    VOLUME IixxvIII                            APRIL  1,. 1962 - GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN                                 NUMBER 13


                                                                       He was a very wicked man.
            M E D I T A T I O N                                        When he began to see that the cause of the Son of God

                                                                    was not popular anymore, he sought aways  and means to

                                                                    divorce himself from Jesus'. But even then, he did not choose

                           THE FRIEND                              the gentlemanly' way, that, is, he did not simply disappear.

            `And  Jesus s&d  mto l&n,  Friend, wherefore a;vt          Oh no.

             tlloz4 co??+e?"  Matt. 26:SOa.                            But he showed his evil in two ways. First, he would make
                                                                   a pretty penny out of the mistake he had made in following
   Judas IsCariot was an' Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ.        Jesus; and, secondly, he would try and help destroy the silly

   Yes, it is strange, but there is no doubt about it: Jesus       movement of the Son of God.

must have called him unto that. office.                               _ And even in his betrayal he showed his affinity to the

   Its equivalent in the Old Testament is the fact that Esau       devil : the sign would be the kiss ! "Whomsoever I shall kiss,
was born first and had the birthright over' Jacob.                 the same is He! Hold H& fast!"

   Thinking and pondering about. it, I thought that Judas             `Yes, it smells of sulphur here.

must h&e sought the office, must have pressed himself updn
Jesus at the beginning. I think that Judas saw "a good thing"                                  * * * Q

in Jesus and His first popularity, founded on the wonderful
                                                                       Th&&an  Judas of Iscariot was the friend of Jesus.
things He said and did.
                                                                       I would never have dared say it, but Jesus said: Friend,
   But even- that consideration does not take away `the fact
                                                                   wherefore art thou come ?
that the Lord Jesus  Christ called hi&  unto the office of                                                      ."

Apostle.                                                               A friend is someone to whom you &veal  your heart, and.
                                                                   whose heart you know.
   Explain it ?

                                                                       Listen to Jesus: "Henceforth I call ye not servants; for
   Well, I think that both in the case of Esau and of Judas,
                                                                   the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth ; but I have.
God shows what happens when a man is brought as close as
                                                                   called you friends; for all things th$ I have heard of My-
possible to salvation.
                                                                   Father I have made known unto yoti."  John 15 :15.
   And whzt  happens ?
                                                                       Jesus is here talking' to His intimates, His Apostles.
   Esau esteems a plate of lentils more excellent than all the
                                                                       And God said to Himself: "Shall I hide from Abraham.
blessings of Jehovah.
                                                                   that ihing  which I do ?,' Gen. 18 :17. And evidently God did
   And Judas esteems a handful of silver more to be desired        not hide it. And Abraham               called the friend of God.
                                                                                                  was 
than the Son of God who takes away the sin of the world.
                                                                       Yes, Jesus had treated Judas as His friend, and Judas-

                             .*    9 * *                           ucted        the friend of Jesus to the very end, for when he saw
                                                                         2s 
                                                                   Jesus in the light of the lanterns in the garden of Gethsemane
   Judas was a crafty man; 2 man who figured things out;           he embraced the Son of God, kissed him and said: Hail,
a man who             calculating and shrewd. He was a man who
              was                                                  Rabbi, Master !
loved the things of this world, rather than the tliings of the
                                                                       The filthy traitor !
Kingdom of God.

   Judas was a traitor.                                                                        * * * +


290                                           T H E   STANDAtiD   B E A R E R


   Judas the traitor.                                                       Judas knew ; the Sanhedrin linew  ; and the devil knew that

       Even in the world the traitor is hated and despised.             in the uncertain light of Gethsemane a sign would be neces-
                                                                                    *
                                                                        sary.
   After World War II many traitors were simply shot,
hung, destroyed.                                                            And the devil must have snickered in unholy glee : the
                                                                        kiss !
   A traitor is a man who appears in the wrong places with
the wrong people and with the wrong speech.                                 And Judas must have grimled  : yes, the kiss !

   Watch him during. the black night between Thursday and                   And even the staid Pharisees' faces must have smiled : the
Friday.                                                                 kiss ? Yes, the kiss !

                                                                            Mussert in Holland must have smiled often in the coun-
       He fit in with the eleven and with Jesus at the pasgqver
                                                                        sels of Hitler's officers.
table. (Or did he ?) It is difficult td determine the propel'

place and sphere of the traitor. At any rate, according to his              And          all fifth columnists in Europe.
                                                                                  also 
former speech and conduct (except his, theft: of the deacons'               But who loves the traitor? No one. Even the Pharisees
money) he belonged with the miserable bunch that stuck                  despised Judas. You can see that when the devil's repent-
around Jesus whose popularity was fast waning.                          ance brought him back to them with his handful of silver:

   But now watch him that night.                                        You see to that!

   After Jesus told him: That which thou doest do it                                                  * * * *
quickly ! he excuses himself and disappears. And the Holy

Ghost tells us specifically: it was night.                                  In the wrong place and among the wrong people.

   And he walks through the silent, dark streets of Jerusalem               Note John, the Apostle. When the twa groups meet in

and makes contact with the bitter enemies of Jesus. And                 the garden of Gethsemane, we read: "And Judas also, which

then they covenanted with him. The price is set and the                 betrayed Him, stood with them."

details are mapped out : Jesus is to be betrayed.                           But watch: he approacheth Jesus.

   You note the wrong place, the wrong people, and the                      And then Jesus said: Friend, wherefore art thou come?
wrong talk? That is the h&or's mark.
                                                                            What a question! But where and what is the answer?
   It is night : the proper atmosphere for the devil's work.            That's a question which traitors better answer now, before

   Secret counsel with the enemy: A covenant with hell.                 the judgment day.

   The sign of the kiss, and finally, the handful of silver                 Wherefore art thou come, my friend ?

pieces of money: the devil's influence.                                     It is a question that will be asked also in hell. What busi-

       Do you           note that all the above is the very opposite    ness has an Apostle of the great Redeemer in hell ? What
               also 
of how a friend should act?                                             communion has a friend of Jesus with Sanhedrin, the chief

                                                                        priests, the servants with their lanterns, torches, and swords?
   A real friend has sweet counsel with the other friends.

                                                                            Yes, I think that Judas certainly has answered that ques-

                                                                        tion. No, not in Gethsemane, but he did answer it many
                               * * * *
                                                                        times before the Sanhedrin during their covenant, and also in

                                                                        his heart. His answer was: because your cause, Jesus, is a
   The most terrible thing is that kiss.                                lost cause. You are neither the Redeemer of Israel, nor

   A kiss is the sign of love, of reconciliation. We all have           God's King over Sion ! You are a misguided, miserable

heard the Holy Ghost say to us : Kiss the Son ! Well, Judas             simpleton! It does not pay to follow you anymore! And

did, but a blow on the Face of Jesus would have been in-                while the getting out is still profitable, I am going to collect.

finitely preferable. Right now, I think, Judas is thinking of           On the other side of the fence there is security, opportunity,

that kiss in hell. And he will think of that all through the            and advancement. Who is so foolish as to choose the cross,

unending watches of infinite torture.                                   persecution, loss of all stature ? I, Judas, certainly do not

                                                                        want to choose the reproach  of Clirist  !
       0, yes, I know, I know that Peter denied Jesus with

swearing and curses.         But I know also that Peter wept, and           But . . , Moses did choose it. And where is he now ?

wept again. I know that Peter loved Jesus. And what is                                                * * * *
more: Jesus and God knew it too.

   Yes, that kiss is the more horrible of all the traitor's                 Beloved ! did you ever hear of concentric circles ?

work.                                                                       When you throw a stone in the water, and it sinks away.,

       It is the devil's humor.                                         a circle appears on the waters; and around it another circle,


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                                                                                                291


only slightly larger than fhe first; and another, another, an-
other ! And this goes on ihd on. Those are concentric circles.                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                                                               Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July and August
They are circles that have          common center.
                              2                                                     Published by the REFO~  FREF:  P~BJZ~NG  
   Judas' treachery is the stone  cast in the waters.                                                                                                                                                  ASSOCIATION
                                                                               P. 0. Box 881, Madison Square Station, Grand Rapids T7, .Mich.
    And it has caused many a circle on the waters of the                                                        Editor - REV. HXZREVLAN  HOEIKSEMA
church of Jesus Christ.                                                         Communications relative to contents should be addressed to
   Judas is followed by many Judasses.                                                              Rev. H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S. E.,
    When we write this we tremble. Believe me, beloved,                                                                       Grand  Rapids 7, Mich.
                                                                               Announcements and Obituaries must be mailed to the address
Judas is not far from any of us. Remember that all the                         below and will be published at a fee of $2.00 for each notice.
Apostles were offended at Jesus and His conduct. Especially                     All matters relative to subscriptions should be addressed to Mr.

so, when He revealed the proper conduct of the citizens of                                           James Dykstra, 1326 W. Butler Ave., S. E.
                                                                                                                             Grand Rapids 7, Michigan
the Kingdom of God.
    What is that proper conduct which evoked offense?                           RENEWAL: Unless a defmite  request for discontinuance is re-
                                                                                ceived it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the subscription

    It is this: Jesus stretched out His holy hands to the                              to continue without the formality of a renewal order.
                                                                                                                Subscription price: $5.00 per year
wicked, and let Himself be bound. He did not allow a stroke
                                                                                        Second Class  postage paid at Grand Rapids, Michigan
of the sword of Peter. Turn the other cheek ; give place

to God's wrath. Do not avenge yourselves, beloved. Suffer

in silence and give your cause in the hand of God.                                                                                 C O N T E N T S
Follow Him in the humiliation, the reproach, the maltreat-
                                                                          MEDITATION-
ment, the miserable condition of His Church on earth, and                               The         Friend             _.               . . . . . . . . . . . . ..__._...  . . . .._........___....... 289

* . . suffer for His Name's sake.                                                                  Rev. G. Vos

    Lift up your head, and what do you see ?                              EDITORIALS  -
    You see Jesus crowned with glory and honor at the                                   How Should the Schismatics  Return? . . . .._.__........_.................. 292

right hand of the Majesty on High !                                                                Rev. H. Hoeksema

    0, beloved, it is beautiful there, where there are no
traitors !                                                       G.V.     OURDOCTRINE-
                                                                                        Saving            Faith              ( Continued) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..__...................................
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         294

                                                                                                   Rev. H. Hoeksema

                             NOTICE
                                                                          A CLOUD OF k%TNESSES-
              Synodical Standing Committees                                             Leaving Sinai .__. _. .   .   .   ..______........  .._._..____...  ..____.___.  ._..._.   2 9 8
    This is to remind the secretaries of all Synodical Com-                                        Rev. B. Woudenberg

mittees that the reports of their respective committees must              FROM HOLY WRIT -

be sent to undersigned for the Synodical Agendum no later                               Exposition of I Timothy. . . . . . .___  __ __.  . . . . . . . . . ..__.... . . . .._ 298

than April 15, 1962.                                                                               Rev. G. Lubbers

    Standing Committees may file supplemental reports at a                IN HIS FEAR -

later date if necessary.                                                                A Time To Reconsider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300

                               Synodical Stated Clerk                                              Rev. J. A. Heys

                                                G. VANDEN  BERG           CONTENDING  FOR THE FA~TI~-
                                                                                         The Church and the Sacraments.... . . . . ..__....._..........................  302

                                                                                                    Rev. H. Veldman
               LADIES LEAGUE MEETING
                                                                          Trm 
    The Eastern Ladies' League will hold its Spring meeting                          VOICE OF OUR FATHERS  -
                                                                                        The Belgic Confession.. . . . .i... . . .._._.. ___....  .._.___...........  304
Thursday evening, April 19, at Southwest Chuich  at 8                                              -Rev. H. C. Hoeksema

o'clock. The speaker will be Rev. Cornelius Hanko. We                                                       ORDER-
                                                                          DECENCY AND 
welcome all women of our denomination interested in an                                  The Hymn Matter (Continued) ______....,......___.......................... 306

evening of Christian fellowship to meet with us.                                                    Rev. G. Vanden  Berg

                                     R. H. Bylsma, Vice-secretary         CONTRDXITIONS  -
                                                                              -_
                                                                                        The "`Hymn Question".. __ ___..  . ..___. . . . . . .___.._  ___ __.___,  . .._ ..308:

                                                                                                    Karlene Oomkes
                            IN MEMORIAM
                                                                          ALL AROUND  Us -
    Our Society wishes to express its sympathy with our fellow-
members, Mr. and Mrs. Norwin  Brower, whose father,                                      School Tax Relief.. . . . . . . .._.  . .___ ______ _......  . ..31C-
                                                                                        A Persecuted Church .._..._........................................................ 310-
                     NICHOLAS BROWER                                                    Predicting                 the         Future... . . . . _. _. .._ ___ __ _.. .__  __ _.... ,310

passed away this morning, March 22.                                                                 Rev. H. Hanko
    May the God of all grace comfort the hearts of the bereaved

family.                                                                   NEWS F R O M OUR CHTJRCHES...... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...312-
                                      Hudsonville Mr. and Mrs. Society                              Mr. J. M. Faber
                                            Rev. G. Vos, I President

                                            Mrs. G. Cnossen, Secretary

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

                                                                         the cons&tory in that place, although even then the consistory
                   E D I T O R I A L S                                   against which he has sinned must know of and approve of
                                                                         his confession. But the Gritter family lived in the neighbor-

                                                                         hood of First Church, not of Southeast.

