I          VOLUME  XXX111                               JULY  1, 1957  - GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN                                  NUMBER 18
                                                                                   The Lord did so directly and indirectly. Directly to the
                  MEDITATiOl'd                                                  forefathers of his present audience,. on mount  Hoyeb.  .Ancl:
                                                                                indirectly to all men living. There is not- a man  that  does
                                                                                not receive the  revelatidn of godd conduct. Attend to Psalm
                                                                                19 and  Remans  1.  Both  places-tell us of that general revela-
                     G O D 'S   REQUIREJYIENTS                                  tion of  God. That God must be thanked and served, is
                    "Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and  bow           written in the  blue heavens,  and  is witnessed by everything
                    myself before the high God? Shall  ,I come before
                    Him with burntofferings, with calves of a year old?         He made. They show His handiwork, and there is no clime
                    Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or         where the Voice of God is not heard. That no one will be
                    with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my
                    firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body        exusable.
                    for the sin of my soul? He  bath  shewed  thee, o man,          He  has.  shown to  us what is good. Indeed. The law and
                    what is good; and what doth the Lord require  od  tllee:
                    but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to  walk           its keeping is good for man. In the keeping of His testimony
                    humbly with thy God?" Micah 6:6-S                           is a great reward.
           It is the old story: Israel corrupted its  wiy before the                What is good. Attend to this that the whole law of God
     L o r d .                                                                  can be uttered in one word of four letters : love !
           Attend to the context of my text: the statutes of  Omri                  Oh, I assure you that no one will have any excuse in the
      were kept, and all -the works of the house of Ahab, walking               day of judgment.
      In the counsel of these wicked men, but they cast the Word                    The second thing which Micah says about the law of God
      of the Lord behind them.                                                  is this: God  requiyes from every man that he conform his
           If you have the time and the interest in these things,               life to that  law.
      read chapter 2  :l, 2, S; chapter 3  :2, 3, 9; chapter  6:10-12,  16,         Require! That is a terrible word. I smell sulphur and
      and you will see that it is the old story: backsliding,  and,             brimstone in it. For man is fallen. When Adam first heard
     corruption.                         .1      -                              that word in his heart and mind and soul and all his affec-
           And Micah, even as all the prophets in their time, is                tions, he sang for joy. It did not sound harsh to him. He
      sent to demand the fruits of the vineyard of Jehovah.                     loved  .God's  requirements. And did them.
           In this setting, the prophet tells Israel and Judah what                 But, since' we. are fallen away from God, the word.  ye--
     is the true religion, on  tl+e background of their  couriterfeits.         q&ues  has an ominous sound. And we all kriow it. A com-
           God has requirements ; they are 1) to `do justly  ; 2) to            mentary on this terrible word is the fact that so many
      love mercy  ; and 3) to walk humbly with thy God.                 .       reprobates do not dare to die. The fear of death is over
           Well, that is tantamount to saying that God's law is                 them, within them, and round about them all their. vain
      required  of  ,man.                                                       lives.
           Yes, there is a difference. The wording is different, and
      the  ordei-  of the stables is different. But essentially we have                               I     g*+*
      here the  law of the ten commandments.
           That  Micah  reverses the tables of the law is, I think, due             But let us dig  i&to  that law, such as we hear it from
      to the  fad* that the breaking of the second table is right before        Micah's lips.
      his eyes, which breaking is the evidence that `also the  first                To do justly.
      table is broken., When we  .are doing injustice, and hate                     Such conduct springs from a certain virtue, and the virtue
      mercy,  WC surely are not walking humbly with our God.                    is God's.
           Micah says two  <things  of the law of Gbd in general.                   And  the  naine  of that virtue is righteousness. And its
           First, that the Lord hath shown to Israel what is good.              meaning is that. in all your heart and mind and works you

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

 are in harmony  .with goodness. And that is what God is and           that you say to the living. God, in your heart, 0  God  ! Wilt
 does from everlasting to everlasting.                                 Thou deign to sit upon the throne of my heart, in order to
        In man it is a relative virtue. When God implants right-       have me prostrate myself before it?
 eousness in our hearts there is a beginning of that good con-                  It is the same thing as you so often read in the Bible:
 duct. And the happy people who receive that righteousness             Speak Lord, Thy servant heareth !
 of God in their heart `are called in the Bible the righteous.             It means that you dare not take one step in your life
 You find that appellation often in the Psalms and in Proverbs.        without His direction.
        If you have righteousness in your heart you do justly,             0, but the Law of God is beautiful!
 that is, in principle. I'll come back to that.
        The second description of the second table of the law is                                    *  *  ::<  *
 very beautiful: to love mercy. Note here that Micah does
`not say : to do mercy, but to  bovg  mercy. And that is a state           And what is our estimate of it? As we are by nature?
 of heart and mind which is heavenly in its sweetness. It                  This : that we care not a whit for it.
 means that you love to do well. It is the inmost desire of                When He shouts from the heavens and says to us: I
 your heart to bow down to your brother in want and misery             show you what is good, and it is my requirement for you,
 with the intent to help him, to deliver him out of all his            then we say: Depart from me, for I have no pleasure in Thy
 troubles and pains, to dry his tears and to bind up his wounds.       life ! When He points to the exalted Christ and says : Behold
 0, I tell you that if you have that jewel in your heart, you          the  King  of the Universe! We say: We will  nbt have Him
 are` not very far from God. Where you see and hear that               to be King over us ! And we crucify Him !
 virtue you hear the rustling of angels' wings.                            And when He  ~~q&ves,  we make a joke of hell,, even
     That is especially so if you do well, and love to do well,        while we tremble.
 to those who despitefully use you, who persecute you, and                 Do justly! It is the thunder of the law in our ears.
 who say all  manier  of evil against  you.falsely  for God's sake.        But we are crooked.
 There you are very close to the heart of God.                            Love mercy ! Did God say anything that is more beauti-
                                                                       ful ?
     The third thing which Micah speaks about is the loveliest.
 It is to walk humbly with thy God.                                        But our very mercies are cruel.
     That is the apex, the climax, the summit of beautiful                 Walk humbly with Thy God! The crowning jewel of
 endeavor. It is also the mainspring of the other. It is the           good conduct.
 fundamental law of the Kingdom of heaven : "He that                       But we strut and say: There is no God! I am a God in
 humbleth  himself shall be exalted  !"                                the depth of my Being ! And we prostrate ourselves in the
        I think that this virtue was uppermost in the mind and         filth of sin and corruption.
 heart of David. And it was also the reason why he  was;                   Not as though we are not religious. 0 no.
 a man after God's  own.heart.                                             We give our burntofferings, our calves of a year old, our
     The primary meaning of. the Hebrew word is  to  pmss              rivers of oil. In a pinch we will even give the fruit of  our'
 down. And the form of the verb as it is used here is in the           body for the sin of our soul.
 causative. And therefdre the meaning is, that he who walks                But one thing is  ,lacking in all that religion : our heart  is
 humbly with his God is a man who takes hold of his heart              not in it!
 and presses it down into the dust, and he does that for two                                       * :k  4  *
 reasons. First, because God is so immeasurably great and he               There is but One Man who fulfilled that beautiful law,
is  `so small and insignificant. That  6Z~<on~is  the  foien&t  and    and that Man is Jesus.
 the most important, and will remain unto all eternity. You                God showed Him that law and He said: it is My meat
 can see that when heaven is opened and when we receive a              and drink to do Thy will. And why, My Father  ? It is
 glance in the behaviour of the heavenly beings. They fall             because Thou hast written that law in my heart. Listen to
 down flat on their faces before their God  on" the throne.            the most beautiful psalter number in our book: "Thy law
 Second, because he is such an abominable sinner.                      is written in My heart, `Tis joy to do Thy will  !"
     To walk liumbly with thy God ! .                                      You find it under number 109. I love that number more
        It says: to  zvallz.  That means all the time, and from the    than all the others, but tremble when I sing it. More cor-
 heart. Your walk is your life as you live it from. the heart.         rectly : I hardly dare sing it. Hardly dare  ? you ask? Well,
   A beautiful commentary of this virtue you find in I Pet.            -read the first line of the 4th stanza : "I never have within my
 3  :15$ There we read :  "But  sanctify the Lord God in your          heart  bthy faithfulness  concealed  !" and you have your answer.
 hearts  !"                                                            It is Jesus singing His psalms,  be.fore  He was born in
        Study that sentence and marvel. It means that you step         Bethlehem, in the prophets of old. But we may sing it too,
 down from the throne of your heart where you sat as the               although we should tremble when we do.
 sinner, directing your vain and foolish and wicked life. And              Yes, Jesus did justly. So did Adam in Paradise. But


                                            T H E   STANDARb   B E A R E R                                                                                                   411

what a difference. For Adam it was so easy. But for Jesus-
it meant that He had to go to hell. He had to do justly, and                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R   _.
that meant His own damnation.                                             Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July  a,nd August
                                                                                                                                                                        .
   He loved mercy. And when you ask an explanation I                        Published by the  REFORMED  FREE   PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION
can but point to His cross. There you hear His yearning                   P. 0. Box  S81,  Madison Square Station, Grand Rapids 7,  Mich.
for you and me.                                                                               Editor-  REV. HERMAN HOEKSEMA
   And remember that this Jesus, so just,  -so lovingly merci-            Communications relative to contents should be addressed  to  Rev.
                                                                          H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S. E., Grand Rapids 7,  Mich.
ful is really the manifestation of the Triune God.                        All matters relative to subscriptions should be addressed to Mr.
   And He walks humbly with His God. Do you remember                      G. Pipe, 1463  Ardmore St., S. E., Grand Rapids 7, Michigan.
how I told you of the  Hiphil  form of the verb ? That it                 Announcements and  Obiltuaries   must be mailed to the above
meant how a map takes himself and in his heart presses                    address and will be published at a fee of $1.00 for each notice.
himself down in the dust. Look at the Christ of God ! That's              RENEWALS:  Unless a definite request for discontinuance is re-
                                                                          ceived, it is assum  that the subscriber wishes the subscription
exactly what He did. No, there's not one like the lowly                   to continue without the formality of a renewal order.
Jesus, No, not one ! No, not one !                                                              Subscription price: $4.00 per year
   Finally, I promised that I would tell you some more of                 Eutcrsd as Second Class matter at Grand Rapids, Michigan
people who are called the righteous in the Psalms and in
Proverbs.
   Here is the concluding part of that story: when  you
see a just man, a loving man, and a humble man, you can                                                   C O N T E N T S
make up your mind that he has Jesus in his heart.. It, and              MEDITATION  -
it alone, explains his good conduct.                                         God',s Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409
   And so, dear reader, we end as always: Hallelujah!                               Rev. G. Vos
praise Jehovah !                                             G.V.       EDITORIALS  -
                                                                             A Bit of Correspondence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412
                                                                              Not Surprised . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _ . . . . . . . . . . . .,. . . . . . . . .412
             New Treasurer and Stated Clerk                                   Is  &riper Coming My Way?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  .414
                                                                             A Letter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...415
Synodical Treasurer : Mr. C. Pastoor                                                Rev. H. Hoeksema
                          929 Watkins Street, S. E.                    OUR DOCTNNE  -
                         `Grand Rapids, Michigan                              The Book of Revelation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...416
Synodical Stated Clerk: Rev. G.  Vanden  Berg                                       Rev.  H. Hoeksema
                            9402 S. 53rd Court                         FEATURE ARTICLE -
                            Oak Lawn, Illinois                               The Significance od the Table of Shewbread.. . . . . . . . . . . . .419
                                                                                    Rev. E. Emanuel                                         _'

                                                                       FROM HOLY WRIT-
                         Announcement                                        Exposition of I Corinthians 12-14. . . . . . . . . . . . :. . . . . . . . . . . .421
                                                                                    Rev. G. Lubbers
   The Synod of the Protestant Reformed Churches con-
vened in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on June 5, 1957, has                  IN  HIS  FEAR-
examined brother Alvin Mulder.                                               "A Little Round Church". . . . . . . . . . ._. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .423
                                                                                    Rev. J. A. Heys
   The  afore mentioned Synod has declared this brother
Candidate for the Ministry of the Word and Sacraments  inI             CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH  1
the Protestant Reformed Churches.                                            The Church and the Sacraments.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .425
   This candidacy becomes. effective on  J"ly 7, 1957, D.V.                         Rev. H.  Velchnan
                           G.  Vanden  Berg, Stated Clerk              THE VOICE OF OUR FATHERS-
                         , of the Protestant Reformed Churches               The Exposition of ,the Canons of Dordrecht.. . . . . . . . . . . . .427
                                                                                    Rev. H. C.  Hceksema

                                                                     &CENCY  A N D   ORDER-
                    m       NOTICE!                                          Matters to be Treated.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .429
                                                                                    Rev. G.  Vanden  Berg
   Those who vacation in the Holland area are requested
to note that the First Protestant Reformed Church of  Hol-             ALL AROUND   Us-
                                                                             Another Prediction Goming  True. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .431
land, Michigan has moved its temporary meeting place to its                         Rev. M.  Schipper
present location,  205  West 14 Street, where divine worship
services are held. The Rev. James MC Collam is the pastor.

