                                    `Now the part that  The  Standa.rd  Bearer  has played in
                                                                       keeping its readers informed, with regard to the heresy and
       The  Standard Bearer wants to send forth a trumpet
blast of no uncertain sound.                                           schism  in our churches and the certain sound which it has
                                                                       trumpeted also in the past ten years certainly cannot be
       It purposes to send forth a testimony that is very specific-    over-emphasized.                    ^  .,,    . ._
ally Reformed.
       With regard to this specifically Reformed truth, we may            Again, let us humbly thank the Lord that it pleased Him
assert that its very heart is found in the idea of the cov-            to use  The  Standa.rd   Bkarer  to battle for the truth against
enant` of God. It is true that, in order to give a truly Re-           all that sought to destroy the truth and the church.
formed testimony, this truth concerning the covenant of God               The Reformed Free Publishing Ass'n. need not be
dare  no< be divorced  .from the doctrine of sovereign pre-            ashamed of The Standard Bearer's part.in this battle. Neither
destination. Election has rightly been called the car ecclesiae,       need any member of our churches be ashamed of the battle,
the heart of the Church. And yet, fundamental though this              for it is the Lord's battle. Really this battle is waged con-
truth hay be, and though its heart-beat. must be discernible           tinuously and will continue to wage till the, judgmenp  day.
in every part of the doctrine proclaimed  ,by one that lays            And because it is the Lord's battle therefore lovers of the
claim to being Reformed, it is not the most peculiar, not the          truth never tire reading acdounts of it.                             `3.
most distinctive of Reformed principles. There are other                  Think of  1924.:  who does not love to read of that im-
denomintitions,  besides those of the Reformed persuasion,             portant engagement and the wonderful way God preserved
that adhere `to the truth of God's sovereign  predestination.          His truth and  .how the Lord caused to be born our Prot-
But the doctrine of the covenant of God is a distinctively             estant Reformed churches in order to maintain that truth.
Reformed heritage. The reason for this fact, that it was in            To us that is a glorious history. The exponents of common


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                               4 7 9
                                                                                                                                    -

