     VOLUME ~XvIIl                             M AY 15, 1962,  - @RAND RAPIDS, M ICHIGAN                            NUMEER  16


                                                                        Jesus, hanging on the cross", surrounded by the jeering

                                                                    mob of Jews, Greeks and Romans.

                                                                        The one hundred and twenty in Jerusalem.

                                                                        Luther alone in Worms.
                       NOT, LITTLE FLOC
                                                                        And we are a "little flock" !

        "Fear not, little flock; for it is your  F,athw's  good         We have no stadiums, Madison Square Gardens, castles
         pleasure to give  ,VOU  tlac Kingdo%?L.."  Luke 12 ~32     or `arenas: We do not count our millions and billions.

                                                                    Where are our treasures and pleasur&  1 "For all the day
    These words of Jesus are found in Luke's version of the
                                                                    long have we been plagued, and chastened every morning."
Sermon on the Mount.

                                                                        Sometimes we are called "the  few," sometimes, the little
    @-I,  the children of God are also often concerned about
                                                                    bundle of life !.
the things of the flesh, the things of this present time. Very
often the anxious questions well up in their hearts: What               Even Christ Himself once said of His Church that they
shall we eat and drink ? Wherewithal shall we be clothed  ?         had little strength.

    Against all such care the Lord tells them: Therefore.1              Compared to the great world, what is the Church at any
say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what  ye shall         time in the history of the world ? We never make the head-
eat; neither for the body, what ye shall put on. The life is        lines.

more than meat, and- the body is more than raiment.                     When Josephus  wrote his books about the history of

    But this is the thing these children of God shall seek:         Israel at the time of Jesus' sojourn on earth, he devoted one
But rather seek ye the Kingdom of God; and all these thin&          paragraph of a few sentences about the 1Man  who called
shall be added unto you !                                           Himself Jesus.

    And then comes our text with a wonderful assurance:                 That which catches the eye and the attention of every
Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure       generation is not the Church'of  God, but the empires of the
to give you the Kingdom!                                            world, the power and ingenuity of man, the pleasures and
                                                                    treasures of the flesh.
                              * * * *

                                                                        No, the Church of God is a miserable little flock !
    Fear not!

    Well may the Lord say that, for there are a thousand

pressing dangers. Just realize how many-are arrayed against

this little flock. And it was ever thus. From the very be-              And yet, there seems to be a miraculous power in that

ginning up to the present time the =hnst~  of the wicked are        little flock. They cannot be rooted out. Ail the power.of the

against this little flock.                                          world in every age is turned against -this little  flock, and

                                                                    still they  persist and exist.-Fax  from being rooted out, they
    Look at Noah and his family : only eight souls. And all
                                                                    grow and multiply; and give their heritage to the generation
the millions around them are wicked reprobates that hate
                                                                    following. Tjlere always was a church in the world.
both God and them.

                                                                       And the empires of fhe  world 7
   Behold Israel  in the midst of haughty and mighty Egypt.

                                                                        They are seen for a little while, and they disappear.
   See little Israel in Palestine, surrounded by the wicked

nations on every side.                                                  There is a great rolling Stone that grinds them to dust.

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


       And that happens every time, although the world will                 We have a Psalm in the Holland language that speaks

never learn.                                                            of this fear:

       Where is Babel, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greco-                       "Duizend zorgen, duizend dooden

Macedonia, Rome, and the host of Kings, Emperors, Caesars,                          Kwellen  mijn angstvallig hart ;

Dictators .and  all the mighty men of the world's history?                          Voer mij uit mijn angst en nooden."

       They are in hell, weeping and gnashing their teeth.                  Freely translated this means :

       They were seen for a little while, and they spake great                      A thousand cares, a thousand deaths

words, godless words. But very soon their breath was shut                           Torture my fearful heart;

off, and they died miserably. And their followers were                             Lead me out of my fear and needs!

scattered.                                                                  Yes, that's the life of the church on earth.

       Such is the lot of those that array themselves against the           But they must not fear. The Lord says: Fear not, little
"little flock."                   ?                                     flock !

       Hence, Fear not !                                                    Because you cannot be destroyed. You have within you

                                                                        the eternal Father. You are the Temple of the Holy Ghost,
                             * * * *                                    and Jesus dwells within you by His Spirit and Word Divine.

       The Church of Jesus Christ should not fear, and that for                                  * * * *
two reasons.

       The first reason is already alluded to in the foregoing : do         And will you listen to the wonderful promise ?

not fear them for they are as nothing before the living God.                It is His good pleasure to give you the. Kingdom !
They serve His counsel for a little while, and then he casts
                                                                            The Kingdo&  what is it?
the razor He used in the fire.

                                                                            It is the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Christ and
       And the second reason? It is because there is Something
                                                                        the Kingdom of the Church. Those are expressions of three
within the church that is eternal in power. That Something
                                                                        points of view.
is so powerful that even the gates of hell cannot prevail

against the Church of God.                                                  It is the Kingdom of God, since He is the originator of

                                                                        it. It comes forth from His good pleasure says the text.
       That Something is the Spirit of Jesus Christ.
                                                                        God thought of it eternally, and you may also say that He
       If you belong to that Church of God you have God in              executes it. God must be all and in all.
you. You are called the Temple of the Holy Ghost!
                                                                            It is the Kingdom of Christ, for He is the King of that
       You can also put it this way: if you are a member of the         Kingdom under God. And now we are talking about Christ
church of Jesus Christ, that Jesus lives within you, and                the Mediator. Christ as to His human nature is raised up
 He lives within you by His Spirit and His Word.                        by God to be the King. David was :His type of this King-

       And that being so, you cannot be destroyed.                      ship.

       That happens to you when you are regenerated and con-                And it is the Kingdom of the Church because God gives

verted, and faith is given to you.                                      them this Kingdom as the citizens undei-  Christ their King.

       And exactly because of th'at regeneration you are going              That Kingdom is heavenly as to its character, King, and

to be hated by the devil for God's sake. When the devil as              citizens. And also as to its obligations.

much as smells the Godhead within you, he will hate you and                 The Kingdom itself is heavenly. There is nothing of the
 use all his powers to destroy po,q,       __.___.,.,.  1 . *.I.---.    earthy, temporal, carnal, and of the flesh in it. It is all

       And also the world will hate you because they are under          spiritual, heavenly, glorious and eternal. It is the new heaven

 the inspiration of the devil.                                          and the new earth united. It is a Kingdom that is surpassing

                                                                        in beauty and attractiveness.    It is all wrapped up in glory,
       And also your own flesh and blood will hate your new
                                                                        virtue and comeliness. It makes the angels sing.
 man within you for God's sake, for our old man is in league

 with both the devil and the world.                                         And as the Kingdom is, so is the King, and that is God

                                                                        in Christ Jesus. It is the beautiful Son of God who has
       That is your position and condition in this world.
                                                                        gathered His children from far and near. It is rooted in His
       Yet there are reasons enough why you should fear.                marvellous obedience, an obedience unto eternal death. And

       If you want an example of that fearful condition, and that       coming up out of the everlasting ocean of death and misery

 fearful experience in the midst of the world, you should               He has merited that Kingdom. And it is His to rule over

read Psalm 88.                                                          under God to all eternity.


                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                                                                                                       363


   And the citizens are also heavenly. Even now, while you

are on this earth. That is the reason why no one under-                         TH'E  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
stands you. `You are a walking mystery unto all earthlings.              Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July and August
They do not discern the things of the Soirit  nor the citizens           Published by the REFORM  FREE PIJBLIS~G  ASSOCIATION
                                                                         P. 0. Box 881, Madison Square Station. Grand Rapids 7, .Mich.
of the Spirit. These citizens understand all`things,  but they
                                                                                                   Editor - REV.  HERMAN  HOEKSEMA
themselves are never understood. They are born from heaven,
                                                                         Communications relative to contents should be addressed to
and their inmost man is also heavenly. They long for that                               Rev. H. Hoeksema, 1139 &&din  St., S. E.,
Kingdom in its full realization.                                                                                  Grand Rapids 7, Mich.
                                                                         Announcements and Obituaries must be mailed to the address
   And the obligations of that Kingdom are heavenly. That                below and will be published at a fee of $2.00 for each notice.

is the injunction of the Holy Word. Set your affections on               All matters relative to subscriptions should be addressed to Mr.
                                                                                         James Dykstra, 1326 W. Butler Ave., S. E.
things above, not on the things below. They must set all                                                     Grand Rapids 7, Michigan
their affections on things above, because their Redeemer and             RE&AL:  Unless a detite  request for discontinuance is re-
their Father is in heaven, not on the earth. They are cruci-             ceived it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the subscription
                                                                            to continue without the formality of a renewal order.
fied unto the world. There is a hatred, a war between them
                                                                                                    Subscription price: $5.00 per year
and the world. The world is crucified unto them, and they
                                                                             Second Class postage paid 
unto the world. They do not mix. They cannot mix. They                                                                                              at Grand Rapids, Michigan
                                                                                                                                                                                                                               =
are constantly transformed from the earthy to the heavenly.

That is the reason you go to church, and the world goes to          1                                                   C O N T E N T S
Madison Square Garden.                                              1dEDITATION  -
                                                                             Fear Not, Little Flock! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361

   And that Kingdom is GIVEN, not offered, as foolish                                  Rev. G. Vos

people prate. One moment you are without, and the next              EDITORIALS-

moment you have that Kingdom within you. That is the                         Barth and Individual Electin  _......................,........................ 364

same thing as regeneration. You have nothing to say or to                               Rev. H. Hoeksema

do in order to be regenerated. Hence, do not fear, little flock.    OUR DOCTRINE -
The gift is the Kingdom! Be sure and thank Him !                             Saving Faith __ _......  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
                                                                                       Rev. H. Hoeksema
                                                           G.V.

                                                                    A CLOUD OF WITNESSES -

                                                                             The Spies                  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369

                                                                                       Rev.  B. Woudenberg
                    Teachers Needed
                                                                    FROM HOLY WRIT -

   Adams St. Protestant Reformed School will be in need                      Exposition,               of I Timothy _._,  . . . . . . . . . . . . 371
of teachers for the 1962-63 school year in the following                                Rev. G. Lubbers

grades :                                                            IN HIS FEAR -

       1st grade - 2nd Semester                                              Under Grace in a Lawless World                                                                (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373
                                                I
       4th grade - 1st Semester                                                         Rev.. J. A. Heys

       5th grade                                                    CONTEND~VG  POR THE FAITR-

Any Protestant Reformed teacher interested, please contact                   The Church and the Sacraments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375
                                                                                        Rev. H. Veldman
Mr. Herman Schipper,       1137 Watkins St., S. E., Grand

Rapids 7, IQichigan,  phone CH 1-2111, as soon as possible.         THE  VOICE OF OUR  FATHFXS  -
                                                                             The          Belgic            Confession. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..377

                                                                                        Rev. H. C. Hoeksema


                                                                    DECENCY AND ORDER -

                                                                             Hymns,              Principally Wrong? _.__........:  ::..:.:.XY . . . . . . . . . :.T  . 379
                      Announcement                                                      Rev. G. Vanden Berg


    The Sta.ndwd  Bealrer  Staff will meet, D.V., Thursday          ALL AROUND us-
evening, June 7, at First Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan.                   The Faith  of a Hero .____._...._....................................................                                                                     381
                                                                             Another               Missing Link. _. _. _. . __. _. . .381
                                        John A. Heys, Sec'y                  False Religion, Worse Than None? ____............._......................  381
                                                                              Bureaucracy in the Romish Church __......................................                                                                                  382

                                                                                        Rev. H. Hanko


                                                                    CONTRIBUTIONS -

       In all Thy deeds how great Thou art!                                   Report of the Eastern Ladies' League Meeting ___.................  383
                                                                                         Mrs. Peter Decker, Reporter
            Thou one true God, Thy way make clear;

       Teach me ,with undivided heart                               NEWS FROM OUR CHURCHES ____....____.___..............................................                                                                              384
                                                                                         Mr. J. M. Faber
            To trust Thy truth, Thy Name to fear.


      364                                         T H E   S T A N ' D A R D   B E A R E R
II


                                                                             that tias hurled at him by the rulers of the Jews that stood by.
      I             E D I T O R I A L S                                      They said : "He saved others ; let him save himself, if he be
                                                                             the Christ, the chosen of God." Yet, in spite of all this,

                                                                             Reformed theology never gave the central place to Christ in

                   Barth and Individual Election?                            the counsel of election.
                                                                                  What shall we say to this?
             On the occasion of Barth's coming to this country and                Personally, I am very much in favor of the idea, which is
      lecturing in Chicago the Refonmd  Joumal  devoted an entire            certainly Scriptural, that Christ occupies the central and chief
      issue to this world famous theologian. In that issue James             place in God's counsel of election. But the question is: must
      Daane has an article under the caption : "Can We Learn from            or can we learn this from Barth? I do not believe this.
      Karl Barth ?" He writes, first of all, by way of introduction :
      "I know of no distinctive ddctrinal  formulation of Barth                   I, too, have made study of Barth for many years and
                                                                             lectured on his Theology in our seminary. I must say that
      which Reformed theology ought to accept as a substitute for
                                                                             he is an amazingly voluminous writer. His Dogmatics alone
      its own. I cannot recommend that any particular Reformed
                                                                             covers thus far ten volumes, large pages, each volume con-
      doctrine be discarded by one taken over from Barth. This
                                                                             taining from five hundred to almost seven hundred pages
      is not the way to learn from Barth."
                                                                             and much of it in small print. When I first began to study
             According to Daane, it is probably better "to ask whether       him, in "The Word of God and the Word of Man," I must
      by the study of Barth we can learn some things for our-                confess that I did not understand him. But gradually I
      selves. Can a study of Barth help us to discover the weak              began to understand what he was "driving at." His so-
      soft spots, the undeveloped areas in Reformed theological              called commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, which, by
      thought ?"                                                             the way, is one of his most famous books, is no commentary

             As an illustration of one of the "weak spots" Daane             at all. At first when I read him I received the impression

      selects the doctrine of election. He then writes :                     that he might turn in the right direction, i.e., in the direction

           . "Election is of the very structure of Reformed theology.        of the Reformed truth, But I think so no more. To me Barth
      Yet the aspect of election which forms the very structure of           is certainly not a Reformed theologian. It is often said that
      Reformed theology is that of the individual chosen of God              he opposes mod&nism. Also this I do not believe. It is
      to salvation through Christ. This aspect bf election can be            very striking, indeed, that on the one hand, many Reformed
      found in the Canons of Dort, and is found there owing to the           theologians seem to be in favor of his theology, while, on
      circumstance in which it was necessary for the Reformed                the other hand, many modernists believe' in him also. How
      Churches to defend the doctrine of salvation by grace alone            is this possible ? And how is it possible that he is invited and
      against the threat of Arminianism. They faced this threat              accepted the invitation to deliver a series of lectures at the
      bravely and effectually. Yet they developed this aspect of             University of Chicago which is surely not Reformed or even
      election quite in isolation not only from the biblical teaching        orthodox ?

      of election of Israel, but also quite in isolation from the elec-           A partial a;nswer  to these questions may be gathered

      tion of Jesus Christ. Thus it is the election of individual            from a report of his first lecture printed in the Ck&go Daily

      men to heaven which has become a structural part of Re-                l`\Tezc~  which was sent to me by a brother in South Holland.

      formed theology, not the election of Israel, nor the election          I quote it. here:

      of Christ." . . . .                                                         "God's Love Covers All Men, and Their Ideas, He De-

             "By contrast, it is the election of Christ which is the cen-    c l a r e s .

      tral feature, and the structural determinative part of Barth's              "Dr. Karl Barth told a packed chapel audience here that
      theolo,gy,  and it is in the light of Christ's election that Barth     God's love and mercy extend to ail men-and to their con-
      deals with  the electioli  of. individual, men."    -.
                                                                             flicting theologies as well.