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

`II                                                                            3. However, it grieves us more than we can express that
               E D I.  T,  OA R I  .`
                                                            r/ it is, for us, a spiritual-ethical impossibility to send a delegate
                                                                          with our greeting to your synod on this occasion, for the
                                                                         following reasons :
                    A Bit of ,Correspondence                                   a. The very fact that we must receive this invitation as
                                                                         outsiders from the Christian Reformed Church in which we
       From the Christian Reformed Church we received the                have, according to our conviction, a rightful place, is for us
  following invitation :                                                 a cause of profound grief.
                               "Protestant Reformed Church                     b. Your invitation, naturally, reminded us of 1924-25,
                                Rev. M.  Schipper,  Stated Clerk         when you cast out of your fellowship faithful ministers of the
                               1900 Belden, S. W.                        Word, not because of any personal misdemeanor, nor be-
                                .Grand Rapids, Michigan                  cause they were not Reformed, for your own synod of 1924
  "Dear Brethren :                                                       testified black on white that they were Reformed  ; but because
         "The Synod of the Christian Reformed Church extends             they could not subscribe to the "three points" of common
  a special invitation to your body to appoint a fraternal dele-         grace so-called which, according to our conviction, are not
  gate to the Synodical sessions of 1957, to be held from June           Reformed but Arminian.
  11 .to 21, 1957, at Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Michigan.                  c. Your invitation grievously reminded us. of the fact that,
  By special celebrations to be held on that occasion, the               in 1924-25, you put us, Reformed ministers and their flocks,
  Synod will observe the centennial of the Christian Reformed            on the street, compelled us to build new churches and parson-
  Church.                                                                ages, and forced us to organize a new church-denomination,
         "As part of those observances, your delegate will be re-        known as The Protestant Reformed Churches.
  quested to `bring the greetings of the Protestant Reformed                   4. In the light of all this we cannot understand how, on
  Church to the Christian Reformed Church on the occasion                your part, you could possibly ask for a representative of our
  of the centennial.                                                     churches at your centennial celebration ; but you will, no
         "We sincerely hope that through your `delegate you will          doubt? understand that, before the face of the Lord, we can-
  join  us in our celebration of this milestone of God's favor.          not accept it.
                      "In name of the-Christian Reformed Church,               5. Finally, on this occasion, while we sincerely wish you
                        /S/ R. J. Danhof, Stated Clerk."                 the blessing of the Lord in the way of His Word, we invite
         On this letter I wish to make, first of all, a remark which     you to seek official contact with our churches to rehearse the
  may seem to be insignificant but which, to us, is, nevertheless,       entire history of 1924-25, in order that, though the two
  of principal importance. It is this, that the name of our              churches may not amalgamate into one, the brotherly rela-
  churches is not Protestant Reformed Church, in the singular,           tions may be restored.
  but Protestant Reformed Churches, in the plural. We are                      Your brethren in the Lord Jesus Christ,
 afraid of and dislike all forms of hierarchy.                                              The synod of the Protestant Reformed Churches
         This letter was, by our stated clerk, duly brought to the                          Rev. C. Hanko, President
  attention of our synod. And in its session of June 10, 1957,                              Rev. H. Veldman, Clerk
                                                  -
 it adopted the following reply :                                              This `reply, I trust, needs no further comment. It will
                                                       June 10, 1957     be plain to all our Protestant Reformed people.
  The. Synod of  the.Ch.ristian  Reformed .            ~                 .            _,                                             H.H.
  Church.
  Dr. R. Danhof, Stated Clerk.
  Beloved brethren in our Lord Jesus Christ:                                                         Not Surprised
       Through our stated clerk, the Rev. Geo. Lubbers, we
  received your invitation to send a representative of our                     The  Grand  Rapids  P1-css,  in its' issue of June 13, 1957,
  churches to your synod in connection with your centennial              published, under the heading, "Unity of Reformed Bodies
  celebration.                                                            Sought in Letter to Synod," the following item:
         Our Synod in its session of June 10, 1957, made the                        Two Reformed denominations which have existed
  following resolutions :                                                      separately since 1924 may work toward closer unity as
         1. We sincerely thank you for your kind invitation.                     the result of a communication from the synod of the
         2. We hope and pray for the blessing of our God upon                    Protestant, Reformed churches to the Christian Re-
  your churches, a blessing which can be had only in the way                     formed church synod in session at Calvin College, Rev.
  of the truth of His Word and, therefore, in the way of right-                  Hubert De Wolf of the Protestant Reformed group
  eousness and justice as well as of brotherly love and fellow-                  said Thursday.
  ship in the Lord  .Jesus  Christ.    .                                            At its meeting last Friday in Oscaloosa, Iowa, the


                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                            413
                     ,

Protestant Reformed church synod decided to ask  the                  The  Christian  Reformed synod is expected to act
Christian Reformed church synod to appoint "`a                    ,on the request later in its sessions.
committee to meet with a Protestant Reformed group              The heading above this editorial states that we are not
to discuss freely the differences and similarities which     surprised.
are found to exist." Four ministers and three elders            And we certainly are not. My reasons for this  convic-
were appointed by the synod at Oscaloosa to meet with        tion are as follows :
the Christian Reformed representatives if that church
accedes to the request,  DeWolf  said.                          1.  ' A distinctive church, distinctive especially from other
    The letter to the Christian Reformed church was          Reformed churches, must stand on the basis of a distinctive
signed by. Rev. Bernard  Kok   bf Holland, president of      principle. This the group that left us has not. They certainly
th_e  Protestant Reformed synod, and Rev. Walter  Hof-       are not Protestant Reformed as they now plainly. reveal.
mati  of Bellflower,  Calif., first clerk.                   The decision of their so-called synod in Oskaloosa as  re-
Groups Are Distingwished.                                    ported in the  Grand  Ra.pids  Pgress  is proof of this. They now
    The group requesting conversations with the  Chris-      plainly justify the decision of  Classis East when they  con-
tian Reformed church is to be distinguished from  an-        firmed the action of the consistory of the First Protestant
other denomination, also bearing  ' the official name        Reformed Church of Grand Rapids whereby they suspended
"Protestant Reformed church," and generally  asso-           the Rev. H. De Wolf from his office as minister in the  Prot-
ciated with Rev. Herman Hoeksema of this city. These         estant Reformed Churches because of his heretical statements.
two groups split in October, 1953, Mr.  DeWolf  said,        And for the same reason all the others that followed him were
and court litigation has been indecisive to date as to       not and are not Protestant Reformed as they now confess.
rights to denominational name. In the case of one  con-         2. They are; according to their own confession, at a loss.
gregation, the local First church, the Michigan supreme      They know not what is the truth and, as a result, they know
court has granted use of the Protestant Reformed name        not what  ,to do. They write : that "since 1924, when the
to the  Hoeksema  group. Mr.  DeWolf's  local group has      Christian Reformed Church established the "Three Points  on
been called the Orthodox Protestant Reformed church.         Common Grace' we have maintained positions that differed             '
However, the denominations still bear identical names.       and have found ourselves drifting farther and farther apart.
    The group seeking conversations with the Christian       In the process of interpreting, criticizing and in general
Reformed church  ha3  about 17 congregations across the      (evaluating these points the possibility exists that we have
country, four of them in this city. Rev. Andrew  Cam-        misinterpreted your position. If this is pointed out, to  LIS we
menga, pastor of Fourth church here. is fraternal  dele-     assure you that we will correct it. We ask your kind  as-
gate to the local synod.                                     sistance  in interpreting that which you have declared."
    The communication to the Christian Reformed                 I ask how is this possible? Are not the "Three Points"
synod says "we have led separate existence since 1924.       elaborately discussed and  th&oughly,  interpreted in the past,
We are willing and ready to; continue to do so if  wit-      years, both by the defenders of those  synodical declarations
nessing to the Reformed faith so requires. The issue         and by their opponents ? Did not the late  Prof.  iBerkhof  and.
is whether our witness, that is yours and ours, is           also the Rev. H. J.  I&per  write brochures on the subject  ofi
s i m i l a r . "                                            the "Three Points  ?" Cannot those that now write this letter
Seeks  Interpetatiort.                                       to the synod of the  .Christian  Reformed Church consult The
    The letter points out, that "since 1924, when the        Sta.?zdard  Bemer  and find all they can possibly expect on the
Christian Reformed church `established the `Three            subject both pro and con ? Of course, they can. Or let them
Points on Common Grace,' we have maintained  posi-           consult my book  on the "History  of, the Protestant Reformed
tions that differed and have found ourselves drifting        `Churches" and even there they-will find all the information
farther and farther apart.                                   they need to enlighten them. Yet, they grant the possibility
    "In the process of interpreting, criticizing and in      that they may have misunderstood and misinterpreted the
general evaluating these points the possibility  eliist;j    "Three Points" and ask the Christian Ref. Church kindly
that we have misinterpreted your position. If this is        to help them understand and interpret them correctly!  Do'
pointed out to us we assure you that we will correct it.     they really expect that the Synod will give a difference  in-
We ask your kind assistance in interpreting that which       terpretation than Berkhof did in his brochure ? Of course,
you have declared.                                           they do not. But what then  ? My answer is : they are lost.
    "The question is whether the cause of the Lord is        I expect that they  will  ultimately adopt the "Three Points"
best promoted and defended by you and us going               and their interpretation as offered by the Christian  Re-
separate ways or whether it is possible better to promote    formed Church. They certainly are not Protestant Reformed.
and defend this cause by a mutual drawing closer  to-        and they  Will  be glad if the Christian Reformed Church will
gether."                                                     ultimately take them in. This is my prediction.


  414                                         T H E        STANDAKL)   I?EAREl<

         3. But  how  about the church-political question ? They,          From this grievous error Kuiper would seem to be con-
  indeed, suggest that they are  willing to unite with the Chris-      verted. For  he.quotes  me as above, in explanation of the  Can-
  tian Reformed Church. For they continue to write: "The               bns III, IV,  6, with wholehearted agreement. This is especi-
  question is whether  th'e cause of the Lord is best promoted         ally striking if we read the sentence which Kuiper quotes
  and defended by you and  us going separate ways or whether           LL-hove in its context, I wrote as follows:
  it is possibly better to, promote and defend this cause by a             "The word unfeignedly (I am still referring to my notes)
  mutual drawing closer' together."  Th,is,  immediately, brings       signifies  *that God means exactly what  he says in the gospel.
  up the church-political question. They are, perhaps, not in-         He  qever  puts to shame. He is always serious and fulfills all
  terested in this question. They do not mention it at all. And        the promises of the  Gbspel. Does He say in this calling of
  this is my third reason for stating that we are not surprised.       the gospel that He is desirous and longs that everybody
  They certainly should remember that, in 1924, we did not             accepts the gospel invitation? By no means.             B u t   H e ,
  leave the Christian Reformed Church but were cast out.               in the calling of the gospel, certainly declares that He
  Faithful ministers of the Word, Reformed ministers, were             wants the sinner to  rep&t  and, in the way of repentance,
  deposed by  Class& East and West at the time because they            come unto Him. That is the contents of the external calling
  refused to sign and teach the "Three Points" or-keep still           of  #the  gospel. It, therefore, does not mean that God simply
  about them. This is a very important point. Suppose that             `invites' everyone that, hears the gospel without distinction,
  the Christian Reformed Church  sicceeds  in convincing the           but that He calls every sinner to forsake his wicked way, and
  writers  df the letter that their interpretation, i.e. the inter-    in the way of repentance, to come unto Him. Hence, the
  pretation of the Christian Reformed Church is correct, bib-          way of repentance is the only way  tp come to God. And this
  lical and confessional.. What then  ? Then, of course, the           God `unfeignedly' declares in the gospel or in the calling of
  writers of the letter will also set their seal on the deposition     the gospel."
  of the Reformed ministers in 1924. So much as far as  they            Do you wonder that, when I first read that Kuiper agrees
  are concerned.- But how about the Christian Reformed                 with this and declared that he always taught this, I rejoiced
  Church? What will they do  ? Will they simply receive them           in his conversion  ?
  as churches  ?  dr will they consent to promote the cause of            But a little farther in his article  `he begins to change his
  God's kingdom by  dratiing  closer and closer together, as the       meaning and camouflage the truth. He places a wrong
  letter has it? Or will they, perhaps, decide that they cannot        emphasis and gives a wrong meaning to the term "wants"
  receive them as  chirches,   a&d that they can receive them only     which I used in the quotation : "He wants the sinner to re-
  as individual members  iti the way of an apology  ?                  pent." Writes he "If we take the statement that He `wants
     We will see.                                                      the sinner to repent' literally, at its face value, it can only
     Perhaps, after I receive the whole letter, I will publish it      mean that God desires that all sinners shall come to Him."
  and write a little more about it. I read it, but at this time I         From this I must conclude, I am sorry to say, that
  am not allowed to publish it.                              H.H.      Kuiper's  conversion is, after all, not true, and that his re-
                                                                       pentance is not sincere.
                                                                          For, in the first place, one that agrees with  me and re-
                Is  I&per Coming My, Way?                              pents does not dishonestly distort" the meaning of his op-.
     I am, ahnost inclined to believe this; yet there is strong        ponent's words and instill his own meaning into them. This
dqubt in my mind.                                                      is what Kuiper does. From the context of his quotation of
     In The  Bamner  of -June 14 the Rev. H. J. Kuiper quotes          n$ne,,and  even from the quotation itself, it is very plain that
  me as follows:  "But  He, in the calling of the gospel, declares     I  never meant that. God  desires that all sinners should come
  that He wants the sinner to repent and, in the way of re-            to Him.
  pentance, come to Him."                                                 Secondly, as to the meaning of the word "want," it is
     With this Kuiper agrees ! In fact, he  claims that this is        not true that the term has only the meaning which Kuiper
  exactly what he has always been teaching, and what article           alleges that it has. If he will  consult  Webster's dictionary, he
  S of the Canons teaches.                                             will find that it also may have the meaning in which I,
     When I read this I was inclined to believe that Kuiper            evidently, used the word, namely, to require or requisite.
  was converted from his error that "God is desirous that all          And if Kuiper will look up Webster under the word require,
  who hear the gospel invitation should come to Christ and be          he will discover that its primary meaning is  "to demand; to
  saved, whether they are elect or reprobate. As  far. as God          insist upon having  ; to claim as by right and authority." In
  is concerned none need to be lost. He wants to save all men  ;       this sense, as Kuiper well knows, I used the word "wants"
  in fact, He longs to save all men, at least as far as they           in his quotation  pf me.
  hear the gospel invitation. In other words, it is not of God,        Well,  i am sorry that Kuiper thus camouflages his
  but it is up to man to accept the invitation.  This   is supposed    repentance. He  doe;. not agree with me at all.
  to be Reformed doctrine ! To me this is sheer  Arminianism."            Nor with  ihe Reformed truth.                             H.H.


                                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                     415

                                A   L e t t e r                                    All correspondence relative to the above announcement
                                                                                   should be sent `to the undersigned.
                                                   B .   J .   Meelker                                       Secretary of the  Theol.  School  Comm.
                                                   126 S. Buena Vista                                        Rev. M.  Schippkr
                                                   Redlands,   Calif.                                        1636 Martindale Ave.,  S. W.
Rev. H. Hoeksema                                                                                             Grand Rapids 9, Michigan.
Grand Rapids,  Mich.