grace would like to skip over this history or forget it if                               Missionary Notes
possible, for the Lord put them to shame.                               The undersigned was going to write concerning his labors
    The same can be said of the church's recent engagement;         in  Lovkland,  Cblorado in this issue, but this will have  td
when the exponents of conditional theology with their heresy        wait  till the next issue of our periodical. At this time the
and'mutiny sought to. destroy the truth and the church. The         writer  of these lines is enjoying a few days of relaxation at
Lord's wonderful preservation of His truth and church in            home in as far as that is possible at a time when the entire
this recent engagement should again fill us with thanksgiving.      family is busy with the activities of the Young People's Con-
    It was the Lord and His truth that again put the ad-            vention  h$d in Hudsonville,  and also in the celebration  af
versary to shame. To us a glorious history. A history that          our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. Our many thanks to all
schismatics would like to forget or at least minimize. This         who. have sent us their well-wishes and prayed God's blessing
is very evident from their dis-interest in the court records,       upon our family life. So much in passing. One can under-
-for example.                                                       stand that our life of relaxation is still that of the busy man.
    This goes to show, whether we like it or  hot (and we              Just today we received a copy of a notice which a certain
don't, our flesh militates against it) that the struggle is be-     "Consistory" sent to a brother who requested the use of the
tween the truth and the lie: between the church and that            church-bztil&ng  whenever they would have one of our min-
which calls itself and pretends to be church..                      ister? present, be this week-day or on Sunday evening.
                                                                       Evidently the following is the reply which they received
    The board of the R.F..PA. feels that members of the             verbatim :
association and readers of  The Standard Bearer  should en-             "That we grant C. Vander Molen the use of the building
courage our young people, also more of our young married            for any two specified Sunday evenings each of August and
people to subscribe to The Standard Bearw and to read it.           September, with this reservation :
    It is important that our young people are informed as to            1. That the building be not used to slander. the con-
the issues of the "Battle of the Ages" as it is being fought in     gregation which meets there every Sunday, nor that proya-
our own life time.                                                  ganda be made which is .destructively  divisive. '
    The  Standa:rd  Bearer provides a running account of this          2. And, that, in granting the building we hold him re-
never ending struggle.                                              sponsible to use the building for the advancement of the
                                                                    Holy Catholic church."
   We urge our readers to preserve each issue by having                Now what shall we say about this ?
them bound every year. This the board will do for you at a
cost of $3.50 per volume. God grant that                               In the first place that we heartily endorse the proposi$on
                                             The Standard Bearer
may serve as a pillar of  reinembrance  for His wohderful           in arabic 1 that the "building is not to be used to slander the
work in preserving the truth of His word.                           Congregation that meets there every Sunday." Slander is
                                                                    always wrong, sinful and belongs to the very works of the
    Finally the board wishes to extend to all members of the        devil. Surely also the pulpit is to be devoted also to the
R.F;P.A.  a word `of advice and encouragement: the same             Christian calling to promote as much as possible the good
words which ended the above quoted speech ten years ago.            character of our neighbor and so  fulfil the law of Christ.
"Let us marvel with a grateful heart that our God gave to           So this I'm quite certain Mr. Vander Molen' can and does
so small an organ of so small a group as we  are, such a            quite heartily endorse. And so do I by the mercy of God;,
wide place.                                                            (However  I do have an objection against that proposition.
   And considering what God has done for us in the past             It is this : it is too limited. It limits and prohibits the church
let us not grow weary, but continue, advance, and work while        for use to slander the congregation which meets there each
it is day ere the night cometh  in which no man can work."          Sunday. That is too limited. It is the limitation of a com-
   The privilege is yours.                                          mandment which is of broader application.
                                  The  Boaid of the  R.F:P.A.          I have searched my heart  and wondered why such a
                                                                    "condition" for the usage of the building could be sent to
                                                                    Mr. Vander Molen. Has the undersigned at any time during
                       A N N I V E R S A R Y                        the 17 times that he preached the Word in Pella either in
   dn September 10, 1955, our beloved parents,                      the American Legion Hall or in the homes slandered the
                 MR. AND MRS. BERT KETT,                            congregation ? Or has he done so in the letters that he sent
hope to commemorate their 40th wedding anniversary.                 to the homes of the brethren and  sisters when he. pointed
   We are  gra?eful  to our God for having spared them for each     out the sin of the !`Consistory" of Pella  ? If I. have slandered,
other and for `us. Our prayer is that God may continue to bless     uttered a false report with ,the malicious intent of- injuring
them in the future as he has thus far and may they always
experience that God is our God for ever and ever. He will be        the reputation of. the "congregation" of `Pella, let it be
our guide even unto death.         Mr. and Mrs. Joel Talsma         pointed out to me either in private letter or publicly. But let
                                   T,wo  grandchildren              it not be insinuated, let not the covert suggestion be made


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 ,  .:                                                                                                                        .:-.  I
480                                          T H E   STANDAR`D   .BEARER