               Bow Should the Schismatics Return?                              The committee then answers the arguments presented by

            We continue the report of the advisory committee that        Southeast consistory in answer to the protest of the consistory
     was appointed by classis  in re the protest filed against the       of First Church as follows:

     consistory of Southeast Church in the matter of their receiv-             1.    Southeast insists that it is an autonomous church. The

     ing schismatic members that formerly belonged to Creston            committee agrees. But First Church is also autonomous and,

     and First Church.                                                   therefore, has the sole right to discipline its own members.

            The report speaks further of the main issue in the case      When Southeast consistory assumes the right to discipline
     as follows (I abbreviate) :                                         members of First Church, it is guilty of lording and of
                                                                         breaking the denominational bond.
        The committee warns the classis  emphatically against
                                                                               2. Southeast consistory contends that the Gritter fam-
     dealing with all kinds of side issues and claims that there is
                                                                         ilies were no longer members of First Church. And the com-
     only one main issue.
                                                                         mittee agrees. They were dismissed or rather they dismissed
        This main  issue is that the Gritter families sinned against     themselves by refusing to sign the declaration that was sent
     the First Church when, in 1953, they joined the schismatics.        to all the schismatic members. But this does not mean that
     The consistory of First Church contends that, before these          the consistory of First Church has nothing to say over them
     families can become members of any other of our churches,           when they desire to return. Besides revealed it was to the
     they must confess their sin before the consistory and con-          consistory of Southeast by that of First Church that, if the
     gregation of First Church and thus become reconciled. And           Gritter families were to return to the fellowship of our
     since Southeast Church accepted these families as members of        churches, they must first of all be reconciled to First Church
     the.ir congregation in spite of the protestations of the con-       against which they had sinned. This Southeast ignored.
     sistory of First Church, they also accuse the consistory of
                                                                               3. The committee also agrees with Southeast consistory
     Southeast with definite sins as mentioned in their protest.
                                                                         that there are discrepancies in the way First Church handled
        The committee agrees with the consistory of First Church         the entire matter. (By the way, these so-called discrepancies
     in this matter. The sin of the Gritter families cannot be           will still come up in the April classis.) But this, according
     confessed to a third party and where this is not done no            to the committee, has nothing to do with the main issue.
     reconciliation can be made.
                                                                               The committee concludes this part of their report by
            The committee makes this clear by the following illustra-    stating: "More perhaps could be said about the arguments of
     tion: "A steals 500.00 dollars from B. A repents of his mis-        Southeast, but which your committee feels is not necessary.
     deed, but he goes to C to make amends. What will C do               Fact is, none of their arguments hold water when they
     when A so approaches him ? Will he say to A : "I am very            neglect to do what is right with the main issue."
-    happy that you saw your sin, and I heartily accept  your con-             Then follows the advice of the committee to classis.  I
     fession ?' Of course he will not talk this way if he wants to       will quote this in full because it is brief. It is as follows:
     do what is right, both over against A and B. Rather, he will
                                                                               "1. That Classis  adopt the statement of the facts in this
     say to il : "You  stole the money from 13, not from me, so go
                                                                         case as expressed under I, A of this report.
     to B and tell him your fault and reconcile with him. And
     only when you do that can you be a friend of mine, for when               "2. That Classis  adopt the expression re the main issue
     you hurt B you also hurt me." This the committee applies            of this case as described under I, B of this report.

     to the case that was before classis.  The Gritter families                "3. That Classis  express that Southeast Consistory had
     sinned against First Church. They supported heresy. They            no right to receive members into their membership who are
     rebelled against the legal consistory. They stole their prop-       in an unreconciled state with other of our churches.
     erty. Now they want to return but instead of gding  to First              "Ground : Matthew 5 :23, 24.
     Church, against which they had sinned, they go to Southeast.
                                                                               "4. That Classis  express that Southeast Consistory has
     And Southeast accepts them. This certainly is not and can-
                                                                         erred when, regardless of the stated objections of First
     not be right.
                                                                         Church, they nevertheless received as members the Gritter
            The committee also agrees with First Church when, in         families.
     their protest, they charge Southeast consistory with several
                                                                               "Grounds : Articles 71,75 and 84 of the Church Order.
     sins which the latter committed by receiving the Gritter

     families. According to the committee, only when the one                   "5. That Classis  express that Southeast Consistory rectify

     that sinned moves to another place may he confess his sin to        the entire matter by rescinding their decision to receive as


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                              293


members the families in question, and instructing these fam-          2. After Southeast accepted this family they heard that

ilies to reconcile with First Church, thus obtaining clear         the Doezemas were under censure.

transfer papers which can be acceptable to Southeast Church.          3. Southeast consistory did not announce that the Doe-
(The last two clauses of this sentence were elided, H.H.)          zema family had been accepted as members until they had

    "Grounds : a. Not to do this would be virtually the break-     investigated the matter concerning the censure.

ing of the bond of church unity on the part of Southeast
                                                                      4. A meeting of the two consistories, Creston  and South-
Church.
                                                                   east, was held on August 30. At this meeting the Creston
    "b. All the Articles of the Church Order mentioned             consistory made definite objections against the action of
-above point in this direction."                                   Southeast in accepting the Doezemas as members, especially

                                                                   since they were under censure.
                           + B      * *.

                                                                       5. Nevertheless, the bulletin of Southeast Church, dated
    Next is the part of the report of the committee that treats    September 10, 1961, announced that the Doezema family had
the protest of Creston.                                            been accepted as members.

    Before, however, I relate this part of the committee-             6.    On September 29, 1961, the consistory of Creston  sent
report, I wish to make a statement concerning the following        another letter to the consistory of Southeast, pleading with
incident that took place before I knew of the fact that the        them to undo the wrong, asking for a reply. If no reply was
Gritter family had applied for membership at' the consistory       received Creston  would protest to Classis.
of the Southeast Church. Mr. P. Knot came to my parsonage
                                                                    ~ 7. On October 25, 1961, the consistory of Southeast sent
and informed me that he wanted to leave the schismatic De
                                                                   a letter to Creston  informing them that they cannot comply
Wolf group and join the Southeast Church. I told him that
                                                                   with Creston's request. Hence, the latter protests to, Classis
this was perfectly well as far as I was concerned, but that,
                                                                   East.
before he could do so, he would have to appear before the

consistory of First Church, of which he was a member before           Hereupon the committee defines the main issue in this

the schism of 1953, in order to make confession of his sin of      case as follows:

schism. He understood that this was proper and he took my              1. They state that they can be very brief in this case
advice and made the required confession before the consistory      since Creston's protest is very similar to that of First Church.
mentioned above and then he became member of Southeast
Church. This, of course, was perfectly normal and proper               2. In fact the cases are really identical. The fact that
even though I could not see the reason why he should give          the Doezema family was under censure makes no essential
preference to Southeast Church. But the strange thing is           difference.

that the brother acted upon the advice of the Rev. R. Veld-           3.' The main and only issue is: Did the Doezema family
man as the latter told me himself somewhat later. And my           become reconciled to Creston  when, on the basis of some kind
question is: why did the Rev. Veldman give brother Knott           of a confession they were accepted as members of the South-
that advice, and !vhy did he not give the same advice to the       east Church ? The answer is : they did not.
Gritter family?' Why create all the present trouble in our
                                                                      4. Many questions may, indeed, enter in. Nevertheless,
churches ? Regardless of the fact that the Gritter family lived
                                                                   the n?ain issue is that when sin is proven, it must be confessed
far closer to the First Church than to Southeast, they might
                                                                   or the sinner remains in an unreconciled state. Until this is.
have become members of Southeast after they had made con-
                                                                   done Southeast may not receive this family. Creston  is glad.
fession before the consistory of First Church. I can easily
                                                                   when some of the schismatics return to us, even when they
surmise an answer to the question why the Gritter family
                                                                   desire to- join another of our congregations. But Creston  Is-
preferred to appeal to the consistory of Southeast Church.
                                                                   rightly grieved when a consistory accepts members that live
But I would rather the Southeast consistory themselves give
                                                                   in. an unreconciled state with them.
me an answer.

                                                                      5.    Hence, the matter is very simple. The Doezema family
    But now I must briefly tell about report of the committee
                                                                   live in an unreconciled state. Besides, they joined the.schis--
in ye the protest of the consistory of Creston.
                                                                   matics.  They must confess their sin to Creston.  Only after
    As is the case of the protest of First Church so also in       this is done may another consistory and congregation receive
regard to the protest of Creston,  the committee first of all      them as members.      This is in harmony with Scripture and
reviews the facts in the case. They are as follows:                our Reformed Church Polity.

    1. Creston's protest reveals that Southeast consistory            Then follows the advice of the committee. About this.
accepted as members the family of J. Doezema, former mem-          next time, D.V.
bers of Creston  and later joined the schismatics, prior to
August 1961.                                                                                                                 H.H..

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


                                                                     gospel as it is applied by the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ,

       O U R   D O C T R I N E                                       to the heart .of the regenerated sinner. Without this spiritual
                                                                     power it is impossible for any man to believe in Christ. Or,

                                                                     to refer to another illustration, if a child is born blind, he can

                                                                     never see and can never be taught to see. If he is born dumb,
                         CHAPTER III                                 he can never be taught to speak. If he is born deaf, he will

                                                                     never be able to hear. The same is true in the spiritual sense
                     SAVING FAITH                                    of the word. The sinner is born blind, and he can never see

                                                                     the things of the kingdom of God. He is born deaf in the
                          (Continued)
                                                                     spiritual sense of the word, so that he cannot really hear the

                                                                     gospel. The sinner is born dumb, so that he can never speak
    And once more, the same truth is also expressed in
                                                                     of spiritual things. Nor can anyone, any teacher or preacher
Romans 11 with regard to the relation between the Gentiles
                                                                     of the gospel of Jesus Christ, ever teach him to see and hear
and Israel. There the apostle writes, vss. 15, ff. : "For if the
                                                                     and speak concerning the things of the kingdom of God and
casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what
                                                                     concerning the salvation that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead ? For
                                                                     0, to be sure, you may instruct him in the things concerning
if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root
                                                                     salvation. You may teach him indeed about Christ and all
be holy, so are the branches. And if some of the branches be
                                                                     His benefits. But there would never be any spiritual response
broken off, and thou, being a wild oiive tree, wert graffed in
                                                                     to the things of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Or rather, there
among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness
                                                                     certainly would be some response; but he would reject the
of the olive tree; Boast not against the branches. But if thou
                                                                     gospel. The things of the Spirit of God are foolishness to
boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee." By
                                                                     him.
means, therefore, of that God-given faith, whereby we are

ingrafted into Christ, we appropriate Him unto ourselves,               We understand, of course, that this power of faith is the

so that His righteousness and holiness, His life and peace,          fruit of the Holy Ghost, and of the Holy Ghost alone. It
become our all, and we rejoice in the God of our salvation.          is really given already in the new birth, or in the regeneration