            Daane,asks  the question how Reformed theology can make               "He noted that, among the various theologies, each calls
      so much of individual election and neglect what is of primary          itself the best one. He warned religionists not to participate
      importance: the election of Christ. This certainly is not              in this competition.
      according to Scripture. Both the Old and the New Testa-
      ment emphasize that Christ occupies the chief place in God's                "The famous Swiss theologian spoke at length of the
      counsel of election.      "The cross is the central fact in the        `God of the Gospel' before an estimated two thousand at-
      New Testament, and the very center of the Christian mes-               tentive listeners in the Rockefeller Memorial Chapel on the
      sage. At this central place, what was the central question ?           University of Chicago campus.

      the question of Christ's election. Jesus had claimed to be the              "Dr. Barth also talked about `Evangelical Theology' that

      Christ, the elect, the chosen of God." This is the reason whv          school in 20th century Protestantism with which he is identi-

      they crucified Him. This is evident even from the mockery              fied as a main spokesman and founder.


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                               365


    "He described the term `evangelic& as one that `recalls            Also Dr. 4. Kuyper  does not favor the individualistic

the New Testament and the Reformation of the 16th centtn-y         conception of election. Cf. his "Dictaten Dogmatiek"  Vol. I,

. . . the catholic, ecumenical continuity and unity of all         De Predestinartiose  (Concerning Prede'stination)  . Also Vol.

theology which treats of the God of the Gospel.                    III, De Foedeye  ya.tiae  @e&a&  (Concerning the Covenant

                                                                   of grace).
    "He said there is Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox

Evangelical theology as well as Protestant.                            I may also quote from my own Dogmatics, although this

                                                                   is not yet published. In Locus I, Theolo,T,  I write :
    "No theology, however, can claim equality with God, Dr.
                                                                       "We, therefore, would like to present the matter of
Barth cautioned his audience.
                                                                   God's counsel or predestination as follows. God conceived
    "The God of the Gospel is the God who is devoted merci-        and willed all things in His eternal decree for His own
fully to the life of all men and therefore to their theologies,    name's sake, that is, to the glory of His name and the reflec-
who yet transcends not only those others but also Evangelical      tion of His infinite virtues and life. And as the highest in
theology, he said. He is the God who again and again dis-          God is His own covenant life, He willed to establish and to
closes Himself anew and must be discovered anew.                   reveal His covenant in Christ; and all other things in the

    "Dr. Barth stresses that the God of the Gospel is man's        counsel of God are related to that main purpose as means.
God, not only as his Lord, but also as his father, brother and     Hence, we obtain the following order: 1. God wants to reveal
friend. He said that God is not next to man, yet also not          His own eternal glory in the establishment of His covenant.
merely above him, but rather with him and by him and, most         2. For the realization of this purpose His Son becomes
important of all, for him."                                        Christ, the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every
                                                                   creature, that in Him as the first begotten of the dead all
    We readily understand, of course, that this is a very brief    the fulness of God might dwell. 3. For that Christ and the
summary of Barth's lecture.      We may also surmise that the      revelation of all `His fulness the Church is decreed and all
reporter did not understand everything. Nevertheless, there        the elect. In the decree of God Christ is not designed for the
is enough in this summary to warrant the conclusion that no        Church, but the Church for Christ. The Church is His body
modernist would have any grave objection to what Barth             and serves the purpose to reveal the fulness there is in Him.
said in this first lecture. And, on the other hand, no Re-         4. For the purpose of realizing this Church of Christ and,
formed man would subscribe to this theology.                       therefore the glory of Christ the reprobate are determined

   He emphatically reveals himself as a universalist: God          as vessels of wrath. Reprobation serves the purpose'of elec-
loves and is merciful to all men. To one that has studied          tion as chaff serves the purpose of the ripening of the wheat.
Barth this is nothing new. According to Barth, Christ is the       This is in harmony with the current thought of Scripture and
reprobate and He bore reprobation and the reprobate on the         we find it expressed literally in Isa. 43 :3 and 4 : `For I am
cross. I am well aware that Barth denies that he is a uni-         the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. I gave Egypt
versalist, but he is just the same. If Christ is the only rep-     for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee. Since thou wast
robate then there is no reprobation, and if there is no rep-       precious in my sight, thou hast been honorable, and I have
robation then there is no election.                                loved thee; therefore will I give men for thee, and people for
                                                                   thy life.' 5. Finally, in the counsel of God all other things
   As far as Daane's contention is concerned that, namely,         in heaven and on earth are designed as means to the realiza-
we can learn from Barth that Christ is the central elect, I        tion of both election and reprobation, and therefore of the
would say this is impossible because Barth does not believe        glory of Christ and His Church. And because in the decree
in the Scriptural truth of election and reprobation. And, sec-     of God all things are conceived in this manner, therefore all
ondly, it is not true that Reformed theologians consider the       things must work together for good to them that love God,
truth of election in an individualistic light.                     to them that are called according to his purpose. And in this

   Why, for instance, does the Heidelberg Catechism speak          light we can also understand-scripture when it teach& us,
of election in connection with the Church of Christ? It cer-       as I Cor. 3 Z-23, that `all things are yours; whether Paul,
tainly does so in question and answer 54: "What believest          or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life; or death, or
thou concerning the holy catholic church of Christ? That the       things present or things to come ; all are .yours  ; and ye are
Son of God from the beginning to the end of the world,             Christ's; and Christ is God's'."

gathers, defends, and preserves unto himself by his Spirit             It ought to be rather evident, therefore, that we cannot

and Word, out of the whole human race, a church chosen to          and ought not to try to learn from Barth, least of all from

everlasting life:  agreeing in true faith; and that I am and       his conception of predestination because : 1. He teaches that

forever shall remain a living member thereof." This is no          Christ is the reprobate and, therefore, he does not believe in

individualistic but the organic conception of election. Cf.        reprobation, and 2. It is not true that the Reformed concep-

also my explanation of this Lord's Day in Vol. 5 of "The           tion of election is individualistic but is organic.

Triple Knowledge."                                                                                                           H.H.


366                                          T H E   S T A N D ' A R D   B E A R E R                             .


                                                                       folding `of a knowledge that was hid within us. One does

11  O U R   .DO-CTRINE 11 not make any headway in this knowledge, though he wouid
                                                                       finish the courses in all the schools. Even if one would do

                                                                       nothing else all his life long than read the Bible, and com-

                            CHAPTER III                                pare Scripture with Scripture, he would not even advance

                                                                       one step toward the knowledge that is here meant. No, here
                        SAVING  FAITH
                                                                       a new knowledge is meant, which you did not possess as a

                            (Continued )                               sinner, and of which you received the power in regeneration.

                                                                       Another kind of knowledge this is, comparable to the original
   As we have said before, there are no conditions what-               knowledge which Adam received in paradise, which is given
soever unto salvation. Salvation is absolutely free and sov-           us of God in Christ, our wisdom. He that receives this
ereign.    And even the gift of faith Christ merited for us by         knowledge knows differently, sees differently, touches dif-
His perfect obedience. Nor may we conceive of faith as if              ferently. That which before he could not discern he now
it were a meritorious work on the part of man, whereby he              perceives, and it becomes life to him. Enlightened eyes of
assents to God's righteousness and humbles himself in true             the understanding the apostle therefore calls this knowledge ;
repentance, in order that in that way he may make himself              and they are eyes too, that gaze with such uncommon ac-
worthy of the grace of God. For faith is characterized by              curacy, that they afford immediate and complete certainty
being itself entirely without merit. Nor is fait6  to be pre-          and assurance concerning those things that are perceived by
sented as a spiritual power whereby our will is liberated to           them: so clearly, so lucidly, so sharply, this knowledge de-
do good works, whereby we are enabled to merit our salva-              fines the things before your consciousness. The natural man
tion. It is certainly true that faith without works is dead,           does not see anything of this, but the spiritual man that has
and that by faith we are also enabled to bear fruit unto God.          the gift of faith discerns all things. On the other hand, if
But this does not alter the fact that we are not saved out of          one is not born again, he cannot even see the kingdom of God.
works, not even out of the works of faith, but that faith itself       Without the implanting of this saving faith, one may, there-
is a power unto salvation. All these presentations must be             fore, indeed, commit the Bible to memory, and accept its
rejected on the ground of Holy Scripture, which teaches us             contents historically, but this does not help him. He may also
that the real work of God is that we believe in Jesus Christ,          work himself into it by the spur of the emotions, and for a
Whom God hath sent. To the unbelieving Jews that had                   time rejoice in it, but neither this historical nor this tem-
been witnesses of the feeding of the five thousand on the              porary faith has anything in common with the faith whereby
preceding day Jesus said: "Labour  not for the meat which              we are ingrafted into Jesus. Even miraculous faith has
perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting           nothing in common with saving faith, for although you had
life, which the Son of man shall give unto you : for him hath          a faith to remove mountains (and that is miraculous faith),
God the Father sealed."        And in answer to this the unbe-         and love was not infused into your heart, you still would be
lieving Jews said to Him: "What shall we do, that we might             nothing. Disputations, therefore, do not help. We must have
work the works of God ?" And it is in answer to this that              tes&o%y,  the Word must be administered, because usually
Jesus answered and said unto them: "This is the work of                it pleases God to use the Word as a means for implanting of
God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." And there-             faith ; but even though you talk day and night to someone, as
fore, instead of these theories, you must maintain that faith          long as his soul cannot see through the eye of faith, you can-
is God's own work, the work of His free grace within us, the           not show him the glories of God." E Yoto, I, 129, 130.
spiritual means of God, the spiritual property, whereby God
                                                                          Ursinus, in his explanation of the Heidelberg Catechism,
ingrafts  us into Christ through the Holy Spirit, and whereby
                                                                       emphasizes, to say the least, the element of confidence. The
He causes all the blessings of salvation to flow out of Christ
                                                                       knowledge of saving faith, according to him, is the same as
to usward.  It is therefore the bond to Christ, whereby our
                                                                       any other knowledge or as the knowledge of all other kinds
soul cleaves unto Him, lives out of Him, receives and ap-
                                                                       of faith. Writes he: "This justifying or saving faith differs
propriates all His benefits.
                                                                       from the other kinds. of faith in this, that it is a firm con-
       It stands to reason that as this spiritual property of faith
                                                                       fidence, whereby we appropriate to ourselves the merits of
controls the entire soul of man, and that too, from the heart,
                                                                       Christ, i.e., are firmly convinced that the righteousness of
it controls also our intellect and will. And for that reason
                                                                       Christ is given and imputed also to us. Now, confidence is
faith itself is both a spiritual knowledge and a spiritual con-
                                                                       an inclination of the heart and of the will ; this inclination has
fidence. We speak of spiritual knowledge, in distinction from
                                                                       regard to some good, rejoices in it and relies. on it; also in
the knowledge that consists in the mere acceptance of the
truth of Scripture.       This is emphasized by all Reformed           our language it denotes a complete reliance on something.
theologians. Dr. A. Kuyper  Sr. writes : "This certain? secure         The Greek word for faith is derived from a root which im-

knowledge does not consist in a further development of a               plies the idea of confidence.    In this sense even profaG

knowledge which in part we already possess, nor in an un-              thors, like Phocylides and Demosthenes, already used the


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                367


word." I, 147. The knowledge of faith, therefore, is the same        it. But in the latter case my knowledge is experiential. It

3s the knowledge of temporary faith and miraculous faith,            is a knowledge of love and fellowship. And my relation to

etc. With this exclusive emphasis on the confidence of faith         its object is profoundly spiritual. A dietitian  may be able

we cannot agree.                                                     to analyze thoroughly every item on a menu, and inform you