Dear Rev. Hoeksema,                                                                              Twenty-Fifth Anniversary
     With regard to our correspondence in  The  Standa.!,d
Ji'earer  I would not write  again if it were not for the fact                         On May 3, 1957, the First Protestant Reformed Church
that you twice ask for an answer in' your last article.                            of Redlands, California, was privileged  td commemorate the;
     First of all I  wish  to thank you for again giving of your                   fact that twenty-five. years ago (May  2, 1932) she was
tinie and space in  The  Standavd   Bsa;ver to broaden out  on(                    organized and added to the Protestant  .Reformed  denomina-
my question. I had hoped you would give proof from  S,crip-                        tion.
ture or the Church Order, that is why I wrote a second time,                           A wonderful evening, in which the "sure mercies" of our
but I certainly. highly value your opinion' and thank you                          covenant God received all the  ,emphasis,  was spent in  f&w-            '
for answering.                                                                     ship together. Among the much appreciated numbers of; .
     In regard to your question. No, Rev. Hoeksema I did not                       the evening's program were tape-recordings containing greet-
have a case  with my consistory. In my letter to you I did not                     ing; and messages of Rev. H. Hoeksema, who originally or-
mention a case. I asked a question.                                                ganized the congregation in 1932 and again was instrumental
     Knowing that you have been highly gifted in explaining                        in her rt-organization in 1953; and of Rev. G.  Vos, the
and making clear the things pertaining to God's Kingdom.                           only former pastor remaining  fiithful  to the truth and prin-
I came to you for an answer to the question which was pub-                         ciples of the Protestant Reformed Churches. What made the
lished in  The  Staxdard  Bmrer  dated Feb.  15.                                   last mentioned greetings especially endearing to us is the
                                             Yours in  the.Truth,                  fact that Rev. Vos was  6ur first pastor and labored among
                                                                  B. J. Meelker    us for more than a decade.
                                                                                       All our rejoicing is still in the truth in our midst and
     P.S. Mr. Meelker  sent me a letter asking why I did not                       therein is "our hope for years to come." May the Lord in
publish the above letter, which refers to our correspondence                       His mercy keep us faithful to  the end.
in April, in  The  Sta.ndwd   Bearer.   My answer is : I did not                                               A.  Karsemeyer,  Clerk of Consistory.
think-it was meant for publication. But here it is.
                                                                          H.H.                             Announcement
                                                                                       Classis  East of the Protestant Reformed Churches will
   CALL TO ASPIRANTS TO THE MINISTRY                                               meet Wednesday, July 10, in the Hope Protestant Reformed
                                                                                   Church at 9:00 A. M. Consistories resorting in  Classis East
     All young men desiring to study for the ministry of  (he                      will kindly take note.
Word in the Protestant Reformed Churches kindly appear
at the next meeting of the  Theoiogical  School  Committee
which will be held D.V., on Thursday, August  29th,  at  7:30                               -                 IN  MEMO&M
                                                                                                 . . .
                                                                                      The Men's  S.aciet;  of the  hirst  l?rotestant,  Reformed Church
p.  m. `in  tlie consistory room of First Church, Grand Rapids,                    hereby  expresses-its sincere sympathy to one of its members,
Michigan.                                                                          Mr. John Flikkema, in the death of his brother,
     The qualifications requisite to enrollment in `our Sem-                                              MR. PETER FLIKKEMA
inary are the following:                                                              Our prayer is that our Heavenly Father' may comfort him in
     1.. You must present a letter from' your local consistory                     his bereavement.
certifying that you are upright in walk and pure in doctrine.                                                                  D. Van  Alten,  President
                                                                                                                               R. Kamminga, Secretary
     2. You must have certificate of health signed by a rep-
u t a b l e   p h y s i c i a n .                                                                             I N   M E M O R I A M
     3.' You must be `a graduate from High School and                                 The Men's Society of the First Protestant Reformed Church
show evidence that you have completed a one year course                            extends  itS sincere sympathy to Mr. J. Prince and  Mr. C. Prince,
                                                                                   and family, in the death of their wife, mother, and grandmother,
in High School in History General and  Church  History  ; and                                                MRS. J. PRINCE
have also  colipleted  the following College courses : Latin  -                       May the  bereaved  experience the comfort of our covenant
two years, Greek  - two years, German  - two years, Phil&-                         God in His promise of eternal life.
ophy  - one year, Psychology  - one year, Logic  - one                                                                         D. Van  Alten,  President
semester.                                                                                                                      R. Kamminga, Secretary

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

 II                                                                    peace and righteousness and everlasting glory. All attempts
                O U R   DOC'TRINE                                      of the creature must publicly fail, in order that the power
                                                                   II and grace of the  1Vost High may become plainly evident.
                                                                       Hence, the creature receives the opportunity first. Before
                THE BOOK OF REVELATION                                 the Lamb that stands as though it had been slain steps
                            CHAPTER  XII                               forward and takes the book out of the hand of Him that sat
                                                                       on the throne, every creature must receive the invitation.
                 THE  VISZON   OF THE  SEALED   BOOK                   Hence, the message goes forth. It goes forth to the angels
                             Revelation 5                              in heaven : "Can ye open that book, ye myriads of holy
                                                                       spirits, that day and night surround the throne of God  ? Can
        If we accept this as the correct interpretation of the book    ye save the world  ? Can ye bring peace and bliss to a world
 and of the breaking of its seals, it will not be  difficult to        of sin?' The challenge also comes to the earth,  ,particularly,
 understand what follows. First of all, a challenge is sent            of course, to man: "Man, here is your opportunity. If you
 forth to every creature in all the world, to open the book:           are worthy, take the book, and bring the kingdom. Send
 "And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice,              righteousness and bliss to all the world. Ye wise men of the
. Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals               world, ye giants of thought,- hear the message resound. Do
 thereof  ?"    In general, we find in these words of the              ye know how to open that book  ? Can you suggest the
 angel a challenge sent to, every creature to open the book            way of salvation for the world  ? Ye rulers and mighty ones,
 if  he is able.      A strong angel- it is that John beholds.         can ye open the book  ? Can ye by your laws and institutions,
Strong the angel is, not because he holds any special  office.         by your armies and power, inaugurate the kingdom of peace  ?
 It is not necessary to make various conjectures as to the             All'ye  that speak so highly of the regeneration of society, of
 identity of this angel. Scripture tells us nothing about him.         a better world to live in, of social righteousness, here is the
 He must be strong for the simple reason that his present task         challenge. Are ye important  .enough to take the book, and
 requires that strength. He must  .shout with a strong, with a         are ye able to break the seals ? Come on, now, human wis-
great voice. His message must resound throughout all crea-             dom and power, riches and wealth, science and invention,
tion. It must reach every possible creature in the whole               come and take now the book, and open its seals." The message
world. It must rebound over the earth  ; it must echo through          goes forth under the earth. It resounds even to the depth of
all the heavens. It must penetrate into the deepest realms of          hell. It trembles in the ears of the prince of darkness and
 darkness. All must receive the message. A strong angel,               his angels. 0, surely, he is shrewd, he'is powerful and mighty.
then, with a great voice, causes the challenge to go forth:            He once proposed to take the place of God, and sang the
 "Who is worthy to open the book and to loose the seals                deceitful siren-song that man would be like God if he only
thereof  ?'                                                            would obey him, the devil, instead of his divine Friend and
       The meaning of this invitation is plain. The angel  ,does       rightful Sovereign. Since then all the promises of the devil
.not merely invite everyone that will make an attempt to take          proved empty and deceiving. Sin, evil, suffering, and black
the book and break the seals. No, the question is whether              death he brought to the world. Here then is the opportunity.
there is any creature that is worthy, that possesses the legal         If he-is able, let him come. That book possesses the secret of
right and the power to receive and open the book. And if               power necessary to bring the kingdom. Let him now take
we now remember that the loosing of the seals `of the book             the book, and bring bliss and righteousness if he is worthy!
implies really the bringing and completion of the kingdom of
righteousness and peace and bliss, the kingdom of God in  ally            All creation is silent. "And no man in heaven, nor in
the world, the question amounts to a challenge, sent forth to          earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book,
all creation, to bring that kigndom and to realize it if they          neither to look thereon."' The angels stand in breathless
are able. Thus the passage becomes pregnant with  signi-               silence  ; and their profound silence is the testimony as to their
ficancel.  It is by no means irrelevant to the character of the        unworthiness. The devil shrinks back into the remotest
Rook of Revelation as a whole. The book pictures to us the             corner of the regions of darkness, and fails to respond; he
coming of the kingdom of God  in. its battle against the king-         and' all his devils must confess that they are not able and
dom of darkness. It must become very plain that this  king-            that  th,ey  are not worthy to open the book. All the earth
`don1  is a kingdom of God indeed. It is a kingdom of God,             confesses mutely that no one is able to break the seals and
divinely conceived in His eternal counsel. It is a kingdom             therefore to bring in the kingdom of God.
God Himself does historically realize `and complete and lead              Neither must you receive the impression that this scene
on to its final manifestation in  giory. It is a kingdom of God        merely belongs to the embellishment of the vision, and that
from beginning to end. It must become very plain that there            there is nothing in history that presents us with the realization
is no creature that could possibly establish a kingdom like it.        of this challenge. On the contrary, this message of the angel
 It must become evident that all the world could not produce           and the profound silence -with which it is met symbolizes the
the creature that could bring to the world the kingdom of              vain efforts that are always being put forth by the creature,


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEA.RER                                                      417

outside of the Lamb that standeth as though it had been             been sounded by the strong angel had upon John himself.
slain, to restore peace and bliss to the world. Men have re-        He was very sorely disappointed. He was filled with bitter
peatedly exerted themselves.  td work out their own salvation       sorrow. And it seems to us that this weeping and wailing
and the salvation of the world. Systems of #thought,  world-        on the part of John corroborates the vikw that the book in
systems of philosophy, have been built up by human minds            #the  hand of Him that sitteth on the throne is not a mere
one after another, to `show the true way to peace and right-        copy of the decree, but a symbol of the decree itself, anh
eousness and to establish an imitation of the kingdom of            therefore that the opening of the book does not merely
bliss. But they have all met with utter failure and disaster.       involve a revelation of the things that must come to pass
No human wisdom has been able to call back the paradise             hereafter, but the realization of them and the bringing of
lost. The might of the world, kings and rulers, have through-       the kingdom of heaven. It hardly seems possible to us that
out history attempted to realize the world-kingdom, em-             John would have wept so sorely and would have wept
bracing all the earth. If only they would attain their end,         so bitterly if the keeping closed of the book merely meant
if only such a universal kingdom could be realized, they            to him that he would not have received a vision of the future.,
would surely bring peace to the world. Nebuchadnezzar,              Hidden or revealed, John certainly would know that the
Alexander the Great, Caesar, Charlemagne, Napoleon, and             future was in safe hands,  and that the  Ahnighty  would bring
William of Hohenzollern, and Hitler are their names. But            it to pass, whether or not it was revealed to him. But now
they have failed. Their glory is faded. Their power is              the book stands for the bringing of the kingdom itself. If
broken. Their name is trampled under foot. Today we are             that book is not opened, if it must remain sealed, the king-
told that the. glorious dawn of a new day is faintly seen at        dom will never come. John evidently realizes this. Hence,
the horizon of history. Democracy will perform what auto-           he weeps sorely. This book is the testament of the kingdom,
cracy failed to bring. Crowns must be removed. Thrones              still sealed, but waiting for the heir that may receive and
must tumble in the dust. And we must have the rule of the           open it. And therefore that there is in all creation evidently
people. Besides, all the nations of the world must combine          none  that is found worthy to open the book and to look  there:
in this great movement for universal peace and righteousness.       on is to him nothing less than a terrible disaster. Hence, in
A league of nations is what tie need and what has already           ,the  vision all are silent. No answer is given. No one ap-
been established. In this way righteousness shall come to           pears to take the book. In the vision John has not yet seen
dwell.on  the earth and peace shall reign undisturbedly. But        the Lamb, for otherwise he would have fixed his hope on
already it may safely be predicted that also this ideal shall       Him. In the vision John feels as if that book must remain
never be realized. Never shall it bring the much longed for         closed. And in the vision he weeps. But he is also immedi-
kingdom of peace. Also in our day men of social service             ately comforted, and bade not to weep: "And one of the
assure us that society must undergo a radical transformation.       elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the
It must itself be regenerated. It must have new laws, new           tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the
institutions, new customs,  n'ew  relationships between capital     book, and to loose the seven seals thereof." This is in-
and  labor, shorter  woi-king  days and better living conditions    deed a beautiful picture. The elder  iS representative of the
for the  Tvorkingman,  the abolishment of liquor and other evils    church, of the. church triumphant, while `John is still in the
of society. If thus we labor, so they say, for the regeneration     church militant. And the church triumphant here comforts
of society, we shall bring the kingdom of God. All these            the church militant in her grief by assuring her of victory.
human efforts, put forth by mere human strength and in-             Not as if there' is an actual contact between the church  tri-
genuity; present the historical: realization of the challenge of    umpl+&t   .and  the  c$-ch militant,.  except,  of course? in  the
the angel: "Who is worthy to open the book and to loose             Spirit that. dwells in  th'em  both. No, but who in the
the seals thereof  ?" And the ultimate failure of all these         entire scene  Gould be more worthy and more qualified to
attempts constitutes the historical realization of the state-       comfort the weeping apostle than this elder? John here is
ment : "And no man in heaven, nor in  earth, neither  under         weeping because he cannot see how the victory will be won
the earth was able to open the book, neither to look thereon."      and the kingdom for which he hopes and longs shall ever
History must reveal the failure of all attempts to bring the.       be perfected, since no one appears worthy to open the book
kingdom of God without the Lamb, and that simply because            and to break the seals thereof. And there is the elder, already
of  fhe great fundamental truth entirely ignored by the men         enjoying the victory of the kingdom. And therefore, by
of the world, that at the basis of all trouble and confusion,       actual experience he is acquainted with the power of the
all war and destruction, lies'the guilt of sin and the corrup-      Lamb to win  .the victory. He knows that the victory is
tion of  `the nature of man.                                        certain. He also knows who is the Victor. And therefore, it
   We further read in the  te2t  : "And I wept much because         is his privilege and honor to announce to John the Victor
no one was found worthy to open the book and to look                that is worthy to open the book.`
thereon." These words picture to  us  the effect. which the             As to the announcement  its$f, the one that is here pro-
silence of all creation in answer to the  chillenge  that had       claimed as being worthy to open. the book and to loose the

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

 seven seals is presented as the Lion of Juda's tribe and the            an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his
 Root of  David. The lion in nature is the king of all the beasts        rest shall be glorious." The general meaning of this  is
 of the field. As  such.he  appears time and again in the Word           perfectly clear. It refers  t6 the Christ as the  oE-spring  of
 of God. As such he is also mentioned in our text. He is the             David as being of the seed of David. Yet it seems to us that
 symb,ol of royal majesty and power, of the power to conquer             we lose exactly the beauty and the power of the figure if we
 and to subdue, as well as to reign and to- be acknowledged              would say no more than this. Jesus is not called the off-spring
 as sovereign. Here we may remark in anticipation that he                of David without anything further. `But He is named the
 serves as the symbol of Jesus Christ, the glorious and victor-          Root of David.  Arid  no doubt, when the Savior in Revela-
 ious King. As such he stands directly over against His                  tion 22 says, "I am the Root and the off-spring of David,"
 antagonist. The devil's  symbql and ensign  is. the serpent,            the meaning is: "I am the off-spring of David because I
 the type and symbol of sneaky subtlety. There is nothing royal          was his Root. The very fact that I was  the Root of David
 about the serpent, crawling in the dust, stealthily coming for          made it possible  &that  I am his off-spring." A brief considera-
 an attack in the back of his opponent, and biting his heel.             tion of the symbol here used will make this perfectly evident.
 There is' nothing servile about the lion. Conscious of his              A root bears the tree, and not  the  tree the root. From the
 superiqrity,  he is ready to stare his enemy in the face, meet          root the tree  sprouts forth and develops. From and through .
 him without fear, and battle in  the*open.  Thus is also the            that root'it derives its life and strength. And the picture that
 difference between Christ and the devil. Christ is the Lion;            is implied in the symbolism of the  te?t there is this, that you
 the devil is the serpent. The very  onlook of them will assure          may level a tree with the ground  ; but leave its root, and the
 you  ,that not the serpent, but the Lion, shall have the victory.       tree will again sprout forth, and that in a more glorious
 He is further called the Lion of Juda's tribe. The source of            manifestation than  befbre.  In that sense Christ is the Root
 this expression we find in Genesis  49:9,  10. There we read            of David. David was king, and  ,God  had made a covenant
 of Jacob's blessing his sons, the heads of the future tribes of         with him that on his throne, on the throne of Israel, his seed
 the people of God. And it is of Juda that he says : "Judah is           should  sit forever. But the essence, the root, the life, of that
 a lion's whelp  ; from the prey, my son, thou art gone up : He          covenant and everlasting kingdom was not  David, nor was it
 stooped down, he couched like a lion, who shall rouse him               Jesse, nor was it Judah. It was David, because he was the
 up ? The sceptre shall  not depart from  Ju,dah,  nor the ruler's       `type of his own Root. The essence of David and of his
 staff from between his feet; until Shiloh come, and unto him            kingdom  w&s  Christ Jesus. That is the Root. Because he
 shall the obedience of the people be." Here we.have mention             carried in his loins the Seed that was to sit on the spiritual
 made of Judah under the symbol of a lion. And rabbinical                throne of Israel in the future, therefore that everlasting
 writings inform us that as the children of Israel  e&amped              covenant could be made with him. From that root of Christ,
 in four divisions in the desert, each under a leading tribe, and        the typical manifestation of the spiritual kingdom sprouted
 that leading tribe with its tribal ensign, the symbol of Judah          forth in David's time, and for some years after. But this
 was a lion. Judah therefore was the royal tribe: he should              typical manifestation might disappear. It was  levelled  to:
 rule over his brethren. His would be the dominion over the              the very ground.  -At  the time  whel; Jesus was born it had
people of God. From him would come forth the king that                   almost been destroyed. No one would be able  tp point you
 would lead the people of God on to victory and defend them              to  sthe  Davidic kingdom at that time. Nevertheless, it still
 against their enemies. But all this was bestowed upon Judah             existed, for the Root was still there. And that `Root was
' because on him the blessing and privilege was conferred to             Christ. That Root blossomed forth anew. It sprouted. A
 bripg,  fa+ tke I$ng,  Who would,  have .dol$iion  .forever  and        shoot came forth out  of. it. And that shoot will continue to
 reign over the people of God without end. Judah carried in              develop until the tree is completed, and the  kingclom  of
 his loins the Lion. All the  liings that might  *come  forth from       David  shall appear glorious and beautiful. everlasting and
 hi  mwere after all but types of the Lion, of the Lion that             without a possibility of destruction, in the day of the Lord.
 would finally be brought forth, the Shiloh, after which Judah                                                                         H.H.
 as the royal  ,tribe  and earthly type of  .Christ  might disappear.
 And therefore; if you ask who is the Lion of Juda's tribe,                                      IN MEMORIAM
 because of whose presence in Judah's' loins he might be called             The Ladies' Aid of the  Edgerton  Protestant Reformed Church
 a lion, the answer can be but one : Christ Jesus, and He alone.         wishes to express its sympathy to one of its members, Mrs.
         In the second place, He is announced as the Root of             Hknrietta  Gunnink, in the  -loss of her mother,
 David. Also this expression occurs in other places of Scrip-                              MRS. BERTHA MENNING.
 ture. In the first place, we find it in this same Book of
 Revelation,  22:X,  where the Lord announces  Himse#  and                  May  the Lord comfort her and grant her the  as.surance  that
 says: "I am the Root and the offspring of David." And for               the Lord causes all things to work together for good to them
                                                                         that love God and are the called according to His purpose.
 its Old Testament source we must  turn  to Isaiah 11  :l, 10 :                                            Rev. H. Veldman, President
  "And there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for                                               Mrs. Dick Bleyenberg, Secretary