   We may make a distinction between the essence of faith            of man. It is true that the power of faith certainly becomes
and the operation, or activity, of faith, a distinction between      active only through the gospel of Jesus Christ. Without that
the power and the act of saving faith. Faith is, first of all,       gospel faith has no Christ to apprehend or to cling to. And
a spiritual power- the power, or aptitude, to apprehend and          for that reason, it can never become active belief. Neverthe-
appropriate Christ and all His benefits. Remember that               less, we must not make the mistake of presenting the matter
faith is not another natural power or natural faculty of the         of saving faith as if its power were implanted in the heart
soul, in addition to the faculties of intellect and will.. We        by the Holy Spirit, while its activity is caused only by the
may rather call it a new disposition of the entire soul. It          gospel, without the operation of the Spirit of Christ. This
indeed concerns the whole soul of man, with mind and will            certainly is not true. Both the power and the activity of
and all the inclinations of the heart. It is a power to appre-       faith are wrought by the Spirit of Christ only. It is the
hend spiritual things, to discern spiritual things spiritually.      Spirit that applies the preaching of the gospel to the heart of
This truth we may illustrate by natural examples. So, for            the sinner in whom the power, or aptitude, of faith was al-
instance, when a child is born, it has all the faculties and         ready wrought. And it is therefore the Spirit of the Lord
powers and gifts it will ever have. But all these powers and         that calls and awakens that power of faith into the conscious
gifts do not actually function in their complete capacity. The       activity of belief, and that too, through the preaching of the
infant in the cradle certainly has the faculty to think and          gospel. This power of faith, as it is wrought immediately by
the faculty to will, the faculty to understand the world about       the Spirit. of Christ, may be wrought in the smallest infant
him, even though at that time it does not actually, in the full      as well as in the adult. And, in fact, we may add that in the
sense of the word, think and will, perceive and understand,          sphere of the historical realization of God's covenant, the
speak and walk. If in later life the child develops into a           Lord usually gives this power of faith to the elect of the
great mathematician or a very skillful musician, this math-          covenant in their very infancy.

ematical bent of mind or artistic tendency was not added to             Finally, we may add that this power of faith can never

the child's talents in later life, after he was born, but they       be lost. It is true, of course, that the activity of saving faith

were all given unto it with birth. Now the same thing may            can often be weak, and, in certain circumstances and because

be said of saving faith. Only, saving faith is not a natural,        of certain sins may often appear to be lost. Nevertheless, the.

but a spiritual power. It is given unto us not with natural          power of faith can never be lost. This is true, not indeed

birth, but with our spiritual birth, that is, with the gift of       because of any inherent virtue in the power of faith, but only

regeneration. And that spiritual power develops into the             because of the abiding indwelling and continued operation of

conscious activity of believing through contact with the             the Holy Spirit in the innermost recesses of the heart. The

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


bond of faith whereby the sinner is ingrafted into Jesu?             ethical nature of man, and therefore preferably speaks of the

Christ can never be completely broken because it is constantly       heart of -man.  The heart is, after all, the very center of man's

preserved by the Holy Spirit.                                        existence and life, that is, of course, from a spiritual, ethical

                                                                     viewpoint. From the heart are the issues of life. Out of the
    Faith, indeed, is as many-sided as is the soul of man.
                                                                     heart proceed all our thinking and willing, our loving and
Nevertheless we may distinguish different elements in sav-
                                                                     hating, our desires and inclinations. And from the heart
ing faith. According ato  the Heidelberg Catechism, faith is
                                                                     these receive a spiritual, ethical direction. By the heart,
both knowledge and confidence. In the course of time much
has, of course, been written about saving faith. All kinds of        therefore, both intellect and will, including all our emotions
conceptions were developed concerning the nature and the             and desires, are controlled. That heart is either believing or
essence of faith, the elements of faith and the seat of faith        unbelieving. There is nothing in between these two. It either
in the human soul, as well as concerning the connection of           turns away from the living God and holds the truth in un-
faith with the benefits of salvation that are received by faith.     righteousness and loves the lie; or it turns to God in Christ
Some conceive of the essence of faith as consisting mainly in        Jesus, seeks His face, hungers and thirsts after righteousness.
the assent to the truth. According to this conception, faith         If we bear this in mind there is no reason whatever to limit
is really nothing but a mere operation of the intellect by           faith to intellect or will ; but we must rather conceive the
which he that believes accepts the truth. According to others,       truth of the matter in this way, that from the heart of man
however, faith is essentially nothing but a certain knowledge.       this spiritual property of faith controls both intellect and will-

Still others, again, emphasize that the real nature of faith                                                                     H.H-

must be sought not in the assent, nor in a certain knowledge,

but rather in a hearty confidence. And still others found in

saving faith all three elements of knowledge and assent and             CALL TO ASPIRANTS TO THE MINISTRY
confidence. Others, however, speak only of knowledge and

confidence, on the ground that the, assent of faith is really            All young men desiring to study for the ministry of the
implied in the knowledge. This also appears to be the idea           Word in the Protestant Reformed Churches kindly appear
of the Heidelberg Catechism, although it emphasizes the ele-         at the next meeting of the Theological School Committee
ment of confidence. Still others remark that it is better to         which will be held, the Lord willing, on Friday evening?
speak only of knowledge and confidence, seeing that the              April 6, 1962, at 8 P.M. in the parsonage of the Hudsonville
assent of faith is really implied in the knowledge. At the           Protestant Reformed Church, in Hudsonville, Michigan.

same time there was always a difference of opinion concern-             The qualifications requisite to enrollment in our seminary
ing the question whether the seat of faith must be sought in         are the following:
the intellect or in the will of man, or even in the feelings or          1. You must present a letter from your local consistorjr
emotions. They that supported the first idea were the same,          certifying that you are upright in walk and pure in doctrine-
of course, that also found the essence of faith in knowledge,
or in the mere assent to the truth. Others, who emphasized              2. You must have a certificate of health signed by a
rather the element of confidence, averred that faith is an act       reputable physician.

of the will. And still others emphasized the mystical ex-               3. You must be a graduate from High School and show

perience and blessedness which is being wrought by faith in          evidence that you have completed a one-year course in High

the heart of the sinner, and therefore placed the seat of faith      School in History General and Church History; and have

in the emotions or in the feelings of man.                           also completed the following College courses : Latin- two

                                                                     years, Greek - two years, German - two years, Philosophy
   As is frequently the case, so also with these different ideas
                                                                     - one year, Psychology - one year, Logic - one semester-
concerning faith it may be remarked that they do not always

give evidence of proper distinctions, and that they not in-             All correspondence relative to the above announcement
frequently separate what may be logically distinguished, but         should be sent to the undersigned:
can nevertheless not be separated. Thus, for instance, it was                       Secretary of the Theological School Committee,
emphasized that the same gift, or characteristic, cannot at
                                                                                              REV. M. SCHIPPER,
the same time have its seat in the intellect and in the will.
                                                                                              1636 Martindale Ave., S. W.,
For that reason, faith must be conceived either as a char-
                                                                                              Wyoming 9, Michigan.
acteristic, or property, of the intellect or as a property of the

will. The fact was lost sight of that faith is not a natural

gift, but a spiritual property, according to the presentation of

Scripture. And according to the Bible, faith does not have                         On thee alone my hope relies,

its seat in the intellect or will, but in the heart of man. For                       Beneath thy cross I fall ;

with the heart one believes unto righteousness, according to                       My Lord, my life, my sacrifice,

Romans 10 :lO. Scripture always emphasizes the spiritual and                          My Savior and my all.


296                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   BE,ARER


                                                                       to the service of God in the tabernacle in the place of the
11 A CLOUD OF W.ITN~ESSES  11 firstborn sons of the nation which were preserved from death
                                                                       by God- at the first passover  in Egypt. Not only was Levi

                                                                       counted separately in the census, but it was given to dwell

                                                                       closest to the tabernacle, surrounding it on every side. The
                         Leaving Sinai
                                                                       whole life of this tribe was to be different, for unto Levi

                                                                       was given the exclusive care of the tabernacle and its services.
            And it came to pass on the twentieth d#ay  of the          As a tribe it was separated to be,holy  unto the Lord.
         second month, in the second yea.r,  that the cloud was
         taken up from  08 the tabernacle of the testimony.               Still a few more things remained to be done. First, the
            And the cMdren  of Israel took their jowmeys  ou.t         princes of the various tribes brought offerings to the Lord
         of the wilderness of Sinai;  and the clo,ud rested ,in the    for the service of the tabernacle. Together they offered six
         wiMerness  of Paran.                   Exodus lO:ll, 12       wagons in which the various parts of the tabernacle could be

                                                                       carried on their journey. Individually each prince offered
       Finally the time had come when Israel was ready to leave        in behalf of his tribe one silver charger, one silver bowl, a
the mount of Sinai and to proceed on the way to the prom-              golden spoon and a burnt offering, a sin offering, and a peace
ised land. Over one full year had passed since they left the           offering. Through these offerings they testified of their con-
land of Egypt, and the greater part of that year had been              cern for the services of the tabernacle. Also two silver trum-
spent encamped at the foot of Sinai. During that time many             pets were made to be used as signals for the various activ-
things had happened to deepen the spiritual understanding              ities of the nation. The sound of the trumpet throughout
of those who held to Jehovah their God with true faith ; whilet        Scripture is symbolic of the Word of God, and so was it also.
at the same time, many others who had not that faith had               then. Finally, during this time, the first memorial celebration
been repeatedly offended and made more bold and ready to               of the Passover took place. Already in Egypt God had com-
rebel. In the months to come it was destined by God to                 manded that the Passover should be kept as an amlual  feast
become even more clearly evident that the Word of God                  unto the Lord in remembrance of the deliverance that He
works both ways to expose the inner secrets of men's hearts,           had wrought. It was fitting that just as the original Passover
whether they be good pr whether they be evil.                          preceded the departure from Egypt, so the first celebration

       Before Israel could proceed on its journey, however, it         of it took place just prior to the departure from Sinai. At

was necessary that some extensive preparations should be               last the camp of Israel was cleansed and preparations for the

made.                                                                  journey were made.

       First of these preparations was the numbering of the               It was an excited and eager group of people that once

people. This was more than a mere counting of individuals.             again packed its belongings in preparation for travel. The

It was a census of the adult male members of the nation                extended hardships of the wilderness made them ever more

according to their tribal positions. The total number of such          appreciative of the promise of God to bring them into the

persons numbered was over 600,000, exclusive of the tribe              promised land. There they would have prosperity and bless-

of Levi, and were arranged in groups of 10, 100, and 1,000             ings as never before. Repeatedly eager eyes were cast toward

as Jethro had suggested. In Israel the tribal, family structure        the cloud of Jehovah that hung above the tabernacle. It was

of the nation was of utmost importance. In the order of tribes         that cloud which would show them when the time for journey

and families the `children of Israel had been called upon to           had really come. In that cloud was the Angel of Jehovah,

pay the atonement money of the tabernacle. Now in the same             revealing to them the will of the Lord. As long as it stood

order the census of the people was taken. It was to be used            above the tabernacle, they were to stay in the camp ; but when

in arranging the camp of Israel about the tabernacle, to deter-        it lifted and moved before them the signal for travel was

mine their order in travel, and to determine the number and            given.    That cloud would guide them upon the proper route

order of the fighting men as they prepared for the conquest            through the desert's trackless waste even as at night it would

of Canaan. But more important than all this was the fact               provide them with light throughout the camp. It was the

that this family census reminded the Israelites that their place       indisputable proof of the presence of Jehovah in their midst.

in God's chosen nation was because they were descendants               Because of it their inheritance was sure, and they had noth-

of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Therefore, the Lord would                ing to fear. God would surely fulfill all He had promised.

dwell in the midst of them, and each family could have its                All during the stay at Sinai, Hobab, Jethro's son and
place among the tribes encamped about the tabernacle. And              Moses' brother-in-law, had made his home in Israel's camp.
therefore they could go forth to fight in battle without fear,         He had come with his father and had remained after Jethro
because God would be with them and would give them the                 left. During the stay at Sinai, he had rendered many in-
promised land. They were the children of God's covenant.               valuable services. Familiar with the wilderness in which

       Kept separate from the rest of the tribes in this census        they were camped, he had been able to show the Israelites the

was the tribe of Levi. This tribe was set aside and dedicated          few places in the locality where water and pasture for the


                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEARER-                                                    297


cattle could be found. His services had become even more           he would say, "Return, 0 LORD, unto the many thousands

dedicated because there had developed within his heart a true      of Israel."    Israel was never allowed to forget that through

appreciation for the nation of Israel as Jehovah's chosen          the ark Jehovah went forth in their midst.

people. Now, however, as the camp was being taken up, he              It was not long, however, after Israel had taken up its
thought that the time had come for him to return to his home.      journey again that the eagerness of the people began to waver
But with this Moses disagreed. Not only did he feel that           and die. Once again they began to taste the rigor of their
Hobab's services would be needed as they continued their           travels, and they found it hard. And now the terrain was
wilderness journey, but he also felt that spiritually Hobab        becoming even more rugged than that over which they had
had become one with God's covenant people, and his life in         passed before. True, there was still ample evidence of God's
the future should be united with them. Thus Moses said to          presence and of His grace that cared for them. The cloud
him, "We are journeying unto the place of which the Lord           still protected them from the scorching heat of the desert sun.
said, I will. give it you: come thou, with us, and we will do      Their clothing and sandals were miraculously preserved from
thee good: for the LORD hath spoken good concerning Is-            wear and damage. Each day there was ample manna to eat
rael."                                                             and water to drink. But to all of these things they had be-