                                                                     exactly as to the number and kind of vitamins each offered
    On the other hand, Calvin emphasizes equally the knowl-
                                                                     dish contains. But if he has cancer of the stomach, he can-
edge and the confidence of faith. Writes he : "Knowledge, as
                                                                     not taste the food and enjoy it; neither is he able to digest
we call faith, we do not understand in the sense of compre-
                                                                     it, and derive the necessary strength from it. On the other
hension, such as we have of those things that fall within the
                                                                     hand, the man with a hungry stomach may sit at the table
scope of human sensation. For this knowledge is even so far
                                                                     with hiti, know absolutely nothing about vitamins ; but he
superior, that the mind of man must exceed and surpass it-
                                                                     will order his meal, relish it, and appropriate it to himself
self, in order to attain to it. And even when he has attained
                                                                     in such a way that he is refreshed and strengthened. Thus a
to it, he does not understand that which he discerns; but
while he has a persuasion of what he does not grasp, he              man may be a keen theologian, so that he can ably and
apprehends more by the very certainty of this persuasion             thoroughly discuss all kinds of theological subjects. He may
than he would by perceiving something human by its own               be thoroughly versed in Christolo,y, and deliver learned
capacity." In&it&es,  Book III, Chapter II, 14. And in the           discourses on the incarnation of the Son of God, on the Per-
same volume of his Institutes Calvin writes: "This also the          son and natures of Christ, on the atonement and the resur-
words of Paul indicate: whilst we are at home in the body,           rection and His exaltation at the right hand of God. But if
we are absent from the Lord: for we walk by faith, not by            he, is a mere natural man, he is like that scholarly dietitian
sight (II Cor. 5 :6, 7 j, whereby he shows that those things         with his stomach full of cancer. He knows all about Christ
which we understand by faith, are, nevertheless, remote from         with his natural mind and with a natural knowledge ; but he
us, and hid from our view. Whence we conclude that the               does not know Him, neither can he appropriate Him. In
knowledge of faith consists in certainty rather than in ap-          reality, he does not even see Christ, nor does he hear His
prehension."                                                         voice. For Christ is spiritually discerned. He does not feel
                                                                     need of Him: for though he has a head full of theories about
   With these sentiments all Reformed theologians agree.             sin, he does not know his sin and does not come to true
Knowledge is a very essential part of saving faith. And it is        sorrow over sin and repentance. And though he knows all
a tery special kind of knowledge, whereby man discerns and           about the atonement, he does not flee to. it. And though he
appropriates spiritual things.    It is true that it is a certain    probably delivered a lecture on the Bread of Life, he does not
knowledge, whereby I hold for truth all that God has re-             hunger after it, cannot eat it and digest it. He has knowl-
vealed to us in His Word, according to the. Catechism.               edge, but it is not the knowledge of faith. On the other hand,
Without the Word of God we know nothing of the things                a person may be far inferior to this able theologian as far as
of the Spirit. The knowledge of saving faith is not a certain        intellectual knowledge and intellectual capacity are con-
inner light, that can do without and despises the letter of the      cerned; and his knowledge of the gospel may be very simple.
Word. It is in the Holy Scriptures that Christ is mirrored.          But if he has the knowledge of saving faith, he will be like
And faith is a certain knowledge. It holds for truth and it          the hungry man that relishes, his food and is able to digest
assents to all that is revealed in the Scriptures. But this does     it. He will know  himself in all his misery and emptiness as
not mean that the knowledge of faith is mere intellectual            a damnable and guilty sinner, void of light and wisdom and
certainty and assent to the truth. Saving faith is not the           righteousness, full of darkness, foolishness, and iniquity. And
same as historical faith plus a hearty confidence. The knowl-        not only will he know himself as a sinner, but he will come
edge of faith is more than this intellectual  apprehension and       to repentance. He will deplore his condition before God. And
assurance of the truth. It is principally different. It is not at    he will know Christ as the Bread of Life. He will know Him
all like the knowledge which the natural man may have of             as the fulness of his own emptiness, as the righteousness in
the truth of the Word of God. For the natural man does               his guilt, as the holiness in his corruption, as his light in
not discern and receive the things of the Spirit. The knowl-         darkness, as his life in the midst of death. And he will
edge of saving faith, therefore, is a spiritual knowledge. It        hunger and thirst in this knowledge of faith for the Bread
is experiential. It is not mere theoretical knowledge about          and Water of life. He will take it, eat it, relish it, and
God in Christ; but it is the knowledge of Him. By faith we           appropriate it, and make it part and parcel of himself. And
lillow  Him. There is a wide difference between knowing all          thus he will live! The knowledge of saving faith is the kind
about a thing or person and knowing that very thing, or              of knowledge of which Jesus speaks, in John 17:3 : "And this
that very person.    In the former instance my knowledge is          is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God,
purely theoretical, and my relation to the thing or person           and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." Such, then, is the
known is external and superficial. I place myself above the          spiritual knowledge of faith:
object of my knowledge; I investigate it; I feel rather

superior to it, criticize it, analyze it minutely, and describe         The second element of saving faith is a true, spiritual,


3     6    8                               T H E   STANDAR`D   B E A R E R


confidence. This true confidence of faith cannot be had un-           he should beware of the living- God. For "the wrath of God

less we also have the true, spiritual knowledge of faith, as          is revealed from heaven." And in that consuming wrath man

we have described above. The confidence of faith may be               pines and dies. And his own conscience, that is, the hand-

distinguished, but may never be separated from the true               writing of God in his own moral consciousness, witnesses

knowledge of faith. For as we have said before, true saving           against him and accuses him before the Judge of heaven and

faith is a spiritual property. It is not rooted in the intellect      earth. He therefore fears God in the sense that he is afraid

or in the will, or even in both. But it is rooted in the heart        of Him. He knows that God intends to kill him. In fact, he

of man, that is, of the believer. Knowledge and confidence,           knows that already he lies in the midst of death. God will

therefore, are aspects of saving faith. They are two aspects          forever consume him in His fierce anger. Such is the testi-

of the same spiritual power.      One may distinguish various         mony that reaches the sinner from every side, from without

so-called faculties in the human soul ; but these may never           and from within. And therefore, as we said, the sinner is

be presented as if they were separate powers or functions.            afraid of God, and, if possible, he would flee far away from

Man is an intellectual, volitional being. He has a mind and           Him. But by the confidence of faith the sinner is assured of

a will. And from interaction of these two arise the emotions.         God's eternal goodwill and love towards him. God reveals

But although we may distinguish in the soul of man the                Himself to the sinner in the face of Jesus Christ, His only

faculty of the intellect and the faculty of the will, these two       begotten Son. In the cross and resurrection of Christ and

do not exist or ever act separately or apart from each other.         in His exaltation at the right hand of God He reveals His ex-

There is never a mere or pure thought, or a separate function-        ceeding great power to save to the uttermost and His eternal

ing of the intellect. All man's thinking is volitional and            goodwill. He reveals to him His covenant friendship and

emotional thinking. Nor could there possibly be a pure act            love. And he becomes assured of his election. God speaks

of the will, a pure act of volition apart from the intellect. All     to him of His boundless grace and mighty power unto salva-

man's willing is rational, intellectual willing. For man is           tion. He does so in the gospel. However, it is not sufficient

one. And as one being, he lives a physical and psychical, an          to know that God is gracious to sinners. A general offer of

intellectual and volitional life. All man's actions involve all       salvation is of no avail to, fill the sinner with confidence in

his powers and faculties, cooperating and interacting most            that God of Whom he is dreadfully afraid. It is not sufficient

intimately. And thus faith is not two-knowledge and con-'             for him to know that God loves sinners. He must know that

fidence -but one spiritual property. There is never a mere            not only to others, but also to him personally God is gracious

confidence, without true knowledge.         Confidence without        and filled with eternal goodwill towards him. And this assured

knowledge would be blind, would have no object in which to            confidence God works through the Holy Ghost by the gospel

trust, and would therefore be impossible. And'so, when one            in the heart of the sinner. It is the confidence of faith. And

defines the true spiritual knowledge of saving faith, he can-         by it the sinner wholly casts himself upon the eternal mercy

not avoid speaking of confidence at the same time.                    of the living God as He has revealed Himself in the cross of

                                                                      our Lord Jesus Christ.
     However, knowledge  and confidence, though they can
never be separated, may be distinguished. The knowledge of               This faith in its operation is at the same time in its opera-

faith is strictly a spiritual disposition and act of the mind, or,    tion the conversion of man in the spiritual sense of the word.

if you please, of the intellect. Confidence belongs to the            We can also put it this way: conversion is the immediate

domain, rather, of the will. Knowledge presents to the be-            fruit of faith. For conversion, considered as the change of

lieving soul the object of confidence : the God of our salvation      the mind, and therefore also as the change of the will, follows

in Jesus Christ our Lord, as He is revealed in Holy Scrip-            necessarily and spontaneously upon faith. Or rather, it is

ture. Confidence clings to that Christ and to the God of our          the immediate fruit of faith. By the power of faith both mind

salvation. By the act.,of  confidence the soul surrenders itself      and will are changed from sin unto rigl$eousness  and turned

to and wholly relies on Christ revealed. Confidence is the            in the direction of the living God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

immediate r4sult of the true knowledge of saving faith. This          By this change of mind and will through faith the mind ob-

confidence is really an act of friendship, whereby one draws          serves and judges in a radically different way than before,

near unto Him without fear and whereby he makes known                 even about the guilt of sin: and thus man comes to condemn

unto Him the secrets of the heart, flees to Him for refuge            himself before God in true repentance. By faith he desires

and in all his sins and miseries casts himself upon Him,              deliverance from din. By faith the desires of the will turn

laying hold upon His promises, assured of His goodwill                into a different direction, in the direction of- God in Christ.

toward him and of His power to save him to the uttermost.             And thus man comes to hunger and thirst after true right-

The indispensable ground of confidence is the knowledge that          eousness. The old man is mortified, and the new man is

God loves the sinner. It is the knowledge of His favorable            quickened. And thus by faith the conversion of man is ac-

attitude to the sinner, and that too, very personally. Of and         complished in principle - a conversion which, of course, con-

in himself the sinner is afraid of God. He looks upon God as          tinues throughout his whole life.

Fis  enemy, as a God of wrath. Everything warns him that                                                                        H.H.


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                369


                                                                        gestion. "We will send men before us, and they shall search

IrA CLOUD OF W.ITNESSES  11 us out the land, and bring us word again by what way we
                                                                        must go up, and into what cities we shall come."

                                                                            For Moses the true reason for this request was incon-

                          The Spies                                     ceivable. Filled as he was with the love of God, he could

                                                                        not imagine such wickedness in his brethren who had seen
        And I sa2d  mzto you, .Ye aT?e  come unto the mozclzfairz       so much of the greatness of God. The worst that he could
     of the Amtorites, zuhich the LORD our God doth give                suspect was that they were timid and afraid because of the
     unto us..                                                          uncertainty of the way which lay before them. For the re-

        Behold,  the LORD thy God l&h set the h%d  before               lieving of such fear the suggestion of the people appeared

     thee: go rtp and possess it, as the LORD God of thy                good. He had no doubt that such a scouting expedition

     fathers Isatla  Soid  zbnto  th.ee;  fear not: neitkey  be dis-    would find the land to be fully as rich and good as God had

     couraged.                                                          promised. Neither could he conceive it possible that the

                                                                        people should doubt the ability of their God to overcome all
        And ye came nea.1' unto me every one of you, and said,
                                                                        resistance, no matter how great, when they had witnessed
      We wi2l  send men hefora  `u-s,  a.nd they sIta22  search. .UJ
                                                                        and experienced so many of His marvelous works. And it
     out the land, #and  bring us word ago& by' what way we
                                                                        would be to their advantage to know the lay of the land into
     must  go up, anid  into wha.t  cities we shall co?e&e'.
                                                                        which they were going and the nature of its fortifications.
                                           Deuteronomy 1:20-22          He was more than willing to comply with this apparently in-

                                                                        nocent request.

   At last, well over one year after leaving the land of                    Nevertheless, Moses was careful. He went to the Lord
Egypt, the children of Israel approached the borders of                 and presented the suggestion of the people to Him. God, in-
Canaan. Coming from the south, they found no barriers be-               deed, knew the motivations that were behind it; but He was
tween them and the promised land. Moses stood before them               also willing that the true sinfulness of the people should be
and said, "Ye are come unto the mountain of the Amorites,               exposed. He answered Moses, "Send thou men, that they
which the LORD our God doth give unto us. Behold, the                   may search the land of Canaan, which I give untb the chil-
LORD thy God hath set the land before thee: go up and                   dren of Israel: of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send
possess it, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath said unto               a man, every one a ruler among them."
thee; fear not, neither be discouraged."
                                                                            Soon Moses was making the appointments. Of every
   The people, however, were.not so sure. They held with-               tribe he took a responsible leader whose opinion would be
in themselves an underlying skepticism concerning the ways              respected by the people. His instructions for them were very
of the Lord. They were not,at  all sure that the promised land          specific.    "Get you up this way southward, and go up into
was as rich and good as God had said it was. Neither were               the mountains : and see the land, what it is : and the people
they so sure that they would be able to capture the land even           that dwelleth therein, whether they be strong or weak, few
with the help of God. The trouble was that they held deep               or many ; and what the land is that they dwell in, whether it
within them a gnawin,m desire that God should be found to               be good or bad ; and what cities they be that they dwell in,
be wrong. This had been developing throughout the wilder-               whether in tents, or in strong holds ; and what the land is,
ness journey. Time and again they had passed through critical           whether it be fat or lean, whether there be wood therein, or
junctures where Jehovah had been vindicated at their ex-                not. And be ye of good courage, and bring of the fruit of
pense. Now they were suffering from a badly wounded pride.              the land." The duty of the twelve was to bring an objective
It had come to the point where no price seemed too great if             report of what they found in the land, nothing more and
only they could vindicate themselves at the expense of God.             nothing less.
They longed.to  be- able to say &at God was wrong and they

were right. It was their bitterly sinful human nature that                  With their duties clearly cut out, the twelve appointed

wanted the will of God to prove itself of none effect. Surely,          spies left the camp of Israel. They followed their instruc-

this was not all clearly defined in their own minds. If ac-             tions carefully, traveling the length and breadth of the land,

cused of it, they would have denied it. In fact, there were             observing the people and their homes, the cities and their

some in Israel that felt this only vaguely and in conflict with         fortifications, the land and its fertility. What they saw far

the more pure desires of their sanctified hearts. Still, there          exceeded their gieatest anticipation both as to the fertility

were only too many in Israel who held this as the basic                 of the land and as to the strength of the people. As required

motivation of their lives. They were reprobate people who               they noted the strong holds of the country and gathered the

hated God more than anything else. Still, even they were                choice of its fruits even when one cluster of grapes required

careful not to expose themselves openly. They came to Moses             two men  to carry it on a pole between them. Finally after

with what might well have appeared to be an innocent sug-               forty days, they returned to give their report to Moses, to


     Aaron, and to the people. With the fruits of the land spread       to add new and almost-unreasonable slants to their report.

     out before them, grapes, pomegranates, and figs, they gave         "The land through which we have gone to search it, is a

     their report, "We came unto the land whither thou sentest          land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people

     us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey ; and this is        that we saw in it are men of a great stature. And there we

     the fruit of it. Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell      saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants ;

     in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and        and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we

     moreover we saw the children of Anak there. The Amalek-            were in their sight." Under their imaginings the land began

     ites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the     to appear in the minds of the people with a ferocity unheard

     Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and           of and unimagined.

     the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan."
                                                                           With this all semblance of calm and reasonable thinking
D       To all appearances the report given by the spies was an         was disrupted. As usual the people were much more im-
     objective report such as Moses had commanded them to give.         pressed by the wild, fanatic predictions of wicked men, than

     Nevertheless, there was a very subtle argument implied in          by the positive exhortations of faith. Soon wild sobbing and

     the manner in which the report was given, and it was well          weeping was to be heard throughout the camp. A confused

     adapted to impress the prejudices of the speakers upon the         uproar broke forth on every side. Strong condemnatory -in-

     people who listened. They began by reporting on the fertility      vectives were to be heard on every side denouncing Moses,

     of the land. Without attempting to hide the truth, they re-        and Aaron, and even Jehovah their God. Exclamations of

     ported as though to confirm the veracity of the promises of        evil were to be heard on every side. l?Iere  one cried, with

     God. It was indeed a land flowing with milk and horiey.  But       strained reasoning, "Would God that we had died in the

     soon they passed on from this to add a "Nevertheless . . .         land of Egypt!"      Another added, "Or would God we had

     moreover . . . and . . ." argument. Point was heaped upon          died in the wilderness !" Another asked, "And wherefore

     point stressing the fearful strength of the country. The           hath the LORD brought us unto this land to fall by the

     people were strong; the cities were fortified and great; many      sword that our wives and our children should be a prey?