                                                THE.  STANDARD   BEARER                                                                               419

    THE  SI[GNIFICANCE OF THE TABLE OF                                                   Yet, we may well ask: "Why should the God of Truth,
                           SHEWBRERD                                                 the Holy and Righteous God desire to dwell in the midst of
    In commenting upon the Significance of the Table of                              n people  %ho,   by' nature, are the very opposite of what He
                                                                                     is ?"
Shewbread it seems that, among such questions as have to do                                   The answer to this,  ,question, of course, not only speaks
with the identity of the "shewbread" and the purpose it                              to us of the depth of God's love for those upon whom He
served, we must also include and consider its proper setting,                        sets His affection, but we see also the purpose of the Taber-
i.e., where it was found.                                                            nacle namely, to reveal His Grace. For, as the plan of re-
    And the  con&deration  of these questions, one might sup-                        demption is unfolded, God comes out from where He dwelt in
pose, should simplify such a subject. How'ever, when we                              the Most Holy Place and opens the way whereby His people
notice the Table of Shewbread was found in the Tabernacle,                           may come into His presence, as they entered the Tabernacle
we immediately have sufficient warning and are  ,thus  cau-                          where He promised to meet with them, through the appointed
tioned to proceed carefully. Why? Because the Tabernacle                             ministries which, in their symbolical and typical meaning,
speaks "typical" and "figurative" language. Therefore, there                         spoke to. God's people of  <their  redemption and of the Lord
iS always the danger of "loose" treatment; the `danger of                            their God, Jehovah, and the nearness of His presence.
"spiritualizing" (making or investing with a spiritual  .mean-                           In  this  dwelling place of the Lord, then, is found the
ing) far beyond biblical and reasonable bounds, so that a                            Table of Shewbread. And, even though it stood in the Holy
                                                                                     Place, on the northern side, the table itself has no particular
portion of scripture actually becomes absurd because of such
interpretation.                                                                      significance apart from the bread which was set upon it.
    As was indicated, to determine' the Significance of the                              It's true, in  Sciipture  we are shown that the table  does
                                                                                     have spiritual significance as, for instance, in Luke 22 :29-30a
Table of Shewbread, it must be viewed in its proper setting,                         where we read :
within the Tabernacle. It constituted one of the pieces of
furniture that was found therein.                                                        "I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath ap-
                                                                                \             pointed unto me; that ye may eat and drink at my
    "And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell                                       table, in my kingdom."
         among them. According to all that I shew thee,  ,after                          And again, in I Corinthians  10:21-22.  However, in these
         the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the                   instances there is the vital connection of that  lvhich is set
         instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it."
                                               ( E x o d u s   2 5   : S - 9 )       u+on   t:&  ta,blc  and  perfoT*,wLcd   a.t the table  with that which
    The Tabernacle, itself, with all its furnishings, grows  outi                    sets the figure of the table before us as representing the
of that great truth God`continued to declare unto His people,                        fellowship and communion of the people of God  zvitlz  God, in
namely, "I will take you to me for a people, and I will be                           Jesus Christ.
to you a God." (Ex.   6:7)  The result of this great truth                               Once the instructions for constructing the table are given,
is that  God. takes up His dwelling place among His people,                          then follows the Word of God to Moses : "And  ihou shalt set
and enters into fellowship and communion, with them. It is                           upon the table shewbread before me  alway." (Ex. 25  :30).
for this purpose, then,  <that  God says :                                               With this "shewbread," we read, there were also certain
    "And let them make me a sanctuary, that I- may dwell                             golden vessels which were set upon the table. And since it is
         among them. According to all that I shew thee, after                        not likely that these remained empty, while we have no de-
         the pattern of the  taberna,cle,  and the pattern of all the                finite  information,`we  may nevertheless assume that, in ad-
         instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it."                             dition to being used for holding the frankincense and for ,
                                                   (Exodus 25  :8-9)                 carrying  <the  loaves to and from the table each sabbath day,
    These words God speaks however, not with any disregard                           they were also used to contain either the oil or the wine which
of the fact  that,as  His people continue their earthly sojourn                                                         .
                                                                                     must have  rormed part of  this offering of "shewbread." For
in the midst of this world, they are a people upon whom,                             the Table of Shewbread, like the other offerings and sacrifices,
by nature, the curse of God's wrath, because of sin and dis-,                        served the entire purpose of the Tabernacle itself; in other
obedience, rests. Therefore, as God establishes His dwelling                         words, to unfold and emphasize some particular  atid com-
place among His people, there must be' a "type of  propiia-                          forting truth of God's plan of Redemption, as symbolized in
tion" and of fellowship and  cpmmunion which must con-                               Christ and His people whom God had given Him.
stitute that spiritual contact and association between God and                           Now the bread  tias  called "shewbread"  becausi: it was
His people-until such time as the reality of these things                            always to have a place before the Lord. It was dedicated and
which the Scriptures reveal to us as "priestly functions," ar-                       offered to Him and it pointed to His presence as the name
rive.                                                                                indicates, and  was  presented to Him in accordance with the
    Thus far, God had appeared unto His servants in what                             Word spoken in Exodus 25  :30  -  "`shewbread   before  me
we know as "theophanies"; as, for instance, "the angel of                            a1wa.y."  Literally, we read not "shewbread" but  `%&ad  of
the Lord," Who is  &st+t.&ed  from, and at the same time                             fqcc~," faces being  put by a figure for  "p~-esey&' and, as.
identified  with  God. (Gen. 16  :7-10, 13  ; 22  :ll-12).   Bu~:now                 was observed, pointing to the  pveseace  of  Jehozrah  in which
He is to dwell-make His abode among His people.                           `.         the bread stood.


      ; 420                                                T H E   S T A N D .ARD   BEA-RER

               Typically, of course, this bread represented Christ who is              Thus, the table, you see, was never empty. Therefore,
       the Bread of Life as He, Himself, declared.                                 typically, Christ and His people always stood before the
               "
                .  .  .    my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven."       presence of Jehovah. They were before the Lord continually
                                                                 (John 6  :32b)    - in every'generation and throughout all. the ages,
               "And Jesus said  ,unto them, I am `the Bread of Life."                  That's the significance of these "loaves" being changed
                                                                 (John 6  :35a)    from sabbath to sabbath. God always has His people before
               It is Jesus, therefore, who is the truth of this type, the
       "shewbread"  ;                                                              Him. They stand in His presence continually and
                                signified by "fine flour" and elsewhere as "the
       finest of wheat" (Ps.  81  :lG) ; "the corn of heaven." (Ps.                   ,"The  eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the
                                                                                           whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of
       78 24)                                                                              them whose heart is perfect toward him."
          However, Christ is not alone. Unto Him was given a                                                                       (II Chronicles 16  :9a)
       people, the Church. Hence, wherever Christ is,  them   His                      For this reason, too, we read this "shewbread" is also
       people are also. So it is here, as this bread not only stands               referred to as  "the  contiwml bread." (Numb. 4  :7)  Never;in
       for Christ, but for His Body, as well. The Church.                          all history and neither throughout all eternity  leas   God---is
          This, we have designated for us in the fact that the                     God,  `IZOY   &ll God be without His people. And the very
     , bread was constituted of twelve loaves or cakes. And these                  gracious and' merciful regard He has for His people is
      twelve loaves had specific typical regard to the twelve tribes               exemplified in this typical bread  ; the "shewbread" which is
       of Israel then existing under the shadows, even as the twelve               before Him, continually.
       stones on the  breastplate,of  the high priest had regard to the                Only on the background of such truth, then, can we under-  o
      twelve tribes of Israel. (Ex.  25  21)  Nevertheless, the loaves             stand the comforting words which God speaks through His
      also did signify the zvlzole of the spiritual I.wael of God con-             servants.
      stituted of Jews and Gentiles  -  tlte  zalzole   C,`zu.~&  of God  im           "Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee
      Jesus  Christ  whose names are written in heaven.                                    by thy name  ; thou art mine." (Isaiah 43  :l  j
          Here, then, in these loaves which stood before the presence                  "I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee
      of God, we have, in  type,  the Lord Jesus Christ identifying                        from the west; I will say to the north, Give  up;  and to
                                                                                           the south, Keep not back ; bring my sons from far, and
      Himself with His Covenant people. For the numeral "twelve"                           my daughters from the ends of the earth  ; Even every
      indicates the Church of God-the "Israel of God"' (Gal.                               one that is called by my name." (Isaiah 43 :5-7a)
      6  :16)  ;' "redeemed . . . out of every kindred, and tongue, and                "Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands  ;
      people, and nation." (Rev. 5  :9)                                                    thy walls are continually before me." Isaiah 49  :16)
          And this truth is further emphasized as we note that                         "This people have I formed for myself, they shall'shew
      these twelve loaves are  ME  b+ead.  The twelve loaves signify                       forth my praise." (Isaiah 43  :21)
      the "shewbread" and thus, in type, bear out the truth of                        In all of these Scriptures and more, God speaks to His
      Scripture as we read it in I Corinthians 10  :17.-                           Church the  same'truth  He sets forth in the "Table of  Shew-
                                                                                   bread." We are accepted in the Beloved. (Eph.  1:6)  We
          "For we being many are one bread, and one body."                         have a sure and a continuing place before God's presence.
          Thus, the Church in Christ is set forth as the  "shew1xea.d"             For the "shewbread," typically, represents the `people of God
      -made of "fine flour" and typifying those who are upright                    in Jesus Christ, as upheld in His presence, "by the One now
      in heart and walk  ; who have the truth of grace in them and                 crowned with glory and  honour."
      are therefore, the elect of all ages.
          These,  we read, had a place before the Lord's presence.                    The Church stands secure. She is safe ; safe, now  - even
      He saw them; not as-they. were in themselves; but- as- -they                 as she has always been. This, too,  is a comforting truth of
      were represented in Christ. So that you have this thought. Be-               the Table of  Shewbread.  For notice, the bread was set on
      cause the people of God  a;re in Christ,  they always have  .a               the table. And the spiritual significance of the table, we ob-
      place before God's presence-before  I&s face.                                served, is that communion and fellowship of God's people
                                                                                   with  $Iim, in Jesus Christ.
          For this is exactly the truth embodied in the "shewbread"
      which is typical of Christ and His people, and which is                         Thus  ,the table takes on a meaning because of Christ. But
      further borne out by what we read concerning the changing                    notice, again, that table is  never   empty.  In other words, as
      of these loaves from sabbath to sabbath. The instructions of                 long as there is bread upon it, Christ is there. And as long
      the Lord were to place the "shewbread" upon the table on                     as Christ is there -before God's face, His people are with
      the sabbath day. (Lev. 24  :S) The loaves were to remain                     Him.
      there throughout the week and, upon the arrival of the follow-                  Hence, we see the comfort of this truth. God has put His
      ing sabbath, they were to  :be removed from the table and the                people in Christ; in the hands of Him who is  #able  to keep
      same number of new loaves were to be put in their place.                     them from falling, and out of whose hands, no man can ever
      There was to be no interval that elapsed. Just as soon as the                pluck them. For, He is the Beloved Son in whom God is well
      priests removed the old loaves, new loaves were placed upon                  pleased  - Who has merited, by His suffering and His death
      the table.
I                                                                                                         (Cowtiimed   on  Page   424)