  Hobab was hesitant for he did not feel that actually he          come so accustomed that they hardly noticed them any more.
belonged to Israel and that their future could be his. He          The fact was that their travel was difficult, the way was
answered Moses, "I will not go; but I will depart to mine          rough, dreary, and hot. This was that "great and terrible
own land, and to my kindred."                                      wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and
                                                                   drought." This was fuel to kindle the ire of the chronic com-
    But Moses was confident. He felt convinced that the
                                                                   plainers in the camp. But a few days had passed before the
spiritual relationship of the heart was stronger than even a
                                                                   joyful procession of God's chosen people that had left their
direct relationship of blood. Thus he replied again, "Leave us     camp at Sinai was transformed into a long column of dis-
not, I pray thee; forasmuch as thou knowest how we are to          sident, despondent people.     Then, as always, there was a
encamp in the wilderness, and thou mayest be to us instead         hardened core of rebellious people in Israel who laid hold
of eyes. And it shall be, if thou go with us, yea, it shall be,    upon the least opportunity to agitate against the way of the
that what goodness the LORD shall do unto us, the same             Lord. As so often before, Israel once again revealed itself
will we do unto thee." Already in the typical times of the         susceptible to this poison of sin and murmured against its
old dispensation, it was essentially true that anyone who was      God.
dedicated in the service of Jehovah was a true member of
God's covenant people regardless of his blood. Hobab be-              Moses had been informed, however, upon Mt. Sinai that
lieved this word of Moses, continued on with Tsrael, and was       God would no longer bear with such manifestations of sin in
received as a living member of the covenant.                       silence. His presence would be a dividing force within the
                                                                           . .
                                                                   camp, having mercy upon whom He would have mercy but
   Early one morning, after all preparations had been com-         visiting the iniquities of countless others. Now it was be-
pleted, the children of Israel arose to see that the cloud of      coming evident what this meant, for suddenly the fire of God
God's presence had lifted and was going before them into the       descended from heaven and began to burn among the people
wilderness. Slowly the various tribes arranged themselves in       in the outskirts of the camp. It was a divine fire flashing
a lengthy column for the march, while in the foremost portion      like lightning and searching out those who were the hardened
the various portions of the disassembled tabernacle were           leaders in this new manifestation of sin. It burned and con-
borne by the children of Levi. There was a new orderliness         sumed until the people humbled in fear began to cry unto
in their journeying that had not been there before the en-         Moses for deliverance. It was not until Moses bowed and
campment at Sinai, even as there was a new appreciation in         prayed to take up their intercession that the fire of judgment
the hearts of the spiritual members of Israel for the grace of     ceased to burn and consume among them.
God which upheld and guided them as they went. Israel was
being prepared more and more as a nation peculiar unto the            This all was but the beginning of a new phase of Israel's
Lord.                                                              life that would continue on into the future. The presence :)E
                                                                   God among them was a blessing unto the fulfillment of His
   At Sinai the whole national life of Israel had taken on         covenant unto every true child of Abraham who was elect
a new ceremonial dimension. All centered in the ark of .the        according to God's promise ; but at the same time countless
covenant above which the Lord dwelt in the inner sanctuary         of that nation who were Abraham's children only outwardly
of the tabernacle. It was this ark that led the children of        according to the flesh would be consumed by God's judgment,
Israel in their journey, borne upon the shoulders of the           They were not all Israel that were of Israel ; and many would
Levites. Each morning as the ark was taken up by its bearers,      perish in God's anger that the elect might be saved through
Moses would stand before it and say, "Rise up, LORD, and
                                                                   j,udgment.
let thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate thee

flee before thee." In turn each evening when it was set down,                                                               B.W,

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


                                                                       and mothers of their own ages !) When the young minister
11  F R O M ' H O L Y   WRIT 11 speaks, "Youth speaks" ! Or, if he is a good visitor, who
                                                                 `,    knows how to say exactly the right thing at the right time;
PL
                                                                       one who moves easily and smoothly, and who is never a tri-

                                                                       angle in a square. But why go on ? We only desire to intimate
                  Exposition of I Timothy                              that in all of these reasons, "earmarks" ( ?) of a good min-

                        (I Timothy 4 :6-10)                            ister, nothing is yet said about the minister. They are all
                                                                       things about the ma,n.  Surely the man must have certain
                                 a.                                    qualifications. However, they must all be subservient to his

       It may be well to note carefully that Paul had stated what      being a ministm-;a  "diakonos," as the Greek has it !

the subject matter, the content of the preaching of Timothy                The question is: is your minister a good minister of the

shall be, with refutation of all errors repugnant therewith;           Wo.rd  ? Is he truly what his official title says : Verbi De,i

particularly the error of those who, having fallen from the            Mi&ter! That is the question. The question is not is he a

faith, seek their ethics in fleeing from the world, rather than        good sport, a good speaker, a good mixer. That is wholly

conquering the world by faith !                                        beside the point. The question is not either is he learned,

      Now Paul proceeds to exhort Timothy that he is to be a           erudite, can he sport an A.B. degree, a D.D. or Ph. D. de-

faithful preacher of the Mystery of godliness.                         gree or even a Doctor of Literature degree. He may have all

      It strikes us that Paul speaks here in this entire passage       these and still be a very poor preacher, or what is worse, a

of a (1) good minister, (2) of a minister who is to exercise           very evil preacher, who, notwithstanding all his learning still

himself ztnto  go&iness,  (3) of the incentive of the reward -         does not know the first rudiments of godliness or the Mystery

the reward held before the good and striving minister, who             of godliness that is great ! That he is learned is a good thing ;

has his hope set upon the living God.                                  just so that it is not an obstacle to overcome instead of an

      The passage in question reads as follows : "If thou put the      asset in the v&nistl~y.
brethren in z&nd of these things, thou  shalt  be a good min-             Is your minister a good minister?

ister of Christ Jesus> noat~ished  in the zvords  of faith, and of        That is the concern of Paul concerning Timothy.

Ithe good doctrine which  thou hast  followed until  now, but              A good minister has the earmarks here enumerated by

refuse profane and old wives' fables.  ,4wd exercise thyseLf           Paul.

-unto godliness; for bodily exercise is profitable  for a little,          Let it not be overlooked that Timothy is to be a minister.

(or: 1iftCe  profit) but godliness is profitable for all things,       He is to serve the congregation with the bread of life when

hving prontise  of the @fe r&i& 11.07ar  is, and of z&ich <is to       he speaks from the pulpit, in the home or otherwise. He is

come. Faithful is .the saying and worthy of all acc@tatzlon.           not to be a Lord, a Dominus,  but a minister, a doer of little

For to this end we labor and strive, because we have ow hops           things. He is to be a servant in the house of God to feed the

set on the living God, who is the Saviour  of all men, specia.lZy      children of our heavenly Father with the bread of life, and

of them that beZieve  (I Tim. 4 :6-10).                                to give them to drink from the water of life that floweth from

      In the first place, we would point out that "good minister"      the throne of God. He must not simply tickle the ears of the
here should not be equated with a "good man." See Romans               people who have itching ones, but he must preach the Word!
5 ~7. Paul does not speak here of a "man," but of a "minister,"        The minister is there for the benefit of the flock and not the
good minister, if you will! Now it is an indisputable fact             flock for the benefit of the minister; a good salary, a large
that not all agree on what constitutes a good minister. The            congregation, giving a coveted prestige, good working condi-
reason for this is that too often all attention is given to the        tions, a nice parsonage. He is a good minister in the same
term good minister and not to the term good m%.rter!  And              measure that he administers the Word to the flock of God!

since the term "minister" remains undefined the term good                  Hence,. he is to be a brother amongst the brethren. And

can have about as many shades of meaning as there are                  Paul exhorts Timothy to be such a minister, a good minister.

people. The popular notion of a good minister varies. Some             A man worthy of the name of a minister rightly divides the

feel that a good minister is one who has a good, clear and             Word ; he does not quarrel with the flock, but he teaches

sonorous voice, a good, fluent speaker. (Incidentally Paul and         her the Mysteries in Christ. And he preaches carefully,

Moses would hardly qualify.) Others intimate in some vague             exactly, concisely and to the point; he exegetes the Word

way that a good minister is one who is up to date ; he is              and preaches the full counsel of God, the Mystery of god-

young, handsome, knows how to insinuate himself into the               liness, applying sound rules of Hermeneutics. That requires

graces of the young people, can still go roller skating, and           much time and prayerful application of efforts and energy.

swing the old ball-bat at the young people's outing or the                 When Timothy will thus quit himself of his task, putting

Youth Convention. He's a good preacher since he is so "nice"           the brethren in remembrance of the teaching of God in the

and so "young." After all we need something for our young              Mystery  that is great, the revealed Counsel of God concerning

people. (Strange that God did not give young people fathers            our redemption, he will be a good minister. And then he will


                                             T H E   STAN:DARD  B.EARER                                                          299


 prove that he is nourished in the Word. He does not simply         unbelievers a place.    It is void of all key-power and the

 dabble a bit, employing the text to hang his own philosophy        exercise of the same. It does not put the believers in the

 and observations on ; a convenient hat rack for his philosophy,    kingdom and unbelievers out of the kingdom of God ; it

 but he will preach the Word: thus saith the Lord. And al-          lacks the two-edged cutting characteristic of the pure preach-

 ways the congregation will hear Christ speak to her in the         ing of the Word. It is profane. Old women, irresponsible

 preaching. Such is a good minister!                                men may tell them with much pomp and tradition, with long

     It takes a long time to become a minister. Timothy had         robes and surrounded by much ritual and ado, they remain
 already had the faith at the knee of his mother and grand-         profane and fables under whatever titles they are named, or
 mother, Eunice and Lois. Timothy grew up on the menu of            in whatever setting they are placed.

 the Word. That is evidently why often ministers and good               Timothy must reject this ; he must rightly cut the word,

 teachers come forth from the parsonage, a home where they          the bread of life.

 are nourished in the Word. Timothy grew up in a family                 The second exhortation of Paul to Timothy, his son in

 where the grandmother did not tell "old wives' fables" but         the faith, is, that the latter is to "exercise himself unto god-

 where the Word of the prophets, fulfilled in Christ was on         liness."    The term exercise is the translation of the Greek

 the "daily Manna" calendar of their life. Paul appeals to this.    "gszt~~~~~zoo"  from which our English term is. derived. The

 He says: "which thou hast followed up till now." Timothy           term literally means : to be naked. Those who took part in

 was steeped in the Word. He must remain in it and without          the games were naked in old Greece. All such words as

 fear or favor preach the Word, putting the brethren in mind        gymnasium, a gymnast, gymnastics are derived from the

 of the truth in Christ. A minister must have eaten the Word.       aforementioned Greek term.         The English term exercise

 The prophets ate the roll, the scroll of God, so to speak.         comes from the Latin "exercit&& : to drive on, to keep busy-

    These words are "the words of faith," that is, they are         The entire section of Paul's exhortations from here to the

 Word which are the content of what we believe. We do not           end of this chapter comes under the watchword: Exercise

 wholly understand and comprehend the word concerning the           thyself unto godliness, press forward, study unto godliness

 doctrine of God, the Trinity, Creation, Providence, the Con-       and salvation; work out your salvation with fear and trem-

 ception by the Holy Ghost, the Birth of Christ from the            bling.

 virgin, Mary, the Suffering and Death, atonement and rec-             The minister's study- is a gymnasium, a spiritual gymna-
 onciliation, the Resurrection from the dead and the Renewal        sium in which each week he exercises, presses forward con-
 of all things. We believe them. We know in part and proph-         stantly toward godliness ; it is a gymnasium of prayer and
 esy in part, but presently we shall know even as we are            the exercise of faith, so that on Sunday he may preach the
 known. It is, therefore, words of faith.                           Word and be a good minister. And, 0, it requires so much

    And that is "good doctrine" and also "good ethics" !            strength and prayer; each Sunday is to be viewed again as the

    All the rest, all philosophy of man to find God, which          supreme contest - a contest unto godliness, reaching forth

 denies that in Christ we have Immanuel, God-with-us, is            unto the promised hope.