     fearful nations were there to defend it all. The report had        were it not better for us to return into Egypt?' A fourth

     its desired effect. Vivid imaginations conjured before the         gave answer, "Because the LORD hated us, he hath brought

     minds of the people visions more terrible than even the            us forth out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand

     report of the spies warranted. The courage of the people           of the Amorites." On every side was to be heard the despair-

     melted, and a restless, troubled spirit spread through the         ing cry, "Whither shall we go up? our brethren have dis-

     camp. The conviction was set that Canaan was after all only        couraged our heart, saying, The people is greater and taller

     an impossible dream.                                               than we ; the cities are great and walled up to heaven ; and

                                                                        moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakims there."
        It' was Caleb, himself one of the spies, who first caught

     the implication of the report that their spokesman was giv-           Vainly Joshua and Caleb circulated among the people,
     ing. He saw that the report was being adapted, not to con-         trying to calm their fears. Their argument was sound, "The

     firm the truthfulness of their God, but to carry the. thoughts     land which we passed through to search it is an exceeding

     of the people away from Him so as to make them tremble             good land. If the LORD delight in us, then he will bring

     before the greatness of the enemies. It was an evil report         us into this land and give it us; a land which floweth with

     that was being given, designed to stir up the people in            milk and honey. Only rebel not ye against the LORD,

     rebellion. Courageously he spoke up to contradict the im-          neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread

     plication of the report as it had been given. "Let us go up        for us ; their defense is departed from them, and the LORD

     at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it."     is with Us: fear them not."     But this was not what the

                                                                        people wanted to hear. They found a strange delight in the
        For a moment it almost seemed as though the move of             bitter cry of rebellion. In their hearts they felt sure that
     Caleb would be successful. It was the first definite statement     this time the Lord had been proved wrong, arid they liked
     of advice that came from any of the spies, and the people          it. The answer of the people was that Joshua and Caleb
     listened. For a short time a more quiet attitude appeared to       should be stoned.
     have settled upon the .people.  But it was then that the true
                                                                           Within the hearts of the people there had emerged a new
     motivation of the majority of the spies revealed itself. They
                                                                        plan. They said to each other, "Let us make a captain, and
     were satisfied to state their point by mere subtle implications
                                                                        let us return into Egypt."     They wanted to be free from
     as long as no one opposed them ; but as soon as Caleb spoke
                                                                        the way of the Lord. The promise of that was sweeter to
     up, they cast all subtlety aside and spoke out direct. "We
                                                                        them than the fertility of the land before which they stood.
     be not able to go up against the people," they vehemently

     responded, "for they are stronger than we." So determined             And from heaven the Lord God heard the wickedness of

     were they to gain their point that truth was no longer of any      the people and was wroth.

     great concern. With determined exaggeration, they began                                                                     B.W.


                                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                    371


                                                                            ing in the Church of the living God. That Timothy may

                                                                            thus indeed teach, Paul exhorts him to do two things:

                                                                                1. He must take heed unto himself. Writes Paul : "Take

                                                                            heed umto  thyself." Verse 16.

                 Exposition of I Timothy                                        2. He must take heed unto the doctrine. Writes he : "take
                                                                            heed . . . unto the doctrine." Verse 16.
                       (I Timothy 4:11-16)                                      Both of these are indispensable for any minister of the

                                                                            Gospel in the Church of Jesus Christ.
    A good minister is a rare thing under the sun ; it requires

that one be thoroughly nourished in the Word. He must do                        One hears here in effect the Words of Proverbs 1:7-9  :

and teach the things which pertain to godliness, the Mystery                "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge ; but

of godliness which is great.      Besides, he must be a man who             the foolish despise wisdom and instruction. My son, hear

does not look for simply an earthly reward; he must look                    the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy

for the reward both for this life and the life to come.                     mother: for they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy

    It is looked for in a steward of the Word that he be                    head, and chains about thy neck." Or again, what we read
found faithful. And faithfulness is only nurtured in such who               in Proverbs 4 :9 : "She    ( wisdom)    shall give thine head an
believe the very faithful Word of God concerning the prom-                  ornament of grace ; a crown of glory shall she deliver to
ise for this life and for that which is to come.                            thee." Or as we read in Proverbs 4 :13, 15 : "Happy is the

                                                                            man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth under-
    Timothy belorigs  to that class of ministers. He is a true
                                                                            standing . . . She is more precious than rubies : and all
son, in the faith, of Paul. This does not preclude the neces-
                                                                            the things,thou  canst  desire are not to be compared unto her."
sity of admonitions to Timothy. God works grace through

admonitions ; and much grace of godliness and faithfulness                      Such is, in effect, the exhortation of Paul here to his

must be conferred upon Timothy, a youthful preacher.                        youthful and true son, Timothy.

    In the verses 11-16 of I Timothy 4 we read: "?`%ze.se                       Timothy must be an example  of the believers! It is con-
things cowmand  a.nd  teach. Let no man despise thy yeah,:                  jectured that at this time he was about thirty years old.

bztl be thou an exam$le  of the bel?;evers,  in word,  <in conver-          Surely a young man compared with older members, grand-

sation, in chmifiy,  irt faith., in pzn-ity.  Till I COYPM  give attend-    fathers and grandmothers, widowers and widows. Yet as a

ance to read(ing,  to eshortahon,  to do&&e. Neglect  not the               young man he must be an example for others to imitate. He

gift that ,i.s in thee, which wad given thee by prophecy, with              must be able to say: walk as I do. He must not simply be

the laying o+a  of the hands of the presbytery.  Meditate uPon              a walking exegete ; he must be an example of godZiple.ss!  It

these things; give thyself wholly to them;  that thy pi0  fitiq             must be seen that Christ dwells in his heart by faith, and

may appear to all. Take heed mto thyself, a.nd ,unto the doc-               that the love of God has been shed abroad in his heart. "A

tirins;  corttime  in them: for ,in do&g  this thou shalt both              youthful overseer of the flock must see that he be in advance

save thyself; and them that hear  thm."                                     of his years" writes a certain expositor of this passage from
    In all preaching of the gospel there are two elements.                  Paul's pen. What a zw& young man a youthful preacher

There are the factors of exhortation and teaching. Timothy                  must be ! What a wise man an older preacher too must be !

is enjoined by Paul to do both of these. Exhortation too is                     An example of the believers !

a form of teaching ; it is really, at bottom, the transmitting                  Maybe Paul means with the phrase, "example of the be-
of a message from one to another. The Greek term "`$wag-                    lievers" that the minister must be in the eyes of the world
geld means : to pass the message along. Thus it comes to                    what they expect to see in the best of those who profess
mean: to declare, to announce, to command, to charge. It                    Christ as their Savior and Redeemer; he must be such as a
means in this case to do this in an official capacity in name               part of the whole !
of Christ; to do so authoritatively. And Timothy is also in-
                                                                                Paul mentions certain particulars in connection with Tim-
structed to "teach." And what must be passed along is the
                                                                            othy's giving heed to self. He mentions five things according
truth of the Mystery of godliness, and that, too, with all 3f
                                                                            to the reading of Tischendorf. They are: "in words, in be-
its implications. Teaching does not consist in a mere relating
                                                                            havior (conversation), in love, in faith, in purity." The
of many facts in unrelated order; a certain "concordance"
                                                                            Te.&u.s Rece+s, followed by the King James Version, adds :
type of teaching, the mere quoting of many texts and pas-
                                                                            "in spirit." What Paul here enumerates is not such that there
sages of Scripture apart from sound exegesis, ascertaining
                                                                            is no inner spiritual-psychological connection between these
its meaning ; but teaching is showing the meaning of the
                                                                            concepts.
Mystery of godliness in its- entirety. The latter Timothy is

instructed to perform in the church at Ephesus.                                 We would remark the following concerning these partic-

   Shall a minister do this then he must not be a hireling ;                ulars :

he must be wholly and entirely devoted to the task of teach-                    1. That we believe that the term "purity" (agtieia  in


372                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEARER


Greek) is placed last with a certain emphasis: It sums up            conduct himself as a young man that no one will despise him

all the other factors here enumerated, such as, zvords,  con-        because he is young, unwise, inexperienced. When a young

vsrsatiof&,  love: and fa&., This purity is not to be taken in       man is pure, loving-, careful in his words and walk, he may

the sense that moralism would teach purity, leaving God out          lack experience, but he will not lack respect!

of the picture, but it must most emphatically refer to the               Timothy must also give heed to the doctrine.

spiritual ethical purity of the sanctification which is ours             Paul gives some rather general instructions to Timothy
through the Spirit of Christ. It is the purity of heaven, of         concerning his teaching in the congregation. If any changes
the spiritual man, of the new man in Christ, in true knowl-          are to be made in the congregation they must wait till he
edge, righteousness and holiness. It is the purity of godliness,     arrives. Meanwhile Timothy must give attention to the fol-
which is not merely a matter of form and convention, but a           lqwing  :
life which has the power of godliness. A minister must be                1. He must give attention to r&a&g.  It seems to me
a truly godly man.                                                   that Paul refers to the public reading of the Old Testament
       2. Shall Timothy be such then he must walk in f&h.            Scriptures, as well as to the reading of those New Testament
That is the next term here mentioned before "purity."                writings which were already in existence. Thus in Rev. 1 :3
"Faith" here refers to justifying `faith in Christ Jesus, but        we read: "Blessed is he that read&, and they that hear the
also to sanctifying faith from which proceed "good works."           words of this prophecy, and keep the things which are written
Such faith takes all its "purity" out of Christ; it eats and         therein . . ."    There must be no lack of knowledge of the
drinks the holiness of God in Christ, and reveals itself in          Scriptures as they are fulfilled in Jesus Christ, our Lord.
the keeping of the commandments.                                         2. Then too there must be on the part of Timothy "ex-
       3. True faith is faith which is energized by "love." Faith    hortation" and "teaching."    The Scriptures which are read
has no power, it is dead unless it is motivated by the love          must also be interpreted and applied to the lives of the be-
of God. If a minister spoke with the tongues of men and              lievers.
angels, and had not love he is altogether nothing more than              3. Besides, it must not be simply a task which Timothy
a noisy, clanging brass and cymbal. Only where such love             performs as a matter of routine. It must be evident that the
is which is longsuffering,  kind, rejoicing in the truth, and        charismatic gift of prophecy which was in Timothy is used
which love will endure eternity, is there true faith and real        by Timothy. Paul emphasizes that Timothy is to be ditigerz-t
purity of God through the Holy Ghost.                                in these labors of teaching and exhorting, based upon "read-
       4. This will then in turn be reflected in one's "words"       ing." It must be a constant care to him ; the best is not too
and "conversation." These two concepts are related as atords         good for the church. Hence, he must "give himself wholly to
and deeds.. In our words the heart expresses itself. What            this work." He must be "in the work." He must be, so to
proceeds from the mouth is that which defileth a man. And            speak, "up to his ears in it," and sticking to his task. He must
words proceed from the heart through the mouth, whether              be willing to go forward in all understanding of the word.
this be in confession of Christ or otherwise. Certainly a min-       His progress must be "manifest to all."
ister's words must be seasoned with salt, whether these are              This is a good sign in a minister. When he is young it
spoken or whether they are written words. Now a man's                must become very evident that there is a marked improve-
words ought to be few; every man should be swift to hear,            ment in the minister since he was a "candidate" ; when he
slow to wrath and slow to speech. This is most emphatically          grows old it must be evident that he is ever fresh, fresh
true of a minister, and this must be true of Timothy a youth-        thoughts based upon "reading" the Scriptures. There should
ful minister. Besides, his entire behavior, his rubbing elbows       not be such a thing as "preached out." One who is "preached
with the congregation and with his fellow men must be such           out" has stopped reading, exegeting, studying ! ! A diligent
that it bespeaks a purity rooted in love and manifested in           minister tells the old, old story ever in a new and fresh way.
faith.
                                                                         Thus the minister Timothy saves himself and those who
       Now why did Paul admonish Timothy thus ?
                                                                     hear him.
       Timothy must so conduct himself that he is not despised
                                                                         He does not really save himself; not in the sense that
because of his youth. I will quote the following gem from
                                                                     Jesus saves his people from their sins. That is a divine work.
Anton : "Disciplined feelings are found in ripe Christians,
                                                                     However, since God works the grace of faith and godliness
old in gifts, wisdom and strength, not in years (Pr. 4 9).
                                                                     through the preaching, a minister is saved, receives grace
Samuel, the youthful, was a faithful prophet before Eli the
                                                                     through his own preaching, and those who hear him too
aged (I Sam. 3 :lO) ." Or to quote Lange : "Nothing brings
                                                                     receive grace by the preaching through the operation of the
a young man, especially in his official intercourse with others,
                                                                     Holy Ghost.
more respect,, than wise, prudent, exemplary action." Paul
in writing "Let none despise thy youth" is not directing an              Thus Timothy will, by giving heed to himself and to the'
admonition to the congregation at Ephesus, but he is direct-         preaching, save himself and those who hear him!

ing his exhortation solely to Timothy. Timothy must so                                                                          G.L.


                                          T H E   STAND.ARD.   B E A R E R '                                                      373
                                                                                                      -.