I                                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R   :                                                    421
          -              - -__-I
I ,                                                                       -31
I  II                                                                            present world, the love in the church as she lives and moves
                     FROti   HOLY  W R I T                                 II and has her being in this mortal body.
     u                                                                     I[        Let this be well remembered.
                                                                                     Paul is speaking of the love of Christ in your and my
          `_
I                     Exposition of I Corinthians 12-14                          life  ; he refers to all the children of God in the entire church       '
                                                                                 at any stage in history. And all men, who are of like passion
                                        V I I .                                  as we, must needs see that without this "love" they are
                              (I Corinthians 13 :4-7a)                           nothing. Howbeit, when this love is our portion through
                                                                                 the  Holy  Spirit, this love of God in Christ cannot ever  re-
          -We now continue our discussion of this most marvelous                 veal'itself- different in our life than what it is here portrayed
     exposition, this rhapsody on love, from the pen of the                      in this Chapter.
     Apostle to the Gentiles.                                                        And  now let us attempt to understand Paul's description
                It should be remembered that Paul is here speaking of            here of love.
     "love" in the sublime sense of "ethical perfection," the  fulfil-               In general, we notice, that the description of  `Yove"  in
     ment of the law of God from a pure heart.                                   its activity is here both positive and negative. We are told
                Besides, it must not be forgotten,  that, the "love" here        what love will  not  do  .as well as what love will most cer-
     spoken of is portrayed to us as it reveals itself in the im-                tainly do. And thus we can mirror our life whether we are
     perfect saints, the body of Christ, the living members of                   actually "walking" on the "more excellent way  !"
     the Church, as they have but a small beginning of the new                       We ought further to observe that Paul  beg&  with  th.e
     obedience. Does not Paul say that we  naw "see through a                    positive manifestation of `love," and also ends with the
     glass darkened." Hence, it speaks of the "love" as it reveals               positive description of love. "Love suff  ei-s  long (and) is
     itself "now  !" We are  "not yet" in heaven ! And in the time               kind . . . . . rejoices with the truth; beareth all things,  be-
     of this "not yet" love must needs reveal itself in a certain                lieveth all things,  hopetb all things, endureth all things."
     definite positive mode, as well as that it must be said of this                 Paul begins  by. attributing "longsuffering" to love, and
     love how it does not reveal itself.                                         ends by attributing "patient endurance" to love. This is not
                There are, therefore, definite  eammayks  by which love          so strange. For the "more excellent way" leads us here in
     can be distinguished from that which is  not  love  ; these ear-            the midst of  im$erJect  saints, fellow-members with all their
     marks are the fruits which constitute the infallible guarantee              exasperating faults, and also through many situations, which
     of elective -grace. By the fruits the tree may be known. A                  require unflagging fortitude. In the former we need to be
     good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil                "longsuff ering" and in the latter we need "endurance."
     tree  bring,forth  good fruit!                                                  It is important to notice this "keynote" in this song on
                                                                                 love. Only against that background will we truly understand
           We, therefore, have the mirror of the perfect law of                  the thrust of the clause "rejoices not in unrighteousness, but
     liberty held before our believing eyes, in order that we may                rejoice with the truth." Let it be remembered that Paul here
     not be forgetful hearers, but  doej?.s  of the word ! And we                speaks of love that rejoices in "ethical perfection," that is in
     must be such doers of the word with a proper sense of                       pure  doctrine  and  a  good  ethical deportment.  And only the
     proportion  ; we must see the relative importance of all the                latter is possible where the former is present. And in that
     gifts of the Holy Spirit in the' church in their relationship               "climate," so to speak, will one suffer long. Only against the
     to  ,the more "excellent way" of love.                                      background, too, of this. positive "keynote?  .we  must also, it
           Just what the distinguishin,u and infallible earmarks of              seems to me, read the negative description of what love can
     love in the midst of the imperfect saints is Paul tells us in               and will never do. Because "love" is what it is, it cannot
     the verses 4-7 of thirteenth Chapter of first Corinthians,                  possibly perform certain actions, stoop to certain faults and
     which passage reads as follows : "Love  suffer&k  long,  (and:)             ethical perversions and deformities.
     is  @ntd; love  envieth  ,n.ot; love  wamteth   n,ot itself,  is  not)         Let us then try to understand what it means that "love
     pztfe<  ,up,  doth not behave itself unseemly,  seeketh not its             szhflereth  long (and) is  kind."
     own,  is  not  provoked,   taketh no  accoztrtt of evil, rejoices              "Longsuffering" is the translation of the Greek noun
     not  *in  ztnl-ighteolssvzess,   but rejoices with  the  tmth; beareth      "makrothumia," which noun is a composite of "makro"  -
     a.11 things, believeth all things, hopetlz all things, enduyeth all         long, and  "Thumia"   - from the verb "thuoo" -to rush
     tlzivLgS.J'                                                                 along or on, be in a heat,  breath  zriolently.  To be  .long  of
           What a grand catalogue on the "excellencies" of love!                 violent breathing, of expression of wrath  ; the holding back
           Seemingly love, is here personified ; in reality, however,            of such explosive wrath! It refers to the "spirit panting as
     love is here spoken of as it is the love of God, which the                  it were in the body, and, the rage with which the man pants
     Holy Ghost has shed, and sheds abroad in our hearts, giving                 and swells." (Plato) When one is "long"  `of such panting,
     us a living faith and hope  ; hence, love in our hearts in this             his "rage" does not break forth,

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

        Bishop Trench writes in his  t`New Testament Synonyms"             I state here and now that this being "longsuffering"  is.
 concerning the  <term  "Iongsuff  ering" in distinction from "en-     rooted in love for spiritual perfection of the saints now and
 durance" as follows "Longsuffering will, be found to express          as it shall be in the final glory, when we shall know, even
 patience in respect to persons, while  `Lendurancei' is patience      as we are known. That love, which is out of the Father,
 in respect to things." Chrysostom,         according to Bishop        through the Son and in the Spirit in the believers is neither
 Trench  (idem)  speaks of "longsuff ering as holding out under        to be characterized as "puppy love," nor as "bull-dog love."
 plpovocation,  patience holding out under  tGd."                      It is a love that, in some instances, will indeed "suffer,"
        It may be safely stated that the  "longsuffering"  man         when  it sees "brethren" with whom one once went in and
                                                                       out, go astray ! And did not Paul have a "continual -sorrow  ?"
 understands by love what it means to be  `islow  to wrath and         Could he not wish himself accursed from Christ, for his
 slow to speech," while it is "swift to hear" the word of God.
 Compare James 1  :19. Such a man understands that the                 brethren, his kinsmen` according to the flesh ? Did not Abra-
                                                                       ham suffer to see Ishmael depart  7 And was there not  bitter-
 "wrath of  man,"  sinfzrl  wrath, does not work the. righteous-
 ness of God. Only because he loves God can he thus will               ness  in the heart of Isaac and Rebecca over the deportment
 to work the righteousness of God. And whereas he must                 and attitude of Esau, their son?
 then endure much provocation from the flesh of the brother                Be this as it may.
 in Christ, in which "flesh" there dwells no good thing,' he               However, Paul continues by saying that "love" is also
 will  crucify   his own flesh, and, in this love for the brother's    "kind."
 eternal well-being, he will be  "long'f  of "explosive wrath,!"
 He will bear with the  weakness  of the brother, with the  im-            We must not commit the fatal error of forgetting that
                                                                       only a love which "suffers long" is "kind." Such seems to be
 perfection of the fellow-saint, and uphold him in love, keeping       the implication in the structure in the Greek original. For
 the unity of the Spirit in the  bond,  of peace.                      ,the  better reading is as follows: "Love suffers long and is
    Thus "longsuff ering" is not a merely negative attribute of        kind," that is, it is "kind" while it is "longsuffering."
 the saints, but a positive attitude rooted in the love of  Christ,        The term "kind" is a translation, a rendering of the
 lvhereby "when one member suffers they all suffer." It will           ,zt,sefztl.  It emphasizes not so much the  o,&waT-d   deptienvnol-
 be a manifestation of the "body tempered" together, rejoicing         of one motivated by love, as it does the inward motive, the
 together in one another's joy, and weeping with those who             entire attitude of the heart. It refers to real. helpfulness, use-
 weep. Such  "longsuffering"  is a far cry from a mere  dam-           fulness. It is then the opposite of what is sharp and cutting,
 ming up of the passions,- so that when the "break through"            to be sure. But it is this from  the,genuine  motive of  de-
 comes the storms break forth; it is the positive longsuffering,       siring to help. And this may mean that such useful love of
 which is so "long" that it never ceases. It is as "long" as           suffering long, is manifested in tears. It certainly does not
 love is "`strong  !" And "love" is as strong as God is strong,        reveal itself in the delight of the man and woman who  prates
 for God is love!                                                      .about  his lack of sentiment!. Hard and factual, you must
    Longsuffering in the saints is, therefore, always revealed         know, they are. None of this sentimentality in these  cham-
 toward the  object  of  love.  It bears with this object of love      pions of the truth! Methinks, that when God presently
 in the hope and assurance that presently all the imperfection,        wipes the tears from the eyes of his saints, they will not have
 what causes `tension and exasperation will be no more. And            many tears for the Lord to wipe away !
 the love of  "longsuff.ering" will have been the contributing            May the Lord forgive them'!
factor--toward -this  hperfection:   -'  -  -`a  ::  5  .'       *
                                                                          May I be found with those  t.~~(ly  ,u.sef&  in the  long-
    Such "longsuffering" is the fundamental quality in those           suffering of love of Christ, which cannot rest till it sees the
 who walk in the "more excellent way." Yea, such  "long-               object- of that love perfect and without blemish, a pure and
 suffering" is  the way, the precious way of God with his              holy bride, the joy of the, Bridegroom.
 saints, and through his saints!                                          Sentimentality must not be confused with "kindness  !"
    Incidently, if I may refer to a certain occasion at  Classis       Yet, a kindness void of all sentiment is like the bride  with-
 East in 1953, as long as I felt that the "brethren," who  in-         out her vail. It is a spiritual-psychological monstrosity!
deed have departed the truth, were not fundamentally in
error, my insistence on being "longsuffering" with them,                  If I speak with the tongues of men and angels and have
could be characterized. as being "mere sentimentality," by             not this  `ilove"  which suffers long and is "kind," it profits
those who were convinced of the error of those, who later              me nothing..
became  schismatics  too.  One cannot be  "longsuffering"  with           Well  may we pray : Lord make me full of love  ; make me
error in doctrine  ; one "suffers long" with the irritating weak-      to suffer long, and to be truly useful. For`knowledge, mere
nesses of a brother-when he is fundamentally sound in                  knowledge puff eth up, but love edifieth !
confession !                                                                                                                         G.L.


                                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEARER                                                123
-.

                                                                      than in the world. There are not so many corners. And if
               IN'HIS  F E A R                                        `there is' one place in that church where the devil may get a
ii                                                               II hold  ?n one of its members, in that place that member loses
                                                                      his salvation. And the church is a failure.
                 "A Little Round Church"                                 If thtre is  anyfhing  one wants to find in a church it is
      Recently we came across the expression which appears            safety. Why should a man ever want it otherwise  ?
above.                                                                   The Philippian jailer cried out, "What must I do to be
      It really is a beautiful thought.                               saved  ?" He did. not want to be told that, there is no sure
      You may have your massive, huge churches of square or           way to be saved because even the Church has corners and
rectangular shape, but give  us "The Little Round Church."            the.devil can catch you in one some time.
For  that  Church is the Church of Jesus Christ:                         Paul knew nothing but a "round church" when he wrote
      No question about that!                                         to  *the church at Rome, "Therefore being justified by faith
      Oh, you will not find it called by that name  in the Scrip-     we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,"
tures.  B.ut you do not need to look far to find God's Church         Romans 5  :l. No corners there where the devil may catch
pictured that way in Holy Writ.              I                        you. We are justified by faith; and  justificatiqn  is either
      What is more, after hearing the expression, "The                whole, complete and sure or it is not justification. One sin
Little Round Church," we recalled a passage of Scripture              whose guilt has not been taken away by Christ means  he!1
which teaches us that to bring  up our children In  .His Fear         with all its horrors as surely as a million sins whose guilt is
we must exactly teach them that God's Church, the only true           not removed. Either all the corners where the devil might be
Church, the Church for which Christ gave His life is the              able  *to demand our everlasting-destruction are removed, or
little round church.                                                  else we can have no peace with God. My peace of mind is
      That the `Church of Christ is little we will be able to         gone, my fear is there even when there is only one thing
maintain without a great deal of adverse criticism. "Many             left that Satan can  claim as the basis for my everlasting dam-'
are called but few are chosen," Matthew 22  :16, are the              nation. No, I need  to, belong to a "round church" in order
words of Christ Himself.  IFear  not little flock  ; for it is        to have peace and comfort. I need to know that the Church
your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom," Luke            of Jesus Christ to which I belong is "round."
12:32,  are also His words. And He ought to know whether              il  You  ?ust tell your children that, too.    .
this is true or not. "Once the longsuffering of God waited               Listen once to the testimony of one who knew the joy
in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein           of belonging to a "round" Church: "Walk about Zion, and
few. that is, eight souls were saved by water," I Peter 3  :20.       go round about her : Tell the towers thereof. Mark ye well her
Although the Church of God as it will stand upon the new              bulwarks, Consider her palaces; That ye may tell it to the
creation will be an innumerable host, yet it is, in comparison        generations following." (Psalm  48:12,  13)           j
with `the number of those that are outside of her, a little              What a safe place of refuge that is!
Church.                                                                 No corners there where the Evil One may get hold of
      But  what we like,  especially.about  the expression is that    you.
it very correctly denotes it as a round church.                          And by all means "tell it  to the generations following."
      That is,, indeed, a beautiful thought and expresses  .what      Do not deceive your children.
the Word of God repeatedly declares  conc&ning  the Church               In this day and age when all the military might of our  na-`
of Jesus Christ.                                                      tion is on display before their eyes; when the  .democratic
      The idea is that a round church in one wherein the devil        way of life is lauddd as being so superior to the socialistic,
can never get you in a corner. A round church has no                  communistic forms of government, when the freedoms of the
corners. A  romid church is one where you are safe from ail           free nations are' presented as such an advancement over
the attacks of the Wicked One.                                        what the nations of the world enjoyed in the past, by all
      How beautiful, really !                                         means tell your  &ldren  about the towers of Zion. Instruct
      Who could ever desire to have a church that did not             them in the security of her bulwarks. They must not form
afford that safety? To many the church is a society for the           the opinion that the devil is able to hide in those towers and
saving of souls. Revivals are urged and conducted that "many          break  sthru  those bulwarks so that the children of Zion are
precious  souls  may be saved." But if the church has corners         never sure of safety.
and in that church the devil can still get you in a corner,              "The Lord is my light and my salvation: whom shall I
what has the church to "offer" and "promise" to all men               fear 7 the Lord is the strength of my life  ; of whom shall I be
who hear the preaching that is not also true outside the              afraid?" Psalm  27:l. Of Satan? Afraid that as a member
church ?  If. the church has corners where the devil may get          of the Church of Jesus Christ he will get me in a corner
hold of you, why cannot a man be saved outside the church             where I cannot crawl out?
as well as in it  ?- 0, maybe it is a  little safer in the church        And James did not know what he was talking about?