that the intent of the usage of the building is-for the purpose
.-                                                                      In conclusion let it -be remembered: it is more important
.of publicly slandering the congregation. The Lord forbid            that the truth in Christ be proclaimed than that the faithful
that  1 should' thus desecrate the place where for seven happy       brethren in Pella ever again use ~the building which is their
years I might. break the bread of life in Pella.                     rightful possession !
       We also most heartily concur with the sentiment which                                                                       G.L.
reads as follows: "nor that propaganda be. made which is                                                                           . .  -
d&ktively   divisive." I like .this "condition" because now
I.may preach in such a way that it is constwctively  divisive !      Quoted from  Toplndy  :
That former, the conduct and speech which ,is destwctively
devisive surely belongs to those who speak the lie, whether            The world is a sea of glass; affliction scatters our path
outright `or covertly. However, where the truth is spoken            with sand, and ashes, and gravel in order to keep our feet
in 1ove;and  sins are pointed out, also.concrete demonstrable        from sliding.
sins of a` "Consistory," there a  cokrztctive  work is being            The old Arminians, mentioned in Scripture, are blamed
performed. `When Paul resists Peter to his face in Antioch           for thinking wickedly, that'-God  was such an one as them-
(Gal.' 2) he is working a "division" indeed, but the divisive-       selves ; but our new Arminians out-sin, their predecessors,
ness of the Cross which separates the goats from the sheep.          and actually represent God as a being in many respects con-
And that `is constructive, When a man goes to see his                siderably inferior to themselves. They suppose him both to
neighbor and with good admonitions corrects him and fails            form his schemes with less wisdom, and to execute them
to.&& his brother he has worked divisive, only it was a con-         with less power, spirit, and success, than a prime minister
structive work in the Church even when he must count him             of common sense forms and executes his. They dare ascribe
as a heathen and as a publican. I trust that the point of            to' God, such impotence, blunders, imperfections, and dis-
comparison, will not be misjudged.                                   appointments, as they would blush to ascribe to a Ximenes,
      Personally I have no need of pointing out the sins of the      or a Sully.
"Consistory" in Pella from the pulpit.  1. have done so to
them  -fade to face and also in letters. The Spirit does not            Grace finds us beggars, and always leaves us debtors.
always strive, and neither do I have to continually ploy and            .Scripture  can be savingly understood, only in and by the
harrow what has been sufficiently belabored. God is wiser            inward illumination  .of the Holy Ghost. The gospel is a
than the folly of such conduct. However, I am interested             picture of God's free grace to sinners. Were we in a room,
that  ,the .sheep  in Pella receive sound words of doctrine so       hung with the finest paintings, and adorned with the most
that they, may not have a warped life and world view and             exquisite statues, we could not see one of them, -if all light
may not go bowed under burdens which Christ did not place            was excluded. Now, the blessed Spirit's irradiation is the
upon, his Church. Liberty without license is our blessed in-         same to the mind, that outward light is to the bodily eyes.
heritance!   If `such preaching makes division between the
sons of liberty`and those of the flesh -it is sufficient to me          Mere reformation differs just as much from regeneration,
with a'sufficiency that is of God ! For that is not destructively    as white-washing an old, rotten house differs from taking it
divisive, but is the building of the Church upon the founda-         down and building it anew.
tion besides which there is none other.                                 For wolves to devour sheep is no wonder; but for sheep
      -Frankly, I also agree most heartily with the final demand     to devour one another, is monstrous and astonishing.
placed upon the shoulders of brother Vander Molen! And
I believe that it is a responsibility that he most tremblingly
assumes; -No, not in a cringing fear before the dictates of
a "consistory" who speaks of seeking the advancement of                                       I N   M E M O R I A M
the Holy Catholic church, but will not as much as touch it              The School Board of the Society for Protestant Reformed
with .their .own.  finger, but with a fear that trembles before      Education in Oak Lawn,  Illinpis expresses its deepest sympathy
the,.Mighty  :God of Jacob, and says : "Surely the Lord is in        to its Vice-President, Mr. John Buiter, Sr., and family in the loss
this place and I knew it not . . . . How dreadful is this place-!    and departure of their faithful wife and mother,
this is. none- other but the house of God and the gate of                                 MRS. ANNA BUITER
heaven !" Gen. 28 :16, 17.                                              Her confession in the hour of her departure, and that, too, is
      -Let not .a "consistory" speak so sanctimoniously about a      our consolation, was  I "Yea though I walk through the valley
church-building, and express so grave concern about the              of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me,
"advancement .of the Holy Catholic Church" which has rent            thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." (Psalm  23:4)
the church of. Christ in two by parliamentary decision, and                                          The Board
that, on' the alleged ground that others had rent the church,                                         Rev. G.  Vanden  Berg, President
or. rather had left it !                                                                                Mrs. S. Schaafsma, Secretary



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