                                                                          That which you and I may eat likewise is governed by

              I N   HIS  F E A R                                      the laws whereby a wise Creator was pleased to fashion.us.
                                                                      This is also to be-seen in the plant world very clearly. There

                                                                      are trees that cannot grow in a moist soil and others that

                                                                      cannot live in the dry desert soil. There are plants that
             Under Grace in a Lawless World                           will never be found at a low elevation- thus the Joshua

                                                                      tree of the high desert regions - and again plants that re-

                              (2)                                     quire soil at a low elevation. Some plants require an acid

                                                                      soil or a clay soil. Others thrive only in sandy soil and
    It is characteristic of the creature that he is subject to
                                                                      where the soil is definitely alkaline in chemical analysis. We
laws.
                                                                      are no different although in man there is a greater latitude
    The Creator makes laws and creates His creatures ac-              in regard to these things. Men live at high and low elevation.
cording to laws. That creature is more important than the             Yet water of chemical analysis different from what he had
law according to which he is created, and therefore we may            been drinking can for a time upset his whole digestive system
say that he is not created in order to keep laws but is created       to a very marked degree. Foods some animals eat would make
according to laws. Those laws are to his advantage. They              us sick. And even though we are required at times to take
serve him; and a wise man seeks to know the laws of his               into our systems certain poisons to heal our diseases, we
creation.                                                             can take them in only in a very limited degree and accord-

    The doctor, the scientist, the research technician in the         ing to a carefully prescribed dosage.

laboratory or clinic seeks to learn the laws according to                 Violate any of these laws of our earthly existence and
which the organs of our bodies work, that we may then be              we will surely suffer the consequences. Take a little wine
healed of our diseases. We are created according to laws              for thy stomach's sake, Paul writes to Timothy. Indeed, but
and we live only in the sphere of those laws.                         take a little more and you will become aware of the fact that

    These laws are very narrow. Let your body temperature             we are created according to very definite laws, so that when

rise a degree or two, and you feel quite miserable. Your              we violate them there will be a marked effect in our lives.

normal body temperature is approximately 98.6 degrees                 And continued violation and disregard to the laws of life will

Fahrenheit. Thus we were created. The law of our physical             end in death.

life says that this must be the temperature of our bodies.                No different is it with man's spiritual life. The other

Let it be lowered or raised only two degrees ; and we will            earthly creatures are created only according to physical laws

know it without a trace of doubt. What are two degrees over           and not according to spiritual laws, for their life is in their

against 9s degrees ? Whether an object costs 9S# or $1.00             blood. But man was created after the image of God ; and

does not make such a great deal of difference. But in your            by the Spirit of Christ he is renewed after the image of

and my bodies a matter of only a degree or two makes quite            Christ. He was, therefore, created according to very definite

a difference. A matter of 5 or 6 degrees above normal, and            spiritual laws. Death for Adam and Eve was not the result

you and I are desperately sick and at the point of death.             of violating certain physical laws. The fruit of the tree of

For although a child can stand temperatures up to 106, this           the knowledge of good and evil was not poisonous fruit. That

almost always proves fatal for an adult. So narrow is the             fruit did not kill them. It was mighty slow acting poison,

line of our earthly life. According to the laws of our creation       if that is the case. For Adam lived another 930 years after

the cells of our bodies cannot live with a relatively small           eating that fruit. No, death was punishment for eating of

increase in body temperature.                                         that fruit. It was not the violation of a law of man's physical

   Then there are the requirements of that body that must             being ; it was a matter of violating a spiritual law. Man broke
be taken in every so often and without which that body dies.          God's ethical law, and God punished him with death be-
Food must be taken in regularly. Water must be taken in               cause of that sin. And surely when we are renewed after
even more frequently. And oxygen must be taken in several             the image of Christ, we are not given a spirit and freedom of
times in a minute.    Therefore it is according to one of the         lawlessness but the Spirit of Christ. And He was subject
laws of our earthly creation that -we cannot live in the              to His parents. He observed every single one of the laws of
                                                             water
while the fish cannot live out of the water. The fish,, created       God.

with gills, is adapted to take out of the water the oxygen               We can live only as we remain in the sphere of God's

that it needs, and therefore it must by the laws of its creation      ethical law, the ten commandments according to their inner

remain IN the water to live. We who have been created                 principle of love to God. When we sin we go over  the line

with lungs that take the oxygen out of the air cannot live in         drawn by that law. And when we go over the line we are in
the' water and must, according to the laws of our earthly             death because God does not go over that line ethically and

creation, spend our life out of the water and in the atmos-           spiritually. When, we transgress, when we break His lam

phere.                                                                and go. over the fence into what looks to us like greener

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


pastures, we will find that God is not there in "His  love,         my botitids. Stay under my shadow and let me tell you what

fellowship and grace.     And since to `live apart from God is      to do. Let me rule you, for I am the word of God. I declare

death, we are in the sphere of death when we transgress the         unto you God's will in regard to your ethical-moral life."

law of God. It simply is not so that when we are under                 Once you and I have climbed over the fence of that law,

grace we are at liberty to walk contrary to, the law and in         and we all did in Adam, we are no longer under its influence

a---lawless life still enjoy God's grace. Christ did not enter      and guidance but are under its condemnation. Then the law

into all the agony of hell in order to protect us in a life out-    is an insurmountable barrier over which we can never, never

side of God's law. The fruit of His death is not that in the        climb to get back into the sphere of life. When we climbed

grace of God we may live a life that disregards God's law           over, we died and have no life to climb back into the sphere

and has no interest in the keeping of it. That we are under         of God's fellowship of life. But Christ came and paid the

grace does not mean that God favours us with a liberty to           price for our disobedience and merited the right to breathe

walk where He will not Himself walk ; or that then He will          a new, spiritual life in us. What does He then do, leave

walk in the sphere of sin with us because Christ died for our       us outside or on that other side of the fence from where God

sins. God will NEVER walk in the sphere of sin. He will             created us in Paradise? Does Christ merit for us the right

never deny Himself. He will never go contrary to His own            to stay in that sphere of sin and encourage us to walk in all

ethical, moral law.                                                 manner of evil by telling us that we are now under grace ?

       Remember what Paul writes to the church at Rome,             God forbid, a thousand times God forbid! By His Spirit
"Wherefore the law is holy and the commandment holy, and            He brings us back to that side of the fence where we were
just and good," Romans 7 :12.  True, he says in verse 6, "But       created and writes that law in our hearts and in our minds so
now we are delivered from the law, being dead to that               that we DO keep it in principle.

wherein we were being held." But then let us also quote the            That is what it means to be under grace: We are under

rest of the verse as well, to be honest, "That we should serve      the power of the grace of God whereby we know ourselves

in the newness of the spirit, and not in the oldness of the         once again to be under the good guidance and counsel of that

letter."    Here again Scripture speaks of those who are de-        law. We are given of God's grace to see how good it is for

livered from the law se&+zg  according to the dictates of that      us. We welcome it with open arms, have the grace to desire

law. And truly one who serves is under that which he serves.        to stand before it every day as a mirror to show us how

       The commandment which was ordained to life we find to        dirty we are, how crooked we are in God's sight by nature

be unto death, according to Romans 7:lO. But this is not            in order that we may flee to the cross again and again for

because the law is evil. Rather is this true because we are         forgiveness and may learn again and again what to put dowu

evil. And when we are under grace we exactly receive grace          of the flesh and from what to i-lee. To be under grace means

to see alid believe that this law is good and that it is good       to be under the power of God's sanctifying grace. And that

for us to be zbndey  the guidance of that law. We repeat            sanctifying grace will always lead us back under the care, the

what we said last tinie,  We are no longer under the con-           guidance, the good counsel of that law. Grace will never do

demnation of that law. That law can no longer kill us. Christ       anything else. Grace will never move us to excuse our sins

has fulfilled it for us. He has taken away its curse for us         by arguing that we are under grace and not under the law.

forever. But He has done this exactly in order that we may          James says that it is the perfect law of libedy  and we will

be under the grace of God whereby we desire to. keep that           look into that mirror. We will not despise it and say it is

law and know that it is the infallible rule and guide of our        not for us. He will be a DOER of the work prescribed in that

life. A man under grace will love that law and, as Paul him-        law and will not seek the lawlessness of the world under

self indicates in this seventh chapter of the epistle to the        the erroneous excuse that he is no longer under the law in

Romans, will feel wretched when he finds that according to          any sense because he is under grace. "For, brethren, ye have

the flesh, he still breaks  it and does not live under it. When     been called unto liberty ; only use not liberty for an occasion

Paul says, "For that which I do. I allow not; for what I            to the flesh, but by love, serve one another." Galatians 5 :13.

would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I," what does                                                                J.A.H.
it mean but that Paul wants to be under that law, under its

counsel, under its guidance and that he wants it as the rule

for his life?

       Let us look at it this way: The law does not fence us out             Jehovah, God our Shield and Sun,
from life. It is not something.that  God ordained  unto death.
                                                                                Will grace and glory surely give ;
No, that law draws for you and me the line wherein life is
                                                                             No good will He withhold from one
found. And that law says to you and me, "Keep me. Stay
inside of this line which I draw. Do not go over the line for                   Who in His sight shall rightly live;

there is death. .There  you will never find God and His grace.               0 Lord of Hosts, most blest is he

There His Son will never be found. Keep me. Stay within                      Who puts his steadfast trust in Thee.


                                            T    H      E         STAND.ARD,  BEARE-R                                                375


                                                                          Christ's righteousness and obedience ; and by having the
II Contending For The Faith                                               principle. .of holiness ; because the Holy Spirit renews and.
                                                                      II delivers the church from the dregs of sin by degrees, in order
                                                                          that all.who belorig  t'o it.may commence and practice all the

          The Chu~h  and the Sacraments                                   parts of -obedience." The Church of God is holy objectively in

                                                                          Christ. In our Lord Jesus Christ is all the fulness of salva-
         THE TIME OF THE REFORMATION
                                                                          tion which God has ordained for His own. And the Church

               V I E W S   O N   T H E   C H U R C H                      itself is also holy, subjectively and spiritually, now in prin-

                                                                          ciple, and presently in heavenly and immortal perfection.
               T H E   P R O T E S T A N T   V I E W
                                                                          This is the Protestant view and conception of the holiness of
    What Roman Catholicism means when it speaks of the                    the church. Our holiness is a spiritual, ethical concept, ob-
holiness of the Church is evident from the articles or answers           jectively in Christ, and subjectively and spiritually through
which we quoted from "Radio Replies by the Fathers Rumble                the Spirit of regeneration, creating within us a new man,
and Carty." The holiness of the Church refers to its holiness            breaking the bands and shackles of sin, delivering us from
in its Founder, Christ Jesus, its teachings, sacramental system          evil, separating us from the world, and consecrating us unto
of grace, and in its members. Rome, of course, identifies                the living God.
with Protestantism also every sect that has its origin in
                                                                             Another attribute of the Church is its catholicity. We
Protestantism, regardless of the fact that that sect is com-
                                                                         believe in an holy, catholic, Christian church. As can readily
pletely unworthy to be called Protestant. True Protestant-
                                                                         be understood, the Romish Church prides itself in the fact
ism, we understand, maintains the Word of God, the holy
                                                                         that it, and it alone, is truly catholic. Catholic, we know,
Scriptures, and does not corrupt and distort it. We have no
                                                                         means universal. We insist, however, that we are catholtc
sympathy for any modernistic and heretical distortion of
                                                                         and not the Romish Church. It is true, as a certain Romish
the Word of God. Rome distinguishes between ordinary
                                                                         writer contends, that, if you ask a person where the nearest
and, shall we say, "special" holiness, Of course, the Word
                                                                         Catholic Church is, you will always be directed to a Roman
of God knows nothing of this distinction. Where do we read
                                                                         Catholic church. And it is also undoubtedly true that we
in the Scriptures of an ordinary holiness and of a special
                                                                         ourselves are to blame for this. We never speak of ourselves
holiness ? Ordinary holiness, according to Rome, prevails
                                                                         as Catholics. We always think of the Roman Catholic church
among the vast majority of Roman Catholics, and simply
                                                                         as catholic. Yet, this is surely a mistake. Tee Roman Cath-
refers to their fidelity to all the Roman Catholic religious
                                                                         olic church is not the catholic church. We believe in the
duties, their Sunday Mass, the observance of the seven sacra-
                                                                         Catholic Church. They may and should be called the Romish
ments, etc. And their "special" holiness refers to an almost
                                                                         or Papal Church, or the Roman Catholic Church, but they
interminable list of canonical saints who practiced heroic
                                                                         should never be called the Catholic Church. We must insist
Christian virtues. We may well ask: what heroic Christian
                                                                         that we are Catholics.
virtues ? A good Catholic, according to Rome, is also one

who fulfills his duties to his fellow men. Outward virtue and               Writing on the catholicity of the church, Dr. Bavinck

department is extolled by Rome and occupies a fundamental                writes as follows in his Do,matics,  Vol. IV, pages 306-305

Christian virtues! A good Catholic, according to Rome, is                (we translate freely) : "The third attribute of the church is

also one who fulfills his duties to his fellow men. Outward              Catholicity. According to Rome, the Church bears this ,name,

virtue and deportment is extolled by Rome and occupies a                 first of all, because, although constituting one whole and a

fundamental place in Roman Catholicism. Holiness, accord-                complete unity, it nevertheless spreads itself over the entire

ing to Rome,' is to a very large extent adherence to the                 earth, whereas the sects always remain limited to one land

Church's participation in the seven sacraments, blind obe-               or a part of the wsrld. Secondly, the church is catholic in-

dience and submission to the Pope. One reads very little                 asmuch as it, although formerly existing in a less perfect

in these Radio Replies of the fundamental character of sin,              form, nevertheless has always been upon the earth from the

of the struggle between the "old man" and the "new man,"                 beginning of the world and included all believers from the

of the terrible conflict as recorded in Romans 7.                        days of Adam, whereas the sects always come and go. And,

   Protestantism stresses the virtue of holiness in the Scrip-           in the third place, the Church is called Cathblic  because it

tural sense of the word. Holiness, as we undoubtedly know, is            completely partakes of the truth and grace which the Lord

separation from evil and dedication to God. "Be ye holy, for             has destined to be bestowed upon men, perserves and bestows

I am holy," is certainly the teaching of the Word of God.                that truth and grace, and therefore it is for all men the only

Repeatedly the Church is addressed in the Scriptures as holy.            and necessary institute of salvation, whereas the sects always

"The Church is called holy," writes Ursinus in his explana-              possess only a part of the truth. While it is true that the

tion of the Heidelberg Catechism, "because it is sanctified of           catholicity, according to Rome, must be an evident visible

God by the blood and Spirit of Christ, that it may be con-               mark of the church, it must especially be understood in that

formable to him, not in perfection, but by the imputation of             sense that the church, wherever it exists, must count a multi-

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


tude of members among all the peoples of the earth, which is              cosmopolitan character of the Christian religion and applies

striking to the eye; It is true that this was not the case in             it in practice. The Reformed have had an eye for this when,

the early days of its existence, but the church soon expanded             in the different lands and churches, they confessed the truth

very rapidly and greatly. And now it is the requirement of                in their own, free, independent manner, and invited to the

catholicity that the membership of the true church, although              Synod of Dordrecht delegates from the entire Reformed

-not greater than the number of all living people outside of it,          Christendom." - end of quote from Bavinck.

nevertheless must be greater than the membership of every

sect in particular and probably also greater than all sects to-              The Roman Catholic position on the catholicity of the

gether and combined.        Hence, the Romish Christian seeks             church is also set forth in "Radio Replies" by the Fathers

an essential feature of the true church in external splendour             Rumble and Carty, from which we quote the following,

and glory, in outward expansion and strength of numbers.                  Volume I.