4 2 4                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
.~.                                                                         -

       when he said, "Resist the devil, and he will flee from  you,"             Then we have all kinds of worries, cares and perplexities.
       James  4:7. Even when a child of God is cornered by the                   That is what Paul wrote  ;o the Church at Philippi, "Be care-
       devil, there is a way of escape. But  ranember  that when the             ful for nothing  ; but in everything by prayer and supplication
                                                                                   _  :  :  7-'
       devil  gets you in a corner, it is because you are in  tge world          with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto
       and not in the Church of Christ. -Christ has removed all the              God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understand-
       corners for His people and made a safe  i-e&eat  and reinforced           ing, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus,"
       the  -bulwarks  of Zion so that no enemy can ever get in and              Philippians 4: 6, 7. Notice that these cares and worries are
       hurt His people. That safe  retfeat  is His Church.                       presented as matters of the heart and mind. When our hearts
          Oh, God's people have doubts and fears. There are times                and minds are kept in Christ the peace of God which passeth
       when "Our sins rise up against us prevailing day by day."                 all understanding keeps  us from all cares and anxieties. Actu-
       There are times when a child of God may lose all conscious-               ally what Paul writes is that our hearts and minds are gar-
                                                                                 risoned  in Christ.
       ness of his salvation. It is not a rare thing to find children of
       God who cannot with confidence testify that they are chil-                    There you have again  thgse  tower'; and bulwarks of Zion.
       dren of God. At best, they will simply tell you, "I hope so;              There again you have the Scriptural idea that the Church of
       but.1  do not see how I can be."                                          Jesus Christ is  "rpund." No corners there at all.
                                                                                      We never get-peace of heart and mind, we never have rest
          Pkople of  God have also had Asaph's experience. They                  and quietness for our souls till they find themselves in that
  .look  at the world. They see the eyes  of'the  wicked that they               round, corner-less place of safety, the Church of Jesus Christ.
       "stand out with fatness." They see that these wicked "have                    Outside of that Church -there is fear. Outside a terrible
' more than heart could wish," Psalm 73  :7. They are, then,                     monster lurks and waits to devour; and you stand in the
       inclined to  &y out that "Clean hands  a& worthless and pure              dread danger of being cornered by him at any moment.
 `hearts are vain." There are times when it seems that to be in                    In the Church is also fear, but it is the fear of the Lord,
       the Church of Christ does not compare favourably at all with              the fear of amazement and awe before Him, which is the
       being in the world.                                                       result of beholding His greatness and grace in preparing a
          However, do not forget that this is due to the  fact that              place so secure and safe for His people. It is the fear of faith.
       they are at  tIcat   moment  outside of that "round" Church ! No,             The "church" that teaches directly or indirectly that the
       once engrafted into Christ by a true and  living faith.  P'=  2"~         Church of Christ has corners deceives God's people. What
never be cut off. For it is a "round)' Church where the devil                    is worse, such a "church" ridicules and insults the  King  of
       can never get you in a corner. Once regenerated by  the, Spirit           that Church. It accuses Him of having made an imperfect
       of Christ, we can never, never lose that life and die spirit-             Church. It limits the power of His blood and denies that it
       ually. John declares, "Whosgkver  is born of God doth not                 was able to make a perfectly safe and secure retreat for  Go~d's
  commit sin  ; for' .His seed  re&aineth  in him : and he cannot                people. It denies the victory of  the seed of the woman over
       sin, because he is born of  God," I John 3  :9. That is the word          the seed of the serpent. It takes away the believer's comfort
  of God. The new man in Christ can never be  gotteq  into a                     and peace of mind.
corner by' Satan. And if we do sin  - and how often is it nbt                        Indeed, give  us membership in "the little round church"
  that  we do  ?  - it is by the old man of sin in us who is in the              and we will have peace and joy and everlasting comfort and
  world and part of that godless world. Or again, Peter  de-                     consolation.                                              J . A . H .
  clares,.."B+ng  born again, not of corruptible seed, but of
  incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth
  for ever," I  Peter-   i  /23.-  0; again,  && words of Paul `in                THE'SIGNIFICANCEOF  THE TABLE OFSHEWBREAD
  Philippians 1  :6,  "Bking  confident of this very thing, that He                                     (Co~~.t+d  fi-om  $mge 420)
  which hath `begun a good work in you will perform it until                     and resurrection,  the  evcdasting  kght  for His people  to dwell
  the day of Jesus Christ." No possibility, then, that once being                in the presence of God.
  made a living member of  the Church, the body of Christ one                        And because this fruit of  the- Cross is the expression of
  can possibly be cast out, cut off to perish outside that Church.               the Eternal Counsel and good  ple&ure  of God respecting His
          But that does not mean that with our hearts and our                    people,  "He  l&h.  not beheld  ,iniqzrity  in  Jacob, neither  hatlz
 minds we cannot get outside `of that Church. Being in that                      Ite seen  perverseness  in  Israel." Numb. 23  :21)
  Church from eternity by sovereign election, being in that                          Furthermore, He determined to make known unto His
  Church by the spiritual bond of faith, we can look out and                     people His loving-kindness and everlasting mercy as He made
  look away from Christ, the Corner Stone of that Church, and                    His dwelling place in their midst, and  called them in Jesus
  then lose our confidence of the safety and blessedness of that                 Christ, of whom this "shewbread" was a type, that they
  Church.                                                                        might  come and continually stand before His presence and be
          We can get beyond those bulwarks and outside of those.                 unto Him "joy a people, a.nd for a name, and for a praise, and
  towers of Zion in our thoughts and then be filled with  fear.                  for a. glory;"                                         E. Emanuel


                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                  425

II                                                                     cal II, in the early part of the twelfth century, were setting
              Contending For The Faith II the canons at defiance and indulging in enormities hateful to
                                                                       God and man (Primogeniture is the right of the firstborn to
                                                                       the inheritance  2 H.V.),.
               The Church and the Sacraments                               At last, the Gregorian enforcement of sacerdotal celibacy
                                                                       triumphed in the whole Roman Church, but at the fearful
      V                                                                sacrifice of sacerdotal chastity. The hierarchical aim was at-
           IEWS DURING THE THIRD PERIOD  (750-1517 A.D.                tained, but not the angelic purity of the priesthood. The
                   T                                                   private morals of the priest were  sacrifieced  to hierarchical
                        HE SUPREMACY OF THE POPE                       ambition. Concubinage and licentiousness took the place of
              GREGORY  VII  AND THE PAPACY  (continued).               holy matrimony. The acts of councils abound in complaints
                                                                       of clerical immorality and the vices of unchastity and  drunk-
      In Spain, which was as much isolated from the Continent          eness. "The records of the Middle Ages are full of the
by the Pyrenees as England by the sea, clerical celibacy was           evidences that  indiscrminate  license of the worst kind pre-
never enforced before this period: The Saracenic invasion              vailed throughout every rank of the hierarchy." The cor-
and subsequent struggles of the Christians were unfavorable            ruption again reached the papacy, especially in the fifteenth
to discipline. A canon of Compostella, afterwards bishop of            century. John XXIII and Alexander VI  rivalled in wicked-
Mondonego, describes the contemporary ecclesiastics at the             ness and lewdness the worst popes of the tenth and eleventh
close of the eleventh century  as- reckless and violent men,           centuries.
ready for any crime, prompt to quarrel, and occasionally in-
dulging in mutual. slaughter. The lower priests were gener-            The W.~Y OV~Y Investiture.
ally married ; but bishops and monks were forbidden by a
council of Compostella, in 1056, all intercourse with women,              The other great reform-scheme of Gregory aimed at the
except with mothers, aunts, and sisters wearing the monastic           complete emancipation of the Church from the bondage of
habit. Gregory VII sent a legate, a certain Bishop Amandus,            the secular power. His conception of the freedom of the
to Spain to introduce his reforms, 1077. A council at Girona,          Church meant the slavery of the State.
1078, forbade the ordination of sons of priests and the hered-             The State exercised control over the Church by selling
itary transmission of ecclesiastical benefices. A council at           ecclesiastical dignities, or the practice of simony, and by the
Burgos, 1080, commanded married priests to put away their              investiture of bishops and abbots; that is, by the bestowal of
wives. But this order seems to have been a dead letter until           the staff and ring. These were the insignia of ecclesiastical
the thirteenth century, when the code of laws drawn up by              authority  ; the staff or  crosier  was the symbol of the spiritual
Alfonso the Wise, known as "Las Siete Partidas," punished              rule of the bishop, the ring the symbol of his mystical mar-
sacerdotal marriage with deprivation of function and benefice,         riage with the Church.
and authorized the prelates to command the assistance of the              The feudal system of the Middle Ages, as it developed
secular power in enforcing this punishment. "After this we             itself among the new races of Europe from the time of
hear little of regular marriage, which was replaced by  proinis-       Charlemagne, rested on land tenure and the mutual obliga-
cuous concubinage or by permanent irregular unions.:                   tions of lord and vassal, whereby the lord, from the king
      In France the efforts of reform made by the predecessors         down to the lowest vassal was bound to serve his lord. The
of Gregory had little effect. A Paris synod of 1074 declared           Church in many countries owned nearly or fully one-half of
Gregory's decrees unbearable and unreasonable. At a stormy             the landed estate, with the right of customs, tolls, coinage, of
synod at Poitiers, in 1078, his legate obtained the adoption           money, etc., and was in justice bound to bear part of the
of a canon which threatened with excommunication all who               burden attached to land tenure. The secular lords regarded
should listen to mass by a priest whom they knew to be guilty          themselves as the patrons of the Church, and claimed the
of simony or concubinage. But the bishops were unable to               right of appointing  and.investing  its  o,fficers,  and of bestow-
carry out the canon without the aid of the secular arm. The            ing upon them, not only their temporalia, but also the in-
Norman clergy in 1072 drove the archbishop of Rouen from               signia of their spiritual power. This was extremely offensive
a council with a shower of stones. William the Conqueror               to churchmen. The bishop, invested by the Lord, became his
came to his aid in  1080  at a synod of Lillebonne, which for-         vassal, and had to swear an oath of obedience, which implied
bade ordained persons to keep women in their houses. `But              the duty of serving at court and furnishing troops  fo,r the
clerial  marriages continued, the nuptials were made public,           defence of the country. Sometimes a bishop had hardly left
and male children succeeded to benefices by a recognized right         the altar when his liege-lord commanded him to gird on the
of  primogeniture. -W 11
                            i iam  the Conqueror, `who assisted the    sword, After the death of the bishop, the king or prince used
hopeless reform in Normandy, prevented it in his subject               the income of the see till the election of a successor, and often
province of Britanny, where the clergy, as described by Pas-           unduly postponed the election for his  pecuninary  benefit, to

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

the injury of the Church and the poor. In the appointments,          him proud and overbearing, while adversity cast him down.
the king was influenced by political, social, or pecuniary con-      His life presents striking changes of fortune. He ascended
siderations, and often sold the dignity  to, the highest bidder,     and descended twice the scale of exaltation and humiliation.
without any regard to intellectual or moral qualifications. The      He first insulted the pope, then craved his pardon  ;` he re-
right of investiture was thus closely connected with the cry-        belled again against him, triumphed for a while, was twice
ing abuse of simony, and its chief source.                           excommunicated and deposed  ; at last, forsaken and perse-
   No wonder that Gregory opposed this investiture by lay-           cuted by his  own..son, he died a miserable death, and was
men with all his might. Cardinal  Humbert  had attacked it in        buried in unconsecrated earth. The better class of his own
a special book under Victor II  (1057),  and declared it an          subjects sided against him in his controversy with the pope.
infamous scandal that lay-hands, above all, female hands,            The Saxons rose in open revolt against his tyranny on the
should bestow the ring and  crosier.  He insisted that  in-          very day that Hildebrand was consecrated (June 25, 1073).
vesiture  was a purely spritual function, and that secular              This synod of 1075 forbade. the king  and.  all laymen hav-
princes have nothing to do with the performance of  functons         ing anything to do with the appointment of bishops, abbots,
that have something sacramental about them. They even                and other ecclesiastics receiving ecclesiastical appointments
commit sacrilege by  touchin g the garments of the priest.. By       from king or any temporal lord whatsoever. At the same
the exercise of the right of investiture,, princes, who are          synod, Gregory  e&ommunicated  five  .counsellors  of Henry
properly the defenders of  ~the  Church, had become its lords        for  practising  simony.
and rulers. Great evils, had arisen out of this practice, es-            The.king,   hard pressed by the rebellious Saxons, at first
pecially in Italy, where ambitious priests lingered about the        yielded, and dismissed the five  counsellors   ; but, as soon as he
antechambers of courts and  practised  the vice of adulation,        had subdued the rebellion (June 5,  1075))  he recalled them,
z&m6 adulationis.                                                    and continued to  practise  shameful simony. He paid his
   The legislation against lay appointments was opened-at            soldiers from the proceeds of Church property, and adorned
the Synod of  Rheims,  1049, under the influence of Leo IX.          his mistresses with the diamonds of sacred vessels. The
It declared that no priest should be promoted to office with-        pope exhorted him by letter and deputation to repent and
out the election of clergy and people. Ten years later, 1059,        threatened. him with excommunication. The king received
the Synod of Rome pronounced any appointments of cleric              his legates most ungraciously, and assumed the tone  of- open
or presbyter to benefice invalid, which was made by a  lay:          .defiance. Probably with his knowledge, Cencius, a cousin of
man. The following year, 1060, the French synods of Tours            the imperial prefect in Rome, shamefully maltreated the pope,
and Vienne extended the prohibition to bishops. It remained          seized him at the altar the night before Christmas, 1075, and
for Gregory to stir up all Europe over the question who had          shut him up in a tower; but the people released him and put
the right of investiture.                                            Cencius to flight.
   By abolishing this custom, Gregory hoped `to emancipate              Henry called the bishops and abbots of the empire to
the clergy from the vassalage of the State, and the property         a council at Worms, under the lead of Archbishop Siegfried
of the Church from the feudal supervision of the prince, as          of Mainz, Jan. 24, 1076. Th'IS council deposed Gregory with-
well as  `to`make  the bishops the obedient servants of the pope.    out giving him even a- hearing, on the ground of slanderous
   The contest continued under the following popes, and              charges of treason, withcraft, covenant with the devil, .and
was at last settled by the compromise of Worms (1122). The           impurity, which were brought against him by Hugo Blancus
emperor yielded only in part; for to surrender the whole             (Hugh Leblanc), a deposed cardinal. It  .was even asserted
property of the Church to the absolute power of the pope,            that he ruled the Church by a senate of women, Beatrix,
would have reduced civil government to a mere shadow. On             Matilda- of Tuscany, and Agnes, the emperor's mother. Only
the other hand, the partial triumph of the papacy contributed        two bishops dared to protest against the illegal proceeding.
very much to the secularization of the Church.                       The Ottos and Henry III had deposed popes, but not in
                                                                     such' a manner.
Gregory  VII and  Henry IV.         .                                   Henry secured the signatures of the disaffected bishops
   The conflict over investiture began at a Roman synod in           of Upper Italy at a council in Piacenza. He informed Gregory
Lent (Feb.  24-28),  1075, and brought -on the famous col-           of the decree of Worms in an insulting letter: -"Henry,
lision with Henry IV, in which priestcraft and kingcraft             king, not by usurpation, but by God's holy ordinance, to  Hil-
strove for mastery. The pope had the combined advantages             debrand, not pope, but a false monk. How darest thou, who
of superior age, wisdom, and moral character over this. un-          hast won thy power through craft, flattery, bribery, and force,.
fortunate prince, who, when a mere boy of six years  (1056),         stretch forth thy hand against the Lord's anointed, despising
had, lost his worthy father, Henry III, had been removed             the precept of the true pope, St. Peter : `Fear God, honor the
from the care of his. pious but weak mother, Agnes, and was          king'? Thou who dost not fear God, dishonorest me whom
spoiled in his education. Henry had a lively mind and noble          He has appointed. Condemned by the voice of all our
impulses, but was despotic and licentious. Prosperity made                                 (CORtimled  OR page 430)


                                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEARE.R                                                       427