 simply "old wives' fables."     Paul called attention to the          There are physical gymnasts in the world. It is some-
 particular fables, which are concocted under the inspiration       times called fih_vs&~~  culture; the Greeks spoke of the perfect
 of Demons, by those who departed from the faith, in lying          body, the perfect development of all the potentialities of the
 hypocrisy and deceit, proceeding from a seared conscience.         body. The world has its "Mr. America" and our "Miss

    This must all be rejected in the preaching.                     America."     No one will deny that the development of a strong

     There are those who say: Let's not talk about the teach-       and healthy body does have merit. It has some profit, only

 ing of other churches; let's be positive. Now this latter re-      the profit is a "little."    The term little may mean a "little

 mark is true. However, our positive preaching of the Mystery       while" (James 4 :14)  or it may mean a little profit. We do

 of Godliness allows for no error which is repugnant to the         not believe that Paul here refers to the spiritual and mentar

truth. The truth and the lie cannot both have the right of          gymnastics of the ascetic, the man who inflicts with pain

 way on the high-way of the King. The lie is out-lawed in           his body. In the first place, Paul does not call such ~~01'

 Christ's Kingdom ; it belongs to the realm of the Devil, Satan,    profitable, I would say: not even a "little." Besides, the en-

 the Liar from the beginning!                                       tire idea of the term Gymnastics refers to the arena, the world

    For the teaching of error is always "profane." The term         of contests in the games. This all, purely as physical develop-
 for profane in the Greek is "bebeelos."  That which is profane     ment, has value for this life, and then only for a little while-
 is accessible to all, allowable to tread upon, and is closed       We all fade and die like flowers that grow in beauty ; the
 against none. The broad-minded man is the profane man.             strongest and most robust man is soon cut off. But in the
 The tn bebeela  were the unconsecrated spots. And when             spiritual gymnasium of study and prayer, rooted in faith,
 employed of men it referred to those who were unconsecrated.       there is great gain, both for this life and for the life to come.
 Thus it was employed by the Greeks ; thus it is employed by        Well may we be busy in this activity- in the study. The
 the Scriptures too. The profane'fables  are those which allow      first duty in the office of the minister is prayer !        G.LL

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


                                                                      of our Pilgrim Fathers as they sought to worship our God
Ii            I N   H I S   F E A R                                   according to the dictates of His Word and to escape the
                                                                      slavery and cruelty of men who wished to impose their word

                                                                      upon God's Word. I say, throughout this land prayers ascend

                                                                      daily to God. He is worshipped in churches from one shore
                   A Time To Reconsider
                                                                      to the other, from the Canadian boundary to the Mexican

                                                                      border line. But how much do we as a nation trust in God ?
      We have been promised that under the new administration

America will again begin to move ahead.                                  We must forge ahead. We must be on the go. We must

                                                                      begin to move ahead once again. But unto what? Where are
      As a nation we have been urged to be on the go.
                                                                      we going ? Towards what goal are we working ? The coming
       In the cold war we must not be the ones who have to            of God's kingdom ? Do we indeed need an arms race for that ?
adjust ourselves to the movements of the avowed and clearly           Are we as zealous and do we see the greater need of an arms
recognized enemy. We must take the initiative. We must be             race in the spiritual sense of the word? Are we putting forth
bold to do what is right and let the opposition come to terms         ALL our effort to combat the lie, heresy, atheism, evolution-
with us. The time is short. Nuclear war with its aw-                  ism, sin, corrupt practices, the desecration of the Sabbath,
ful devastation and unparalleled havoc is a greater threat            the open and more abundant cursing and swearing, blasphemy
than ever before ; and we cannot continue this way. Atom              and ridicule of things spiritual? Must we go ahead as a.
bomb testings are about to get under way again in the at-             Christian nation or simply as one of the more powerful na-
mosphere. Neither side wishes to have the other side get              tions of the world ? Has it become an old-fashioned, outdated
the advantage. We cannot afford to let the enemy forge                and therefore worthless practice to seek first the kingdom of
ahead of us. We must be on the go ourselves. As much as               God and then have the confidence that all these earthly things
we do not like an arms race, we are in it; and wisdom, if             shall be added unto us ? Is it in our land out of style to move
not self preservation, demands of us that we keep our margin          ahead in our trust in God ?
of superiority. The day will come, according to the Scrip-
                                                                         Granted that it is the duty of a nation to defend its citizens
tures, when men shall cry, "Who is like unto the beast? Who
                                                                      against the enemy and aggressor, must that be done in His
can make war with him ?" Revelation 13 :4. Surely we do
                                                                      fear, must it be done with trust in God or in the arm of flesh?
not want that to be said zmto us. We want to say that to all
                                                                      Do we still look up to Christ, or are we secretly hoping and
other nations.
                                                                      looking for the antichrist?
      Indeed, examine your heart, we want America to be able
                                                                         We did not hear it, but a colleague remarked about it.
to say that! No, as believing children of God, we do not
                                                                      How do we react to it? It all happened the day the United
want to say that of America, nor do we want America to be
                                                                      States rejoiced and felt itself closer to the day when men
,called  the beast, The Antichristian Kingdom. But according
                                                                      would fear to make war with her. It was a tense moment.
to the flesh we want to be so powerful and superior to all
                                                                      The count-down had resumed. We were ready, from all ap-
other nations and groups of nations that we want them all
                                                                      pearances, to send a man around the world in space. Would
to see the folly of fighting us. We want them to see how
                                                                      the rocket misfire ? Would it explode, as others had done
terrible they would suffer themselves. We, at least, want to
                                                                      before, killing the astronaut and dashing our hopes to pieces ?
be able to say, "Who is like unto America ? Who can make
                                                                      Would he perhaps be sent into an orbit from which he could
war with her ? Who is so foolish as to try ?"
                                                                      not return to this earth ; and would he return alive after a
      A time it is to reconsider.                                     flight around the earth ? All these questions and others rushed

       It might even be better to call it a time to reappraise the    before man's mind. And then one of the radio reporters said

situation.    It is a time of inventory. A time for. serious '        it, "The hopes and fears of the whole free world are met in

thought on the part of every member of the holy catholic              thee today."

Church of Jesus Christ in our land and in all other lands as             Some two months before that same world represented by
well.                                                                 this announcer had sung the Christmas carol, "0 little town

       Jingle the coins in your pocket, you who live here in the      of Bethlehem."    And in that carol believer and unbeliever

United States. At random pick one out and examine it. Con-            alike at that season had sung, "The hopes and fears of all the

spicuously on the face of each coin you will read'the  words,         years are met in thee tonight," with reference to Christ for

"In God we trust."        Is that really so? Can it be said of        whose coming the whole Old Testament Church had hoped

America, can it be said of the United States as a nation ? To'        from the fall of man till it was realized in Bethlehem. The
be sure, there are thousands upon thousands of children of            one phrase is an expression of praise to Christ. The other
God in America who live in His fear. Every day throughout             is plainly antichristian speech. How do you react to that?
this vast land which we call our land, throughout this land           Does the hope and fear of the free world rest in man and in

which was the symbol of our religious freedom and the home            his achievement or in Christ.?


                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D -   B E A R E R                                                        301


    Had our efforts to put a man in space and to equal part          of God in these evil days of an arms race which can only

of the achievements of Russia failed, would we then have             end in the realization of the kingdom of the Antichrist. Turn

been filled with more fear and lost all our hope ? Not if it is      to the prophecy of Isaiah, and indeed there are many other

the fear of the Lord and a hope in His promises and the              passages as well, and listen to his good counsel in chapter

coming of Christ. When David numbered the people to. trust           26 :4, "Trust ye in the Lord forever: for in the Lord JEHO-

in horses and chariots, God took his horses ,and  chariots away      VAH is everlasting strength." Do you believe that? Do we

by killing the men who would make use of them. Often God             as a nation believe that? Is all our diplomacy and all our

reduced Israel to a nation without even swords and spears,           national budget drawn up in His fear? Can it be said and

without the necessary weapons wherewith to fight exactly             will it be said to us as a nation what Isaiah had said in the

in order that Israel might put its trust in God and walk in          second verse, "Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation

His fear. Where are our Gideons of today? Where is the               which keepeth the truth may enter in"?

cry today, "The sword of the Lord and of Gideon"? Today                  Shall we put our trust in men and the achievements of
it is the cry of "The sword of Gideon." And God is left out          men? Shall we look to men and seek the peace that men
of the picture.                                                      can give ? Then              peace is not any more substantial and
                                                                                          OLW 
    A time to reconsider it surely is.                               lasting than man himself. And he is so very, very frail and
    Dare we, with the weapons we now have, go forward in             his words are so very untrustworthy. No, but listen and take
faith ? Dare we with but three hundred men go forward?               good counsel from the Word of God, "Thou wilt keep him
Well, it does make a difference to what we are moving for-           in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he

ward. Our goal and ambition will reveal whether we can go            trusteth in Thee," Isaiah 26:3. That is the only way of

forward in faith or whether we must indeed put our trust in          peace.    Trusting in God we will have perfect peace of mind
men to produce the kingdom of the antichrist. You cannot put         all through our earthly pilgrimage. No fear of men shall
your trust in God to help you succeed in an evil deed. You           grip us, and the fear of the Lord shall shield us from all evil..
cannot look up to Him for His blessing when you are walking          Then, after all this wearisome pilgrimage is over for all the
in an evil direction. You will of necessity have to look to, evil    saints, and God ushers in the new creation and sets the King-
men or the Evil One himself when you walk in such a way. It          dom of Christ upon the new earth, then we shall have perfect
is time therefore for us to reconsider our goal as well as our       peace in every possible sense of the word. They that trust in
method. It is time to ask ourselves what we do believe and           Him shall have this. And the rest, in spite of all their earthly
for what we are looking and hoping.                                  achievements and the honor and fame they received from

    If indeed we are looking and waiting for the kingdom of          men, shall be cast into that place where they rest not day
the antichrist, if we intend to explore, organize and employ         nor night.

all of God's creation-even outer space-to maintain our-                 In the fear of the Lord there is peace. In the peace which
selves in the lie so that we can be like God and can eventually      men try to make there will always be increasing and terrify-
get there by science and invention, by education and research,       ing fears.
by social and political advances, then we surely can and must                                                                        J.A.H.
say that our hopes and fears are met in definite, individuals at.

stated moments in the history of this world. And then some

day when the Antichrist himself appears, we will tell him to                                      Office Bearers
his face, "The hopes and fears of all the years are thee and
all thy might."                                                         An Office Bearers' Conference will be held Tuesday
    Does all this mean that we are to be labeled as "Reds" or        evening, April 10, at 8 :00 P. M. in the Hudsonville Church.
"Pinks"? Surely our freedom of religion has not fallen to            Rev. H. Hoeksema will speak on the topic: "The Origin and
such a low ebb. Anyone who thinks as above and wants to              History of. Family Visitation, and How Can It Most Faith-
put all his trust in God, so that it can be and is said from the     fully Be Conducted."          All present and former office bearers
heart, "In God we trust," has absolutely no use and can have         are urged to attend.
no use for communism. It does not follow that one favours                                                   John De Vries, Secretary

an atheistic, God-defying form of government and land when

one decries the lack of faith in God in our land. In fact the
                                                                                                   IN MEMORIAM
very opposite is and must be considered to be true. We had
                                                                        Our Young People's Society hereby expresses its Christian sym-
better reconsider. We had better ask ourselves and each
                                                                     pathy 
other, where are we going? And to attach the label of "Red"                to our Vice-President, Norwin  Brower, in the loss of his father,
                                                                                             NICHOLAS BROWER
or "Pink" to a call to trust in God and a desire for the Iiing-
dam  of Christ certainly underscores the need of reconsidera-           May our God comfort the hearts of the bereaved.
tion.                                                                              Hudsonville Protestant Reformed Young People's Society
                                                                                                           Rev. G. Vos, President
    Much better do we behave when we listen to the Word                                                    Miss Elaine Holstege, Secretary

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


                                                                      ormation placed itself in opposition and established the dis-

          Contending For The Faith                                    tinction between the church visible and invisible. Augustine
                                                                      had already spoken of "name-Christians," and it is simply a

                                                                      fact that Rome could not have an objection against this

                                                                      distinction and maintains the same distinction inasmuch as.
             The Church and the Sacraments                            it also distinguishes in the one church between two genera-

                                                                      tions of men, two parties. But the distinction between the
           THE TIME OF THE REFORMATION
                                                                      visible and the invisible church can be understood in different

                 VIEWS ON THE CHURCH                                  ways. Most of these conceptions are to be rejected and do

                                                                      not come up for discussion in dogmatics. The church is not
                 THE PROTESTANT VIEW                                  to be called invisible because Christ, because the church