Church Fathers, as Tertullian, Origen, Augustine, had al-
ready begun to exaggerate the spreading of Christianity                      497. You claim that your Church has not only the marks
among the peoples of the earth. And even now their example                of unity and holiness, but also of Catholicity. What does the
is being followed by many of the Romish (Roomschen), as                   word Catholic mean ?

for example in mission statistics. Nevertheless, one cannot
                                                                             It is derived from the Greek language, and means uni-
shut his eyes, as formerly, to the fact that there are even
now almost one million non-Christians, and hardly five                    versal and complete. And as Christ has told His Apostles to
                                                                          go and teach all nations all His doctrines, the word Catholic
hundred million Christians, that these latter are again divided
approximately in 110 million Greek, 264 million Romish and                is reserved to that Church which alone teaches all Christ's
166 million Protestant  Christians, and that the Romish Chris-            doctrines to all peoples -the Catholic Church. St. Ignatius
tians in this century are almost everywhere declining in                  of Antioch, about the year 110, first used the word to des-
strength of numbers and are being `pushed' (op zij gestreefd              ignate the true Church. He wrote, "Where the Bishop is,
worden) by the Protestant Christians. According to this                   there is the Catholic Church." Donatism broke away from
mark of catholicity, which the Romish Church itself advances,             the Church in the 4th century, just as Protestantism in the
it does not look too well for what Rome believes to be the                1.6th,  and St. Augustine declared that this heresy was cut off
catholicity of the church. The name, catholic, surely applies             from the Catholic Church. In the same 4th century Pacian
less  and less to the Romish Church. `Roman' and `Catholic'               used the word Catholic as a mark. of identification, saying,
are also in contradiction with each other; even as in the Old             "Christian is my name, Catholic my surname." He did not
Testament the disl)ensation  of grace had Jerusalem for its               wish to be taken for one of those who protested against the
center and confined all believers to that place, so in the days           Catholic Church, yet still continued to call themselves Chris-
of the New Testament the Romish Church makes the salva-                   tians. - end of quote, thus far, from these "Radio Replies."

tion of men dependent upon one definite place and one def-
                                                                             In connection with the above quotation from "Radio Re-
inite person and therefore comes short of the catholicity of
                                                                          plies," we wish to make the following comments. It is true
Christendom. The name, Romish, or Papal church expresses
                                                                          that Ignatius made the remark which is attributed to him in
its essence far better than that of catholic. A catholic church
                                                                          this quotation. It is also true that Cyprian was very strong
is believed and confessed in the apostolic symbol and at
                                                                          and outspoken in his expressions of high esteem in w'hich he.
times also in their own confessions by all Protestants. Gen-
                                                                          held the office of Bishop. And Augustine also spoke very
erally they understood with catholicity the ecclesia universalis
                                                                          highly of the Catholic Church. But, in the first place, we do
(church universal), which embraced all true believers and
                                                                          well to bear in mind that when Ignatius and Cyprian and
came to revelation, more or less purely, in the different
                                                                          Augustine spoke of the Catholic Church, they certainly did
churches, or they also understood this as referring to the
                                                                          not mean what the Romish Church means with it, and as it
church of the New Testament, which, in distinction from
                                                                          is quoted in the above quotation. In those days there was
that of the Old Testament, was destined for all peoples and
                                                                          only one Church, the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, and
places of the earth. The word, catholic, does not appear in
the Scriptures. But the texts, to which the church fathers                this Church was surely catholic, universal. And, secondly,
                                                                          we do not deny that these church fathers spoke very highly
appealed in support of the catholicity of the church, such as
                                                                          of the office of the bishop, identified the bishop with the
Gen. 12 :3, Ps. 2 53, Is. 2 :2, Jer. 3 :17,  Mal. 1 :11,  Matt. 8 :11,
                                                                          church. But does this mean that, when they speak of the
28:19, John 10:16,  Rom. 1 :8, 10:18,  Eph. 2:14, Cal. 1 :6,
                                                                          bishop, they mean the bishop of Rome? Most emphatically
Rev. 7 :9, etc., prove that its significance lies particularly in         not! And also this is something that we must not forget.
this that Christendom is a world-religion, destined and fitting           There is absolutely no proof that the bishop or Pope at Rome
for all peoples and ages, for every rank and file, for every              is the successor of the apostle Peter. This is a fabrication
place and time. That church is most catholic, which most                  of the Roman Catholic Church.

clearly expresses in its confession this international and                                                                         H.V.


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                          377


                                                                         Hippo Regius and of Carthage have any value, it lies herein
 II The Voice of Our Fathers                                             that these decrees simply recognized the fact that for a long
                                                                     II time the. church at large was in full agreement on all but a
                                                                         few of the books of the New Testament. Besides, we do not

                                                                         even have any decree fixing the canon of the Old Testament
                  The Belgic  Confession
                                                                         during the inter-testamentary period. The canon of the Old

                    ARTICLE IV (continued)                               Testament rests directly on the authority of Christ. In the

                                                                         third place, we would sound a note of caution against the
    We are now ready to discuss the matter of the formation              slogan,    "The Bible made the church, not the church the
 of the canon from a principal point of view. We have traced             Bible."    For, first of all, it is simply not true historically that
 the history of the formation of both the Old and the New
                                                                        the Bible is before the church. Long before there was any
Testament canon. But the question remains : on what author-              Bible, or even any part of the Bible, there was a church.
ity does the canon of Scripture rest? Who determined the                 During the entire period of the old dispensation prior to
 canon ? How do we know that this canon is correct ? What                Moses, there was not even any part of the Bible, though there
moved the church in the past to declare that these books, and           was certainly the revealed Word of God. And, secondly, we
no others, constitute the canon? Does the authority of the              must not fall into the very common error of deprecating the
canon rest simply upon the declaration of a church council ?            church and the function of the church in the historical forma-
    Concerning these questions there are various views.                 tion of the canon. This is often done out of a certain mis-
    Usually the Roman Catholic position is presented as                 taken zeal to combat Roman Catholicism. But the Roman
maintaining that the church made the Bible, not the Bible
                                                                        Catholic error lies, as we have noted above, in a different
the church. This view is undoubtedly current, although it               direction. And it is neither Reformed, nor Scriptural, nor
is even apparently contradicted by the following declaration
                                                                        historically correct to ignore or to deny the position and
of the Vatican Council of 1870 : "And these books of the Old            function of the church as the custodian of the Scriptures and
and New Testaments are to be received as sacred and canon-              `as the instrument in the recognition and acknowledgment of
ical, in their integrity, with all their parts, as they are
                                                                        the canon.
enumerated in the decree of the said Council (of Trent) , and
are contained in the ancient Latin edition of the Vulgate.                  Various other theories have been put forward in order to
These the Church holds to be sacred and canonical, not be-              explain the formation of the canon. Some have emphasized
cause, having been carefully composed by mere human in-                 the factor of God's providence, which cared for both the
dustry, they were afterwards approved by her authority, nor             preparation and the preservation of the canonical books.
merely because they contain revelation, with no admixture               Others have stressed the inward testimony of the Holy Spirit
of error; but because, having been written by the inspiration           as the guiding principle in the determination of the canon.
of the Holy Ghost, they have God for their Author, and have             Still others have been satisfied simply to maintain that the
been delivered as such to the Church herself." This declara-            test of canonicity was inspiration: only the inspired books
tion is rather deceiving, unless we remember that by                    were acknowledged to be canonical. This view obviously
"Church" the Romish Church always means the Roman                       leaves the question : but which books are inspired ? And
Catholic Church, specifically the Romish hierarchy. Hence,              therefore, others have sought a more definite principle, and
after all it is the Roman Catholic position that the church,            have maintained that the test of inspiration in the Old Testa-
that is, the institute represented in the Roman hierarchy, and          ment was authorship by the prophets, while the test of in-
ultimately in the pope, authenticates the Scriptures. The               spiration in the New Testament was authorship by the
canon rests upon the decree of a church council. This posi-             apostles. Others want to apply the test of internal agree-
tion was historically practiced at the Council of Trent, which          ment between the various books of Holy Writ.

officially gave the apocryphal books a place in the canon,                 Some of these same questions arise, of course, in connec-

contrary to the consensus of the church in the past not only,           tion with Article V, which, however, really treats the ques-

but contrary to the authentication of the Old Testament by              tion as to why we today receive these books as canonical.

Christ and the apostles themselves. The addition of the                 This question is related. But we are now interested in the

Apocrypha  rests on the mere decree of a church council.                question: how was the canon arrived at in the past, when it

That is the Roman Catholic position.                                    was formed and first came to be acknowledged ?

   In regard to this view, we may say the following. In                    And then we may remark, in general, that all of the above

the first place, it is, of course, the implicit assumption of the       theories have their peculiar merits. There is an element of

Romish position that the church of the first few centuries,             truth in each of them. Yet all of them together do not give

A.D., was a Roman Catholic Church. And this assumption                  complete satisfaction, that is, if we seek satisfaction purely

is utterly false. In the second place, it certainly is not true         on the basis of reason. Thus, for example, on the basis of

that any decree of `the church made the various books of                mere, natural reason the principle of the inward testimony

Scripture into Bible books. If the decrees, for example, of             of the Holy Spirit is certainly vulnerable. Not only that,


378                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   REARER


but even to faith this can certainly form but a part of the         that it considered canonical. No, this- took place spontane-

explanation of this question. But when the canonicity of            ously and organically in the consciousness. of the church as

Scripture is, by others, based  on objective grounds, you also      a whole, in the organism of the church, the gathering of be-

run into difficulties. And basically all these difficulties may     lievers. And the result was that when finally some assembly

be concretely expressed in the question : "Who says so? And         or council issued an official decree as to the canonical books,

how do we know they were correct ?" It is well to make the          they were merely declaring what was already a real fact in

test of canonicity that of inspiration. But the question re-        the life of the church. And how did the church act in this

mains : who determined whether a certain book was inspired          process ? We may distinguish two elements. In the first

and how did they determine it? Then, of course, you can             place, the church has the inward testimony and guidance of

put forth the further test of prophetic and apostolic authority.    the Holy Spirit. The same Spirit who moved holy men

And indeed, one can make a rather plausible case for this           to write the Word of God also moved the church to receive

test. But this is simply moving the problem back a step.            those writings and to recognize them as the Word of God.

And the old question recurs : who applied this test, and how        And in the second place, we may undoubtedly say that the

do we know that this test was accurately applied ? And              Spirit guided and gave the church this testimony as to the

therefore, at one stage or another it will have to be admitted      canonical books through those very books themselves. Both

that there is a human agency, or instrument, through whom           the contents of the books, by which, through their self-testi-

God caused the canon to be selected and fixed. That agency          mony, they were easily distinguished from all other books,

or instrument is the church.                                        as well as by the fact that these books constituted one whole

       We must not forget, therefore, that also the canon and       and were in agreement with one another, moved the church,
its formation is a matter of fai$L Ultimately unbelief will         under the influence of the Holy Spirit, to acknowledge the
never accept the idea of a canon, even as it will not accept        canonical books. And to this may be added some of the ele-
the idea of inspiration, or the idea of an infallible Word of       ments mentioned in the various theories listed above.

God. The canon and its authority constitute an article of

faith.                                                                  In this article all the canonical books are specifically

       But at the same time we can say something about the          listed, so that there may be absolutely no question as to

manner by which the canon originated.                               which books belong to the canon.

       In the first place, we must remember that the canon is of        In connection with this list we may make the following

God ; it has its origin in God. He, and He alone, determines        remarks :

the norm of faith and life. He determines what we must                  1) There is an error in our present edition of the Psalter-

believe and what we must do. And from eternity the canon            in the order of Ruth and Judges. We have quoted Article

of Scripture is in His counsel. And in His counsel God did          IV as it appears in the Psalter because it is this edition of

not only conceive of some inspired writings, but of an entire       the Confession that we use in our churches. The Confession

book, an organic whole, His Word, the Bible. This truth we          lists the canonical books in the order in which they appear

set forth already in connection with our discussion of in-          in our Bibles. And this order is, of course, Joshua, Judges,

spiration in Article III. And it is important that we see this.     Ruth, and not Joshua, Ruth, Judges. In a future printing

The canon is of God, or it has no authority whatsoever. He          this error should be corrected.

formed the canon in time too, through the inspiration of the            2) The order and division of the books is not specifically

Holy Spirit, moving men to write His Word. It is that work          canonical, except, of course, the division into Old and

of inspiration which brings the canon into existence. After         New Testament. Otherwise, various divisions and orders

the canonical books are brought into existence during the           have been followed. The common Jewish division of the

course of history, it remains yet that this canon, which is         canon is quite different, for example, than our division.

already there, whether it is acknowledged or not, must also             3) The article makes no comment on the division into the
be recognized as such. And step by step this whole canon            Old and New Testament, and says nothing here as to the
must be "fixed," until finally it is recognized as having been      relation between the two. This is hardly necessary. All of
completed. The latter is also the work of God.                      us understand, of course, that the New Testament sets forth

       In the second place, there is the manner in which God        the fulfillment of and completion of the Old. In Article XXV

caused the canon to be formed in time. And then we shall            our Confession has a statement concerning the abolishing

have to acknowledge that it was the church, both in the old         of the ceremonial law and of the shadows, which is important

and in the new dispensation, that distinguished and selected        and which will be discussed in due time.

from among all other writings those books that she con-                 4) Concerning the list of Old Testament books we may

sidered to be and accepted as canonical. This was not a             note :
mechanical process, however, as though suddenly some ec-                a.    Chronicles is further described by the words, "com-
clesiastical assembly sat down before a large pile of books or      monly called Paralipomenon."       This is, of course, not com-
in an entire library and began to picky  out a number of books                          (Continued on page 380)


                                           T H E   STAN-DARjD   B E A R E R                                                        379


                                                                          (3) It is agreed that, so far as the record goes, our Lord

11  D E C E N C Y   a n d   ORDER ! Jesus Christ used the Psalms exclusively in worship.
                                                                          (4) It is agreed that we have express authority for the