                                                                                      Notice, first of all, that here the term  ,l,egelzer-ntion  is
                ~The Voice of Our Fathers                                         directly employed for the first time. As we remarked in
                                                                                  connection with Article 11, the term is used here in the
                                                                                  broader sense. as including that which we usually denote as
                                                                                  ,the calling. Of this same regeneration in the broader sense
                         The Canons of  Dordrebht                                 of the word the fathers continue to speak.
                                     PART TWO                                         Secondly, the fathers go directly to the Scriptures for
                                                                                  their terminology. This regeneration is of  such  a nature  thtit
                          EXPOSITION OF THE CANONS                                it is called a  nezv  cueahon. Thus, for example, we read in
                                                                                  II Corinthians 5  :17:  "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he
                  THIRD  AND  FOURTH  HEADS  OF  DOCTRINE                         is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all
      OF  THE  COR~JPTION   OF  MAN, HIS  CONVERSION  -TO GOD,                    things are become new." It is called a  mmwectiort  frown the
                                                                                  dea.d.  In John 5  125  this truth is set forth: "Verily, verily,
                          AND THE MANNER THEREOF                                  I say unto  you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the
                                                                                  dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: `and they  thatl
              Article 12. And this is the regeneration so higly celebrated
              in Scripture, and denominated a new  &eation:  a  resurrek-         hear shall live." In the' light of both the text and context this
              tion from the dead, a making alive, which God works  in'us          is not a reference to the resurrection of the body, which is
              without our aid. But  this,is in no wise effected merely by
              the external preaching of the gospel, by  -moral suasion, or        specifically mentioned in vs. 28, and which belongs to the
              such a mode of operation, that after God has performed
              his part, it still remains in the power of man to be regener-       "hour" that "is coming." But this is a resurrection which
              ated or not, to be converted or to continue unconverted;            takes place in the hour that is coming and that now is, and
              but it is  evidently  a supernatural work, most powerful, and
              at the same time most delightful! astoaishing, mysterious,          can refer only to the wonder of regeneration, according to
              and ineffable; not inferior in  efficacy  to creation, or the       which those who are spiritually dead hear the  :voice of the
              resurrection  frotn the dead, as the Scripture inspired by the
              author of this work declares; so that all in whose heart            Son of God Himself, and are made spiritually alive. Thus
/             God  wo.rks  in this marvelous manner, are certainly in-            the Scriptures speak more frequently of this resurrection or
              fallibly, and effectually regenerated, and do actually  befieve.
              -Whereupon the will thus renewed, is not only actuated              making alive. This same wonder is described in  Remans
              and influenced  bv God, but in  conseauence  of this influence.     4  :17 :  `I (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many
              becomes itself active. `Wherefore also, man is himself  right:
              ly said to believe and repent, by virtue of that grace re-,         nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who
              ceived.                                                             quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as
        The above translation rather accurately presents  the-                    though they were."' And again, in Ephesians 2  :l : "And  you
     thought of the original Latin, and in most instances agrees,                 hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins."
     with the Dutch rendering also. We would suggest the fol-                     And in vss. 4 and 5 of the same chapter: "But God, who is
     lowing changes, which, however, are not essential: 1) In                     rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved  us,
     *the first sentence, the clause, "which God works in us without              Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened  us.  together  -
     our aid," might be rendered more directly and emphatically                   with Christ, (by grace ye are saved,)"  .In Eph. 4  24  we.read
     by: "which God works in us `without us." 2) In the  samo                     of the new man as a new creation: "And that ye put on the
     sentence, the series of adjectives describing the experience                 new man, which after God is created in righteousness and
     of regeneration could be better translated: "most pleasant,                  true holiness." And, to quote no more, we read in Ephesians
     wonderful, mysterious, and unspeakable."                                     5  :14:  "Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and
        In this article the fathers: continue their description of                arise,from  the dead, and Christ shall give thee light."
     the nature and the manner of the work of God according  toi                     From. the above passages, in which this  terminoiogy  is
     which some obey the call of the gospel and are converted,                    used, and which also speak of this work directly as a work of
     and especially speak of this matter in such a way as to rule                 God, it is plain that the fathers are entirely justified when,
     out completely the Arminian conception. Even as it is true                   in the third place, they add: "which God works in  us  with-
     that the Arminians lay all emphasis upon this phase of the                   out  us.)' This is in the very nature of the case. If regeneration
     truth of salvation both in their doctrine and in their preach;               is a new creation, then it must be that God works it in us
     ing, so the fathers recognize this as a crucial point, and bend              without us. No more than there was any possibility or
     every effort to distinguish their Scriptural conception from                 necessity of cooperation on the part of Adam when God
     the false and unscriptural view of the Remonstrants.                         created him, no more is  <there  any room to speak of coopera-
        In  *the first place, the article goes to Scripture for a                 tion on  the part of man when God creates him anew. No
     description of the very nature of the work of regeneration:                  more than there was any possibility of the proper  esercise  of
     "And this is the regeneration so highly celebrated in Scrip-                 free  .will.  As absurd as it is to speak to the dead in  the.
     ture,  and denominated a new creation: a resurrection from                   cemetery, so absurd it is to tell men that they must be
     the dead, a making  ,alive,  which God works in  us  without our             regenerated   in such a way that you ever leave the impression
     aid."                                                                        that this regeneration in any degree belongs within the scope


  428                                         TH%:   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

  of human accomplishments. As utterly foolish as it would                Positively, they  use-,the  following language concerning,
  have been for the Lord Jesus to have said to Lazarus, "I             this work of God: 1  j  It is evidently a supernatural work,
  will raise you from the dead if you are willing and will ac-         most.bowerful.  The work of regeneration does not belong to
  cept my offer to raise  you," so utterly foolish it is to present    the things natural. It does not belong to the natural man. It
  the work of regeneration and conversion in the same light.           is not within the scope of natural man's accomplishment. It
  True, the fathers emphasize that God works this work `in             is not of this earth and this  wdrld.  It does not at all belong
  .LfS." And "in us" it certainly is, -beginning in the very.          to the natural order of things.  It is from above, heavenly,
  depths of our being, in our  imnost  heart. And as we shall          spiritual. It is God. Hence, it is not `unnatural, contrary,
  see in the end of our discussion,  .this certainly implies also      to nature, but supernatural. And such an intrusion into the
  that man is not a stock and block in the process of salvation.       natural order of things it is that it is called "most powerful."
  But it is no less emphatically true that what God works in           It is an act of almighty grace. 2) At the same time, it is
  us He works entirely "without us." This is entirely the work         "most pleasant. wonderful, mysterious, and unspeakable."
. of God.                                                              Here you have expressed what I consider the main objection
                                                                       to the use of  ,the term  in-esistible.  In other words, no matter
         In the second place, therefore; the fathers describe the      how much you insist that when God performs His part of
  manner of this work. Negatively, it is in no wise effected :         this work, it is no more in the power of `man to be regener-
  1) By the external preaching. of  tke gospel. The preaching          ated or not, to be converted or to continue unconverted, that
  of the gospel, considered now merely in its outward sound,           work is never of such a nature that man feels as though he
  unaccompanied by the inward operation of the Spirit of               is converted against his will, that he wants to resist God's
  Christ, unaccompanied by the powerful, resurrecting voice            work. No, the work of  regener&tion  is an operation in man's
  of the Son of God, is `incapable of regenerating and con-            very nature, in his heart. It does not compel him, but, it
  verting a man. When we speak of regeneration in the broader:         impells  him. And therefore, when a man is converted, ha
  sense, we may certainly say that it is mediate, takes place:         does not feel compelled and coerced, but there is in him the
  through the means of the preaching of the gospel. But that           impulse of a new life. And his experience of this work of
: preaching of the gospel is the means, not the efficient cause.       conversion is that it is unspeakably sweet and pleasant and
  2) By moral suasian, This is the Arminian conception. It             mysteriously wonderful. One who is converted finds the only
  makes of the divine  wbrk a gentle advising, claiming that this      comfort in life and death, and is overwhelmed with a  deep-
  manner of working is, most in harmony with man's nature.             seated spiritual joy in Christ. Hence, 3) this work is called
  According to this view, the power of the divine working              efficacious : "not inferior in efficacy to creation (God spake,
 surpasses the working of Satan only because God promises              and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast), or to
  eternal, while Satan promises only tempdral goods.' Cf. III,         the resurrection from the dead (Jesus said, "Lazarus,, come
  IV1 B, 7. It is, of course, this notion that characterizes much,     forth;"  atid he came forth), as the Scriptures inspired by the
  so-called preaching on the part of Arminians also today. This        author of this work declares (the Holy Spirit is the author
  idea leads to all the' urging and persuading and begging             of regeneration)  ; so that all in whose heart God works in this
  and pleading "to accept Christ" on the part of those who             marvelous manner, are certainly, infallibly, and effectually
  claim to be ambassadors of Christ, but `who bring no author-         regenerated, and do actually believe." Here therefore, we'
  itative message  from.  their  Serider.                              have the summation of the  .entire  matter. The Arminian,
         Alid to cover every Arminian eventuality, the article         ascribing the obedient response to the call of the gospel to
  adds : "or such a mode of operation, that after God has per-         the will of man, must needs admit that this response is un-
  formed his part, it still remains in  th+e  power of man to be       certain, fallible, the result of  afi  ineffectual  work of God, and
  regenkrated or not, to be converted or to continue uncon-            that the actual faith is always in question. The Scriptures in-
  verted." `This is plain language. The Reformed view is that          sist that the work of God's grace is certain (it includes all in
  when God through the preaching of the gospel performs His            whose heart God works, without exception)  ) infallible (it can
  work of regeneration- and conversion, there is absolutely no         never fail), and effectual (it can never be obstructed or  un-
  possibility that God  will not accomplish what He  set.4   out       undone) .
  to do. This is what is called "irresistible grace." When this  ~        All of this, however, does in no wise abrogate the re-
  grace operates, it is no more in the power of the man in
  whom that grace operates to resist it: he must needs be con-.        sponsibility of the  ChriStian. God does not believe and repent
                                                                       for him, but the Christian himself believes and repents, by
  verted. However, let  it be noted once again that the fathers
  do not employ the term  irre&ihZe  in this connection, even          virtue of that grace received. .Why  is this true  ? Negatively
                                                                       stated, it is true because God never  viol%tes  the  work  of His
  though they give an apt description of what we would call            own creation, never violates the nature of a man. That is,
  "irresistible grace." Instead, they continue to speak also in        God, in the execution of His good pleasure, never interferes
  this article of "efficacious" grace. The reason for this  .isl       between the heart and will and mind of man, on the one hand,
  evident in their positive description of the work of regenera-
  tion, which follows.                                                                      (Contiiured  on  #age 430)


                                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                  429
-
                                                                                       iEstablishing  and maintaining  correspond,ence  with  .o,ther
              DECENCY and ORDER                                                        churches, (2) Emeritation of ministers, (3) Providing for
                                                                  -       (       I    needy students for the ministry, (4) Revising and cor-
                      Matters to be Treated                                            recting the liturgy and church order of the churches, (5)
                                                                                       and other matters as dictated by circumstances. All these
                  Article 30 D. K. 0. (Continued)                                      things which concern all the churches may be treated in:
     Matters to be treated in the major ecclesiastical as-                             the broader assemblies without formal overture or re-
semblies are of two sorts. First of all there are those                                quest to do so. Dr. H. Bouwman says, "This phrase con-
things which cannot be finished in the minor assemblies.                               cerns matters mutually agreed upon by the churches, and
To these things belong matters of protest, matters that are                            .which concern continued denominational fellowship and
too complicated and difficult `for a minor assembly  to:                               the maintenance of principles set forth in the Bible, and
decide, and overtures from  lotal  churches. In respect to.                            (consequently) in the Confessional Standards and Church
the first mentioned, one party or several parties are dis-                             Order."
satisfied with the decisions taken in the minor assemblies                                 From this Monsma and Van  Dellen  draw a conclu-                            .
and,  consequently,~  appeal to the broader gathering. In                              sion with which we cannot wholly agree.                     They write :
the second named, the matter in  questicin  may be very                                "And thus matters which are of  `a general interest for all
consequ&ntial   a,nd  a consistory may deem it wise to seek                            the churches of a  Classis or Synod may be taken directly
the advice of the major assembly before `taking a definite                             before these bodies, and these bodies may also  t&e  action
stand- on the question. In such cases it is better that the                            upon such matters upon their own inititive." Thus far we
consistory present the material in question in the form of                             have  ,no objection but then the authors continue with  this
an overture for if it does not do so, it faces the likely pos-                         example: "So,  f.i., our Synod may decide to initiate a con-
sibility that its material will be rejected in the major as-                           sideration concerning the proper mode of observing the
sembly on  the*  ground that it cannot treat what has  not                             Lord's Supper, whenever it so desires, for this is a matter
first been treated in the minor assembly. This has been                                which concerns  all the churches, and not just one or a few."
done more than once in the past and is certainly in accord                                .If by this is meant that the Synod may establish  whicl~
with the stipulation- of the article of the church order we                            Form for the Administration of the Lord's Supper is to
are discussing.. The third mentioned matter deals  Gith                                be used in the churches, we could agree because that is a
those things which a certain church may feel are important                             matter of liturgy rather than "mode" but, if this means
enough to be  m+de  the  estagished  practice  iof all  kha                            that the  Synbd  shall be empowered to tell each church  how
churches within the denomination and so overture the                                   the Lord's Supper is be administered, we would  objecti
broader assemblies. Of  _ course,' all of these matters must                           since this is contrary to  the Church Order which in Article
be treated first by the minor assemblies. They may be                                  62 states, "Every church shall administer the Lord's Sup-
brought  up by any member of the church, treated by the                                per in such a manner as it shall judge most conducive
docal   c o n s i s t o r y ,   a n d   ,ultimately   bropght   t o   Classis   and    to edification . . .  ." H e n c e ,   w e   would  say  t h a t   when
Synod. They may not be dropped on the floor of  ther                                   speaking of the powers of the broader ecclesiastical as-
Synod, for example, without having followed this orderly                               semblies to deal with matters which pertain to the churches
process. This is simply a matter of good order through                                 in common, a Qualifying phrase ought to be added in
which the authority of the broader ecclesiastical assemblies                           which these powers of the Synod are limited to "the con-
is rightly limited.                                                                    fine of the Church Order." It should not really be  neces-
     In addition to the aforementioned matters,  ihere.  are                           sar) to  `express-  this' l&t!   appiraritly' it is  f&r  `it is  &t  always
also those things to be treated by the broader assemblies                              understood.  Syndd is surely not above the church order
which concern and pertain to the churches in common.                                   but is governed by it and, consequently, those matters
We might mention some of these things since these are                                  which the church order stipulates belong  to. the province of
matters that do not have  to) be treated and decided first  by' the local church must be left there by the Synod. By
the local church. Synod, for example, treats them an-                                  such restriction of the authority of Synod, the  .rights  of
nually because they are matters in which all the churches                              the individual churches remain properly protected.
have a common interest. Frequently such things are con-                                                  Major  md Minor Assemblies
stantly dealt with by Standing Committees which submit
reports of their activities to the annual Synod. Thus, there                               i few words ought to be written about this distinction
is the matter of Missions, both domestic and foreign. There                            in the present connection since it is mentioned in  Articla
is the matter of maintaining a Theological School, the                                 30. However, let it also be `remembered that the question
graduation of candidates for  the ministry of the  Word,                               concerning the authority of the  .various ecclesiastical as-
and the function  of declaring such candidates eligible for                            semblies and their relation  tb  each  other  beldngs properly
calls in the churches. Undoubtedly these are the two most                              to Article 36 and will be considered in that connection.
important items but there are also such things as : (1)                                Here  we want only to ask what ought to be  poted with