                                                                      triumphant, because the completed church at the end of the
       In our preceding article we called attention to the Re-        ages cannot be discerned by us; neither can the church be
formed view of the church with respect to the church's                called invisible because the church as upon earth cannot be
visibility and invisibility. This Reformed position identifies        seen by us as in other places and lands, or because it is in
the church invisible with the elect and the church visible            hiding during times of persecution, or as it at times is denied
with the appearance of the church in the midst of the world           the administration of the word and of the sacraments. The
as consisting of both elect and reprobate. This view, we noted,       distinction of visible and invisible church is to be applied only
is maintained by both `Ursinus and Calvin. The church, there-         to the church militant, and it expresses the idea that the
fore, could be called invisible in a three-fold sense of the word.    church is invisible from the viewpoint of its spiritual side or
First, the church is invisible as the church universal, because       aspect and in its true members. Both of these meanings have
one person cannot discern or see the church as it exists in           merged into one among the Lutherans and the Reformed,
other places and localities. Secondly, the church is invisible        and they cannot be separated. The church is an object of
as a body of the elect which will not be completed and there-         faith. The inward faith of the heart, regeneration, the true
fore become visible until the day of our Lord Jesus. Christ.          repentance, the hidden communion with Christ, etc., are
And, thirdly, the church is invisible as a body of called             spiritual goods which cannot be discerned by the natural eye,
elect, inasmuch as we cannot distinguish in the church upon           and which nevertheless give unto the church its own proper
earth the true believers from the hypocrites.                         form. And the Lord has not given to any individual an in-
       Also the Westminster Confession speaks of the invisible        fallible measuring staff, according to which he can judge the
and visible aspects of the Church of God. Chapter XXV of              spiritual life of another. The Lord alone knows who are His.
this Confession is devoted to the subject of the Church. Chap-        And thus it is possible, and it has always been a fact within
ter ,XXV, I and II speaks as follows, and we quote : "I. The          the Christian church, that there is chaff among the corn and
catholic or universal Church, which is invisible, consists of         that hypocrites are hidden among the true believers. The
the whole number of the elect, that have been, are, or shall be       name Church, as used of the church militant, as applied to
gathered into one, under Christ the head thereof; and is the          the gathering of believers upon earth, has therefore a
spouse, the body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all.        figurative meaning among all Christians, Romish or Prot-
II. The visible Church, which is also catholic or universal           estants.    It is called Church, not according to the un-
under the gospel (not confined to one nation as before the            believers who are in it, but according to the believers,
law) consists of all those, throughout the world, that profess        who constitute the essence of it and give unto it its
the true religion, and of their children ; and is the kingdom         essence and being. The whole is called according to the
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the house and family of God, out            part. A church is and remains a gathering of true believers
of which there is no ordinary possibility of salvation." - end        of Christ." -end of quote, translation by the undersigned.
                                                       . -.
of quote.                                                             With this we conclude our discussion of the Reformed view
       However, the Reformed position in re the distinction be-       or conception of the church, in re the distinction between th&
tween the invisible and visible aspect of the church was not          church visible and invisible.
confined to the view that the church invisible is the gathering
or body of the elect, whereas the church visible is the church            Of interest also, in our discussion of the Protestant view
upon earth as consisting of the elect and reprobate, true             of the Church, are the attributes of the Church. The attri-
believers and hypocrites, wheat and tares. Rome, we under-            butes of the Church are its unity or oneness, holiness, cath-
stand, maintained that outward membership, historical faith,          olicity and apostolicity.    It is also in this field that we eni

the keeping of the commandments and subjection to the pope            countered a marked and drastic contrast between the Romish
constituted the essence of the church. This Reformed position         and Protestant conceptions of the Church. This, of course, is

of the church visible and invisible is set forth by Dr. H.            understandable. Prior to the Reformation of the sixteenth

Bavinck in his Dogmatics, Vol. IV, pages 287~2S9,  and we             century, there was only one church, but one Western or
quote: "Against this view (that of Rome, H. V.) the  Ref-              Latin church (the Eastern half had broken from the Western

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


half in the eleventh century). With the Reformation many            immediately disappear but which complete disappearance was

 Protestant churches came into being. The Romish church             restrained and checked by the operation of Common Grace,

 remained one. But Protestantism broke up into countless            so that Melchizedek was nothing else than a natural man.

 fragments.                                                         Ursinus, however, declares of Melchizedek that he was a

    The Romish Church is surely one. And we can easily              worshipper of the true God, and that there were other wor-
understand that Rome prides itself in its unity, particularly       shippers of the true God, besides Abraham, whose priest
because of all the segments and fragments which characterize        Melchizedek was). That the church will always exist is
 Protestantism. Rome,.  of course, has an absolute and ex-          evident from these declarations of Scripture : `My words shall
clusive conception of the church. Rome can never recognize          not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy
the administration of the Word and of the sacraments to be          seed.' `If the night and the day may be changed, my covenant
an earmark of the church, inasmuch as this administration is        may also be changed.' `I will be with you always, even to the
also found outside of the Roman Catholic Church, and no             end of the world' (Is. 5 :9, 21; Jer. 33 :20; Matt. 25:20).
other church can be recognized by it. The only marks which          Christ, moreover, always has been, and always will be king,
Rome can possibly recognize as marks of the true church are         head and priest of the church. Hence there is always has
those marks that apply exclusively to the church of Rome.           been, and ever will be, a church. And hence it is also evident
All other churches are false. And it certainly must be ad-          that the church, both of the Old and the New Testaments,
mitted that, from the viewpoint of the appearance of things,        is one and the same ; which is also confirmed by the following
the unity of the church of Rome presents a most imposing            article of the Creed. For Christ is the sanctifier of His church,
spectacle. There is no division in the church of Rome.              and is common to those who have believed on him under each
Only, the unity of the church of Rome rests exclusively `in         dispensation." - end of quote from Ursinus.

its institutional and hierarchical structure. This unity must          From this explanation by Ursinus we may briefly conclude
not be sought in the believers. Superstition and ignorance          the following.    First, the unity of the church is a spiritual

are rampant in the church of Rome. This unity must be               unity. It is not an outward or external oneness, that members

sought in the clergy, in the Romish hierarchy, in the pope.         simply dwell together, or that they are one because the rites

Rome's unity is exclusively an organizational, institutional,       or ceremonies to which they conform are the same. This

hierarchical unity. It is not internal, spiritual, but external,    evidently refers to the unity of the church of Rome. Sec-

residing in the hierarchy.                                          ondly, the unity of the church means that there always was

    How vastly different is the Protestant conception of the        a church, from the beginning to the end of the world. The
                                                                    church has always existed, even before the time of Abraham.
unity or oneness of the Church! IJrsinus  speaks of the unity
                                                                    The premillennialist or dispensationalist, as we know, does
of the churdh  in his explanation of Question 54 of Lord's Day
21 of the Heidelberg Catechism, and we quote from his               not agree with this Reformed position. He makes separation
                                                                    between the Old and the New Dispensation, distinguishes
answer to the question: "Why The Church Is Called One,
                                                                    between the kingdom (the Jews) and the church (the Gen-
Holy, And Catholic ?" : "The Church is one, not because
                                                                    tiles), between the seed of Abraham in the real and natural
those who are members thereof dwell together, or because the
rites and ceremonies to which they conform are the same ;           sense of the word (the Jews) and that in the spiritual and
                                                                    figurative sense of the word (the Gentiles). And there are
but on account of their agreement in doctrine, and faith . . .
                                                                    those who view Pentecost as the birthday of the Church. The
That there is bui- one church at all times, from the beginning
                                                                    Reformed conception of the unity of the church, however,
to the end of the world, there can be no reasonable doubt;
                                                                    emphasizes that there is but one church of God throughout
for it is manifest that the church has always existed, even
                                                                    the ages. And, thirdly, the unity of the Church of God must
before the time of Abraham. It is not to be supposed that
                                                                    be sought in Christ. He always has been, and ever will be,
the family of Abraham did not worship God before his call-
                                                                    king, head, and priest of the church. Christ is the sanctifier
ing, and that he was only after his calling the servant of the
                                                                    of the church, and is common to all those who have believed
Most High. For even before he was called, he held fast to
                                                                    on Him under each dispensation. And this conception of the
the fundamental principles of the doctrine of the true God,
                                                                    church rests surely upon the Word of God, as in Paul's
although they were not clearly understood, on account of the
                                                                    epistles to the churches at Corinth, Galatia, and also at
false notions and superstitions which were mingled with
                                                                    Ephesus.
them. Melchizedek, who was the priest of the most high God,
also lived at the same time. Hence there were besides, and                                                                     H.V.

before Abraham, other worshippers of the true God, whose

priest Melchizedek was. (Ursinus, therefore, evidently would

not subscribe the `Common Grace' explanation of Melchi-                         The Father chose His only Son

zedek by the late Dr. Abraham Kuyper - H.V. Kuyper                              To die for sins, that man had done ;

explained Melchizedek as a product of Common Grace, as a                        Immanuel to the choice agreed,

remnant of the original priesthood of Adam which did not                        And thus secured a numerous seed.


304                                                 T H E   ST-ANDA.RD   B - E A R E R


                                                                                For more than one reason, perhaps, we are inclined to
II The Voice of Our Fathers II ivonder at all this attention to the subject of the canon. One
                                                                               reason is undoubtedly that for most of us, at least most of

                                                                               the time, this matter of the canon is no issue. We simply

                     The Belgic Confession                                     accept the sixty-six books of our Bible as constituting the
                                                                               canon. And as a rule we are never troubled by the question
                               ARTICLE IV                                      unless we happen to study the Confession, or unless we come

            We believe that the Holy Scriptures are contained in two           into contact with an adherent of Rome, who accepts the
        books, namely, the Old and New Testament, which are canon-             apocryphal books as well, or unless we have dealings with
        ical, against which nothing can be alleged. These are thus
        named in the Church of God. The books of the Old Testament             some sect which acknowledges other authoritative writings,
         are the five books of Moses, viz.: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus,        such as the Mormons, or unless we are attacked by the mod-
         Numbers, Deuteronomy; the books of Joshua, Ruth, Judges, the
         two books of Samuel, the two of the Kings, two books of the           ernist, who denies the canonicity as well as the-inspiration of
         Chronicles, commonly called Paralipomenon, the first of Ezra,         Scripture. Historically, of course, this was indeed a crucial
         Nehemiah, Esther, Job, the Psalms of David, the three books
         of Solomon, namely, the Proverbs, Ecclesiastes,  and the Song         question at the time when our Confession was born. For the
         of Songs; the four great prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel          authority of Holy Scripture is in turn dependent upon the
         and Daniel; and the twelve lesser prophets, namely, Hosea,
         Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk,                   canonicity of Scripture. And also on this matter of the canon
         Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.                            the Reformers difYered  radically with Rome, which today still
            Those of the New Testament are the four evangelists, viz.:         includes the so-called apocryphal books in its Bible. Hence,
         Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John; the Acts of the Apostles; the
         fourteen epistles of the apostle Paul, viz.: one to the Romans,       in this and the following articles the Reformed churches take
         two to the Corinbians,  one to the Galatians,  one to the Ephe-       position over against Rome. And that position, both as to
         sians,  one to the Philippians, `one to the Colossians, two to the
         Thessalonians, two to Timothy, one to Titus, one to Philemon,         the contents of the canon and the source and fixing of the
         and one to the Hebrews; the seven epistles of the other apostles,     canon, is still our position today. In fact, it is in respect to
         namely, one of James, two of Peter, three of John, one of Jude;
         and the Revelation of the apostle John.                               this whole subject of the Scriptures that the Protestant