                                                                      use of the ,Old Testament Psalms in the New Testament
             Hymns, Principally Wrong?                                Church.
    It has been claimed that the whole question of "hymn-
                                                                          To each of these points the author adds Scriptural refer-
ology" does not involve a matter of p&ciple.  The argument
                                                                      ences and comments which we do not include here. He then
is that as long as the hymns are doctrinally sound so that
                                                                      proceeds to the point of difference which he finds centers
they do not conflict in any way with the Word of God, they
                                                                      in the interpretation of Colossians 3 :16.  Some contend that
may be sung in the churches. To this point in our writings
                                                                      "hymns and spiritual songs" are mere human compositions
on this subject we have conceded this argument because it
                                                                      while others disagree and hold that there is reference here
was our first aim to show that even though the introduction
                                                                      only to the Book of Psalms. (See our previous article.) Dr.
of hymns into the worship services of our churches violates
                                                                      George holds that "not only does this passage not authorize
no $&nc@e,  there are many p~actica.1  considerations that
                                                                      the use of uninspired songs in worship, but that it enjoins
prove this innovation undesirable. It must be admitted, how-
                                                                      the exclusive use of the Psalms of the Bible." In demonstrat-
ever, that if it can be shown that a p&nc$& is involved here
                                                                      ing the truth of this statement he devotes a large section of
and that the introduction of hymns is a violation of pr&&le,
                                                                      the pamphlet to showing that "the Psalms are in an eminent
we no longer need the practhl  arguments to support our
                                                                      sense `the word of Christ'."    The three statements following
position. What is wrong Zm p&n&pCe  may never be intro-
                                                                      will not be contested:
duced even though it may seem to be practical and the
                                                                          (1) Christ by His Spirit is the author of the Psalms.
majority may desire it. For example, there may be a nuisance
                                                                          (2) Christ is the speaker in many of them.
living in my neighborhood. All the people living in the area
                                                                          (3) Christ alone is the subject of many of the Psalms.
are agreed that it is desirable to get rid of him. But this does

not give me or any one else the right to shoot him. Murder               Following this the author proceeds to show what we may

is a `violation of the principle of God's law and no practical        learn of Christ from this wonderful book of Psalms. This is

considerations or choice of majority may induce me to violate         important because when the Psslms are understood and ap-

that principle.                                                       preciated there will be no expressed need for hymns while

    The question then is : "Does the introduction of hymns            the latter always comes when it is felt that there is a lack in

into the worship of the church violate a pvincipee  of truth ?"       the Psalms. That there is no such lack is evident from the
Otherwise stated: "Is the proposed revision of Article 69 of          enumeration given by Dr. George. He discusses the follow-

our Church Order in conflict with the principle of truth ex-          ing things about Christ as found in the Psalms : His Divinity,

pressed in the Word of God ?" In this article we will attempt         His eternal Sonship,  His incarnation, His Mediatorial Offices

to show that it is and thereby advance our W&T&  objectiout to        (prophetic, priestly, kingly, His betrayal, His agony: in the
the matter of hymnology.                                              garden, His trial, His rejection, His crucifixion, His burial

   We refer our readers, first of all, to the argument of Prof.       and resurrection, His ascension, His second coming). Re-

R. J. George, D.D., advanced in a small pamphlet entitled,            plete with Christ are the Psalms.

"Psalmody," and which we feel is both cogent and logically               Concluding, Dr. George observes, "that Colossians 3 :16

correct. Undoubtedly the cogency of his argument is derived           which has always been relied upon by the advocates of hymn-

from his logically sound reasoning, Prof. George is con-              singing as containing a warrant for their practices has no

nected with the Reformed Presbyterian (Covenanter )                   such meaning. The titles, `Psalms and hymns and spiritual

Church. The study committee that reported to our synod in             songs, ' belong to the inspired Psalms, and as qualified by

1960 also refers to Dr. George's writing on this subject,             the word `spiritual' are not true of any other. The Psalms

especially his exegesis of Colossians 3 :16, but fails to cite the    are `the word of Christ' ; uninspired songs are not His word in

source from which it quotes. In the above mentioned pam-              the Bible sense ; the Psalms are a true standard for `teaching

phlet, Dr. George begins by citing four things concerning             and admonishing' ; uninspired songs are not; the Psalms are

songs to be employed in the praise of God and with regard to          adapted to be the vehicles of grace to the heart and of praise

which he writes : "It is not denied that there are opinions, held     to the Lord, as uninspired songs are not. The passage fur-

by individuals, contrary to one or another of these four points,      nishes no warrant for the use of uninspired songs in worship,

but it is affirmed that there is a general agreement among            but is an explicit apostolic injunction that in the praise

all classes of evangelical Christians in these conclusions."          service of the New Testament Church the divinely author-

   These four points then are:                                        ized Psalmody should be continued."

    (1) It is agreed that the Psalms were given by divine                If we understand Dr. George correctly, it is his position

inspiration, and are the very word of God.                            that God has given the church a "Book of Songs" to which

    (2) It is agreed that the inspired Psalms were appointed          she may neither add nor take away. The church is mandated

by God to be used in His worship.                                     by God to use exclusively in her worship the Songs which

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


God has provided for her. Not to do so is to violate a prin-        I had a message of praise to send up to God and I employed

ciple of Divine law. But, you say, this is nowhere written          a hymn to carry it, I would feel uncertain about it. But if I

in Scripture. A text cannot be found that directly states           employed a Psalm to carry it, I know that it would ascend

this, True indeed but this is also true of other truths we em-      to heaven. The Psalm was born there. It came from God

brace as, for example,. the truth of Infant Baptism. Let            to me ; and indeed God sent it to me to bear any message
                                                              US

note that God gave us the Scriptures containing sixty-six           of praise I might wish to send up to Him."

books. Some of these are historical books in which God                  On the point we have raised in this article Rev. G. M.

reveals His mighty works throughout the history of His              Ophoff also reflects in his "Isagogics" on the Psalms. Writes

church. Other books are prophetic in which He makes known           he : "What may be the difference between the Psalms and the

the coming of His Kingdom as well as His judgment upon              history of Scripture? The history of Scripture is a record of

the world. The prophecies point to the coming day of our            events as events. The sacred historian does not project his

Lord. Other books are called Epistles or Letters written by         soul into the events which he records, does not reveal the

the apostles to the churches for their instruction in the doc-      attitude he assumes toward these events. The heart responses

trines of the Gospel of Christ. In the entire collection of         of the historical writer are not given. The Psalmist makes it

books God gave but one Book of Songs. The Epistles were             plain that these same events constitute the treasures of his

not written to be slrtg but to be read in the churches. ,When       heart. In other words the Psalmist is one with a heart show-

you receive a letter you do not sit down and .sipbg  that letter    ing itself up by song as a heart in which the Word of God

but        read it. Historical records and prophetic discourses     dwells richly (to express ourselves in N.T. language). The
        you 

are not designed to be sung either. God has provided songs,         Psalmist is one for whom the external realities reflect and

beautiful, inspired songs in which the church of all ages can       became as was said the highest possible good upon which he

sing of her Lord and Redeemer and of the glory of her God.          sets his affections."

If she had need of more than these God Himself would have              Again :    "The lyric poet of Scripture was at once the

provided but He did not and, therefore, we ought to be satis-       mouthpiece of the church of God of all times, for he was

fied with God's provision.                                          used by the Spirit to express the faith, the hope, the joy, the

                                                                    sorrow of Christ's church. That he did so implies that the
       Ingersoll once said that "he could write a better book
                                                                    faith, the hope, etc. of the individual poet was universal, i.e.,
than the Bible."      Christians were shocked and denounced
                                                                    his joy and grief and faith, etc., is at once the joy and grief
him as an "infidel blasphemer." Writes Dr. George: "How
                                                                    of God's people of all times.    Hence the sentiments circulat-
then can we say that we can write a better book of praises
                                                                    ing through the Psalms were at once prophetic of the grief,
than God's Psalter? If it be true then hymn books are better
                                                                    the joy and the sufferings of the church in the future and
than the Psalm book, it marks the highest achievement of the
                                                                    in particular of Christ. Because of this universal aspect of
race; for then man has transcended God in His own field.
                                                                    these poems many of them could be Messianic."
If it be not true, then the displacing of the God-made Psalter,
                                                                       Shall we set this aside ? Shall we substitute it with songs
by the man-made hymn books, in God's worship, is an act of
                                                                    of our own making? Shall we say that God's provision is
most daring presumption."
                                                                    not adequate and then go ahead and supplement it? To do
       With the following allegory the professor concludes his
                                                                    so is in our view a violation of principle, a tampering with the
pamphlet :
                                                                    Divine ordinance governing the singing and the provision
       "If I' had an important message to send to one living in     for the singing of the Church.                          G.v.d.B.
the upper districts of the city, I might summon a messenger

boy and say to him: `Can you carry this message for me to                           THE VOICE OF OUR FATHERS
such a person living in such a part of the city?' And the boy                          (Continued  from page 378)

would answer doubtfully: `I think I can. It is true that I          mon today. The name is from the Septuagint translation of

have never been in that part of the city, I was born near here.     the Old Testament, and means "the things left over," or, "the

I have heard of the person to whom you wish to send the             things left untold," concerning the kings of Judah especially.

message, and I think I can find him. I am willing to try.'             b. Ezra is called "the first of Ezra," because among the

My message is a very important one, and while satisfied of          ancient fathers Nehemiah was referred to as "second Ezra."

the good intentions of this boy, I am not assured of his abil-         c. Lamentations is included under Jeremiah.

ity to fulfill the trust. So I call up another boy and ask him         5) Finally, we may note that the epistle to the Hebrews

the same question. At once his face glows with intelligence         is ascribed to Paul. This is, of course, a mere theory. There

as he answers.     `Oh yes, I can carry your message directly       is no principal objection to this ; nor is there any principal

to his home. I know all about that part of the city. I was          objection, by the same token, to denying this. No Reformed

born there. I came from there. In fact your friend sent me          church, in other words, would ever make this a test of ortho-

down here to find you and bearfiup  any message you might           doxy. And therefore, if you prefer to think that Hebrews was

desire to send him.' It would not be difficult to decide which      written by someone other than Paul, you will not be accused

of these messengers I should employ. This is an allegory. If        of militating against our Confession.                   H.C.H.


                                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                    381
                                                                                                        -. - -


                                                                             - Whether Mr. Glenn likes it or not, Christ was surely

                                                                           one upon whom everyone.. heaped abuse. Jesus Himself

                                                                           spoke of this. And indeed this was because He was the

                                                                           perfect Son of God Who came into our flesh to bear our sins

THE FAUTH  OF A HERO                                                       upon Himself. All men hated and despised Him, for all men
                                                                           are wicked.
    Much has been made of the orbital flight of John H.
Glenn Jr. And without question, from a scientific view-                       But more important, it seems even a dubitable point
point, it was a tremendous accomplishment. Much has also                   whether John Glenn believes in the divinity of Christ. Surely
                                                                           he makes no mention of the cross as the vicarious atonement
been made of his faith. The nation and the Church have
hailed him as an outstanding example of "quiet, steely cour-              for sin, but speaks instead of a Christ Who is nothing more
                                                                          than an example which we do well to follow. This is not the
age" and humble Christian life.
                                                                           Christ of Scripture, nor is this the Christ in Whom believers
   What is his faith ?                                                    put their trust.

   Recently John Glenn preached in his Presbyterian

Church, the Little Falls United Presbyterian Church of                    ANOTHER ME&IN6  l.iNK
Arlington, Virginia. His sermon was printed in Rmwie, a                       In Kenya, Africa, another fossil discovery has led scien-
supplement of the Detroit F,m? Press. It is not necessary to              tists to believe that another link has been found in the develop-
quote the entire sermon ; the first part deals with the evidence          ment of man from the ape. Two British archeologists, Dr.
of the existence of God which can be found in space. The                  and Mrs. L. S. B. Leakey  found two halves of a palate and

last few paragraphs deal with Christ and read as follows :                one lower tooth. The potassium-argon method of radio-

         But what was this man Christ like whom we're going to            activity (similar to the Carbon - 14 method although sup-
     follow?                                                              posedly capable of dating much farther back- H.H.) ap-

         He's revealed to us in the Bible. As far as physical char-       plied to the volcanic ash in which these fossils were imbedded
     acteristics go, we don't know too much about Him. My im-             set their age at 14 million years. The "find" was hailed as
     pression of Christ physically is not the popular impression, I'm     filling a major gap in the story of human evolution. The
     afraid. Somehow the idea of Christ the weakling, Christ, the
     One on whom everybody heaped abuse, has never been an ap-            National Geographic Society which sponsored the two dis-
     pealing one.                                                         coverers and awarded them a medal for their find said that

         The emaciated Christ we see in the pictures is not my idea       "the fossil teeth (were) of a unique creature with manlike
    of Christ. I think He was a real man's man.          I think He's     characteristics" ; while Dr. Leakey  added, "the fossil primate
     someone we'd all be proud to follow. I read an article in            is emphatically not like man today. It would seem to be
     which some place in the Bible said that Christ led His disciples
     from one spot to another spot in a day's time. They had              heading toward man, but it is not man."

     measured this distance, and it turned out this was some 32               Every time a piece of bone is uncovered somewhere that
     miles, I believe it was, in a day's time. How many of us             seems to be somewhat ancient, scientists hail the discovery
     could start out this morning and walk 32, miles by tomorrow
     morning, leading a group of men? I doubt if I could do it.           of some further proof of their pet views of the evolutionary
     I think Christ was a real man's man. He was someone really           development of man. Many times these discoveries have

     to follow.                                                           been proved to be wrong or even hoaxes, but that does not
         This is borne out to a degree, too, in one of my favorite        prevent men from finding more proof for their erroneous
     passages.     The Jewish Passover was approaching, and Jesus         views. And yet, it is not the mere fact that evolutionism cau
     made the journey up to Jerusalem. In the temple, He dis-
     covered cattle and sheep dealers and pigeon sellers, as well as      be "proved" to be wrong on the basis of their own silly
     money changers sitting at their tables. So He made a rough           theories that convinces the Christian that man did not come

     whip out of rope and drove the whole lot of them, sheep and          from the ape ; it is the unchangeable truth of God Himself
     cattle as well, out of the temple. He sent the coins of the          that He revealed. lMan was created by the Word of God's
     money changers flying and turned their tables upside down.
                                                                          power; created in the image of God, created as king over the
        The important thing is not the physical strength that Jesus
     used in this example. The important thing is that Jesus had          entire creation. This truth men hate. It is not ignorance that
     His beliefs, and He had the courage of His convictions to act        leads them to speculate vainly over a few fragments of bone ;

     upon them, to live by them. He believed, and He acted.               it is willful hatred of the truth of God. With all their re-
     These guidelines guided Christ in His everyday life when He          markable powers of intelligence and scientific endeavor, how
     was here on earth. The guidelines He used are available to -us
                                                                          silly and foolish they must appear before the simple yet
     today, and they are just as timeless today as they were in Jesus'
     time.                                                                beautiful truth of the Word of God. God puts to nought the
        These guidelines apply just as much to one business as            wisdom of the wise.

     they do to another. But the choice is ours. We are the ones

     who have to make the choice. God hasn't said, "You will

     do this."     We have been placed here as free agents to decide         In a recent issue of The B,a?zrw the question is asked
    ,whether  we will or will not live by these guidelines. The
     choice is ours.                                                      whether a false religion is worse than no religion at all. The


3 8 2                                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R


questioner met the quotation: "To have no religion is bad.                                                    Then it is also true that the punishment of those who

False religion is worse. To observe merely the forms of the                                               &low the truth but corrupt it, who have a form of godliness,

true religion is perhaps worst of all." The answer given to                                               but deny the power thereof, shall be punished the more

this question is, in part:                                                                                severely. They shall be beaten with double stripes. In the

                                                                                                          judgment Sodom and Gomorrah shall condemn them. This
               This is an attempted scale of evils, and any comparison of                                 is entirely within.the  scope of the justice of God.
           them is not without its hazards.