430                                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   .BEARER

regard to the terms "major assemblies', and "minor as-                             the domain over which our  &nsistories  have authority is
 semblies" which the Synod of Dordrecht, 1578 designated                           much more extensive than that of  Classis and  Synods.
by "grooter en minderen versamelinghen" and the present                                "Many denominations, Roman Catholicism especially, re-
Holland Church Order denotes with "meerdere en mindere                             gard their denomination as  .being a large super-church, and
vergaderingen."                                                                    the local churches as mere subdivisions of the one large
       Concerning this matter,. we pass on to our readers the                      church. Consequently, the highest authority they find in-
following  q$ot$ion,  from         " T h e   C h u r c h   O r d e r   C o m -     herently in the high courts or judicial bodies of their church,
mentary," pg. 138.                                                                And to these superior institutions they also attribute the
       "This latter provision of Art. 30 is also very important.                   widest scope of authority. The Reformed system, however,
It is typically Reformed. It is fundamental for Reformed                           maintains that each local congregation is a complete Church,
Church government.                                                                 a complete manifestation of the body of Christ. In that sense
       "Reformed church polity does not know a system of                           and in so far each church or congregation is independent in
lower and higher courts in the usual sense of the  woi-d.  It                      essence (zelfstandigj. Local churches can even exist `with- .
does not, as is done particularly by the Roman Catholic                            out denominational federation, but a denomination  canndt
Church and to a certain extent by some Protestant bodies,                          exist without  local,,churches.  The real unit is therefore the
attribute a small and limited  measuie  of  .authority to the                      individual church. And the local churches do not exist for
governing body, of the local congregation, a somewhat:                             the sake of the denomination, but denominations exist for
greater and  `&ore extensive measure of authority to groups the sake of the local arid individual churches.
of neighboring churches convening together, and a still greater                        "The terin `major' and `minor,' in Art. 30, do not, there-
and still more extensive measure of authority to assemblies,                       fore, refer to a system of lower and higher ecclesiastical
next in order, and finally the greatest and  mo$  extensive                        courts, exercising various inherent degrees of authority, but
measure of authority  to' the gathering representing all the                       they designate, in the first place, that at major assemblies a'
churches. If this this were the case, the Church Order  injght;                    .wuwb&   of  clvbt.r&es  are gathered together, and that conse-
speak of  16w"ei-`and  higher assemblies. For in that case  Con-                   quently, in the second place, at major assemblies, a  l@eu
sistories would have only a limited and smaller degree of                          vmamwe  of  autlzority   ,is  present  than at minor assemblies,
authority, while our  ClaSses would exercise an intermediate                       even as ten men have more strength than one alone:"
measure  ol authority. But Reformed Church polity does                                 .We quoted all this because in this quotation some very
not hold that Consistories have a lower and more limited                           vital principles of Reformed Church Polity are touched upon.
degree of authority, and  Classis and Synod a higher and more                      We shall have to wait, however, until next time to  commenb
extensive degree. Consequently, our church order speaks of                         upon the portion we quoted in this installment.
major and minor assemblies, and not of higher and lower                                                                                  G.V.D.B.
assemblies.                                                                                                                              r

    "The Latin word minor, signifies "less," and the Latin                                          CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH
wo;d major "more." If our fathers had desired to  indicat'e                                               (Con.t&ed  from page 426)
that our Classes and Synods are invested with higher author-
ity. than the consistories, higher in the sense of having  in-                     bishops, quit the apostolic chair, and let another take it, who
hererrt  powers not vested in the ruling bodies of the local                       will preach the sound  doctrine. of St. Peter, and not do
churches, then they would have used the comparative of                             violence under the cloak of religion. I, Henry, by the grace
some other Latin  wordj  f.i.., altus, signifying  t`high."  ,But they             of God, king? with all my bishops, say unto thee, Come down,
used major, inasmuch as the authority of our major assem-                          come down  !"
blies (Classes and Synods) is the same in essence as the                              The Lord willing, we will continue with this description
authority vested in' the local church."                                            by Philip  Schaff  of the tremendous controversy between
                                                                                   Gregory  VII and Henry IV in our following article.
   Continuing the quotation, we read: "In fact Reformed                                                                                         H.V.
Church polity knows of only one type and degree of author-
ity  ; that vested in the local congregation or its ruling body,                                    THE  VOICE   0.F OUR `FATHERS
the Consistory. The authority exercised by the major as-                                                  (`Co&mwd  f Yom pa,ge  428)
semblies is no higher and great& essentially, but merely  the.                     and the actions of that man, on the other hand. On the con-
sum-total of the authority exercised by the individual  Con-                       trary, the act of faith, and repentance proceeds from the will
sistories meeting as  Classis or Synod. The authority of our                       of the man: that man believes, that man repents. But he
major assemblies may therefore be looked upon as an ac-                            believes and repents only by virtue of the grace received. God
cumulation or combination of consistorial  authority.                              renews him. God actuates and influences that renewed will.
   "Furthermore, the authority of our consistories is not less                    And in consequence of that influence (infallible and effectual)
extensive than that of our Classes and Synods, but more                            the renewed will also acts. Hence, man is  rightly  said to
extensive  thti  that of Classes and Synods. That is to  say,                      believe and repent.                                        H.C.H.


                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                     '                              431
                                                              .
 II                                                                            "    T    h
                                                                                    e group seeking conversations with the Christian Re-
              ALL AROUND US                                             I formed church has about 17 congregations across the country,
                                                                           four of them in this. city. Rev. Andrew Cammenga, pastor
                                                                   _       of Fourth church here, is fraternal delegate to the local synod.
 A~nother  Prediction  Coming  True.                                           "The communication to the Christian Reformed synod
       The  Gq*a.nd   Rafiids  Press,  reporting on matters coming up      says `we have led separate existence since 1924. We are
 at the synod of the Christian Reformed church, reveals among              willing and ready  `to continue to do so if witnessing to the
 other things that the schismatic group which recently left                Reformed faith so requires. The issue is whether our witness,
 us  has sent a letter to the above named synod in which they              that is yours and ours, is similar.'
ask for closer unity with the Christian Reformed church.                       "The letter points out that `since 1924, when the Chris-
       Almost immediately after the split we predicted that they           tian Reformed church. established the `Three Points on Com-
 would ultimately seek admission in that church. This is the               mon `Grace,' we have maintained positions that differed and
 first step in that direction on' an official basis. Within the            have found ourselves drifting farther and farther apart.
 last year two of their ministers, Van Weelden and Vermeer,                    " `In the process of interpreting, criticizing and in general
 were admitted into that church; and now the whole group                   evaluating these points the possibility exists that we have
 is in the process of getting in. We predict that the Christian            misinterpreted your position. If this is pointed out to  us we
Reformed synod will gladly open their doors to this group                  assure you  *that we will correct it. We ask your. kind assist-
and will ultimately swallow them up. We base our prediction                ance in interpreting that which you have declared.
on two factors. The first is,  there'is  no essential difference
between the two groups on a doctrinal basis. The second is,                    " `The question is whether the cause of the Lord is best
the schismatic group that left us has no real leaders, no                  promoted and defended by you and  us  going separate ways
theological school, no future if they remain separate.                     or whether  it- is possible better to promote and  defen,d.this
                                                                           cause by a mutual drawing closer together.' "
       The press informs its readers that  `!two  Reformed
denominations which have existed separately since 1924 may                    There are  three'or  four observations I would like to make
                                                                           concerning the above report to the Press.
work toward closer unity as the result of a communication
from the synod of the Protestant Reformed Churches to. the                    In the first place, our readers ought to notice who they
Christian Reformed church synod in session at Calvin Col-                  were who signed  ,this   synodical letter addressed to the Chris-
lege, Rev. Hubert De Wolf of the Protestant Reformed group                 tian Reformed synod, as well as the name of the fraternal
said Thursday.                                                             delegate appointed to attend that synod. All three of these
       "At its meeting last Friday in Oskaloosa, Iowa, the Prot-           men, i.e.,  Kok, Hofman, and Cammenga, were erstwhile mis-
estant Reformed church synod decided to ask the Christian                  sionaries in our Protestant Reformed churches. They were
Reformed church synod to appoint,  `a board committee  to                  men who told us that they believed the doctrine taught in
meet with a Protestant Reformed group to discuss freely the                the Protestant Reformed churches: They promised to not
differences and similiarities which are found to exist.' Four              only defend these doctrines., but also to preach them wher-
ministers and three elders were  appoii7ted  by the synod at               ever they were sent in the performance of our mission work.
Oskaloosa to meet with the Christian Reformed represent-                   Concerning the Rev. B.  Kok,. most of our readers will re-
atives if that church accedes to the request, De Wolf said.                member how with great boldness he went about laboring in
                                                                           Christian Reformed communities, challenging the leaders of
       "The letter to the Christian Reformed church was signed. that church to debate with him on the issues- wherein we
by Rev. Bernard  Kok  of Holland, president of the Protestant              differ. So much was this true that in Manhattan, Montana,
Reformed synod, and Rev. Walter Hofman of Bellflower,                      he was accused of going into the consistory room of the local
Calif.  ? first clerk.                                                     Christian Reformed church to offer debate. The result of his
       "The group requesting conversations with the Christian              labors in Manhattan was that a congregation was established
Reformed church is to be distinguished from another de-                    and joined to our churches. And now that same Rev. Kok
nomination, also bearing the official name `Protestant Re- is helping that congregation along with the others he helped
formed church,' and generally associated with Rev. Herman                  to establish right back where they came from. The fact of
Hoeksema of this city. These two groups split in October,. the matter is that all three of these men labored for years
1953, Mr. De Wolf said, and court litigation has been in-                  among Christian Reformed people with the express purpose
decisive to date as to rights to denominational name. In the               to. open their eyes to the error of 1924. They, in preaching
case of one congregation, the local First church, the Michigan             and writing. endeavored to show that the world and life
supreme court has granted  use:of  the Protestant Reformed                 view of the Christian Reformed and Protestant Reformed
name to the Hoeksema group. Mr. De Wolf's local group                      churches is as far apart as the poles. Now they are asking
has been called the Orthodox Protestant Reformed church.                   the synod of the Christian `Reformed church to review these
However, the denominations still bear identical names.                     differences on the ground that "the possibility exists that we


                               _---                                                                                i
 4 3 2                                         T H E       STANDA-RD   B E A R E R                           ._
 7

 have misinterpreted  .your position." This it is impossible for        Rather, I consider this merely bait to lure the Christian
 me  .to believe. Rather, I believe that they always were Chris-        Reformed church to graciously take them back into. her
 tian Reformed at heart. To borrow an expression used years bosom. I would like to  urges  the Christian Reformed church
 ago in  The  Standwd   Bewer  respecting another individual            `to bite on this bait, and that `for the two reasons I already'
 who returned to the Christian Reformed church, they are big            .mentioned.  This schismatic group that seeks unity with you
 frogs in a pond much too small for them. They need bigger              is in perfect agreement w-ith  you  doctrinally; and, they have
 waters.                                                                no future if they continue as a separate group. I might add
      In the second place, the article states that "court litigation    to this that their leaders are very industrious  to. expand.
. has been indecisive to date as to the rights to denominational         Since it appears that in recent years your church is expand-
 name."' De -Wolf correctly informed the reporter that the              ing rapidly,  you  will find it advantageous to your cause to
 group he represented,  in-  litigation of First church lost the        allow them to ride with  you  on the band wagon. I said
 name "Protestant Reformed," and the group represented/by               that they agree with you doctrinally. Perhaps I should add
 Rev. Herman Hoeksema was granted the use of that name                  to this that they are even stronger than you are doctrinally.
 by the Michigan Supreme court. However the two denomina-               They do not like, the wording of the First Point which states
 tions in the split still bear identical names.                         that God is  ,gracious- to the reprobate when He offers him
      But how can the name be important at all to a schismatic          salvation in the preaching -of the gospel. They prefer to say
 group that now seeks unity with the Christian Reformed;                that God promises salvation to all who hear the gospel on
 church  ? This group does not want the name "Protestant                condition that they believe. That? you must admit, is a much
 R e f o r m e d , "and would gladly carry on under the name            stronger statement than that which you declared in the First
 "Christian Reformed." I'm wondering what the judges of the             Point. So you won't have to be afraid that they won't agree
 Michigan Supreme court will think of this if they read the             with you on a doctrinal basis. To add to your already ex-
 article of the Press. Presently they will have render judg-            panding denomination seventeen new congregations is no
 ment in the case of the Second Protestant Reformed church,             small item, especially where they are so much like you. And
 of Grand Rapids, where also the name "Protestant Reformed"             I say once more, if you do not take them in, they will not
 is in dispute. How is it possible for also this schismatic             be able to continue as a separate denomination. They will
 group to vie for the name before the courts which they do              come to you piece-meal anyway. So by all means you should
 not care to retain as is clear from their endeavor to lose their       heed their pleading.
 name in  ,the Christian Reformed church ? It seems to me that              Finally,  inspite of all  that- we have said concerning the
 the judges will see clearly that the  schismatics  who left us         leaders of this schismatic group, it is hard for us  to, believe
 have no right whatever to the name "Protestant Reformed."              that all the good people who were mislead by these leaders
  .' In the third place, more important still is what this              and who left us `recently will go along with the decision  of
 schismatic group says in the letter addressed to the synod of          their synod to seek affiliation with the Christian Reformed
 the Christian Reformed church. The letter states that "the             church. I cannot forget some good people I know in Man-
 issue is whether  .our witness, that is yours and ours, is             hattan and in the First and Second, churches in Grand
 similiar,"  and "in the process of interpreting, criticizing and       Rapids, some of whom even taught me the error of common
 in general evaluating these points (the Three Points of Com-           grace. How they could go back to the Christian Reformed
 mon Grace) the possibility exists that we have misinterpreted          church as long as this church retains the error of 1924, it
.your position. If this is pointed out to us we assure you that         is difficult- for me to conceive. That they could be misled to  -
 we will correct it."                                                   believe that the two statements  of. De Wolf were innocentis
      The question that came to my mind when I read this was,           difficult for us to understand after all that has been written
 Do they really need to have this pointed out to them again  ?          concerning these errors. Yet, ,I suppose it is very well  pos-
 Did not our  Classis East and our synod clearly point out to           sible that some' have gone along with these errors under
 them that their doctrine to which they subscribed when they            pressure of their leaders. But how they could return to the
 put their blessing on the two statements of De Wolf was                Christian Reformed church whose errors of 1924 they once
 essentially the Three Points of 1924 all over again  7 And             clearly repudiated is. impossible for us to understand. It
 now they ask whether their witness and that of the Chris-              seems to me that if ever they are going to see how they have
 tian Reformed church is similar? Such stupidity, it seems              been lead in the way of error it will be now when they learn
to me, defies description. It is hard to believe that after some        how their leaders by  synodical decision are attempting to
 thirty years of criticizing and preaching against the doctrine         bring them back to the church they left years ago under
 of common grace they can suggest that maybe the Christian              strong convictions. I still pray that the Lord will open their
Reformed synod can now help them to see that they wrongly               eyes, and give them grace to repent and return to the truth as
interpreted the position of the Christian Reformed church on            it is purely proclaimed in the Protestant Reformed churches..
 the matter of common grace. I cannot believe this at all.                                                                        MS.