                                                                               church today remains radically at odds with Rome. However,
The Iw+orta,we  of and Approach  to the Canon
                                                                               we of today are not often under direct attack as to our faith
       This fourth article deals with the subject of the canon of              concerning the canon ; and ther$fore,  we do not pay overly
Holy Scripture, or the question: which are the canonical                       much attention to the subject. This is natural in a way; but
books, i.e., which books are acknowledged as forming part                      it is also rather perilous. This brings us to consider a second
of the written Word of God, spoken of in Article III, that                     reason, namely, that only too often we are not acutely con-
was not sent nor delivered by the will of man ?                                scious of the precious heritage we have in the Scriptures, and
   Although there does not appear to be very much content                      therefore do not appreciate ,and  use and enjoy that heritage
to the article under discussion, we may notice that evidently                  as we ought. W-e  take it for granted. In the days when
our fathers were very careful to express themselves exactly                    God's people were in danger of being deprived of that her-
on this matter of the canon. For there are, in the first place,                itage, and when they had to fight for it and suffer for it, and
no less than three articles of our Confession which refer to                   when it was a rare or relatively new event to have a printed
this subject. The present article sets forth positively the con-               Bible in your own language and in your own personal pos-
tents of the canon. The next article, while it deals with the                  session, the Scriptures were a more highly prized possession
authority of Holy Scripture, nevertheless deals necessarily                    also. This too is somewhat natural ; but the fact that it is
once more with the limitation of the canon, as well as connect-                does not excuse us. That we have the Scriptures of the Old
ing the authority of Scripture directly with that canon. And                   and New Testament, against which nothing can be alleged,
the sixth article again treats the content of the canon, this                  writings that are the holy and divine Scriptures -this reality
time rather negatively, when it distinguishes between the                      should never become commonplace among us. And let us be
canonical and the apocryphal books. In the second place, we                    warned  that when the church no more knows the meaning
may notice that our Confession takes special care to protect                   and significance of the canon, and no longer appreciates and
that canon against all violations and intrusions. In the present               cherishes this most precious heritage, then that church is in
article it not only speaks of the fact that these books are                    peril of its very life.
canonical, but it specifically adds : "against which nothing can

be alleged." And then the article takes the trouble to furnish                    For this truth of the canonicity of the Scriptures is no less

an exact list of all the canonical books. Again, in Article V                  important than the doctrine of the inspiration of Scripture.

we find the precise expression: "We receive al2 tt%ese books,                  In fact, the two are interrelated. The one calls for the other.

and these only, a.r  holy and ca.nokca.1  . . ." And in Article                If you attack the one, you necessarily attack the other. What

VI once more our Confession takes pains to distinguish and                     is not canonical can scarcely be acknowledged as inspired;

set apart the canonical books as over against the apocryphal                   and what is not inspired cannot be acknowledged as canon-

writings, and sets forth that in every respect the canonical                   ical. Thus it is too, historically, that the foes of an inspired

books are of absolutely determinative authority.                               Scripture have made themselves very busy in attacking the

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


genuineness of the sacred writings, striving mightily to find         written, on the basis of these discoveries, about the canon and
historical evidence which might prove that a certain book is          proofs for the reliability of the canon. But I fear that tpo
not what it claims to be, either as to authorship or contents.        often these writings are an attempt to meet modernistic
Hence, the church must certainly make it its business to in-          criticism on its own ground. And if this is indeed the attempt,

sist upon and to understand by faith the canonical character          then it is futile as far as- unbelief is concerned, and it is even

of the Scriptures.                                                    rather dangerous as far as faith is concerned. As far as the

                                                                      former is concerned, it is futile because if they will not believe
    I say : by faith.
                                                                      Moses and the prophets, neither will they believe though one

    For the very form of this article again reminds us that           rose from the dead. And for faith it is dangerous, because al-
we are dealing with a confession of faith : "We beGeve  . , .*'       most without realizing it one gets himself in such a frame of
And so it is. Here too, as well as when we speak of inspira-          mind that he begins to base his faith on these external ev-
tion, we proceed on the basis of faith. And the canon, no less        idences that are discovered. And therefore, while such studies
than the inspiration, of Scripture is strictly an object of faith.    are not valueless, but probably have a certain supporting
Modern Biblical science requires that we approach the Bible           value for faith, we may well be on the alert against overrating
in an absolutely unbiased attitude, without any preposses-            their value. At the same time, we may say that it is a per-
sions ; and it demands that we conduct an impartial in-               fectly legitimate study to investigate the process of canoniza-
vestigation of the Bible, according to general historical and         tion, or the history of the canon.
literary principles, approaching it as we would any other

book on our library shelves. But this is impossible for the           The Idea of the Ca.non
believer. He carries the strong and spontaneous assurance in
his heart that the Bible is the Word of his God. In this con-            This article speaks of the books of the Bible as "canonical,
viction he approaches Scripture. His faith concerning the             against which nothing can be alleged."

Scriptures, also as respects the canon of Scripture, is not the          What is the meaning of the term canon as here used ?
result of his scientific investigation and dogmatic thinking ;           The term is of Greek origin, and it denotes a rod or wood
it is rather the starting-point. The believer cannot possibly         measuring rule. From thence the idea is derived of a stand-
divest himself of the Spirit-wrought assurance that the Bible         ard or rule according to which our life is measured, a norm.
is the Word of God. Nor is such an approach possible for the          Scripture uses the term in this sense in Galatians 6 :16 : "And
Christian scholar any more than for the ordinary believer.            as many as walk according to this rule (canon is the literal
After all, the question is a spiritual, ethical one. It is not        term here), peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel
a question of being biased or unbiased. It is rather-if you           of God." And thus in our Confession by the canon is meant
will pardon the expression- a question of which bias you              a certain rule, measure, norm, of faith and life. By canonical
have, the bias of faith or the bias of unbelief. For the stand-       books, therefore, is meant that collection of inspired writings
point of unbelief is no more unbiased than that of faith. And         which the church accepts as the Word of God, and therefore
a third possibility there is not.                                     as the only infallible rule, or norm, for the faith and life of

   In this same connection, it is well to remember that in our        believers.

discussion of the canon it is not our purpose to produce                  For us today this implies that the canon is. a finished,  or
logical proof, convincing to the unbeliever, that our Bible is        closed, collection. This tias not always true. When the Old
the Word of God and that its sixty-six books, and they only,          Testament was completed and acknowledged as canonical
constitute the canon! It is quite impossible to create the con-       long before the first advent of Christ, the canon was not
viction of faith by means of logical proof. Indeed, you may           closed. For the entire New Testament was still to be added.
point to the Bible and its intrinsic evidences and exquisite          But today the canon is complete. It is a finished collection
beauties. You may point to many evidences that the Bible is           of inspiired  writings. The question is sometimes raised as to
distinct from all other books. You may find much so-called            what would be the attitude of the church if another of the
historical evidence for the canonical character of the various        writings of the apostles would be discovered. Would such
books of the Bible. But you will never succeed in revealing           a book, should a copy of it be discovered, be added to the
to the eye of the unbeliever, the natural eye, darkened by            present Bible and also be considered canonical ? The question
sin, the glory of the divine light that shines from the pages         is, of course, hypothetical. But the answer would have to be
of God's Holy Word.                                                   negative. The canon is closed. And it is closed in such a way

   For the same.reason it is rather difficult for me to become        that it cannot be opened. Nothing need be, nor can be, added
excited about various external evidences, as they are called,         to the canonical books. They are complete. They form one
for the Bible, and even for its canon. There is much attention        whole. It cannot be alleged against them that they are in-
given in our day to various archeological discoveries in this         complete.
connection. And at present especially there is a good deal of                                (to  be continued)
                                                                                              \                ,
excitement about the so-called "Dead Sea Scrolls." Much is                                                                      H.C.H.

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


                                                                    itching ears' and `turn away their ears from the truth . . .
11  D E C E N C Y   a n d   O R D E R   11 &to fables' (II Tim. 4 :3, 4).
                                                                       "We shall now consider some common wrong tendencies

                                                                    in the use of the Psalms.

                    THE HYMN MATTER                                    "I. Avoidance of the Projev Names In The Psalms

                           (Continued)                                 "Zion occurs 38 times in the Psalter ; Israel 62 times ;
                                                                    Ephraim 5 times; Melchizedek once. There are numerous

       In this issue of The Standard Bearer we want to share        others: Oreb and Zeeb, Zeba and Zalmunna, Jacob, Lebanon,

with our readers an article .written  in 1952 by Rev. J. G.         Kadesh,  Jordan, Hermon, Mizar, Tyre, Shechem, Succoth,

Vos of the Reformed Presbyterian (Covenanter) Church.               Gilead, Moab, Edom, Egypt, Ethiopia, Tarshish, Sheba,

Rev. Vos is also Editor and Manager of Blue Bannw  Faith            Seba and so forth.

And Life, a quarterly publication that is devoted to "ex-              "The objection is raised that these ancient persons and
pounding, defending and applying the system of doctrine set         places have no connection with us today. They are just a.
forth in the Word of God and summarized in the Standards            lot of dusty history from two or three thousand years ago.
of this church." Originally the article referred to appeared        Why should we sing about Zeba and Zalmunna ? It sounds as
under the heading, "Wrong Tendencies In The Use of The              if we were to sing about Hokus and Pokus or Dasher and
Psalms"      and was later republished under the caption,           Prancer, Donder and Blitzen.  So runs the objection. But wait.
"Ashamed Of The Tents Of Shem ?"                                    After all, do Zeba and Zalmunna have nothing to do with us

       We will not quote the entire article since the first part    today ? If we are attached to Biblical religion we will realize

of it is devoted to showing that we are the descendants of          that they have a lot to do with us today. Our religion did not

Japheth who, according to Genesis 9 ~27, shall dwell in the         drop to us out of the sky directly from God. He gave it to

tents of Shem. Having shown this to be the case, the author         us through history, and that the history of Israel. The history

writes :                                                            of Israel wa$ a history of redemption by the almighty' power

       "What does all this imply? It certainly implies, at any      of God ; it was a history of overcoming powerful enemies by
rate, that we should not seek to escape or evade those features     the almighty power of God. The enemies were real ; they
of our religion which bear the label of Shem. We should not         were contemporary manifesta$ons  of Satan's kingdom. They
object to what bears the stamp of Israelitish origin. To do         were terribly real. But they were crushed by the wonder-
so is to rebel against the wisdom and goodness of God. God          working power of almighty God, the covenant God, Jehovah,
chose that the sons of Japheth, in the matter of religion,          the God of Israel. This was the importance of Zeba and
should dwell in the tents of Shem. We should respond : `Even        Zalmunna.

so, Father, for so it seemed good in Thy sight.'                       "Our religion today, if it is Biblical Christianity, is a

       "There are many today who are tired of singing the Bible     religion of overcoming powerful enemies by the supernatural,

Psalms in the worship of God. This has various reasons, no          almighty power of God. We should always think, `when we

doubt. Some are tired of singing the Psalms because they            read or sing about Zeba and Zalmunna, of how salvation is

are not willing to bear the cross of being different from the       not by our might, nor by our power, but by the almighty

big, popular churches. The other churches sing popular              power, the supernatural grace, of God.

hymns, and the Psalms seem to be not only different, but               "Evil is not abstract, but concrete ; it is identified with
peculiar and old-fashioned.                                         particular persons. To destroy the evil, the persons must be

       "Some object to the Psalms because they do not like the      dealt with by God's mighty power and righteous judgment.

theology of the Psalms, with its emphasis on the righteous-         Isaac Watts said he would make David talk like a Christian.

ness and justice of God, and His destruction of His enemies.        He denatured the Psalms, and he sophisticated them. Watts

       "Some object to the Psalms because they do not like the      quite failed to appreciate the real beauty and glory of the
Jewish flavor and coloring of the Psalms -the names of              Psalter. Since Watts' time, some Psalm-singing denomina-
people and places, the references to the history of the children    tions have shied away from the proper names in the Psalter,
of Israel, the Hebrew flavor of the language.                       and have tried to screen many of them out of it. Zion is
       "These objections to the Psalms all have one thing in        changed to `the church,' and Jerusalem likewise ; many of
common. No matter what the objection, it arises from a              the others are omitted or soothed over in some way. This
lack of real sympathy with and appreciation of the religion         yields us a denatured Psalter. No wonder the next step is
of the Bible. Those who object to the Psalms do not want            to give up the Psahns in worship. They have already given
to dwell in the tents of Shem. They do not like the form and        up the real vigor and beauty and power of the Psalms by
pattern and structure of the religion which God has given           omitting the proper names.

to the world ; they prefer something new and different, made            "Zion and Jerusalem are the tents of Shem,  and it is

by themselves. So they `heap to themselves teachers, having         God's plan for us to dwell in them. Shall we object to that?