               From the point of view of destiny, the fact is inescapabie

           that irreligion, false religion, and formalism are equally fatal.                              BUREAUCRACY IN THE ROMlSH  CHURCH
           In that sense there is no distinguishable difference between                                       In connection with a recent article in T&e which dealt
           them . . .
                                                                                                          with the elevation of ten new cardinals, a brief description
               From the viewpoint of history, however, the situation is
           quite difFerent.  We have more regard for the man who                                          was given of some aspects of the government of the Romish

           acknowledges belief in God than for one who does not. And                                      Church, as it pertains to the work of cardinals.
           rightly so. Belief in a supreme deity to whom men feel re-                                         53 cardinals serve abroad as papal ambassadors ; 34 car-
           sponsible gives a set of moral values that an irreligious man
                                                                                                          dinals work in Rome as the papal cabinet. The government
           does not have.
               The pledged word, for instance, bears more of a sacred                                     of the Church consists of twelve congregations, three trib-

           character. There is much more possibility of mutual trust and                                  unals and five separate offices. Some of the most important
           understanding where there is this common acknowledgment.                                       are :
           Human relations bid fair to be far more tolerable where there
           is a sense of obligation to a higher being. And since all reli-                                    The Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office.
           gions have within them some idealism, and try to implant as-                                   "Founded in the 13th century to combat heresy, the Holy

           pirations for more acceptable living, I would consider the                                     Office ran the Inquisition, still edits the Index of Forbidden
           religious man (irrespective of what religion he espouses) far                                  Books, preserves Catholic dogma from error, sets the terms
           preferable to the irreligious.
                                                                                                          of marriage for Catholics who wed non-Catholics. Operating
               This is, of course, no condoning of false religions. Our first
           concern is not that man be religious. Man has that innate                                      under security rules that would do credit to the CIA, the

           inclination. . . .                                                                             Holy Office keeps its files under lock and key forever; any-

                                                                                                          one who spills its secrets is subject to automatic excommuni-
         This position is surely debatable. It is, of course, true
                                                                                                          cation, revocable only by the Pope himself."
that  "irreligion,   f a l s e   r e l i g i o n ,   a n d   f o r m a l i s m   a r e   e q u a l l y
fatal." But Christ Himself makes a distinction between sins.                                                  The Sacred Consistorial Congregation. Its duties include

He says in Matthew 11 20-24  : "Then began he to upbraid                                                  supervision of boundary lines between dioceses, advising the

the                                                                                                       Pope on naming new bishops, receiving stewardship reports
         cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, be-
                                                                                                          from bishops, watching out for the welfare of sailors and im-
cause they repented not : Woe unto thee, Chorazin ! woe unto
thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done                                                 migrants.

in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have                                                      The Sacred Congregation for the Oriental Church. This
repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you,                                             congregation supervises the liturgical practices and canon law
It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of                                               of 11 million Catholics belonging to the eastern part of the
judgment, than for you.                    And thou, Capernaum, which are                                 Church.
exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the                                                The Sacred Congregation for Propagating the Faith. This
mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done                                                 congregation is the missionary arm of the Church and
in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say                                                watches over 35 million Catholics in Asia, Africa and much
unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of                                                 of Latin America.
Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee." Or again,
                                                                                                              The Secretariat of State. Because the Church still main-
the Lord says in Luke 12 :47, 48 : "And that servant, which
                                                                                                          tains its temporal power as well as ecclesiastical power, this
knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did ac-
                                                                                                          branch functions as the Vatican's Foreign Ministry.
cording to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But

he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes,                                                    The Secretariat for Christian Unity. One of the newest'

shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much                                                of Vatican Bureaus, this branch handles all matters that

is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men                                                  relate  to communication between Rome and non-Catholic

have committed much, of him they will ask the more."                                                      churchmen. In this day of ecumenicism, this has become one

                                                                                                          of the most influential branches of the Church.
         These texts and others teach that where there is more
knowledge of God and of the truth of the gospel, there also                                                   With all its streamlined bureaucracy, the Church of Rome
is a more terrible manifestation of sin. The closer one comes                                             is still the Church that persecuted the saints, apostatized from
to the revelation of God, the greater is the sin which men                                                the truth, necessit&ed  the Reformation, and still seeks world
commit. The Jews, to whom had been committed the oracles                                                  domination.

of God also crucified the Christ.                                                                                                                                 H. Hanko


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                383


                     CALL TO SYNOD -                                 saints will be satisfied and the glory of God $11 be fully re-
                                                                     vealed.
   According to the decision of the last Synod, the Qn-
                                                                         1.     A glorious creation - There will be a new heaven and
s&tory  of the First Protestant Reformed Church of Grand
                                                                     a new earth, nevertheless, it will be related to the old be-
Rapids, Michigan, notifies the churches that the 1962 Synod          cause it will come forth out of the old creation. As based on
of the Protestant Reformed Churches will convene on Wed-             Rev. 21, there will be no more sea, means all separation will

nesday, June 6, D.V., at 9 :00 A.M. in the above mentioned           be gone and everything will be brought into one. As related

church.                                                              to our bodies, corruption must put on incorruption.

   The pre-synodical service will be held on Tuesday eve-                2. A glorious people - Christ had to go to the cross

ning, June 5, at 8:00 P. M. at First Church. The Rev. M.             also to redeem the angel world. Wicked have no place in
                                                                     the redemptive plan of God. By a wonder of grace we may
Schipper,  president of the previous Synod, will preach at this
                                                                     look forward to being in that city as described in Revelation
service.
                                                                     of the New Jerusalem. Then we will be in the very presence

   Synodical  delegates are requested to gather with the Con-        of God. Then we will fully understand when God says, "I

sistory before the service.                                          will be your God and ye shall be my people."

   Those requesting lodging are to contact Mr. P. Decker,                3. A glorious life - God's life from Christ in us so

108 Mayfield  Ave., N. E., Grand Rapids, Michigan.                   that we may live unto Him, always in covenant communion
                                                                     with God, experiencing his approval, enjoying his blessings
                               Consistory of the First Protestant
                                                                     with Christ and all His saints. We will know each other
                               Reformed Church                       in the Lord as members of the body of Christ. "Eye hath

                                   Rev. C. Hanko, President          not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart

                                   P. Decker, Secretary              of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that

                                                                     love him." I Cor. 9:2.

                                                                         After this very instructive and comforting speech we

                                                                     sang Psalter No. 303 durin,
                                                                                                      m which a collection was taken

                                                                     for Adams St. and Hope Protestant Reformed Schools.

                                                                         Minutes of the previous meeting were read and roll call
Report of the Eastern Ladies' League'Meeting                         revealed all societi&  were represented.

   The spring meeting of the Ladies' League of the Prot-                 We were favored again with a vocal duet entitled, "Oh

estant Reformed Churches was held April 19, 1962 at South-           What Love."

west Protestant Reformed Church.                                         Four ladies from "Ladies' Aid" of First Church took part

   Miss Helen Vanden  Engel  played an organ prelude after           in a panel discussion on the subject of the second coming of

which our meeting was opened with the singing of our theme           Christ. Many informative passages of Scripture were read

song, Psalter No. 374 verses 1, 2, and 5. Psalm 118 verse 11         to explain :

was sung in the Holland language. Our president, Mrs. D.                        1. The fact of His coming.
Jonker then read from Rev. 21 verses 1 through 14 and  22                       2. Times and signs of His coming.
through 27, after which she led us in prayer.
                                                                                3. In what manner?
   A word of welcome tias extended to all present.                              4. Purpose of His return.

   The first number on the program was a vocal duet en-                         5. What should our attitude be?
titled, "Each Step I Take."      It was sung by two ladies from
                                                                         Miss Vanden  Engel  played two more selections on the
our Grand Haven Church, Mrs. F. Peterson and Miss
                                                                     piano.
Dorothy Vander  Ley, accompanied by Miss Karlene  Oomkes
at the piano.                                                            The president thanked all who had taken part on the
                                                                     program and those who served refreshments. We sang
   Miss Vanden  Engel  played a piano solo entitled "Jesu -
                                                                     Psalter No. 3'2, the last verse after which Mrs. J. Oomkes
Joy of Man's Desiring."                                              closed with prayer.

   The president then introduced our speaker, Rev. C.                    Surely we all enjoyed an evening in Christian fellowship
Ha&o, who spoke on "The New Heaven and the New                       and pray that God may continue to bless us and grant us
Earth."     A brief summary is as follows:                           grace to be faithful until the day He calls us to join the

   All the hope of all believers of all ages has been fixed on       saints in glory to ,praise  and magnify His name through all

that new heaven and new earth. All prophecy of Scripture             eternity.

will be fulfilled, all promises aitained,  all `longings of. all                                      Mrs. Peter Decker, Reporter





                                                                                                                         .


  384                                      .   T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
   _______....._.~..........~~                                             of the Church Order which deman&  thit no consistbry  may
  II NEW5 FROM OUR CHURCHES transfer or' receive members without the proper testimonial
                                                                           p-0  doctrine and walk.
                `All .t?ze%&zts  salqte  tiee.. . Z' PHIL. 4 :21        II Classis also received a letter of appeal from.the defendant
                                                                           consistory  in the January Classis  which is appealing its case

              S&d news from OUT Churches  direct to Mr. J. M. Faber,       to Synod.
                     1123 .Cooper, S. E., .Grand  Rapids 7, MicF.              The Consistory of Hudsonville requested Classis  to ap-
                :                                     May 5, 1962          prove its overture to Synod to institute a program for all our

                                                                           churches to unitedly send food and clothing to needy nations.
         At their la&  congregational meeting, .Loveland  placed on
                                                                           Classis  approved of this overture.
  trio the Revs. J. A. Heys, G. Lanting and B. Woudenberg.
                                                                               The terms of two members on the Classical Committee
         Rev. G. Van' Baren,  of Doon, has received the. call from
                                                                           having expired, Classis  elected the Revs. M. Schipper and
  our Randolph congregation: Due to Rev. Van Baren's  ab-
                                                                           H. Hanko to replace them.
  sence from Doon because of Church Visitation and Classical
                                                                               Church Visitors elected were the Revs. C. Hanko and
  appointments he has asked for a three week extension.  for
                                                                           M. ichipper. Rev. G. Vos was chosen alternate for both.
  the consideration of this call.
                                                                               Rev. C. Hanko was appointed to thank the ladies of Hud-
         The above news item from Randolph also listed their new
                                                                           sonville for their excellent catering.
  clerk's name and address - Wm. Huizenga,  Waupun,  .Wis:,
                                                                               Questions of Article 41 of the Church Order were asked
  and that of the treasurer - Donald DeVries;  Randolph, Wis.
                                                                           each Consistory, and answered satisfactorily.
  It also contained this poignant statement: "Randolph feels a
                                                                               Classis  decided to meet next time, D.V., on July 11 at
  great need for a pastor, especially for her  children and young
                                                                           Hope Church.
  @eople."
                                                                               After a few fitting remarks by the chairman, motion
         R@o~t  of Clnrsis  East, Hudsonville, April 11, 1962.             prevailed `to adjourn. Rev. R. Veldman closed the meeting
         Rev. H. Hanko led in opening devotions. All the churches          with thanks to God.
  were represented by two delegates each. After -credentials                                            Rev. M. Schipper, Stated Clerk
  were accepted Rev. Hanko .declared  Classis  properly `con-

  stituted. Rev. G. Lanting, following the order of rotation,                  While Rev. C. Hanko was lecturing in Oak Lawn on

  then took the chair, whjle Rev. Hanko served  as secretary.               "The New `Heavens and the New Earth" on the evening of

         After the minutes of the January-February meetings were           April 26, his colleague, Rev. H. Hoeksema was lecturing in

' read and accepted, the Stated Clerk and the Classical Com-               First Church ; Rev. Hoeksema touching upon the same topic

  mittee gave their reports ; two committees &ere  .apioitited,            in his last point on "The Calling of the Christian in Regard

  one to take care of the expenses of this session, atid  the other        to Culture," saying that we look forward to that New Crea-

  to arrange the schedule for classical appointments for Creston,          tion when in our new bodies we shall practice perfect culture,

  Grand Haven and Randolph. Classis  later adopted the fol:                working with utmost delight.

  lowing schedule : Cresfon  - April 29, C. Hanko ; May 6, M.                  Our Missionary, Rev. G. Lubbers, is presently laboring
  Schipper; May 20, G. Vos ; May 27, A. Mulder ; June 10, H.               in Houston, Texas, for a period of four weeks. While there,
  Hanko; June 24, G. Vos ; July 8, G. Lanting. Grnrtd  Haven               Rev. and Mrs. Lubbers are living in a house furnished by the
  -April 15, C. Hanko; April 29, G. Vos; May 13, G.                        people of Houston, one of the rooms being used for a meeting
  Lanting ; June 3, R. Veldman ; June 17, A. Mulder ; July 1,              place, seating thirty persons. While  the Missionary is absent
  M. Schipper; July 8, H. Hanko.' Randolph - April 29, H.                  from his field his pulpit is being occupied by, the Revs. J.
  Hanko ; May 6, A. Mulder ; May 13, R. Veldman ; June 3,                  Iiortering, G. VanBaren and B. Woudenberg.            .
  G. Lanting; June 17, M. Schjpper  ; June 24, C. Hanko; July
                                                                               The Prot. Ref. Men's Chorus, under the direction of
  1, R. Veldman.
                                                                           Roland Petersen, rendered one of their usual satisfying pro-
         Classis  also decided to heed the request of Classis West
                                                                           grams in Hudsonville church after the evening service, ,May
  and request each minister to prepare two sermons to be used
                                                                           6. If any of you had to miss this splendid offering you may
  in reading services in Classis  West.
                                                                           be able to enjoy a repetition thereof a few weeks later in First
         The Study pommittee  appointed at the February Classis
                                                                           Church. The beautiful sound of male voices singing in four-
  gave its report. Classis  adopted this report with tivo amend-
                                                                           part harmony is satisfying experience worth your while to
  ments. The report established that one of the protestant con-
                                                                           change your plans to be able to enjoy it, or, better still, take
  sistories in the January-February Classis  in its treatment of
                                                                           your "company" with you to share it together. You will
  three specific cases had acted inconsistently and iti an un-
                                                                           agree that it, too, belongs to the Sabbath Day as a part of the
  ecclesiastical manner. This consistory had acted differently
                                                                           picture of the rest that awaits the saints.
  with respect to the case before the Classis  in January-Febru-

  ary. The principle Classis  maintained was that of Article 61                . . . . see you in church.                             J.M.F.