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


Those who try to eliminate the proper names of the Psalter          which thought of God as nothing but love, and. left His

show a lack of vital consciousness of the organic connection        justice entirely out of the picture.

of the Gospel with the Old Testament. They fail to realize             "Such is a very one-sided view of God. `Behold the good-
that the real meaning of these proper names, as Zion, is in-        ness and severity of God' (Rom. 11:22)  - not only the
timately connected with the Biblical doctrine of salvation by       goodness of God but also the severity of God. The Psalms
free grace. These proper names, and the Psalms with them            give the whole picture, not just one side. They portray not
in, are to be used in the worship of God to the end of the          only God's love and salvation but His justice and retribution
world. They are God's record, God's monument, to the great          meted out to wicked men. Christ's kingdom is not advanced
work of redemption wrought out in history of old. These             without Satan's kingdom being destroyed.
proper names are not the shame and weakness of the Psalms;

they are the honor and the glory of the Psalms.                        "III. Eptzphasis  on the Subjective iElement  Only

                                                                       "There is observable a constant tendency to use only
    "II. Avoida,ncs  of the lImprecatory'  Psalvm
                                                                    those portions of the Psalms which deal with subjective salva-
    "Of the 150 Psalms in the Psalter, some six are com-            tion - a Christian's religious experience - such as the con-
monly classified as `imprecatory' Psalms - the 55th, 59th,          sciousness of God's love, of forgiveness, of God's care. The
69th, 79th, 109th and 137th. Many other Psalms contain `im-         tendency is to regard these experiences of the Christian life
precatory' elements, namely, divinely inspired prayers for the      as divorced from the foundation on which' God has built
destruction of certain wicked men, enemies of God.                  them, namely, historical redemption from an objective realm

    "The Psalter is constantly being reproached because of          of evil. Take, for example, Psalm 118, that incomparable song

the `imprecatory' Psalms. It is said that these Psalms breathe      of gracious, supernatural redemption, a song which will stir

a savage spirit, that they are alien to the `spirit of Jesus,'      `the very heart and soul of any Christian who loves the

that they are not suited to Christian devotion, and so forth.       Biblical religion. This 118th Psalm formed the climax of the

                                                                    great Hallel  which our Saviour and His disciples sang after
   "These objections spring partly from a misunderstanding
                                                                    the institution of the Lord's Supper, before they left the upper
of the Psalms themselves. The objectors often regard them
                                                                    room to go to the Garden of Gethsemane.
as mere human compositions. They see in them simply

David's private wrath against his personal enemies. But such           "Here is the Christian's subjective experience of salvation,

is not the character of these Psalms. They are divinely in-         the wonder of salvation by divine grace:

spired and they are directed against implacable enemies of                      0 praise the Lord for He is good,
God and of God's kingdom. They are so cited in the New                            His grace is ever sz~re:
Testament (Psalm 69:25 and 109 :8 quoted in Acts 1 :20).                        Now let the tribes of Isr'el my,
Nor are the `imprecatory' Psalms really contrary to the `spirit                   His mercy doth endure.
of Jesus' or the `spirit' of the New Testament. All that is

found in them can be matched by statements of the New                           In my d&tress I s0zigh.t  the Lord,

Testament and none is more terrible than the words of Jesus                       Jehovah answewd me;

Christ against those permanently identified with Satan's king-                  He set me in a spaciozts  place,

dom.                                                                              A place Of liberty.

   "The objections also arise partly from a false idealism in                   The mighty Lord is on my &de,
religion, which regards Christianity as merely a matter of                        I w-ill not be afraid;
ideals. Christianity is not merely a matter of ideals; it is not                For anything that wmn can do
even merely salvation; Christianity is divine redewzpt,ion  from                  I shall not be diswmyed.
an objective realvn  of `evil- from the land of Egypt, from
the house of bondage, from Satan's kingdom.                                     Salvation's joyful song is heard
                                                                                  Where'er the rdghte0u.s  dwell;
   "Christianity involves divine judgment on sin and sinners
                                                                                The Gght hand of the mighty  Lord
as truly as it involves divine redemption for God's people.
                                                                                  In valor doth  excel.
The false notion that God is nothing but love is responsible

for much of the opposition to these Psalms. The present                         I &aalt not die, but live and tell

writer recalls hearing a young woman, a member of a Psalm-                        Jekovah's  po?ver  to save;
singing church, say of Psalm 137: `I just HATE that                             The Lord hat/z  sorely chastened me,
Psalm !"    The most charitable explanation of this attitude                      Bztf spared me from the grave.
toward a part of God's holy Word is that this young woman
really understood neither Psalm 137 nor the real character of           "But this exultation in personal salvation is based on the

Biblical religion as divine redemption from an objective reahn      objective foundation of historical divine redemption from

of evil. She had no doubt been fed on a false religious idealism    evil. The same Psalm which exults in subjective salvation

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


also glories in the foundation of objective, historical redemp-      asunder what God has joined together? Do we not thereby

tion :                                                               reveal a deadly weakness, a serious failure to grasp the real

                                                                     character and structure of Biblical religion ?
              That stone is faade  head cor?er stone
                                                                        "Those very features of the Psalms which are objection-
                Which builders did despise;
                                                                     able to the modern spirit are the real strength and glory of
              This is the doing of the Lord,
                                                                     the Psalter. They are essential to its truly Biblical character
:               And wondrous k our eyes.
                                                                     and emphasis.

              The Lord is God, and He to us                             "Those who love one aspect of the Psalms only, while

                Hath made the light arise;                           finding other aspects alien to their religious life, or even

              0 bind ye to tlze altar's horns                        unpleasant and objectionable, are already involved in a pro-
                With cords the sacrifice.                      `.    cess which, if not reversed, will in the course of time lead

                                                                     to the complete rejection of the Psalter as the manual of
     "There you have it. Salvation's joyful song is heard, true;     praise. But that is not all. This same process, if not checked,.
but only because there was One Who was despised and                  will in the course of time lead to a complete departure from
rejected~  of men, Who yet was made the head stone of the            the Biblical religion of redemption from an objective realm of
corner by God, and bound as a sacrifice to the horns of the          evil, to an alien type of religion, a type of religion which  is
altar. Everytime we sing those solemn, sacred words we               divorced from historical facts and which is merely subjective
should think of how our blessed Lord was nailed to the cross         and idealistic. It will lead to the type of religion which, in-
of Calvary for our redemption.                                       stead of saying, `I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ,' says in-

       "Back of our personal experience of God's love, God's         stead : `I believe in goodness, truth, and beauty.' And in that

forgiveness, God's care, God's answer to prayer; back of our         subjective idealism there is no salvation.

joy, our peace of mind, our hope-back of all these lies a               "The Psalms are balanced, they are free from all one-

historical work of redemption, without which our Christian           sided emphasis. They have stood the test of time. Let us.

experience today could not exist. This historical work of            hold on to them, love them, glory in them, sing them heartily,

redemption is wrought out by the almighty power of God in            and never, never apologize for them or be ashamed of them.

human history, from Genesis to Revelation, from creation to          They are our heritage, a part of the tents of Shem that God

consummation, but especially in the life, death, resurrection        has planned and prepared for us to dwell in to His glory and

and ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the solid            our own good."

granite rock on which our personal experience of salvation                                                                    G.v.d.B.

rests. Such is the structure of real, Biblical Christianity. It

is solid, hard and strong as granite, the true rock of ages, the

foundation of God's almighty work of historical redemption

from evil.

       "In the Bible the present subjective experience of the

Christian is joined organically with the historical work of                            The "Hymn Question"

redemption. What God has joined together let no man put                                                            March 13, 1962
asunder. To sever these two is basically wrong, and the
                                                                     Dear Rev. Hoeksema,
tendency to do so, which is observable on every hand even in

Psalm-singing churches, is an indication of how far we are              I have been reading very carefully the discussion in The

being influenced, unconsciously, by modern religious liberal         Standard Bearer concerning the "Hymn Question" and am

idealism.                                                            greatly disappointed that there should be so much strong op-

                                                                     position to a matter that is absurd and to a problem that
       "The trend of modern hymnbooks is largely toward  the
                                                                     really does not even exist because of its very nature. I know
over-emphasis of the subjective experience at the expense of
                                                                     that any amount of writing will not convince the opponents
the objective foundation. Even those churches which do not
                                                                     because it is their conviction, and it is impossible to change
use the hymns, often show the same tendency by people's man-
                                                                     or even argue against one's conviction. I hope, however, that
ner of picking and choosing among the Psalms. A Psalm will
                                                                     the comments I will make will prove to a few of them that
be announced for singing, and two or three stanzas dealing
                                                                     this Hymn Question cannot possibly be a matter of principle
with the `objective foundation will be omitted, while the re-
                                                                     if considered logically and objectively.
maining stanzas, dealing with the subjective experience, will

be sung. Thus in our folly we are like a man who enjoys                  In the first place concerning our present Psalter: our

eating apples but despises apple trees and regards them of           present Psalter is composed merely of versifications  of the

little or no value. Admittedly we cannot eat the roots, bark         Psalms set to music. This began early in the Sixteenth Cen-

and branches of the apple tree; but are they therefore to be         tury by Marot  who translated the Psalwq  from Hebrew to

neglected and treated as of no importance? Shall we put              French and these were set to music to entertain the court of


                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                     309


     King Francis I. These Psalms of Marot  and Beza composed              sure will not lead to heresy in our churches because, if for no

     the completed Genevan  Psalter of 1562. Since that time,              principle reason, the time and money devoted to this project

     these Psalms were translated into various languages, and              will make it impossible and unnecessary to make another

     revisions upon revisions were made of the original Psalm              revision for many years. This new Psalter-Hymn&  would

     verses, and new ones were composed, so that in our present            also solve the problem of which hymns may be sung at

     Psalter, the words of the hymns are quite different from the          Young People's Hymnsings.          Considering this problem in

     text(s) they are taken. The Psalms are also hymns. Accord-            itself, it would be worthwhile for Synod to undertake such a

     ing to Webster's linabridged  Dictionary, the definition of a         project. Moreover, those churches which are yet opposed,

     hymn is "an  ode or psalm of praise, especially a religious ode       need not be compelled to accept a Psalter-Hymnal. However,

     or song." (See also "Hymns" by R. Petersen, Beacon Lights,            if the matter is considered logically and objectively, and given

     November, 1961.) Although the Psalter may be complete,                a few years, I think a Psalter-Hymnal  would be accepted

     those that are opposed to introducing hymns must admit that           u n a n i m o u s l y .

     the Psalms view the life of Christ especially his suffering,                                          Respectfully submitted,

     death, resurrection, ascension into heaven, and His second                                                             Karlene  Oomkes
     coming from an Old Testament standpoint, and therefore, are           Grand Rapids, Mich.
     incomplete. The Psalter is not without error. There are lines

     and entire verses that have Arminian connotations ; (see

     Psalter No. 255 :4, 188 :3 and 138 :4).

         Secondly, concerning hymns: there are some very beauti-           Christian School Teachers and Teachers-To-Be:
     ful hymns that express more clearly the birth, suffering,
     death, etc. of Christ, the Christian's sanctified life or the main    The Loveland Prot. Ref. Christian School is in need of
     thought of a sermon, address, or discussion than our P.&or,           a Teacher for the 1962-63 school year. Interested, qualified

     but these we are not allowed to sing just because they are            persons are requested to send their application or inquiry to :

     not versification  of the Psalutzs.  How ridiculous! Do those                                               Mr. Gilbert Griess, Sec'y
     that oppose hymns object to direct quotes of Scripture set                                                  Rt. 1, Box 282
     to music because they are not found in the Psalms such as
                                                                                                                 Loveland, Colorado
     many of the parts in Handel's Messiah or the Lord's Prayer?

     If so, why are we allowed to sing the Songs of Mary,

     Zacharias, and Simeon ? Also, are there not hymns that

     though they are not exact versifications  of Scripture express

     those truths, i.e., "Perfect Peace" by the late J. Jonker,                                       HIS BLOOD ON US
     "Great Is Thy Faithfulness," "The Love of God," "He

     Lives, " "0 Sacred Head Now Wounded," "All Glory, Laud.,                The frermied  mob, ferocious, fear&g mught,
     and Honor," etc. etc. (Remember all the Creeds, the form of             P,ye.ssed  closer, shouting for the Life they sofught,
I    the Lord's Supper, Baptism and Ordination are not versifica-            And raised their voices like a Mighty  flood,
     tions though they express the truths of Scripture.) Is there
                                                                             "0.n us and on o,ur children be His blood."
     any Scriptural texts that prove or mention that Psalms may

     be sung and hymns may not?
                                                                             The sca.rlet stains, on tha.t spike-stu.dded  cross
        Thirdly, concerning the "Hymn Question" : Rev. Vanden
                                                                             Where  hung the bleed&g body, with each toss
     Berg challenges the discretion of his colleagues and the future
     of our churches when he questions the ability of a committee            Of pain re-echoed thnt ~rebe1Eou.r  cry
     to select proper hymns. Further, it is nonsense to assert that           Until &t reached beyond  the vaulted sky.

     our churches will depart from `the pure doctrine it now has,
     or that hymns will become dominant in our worship services              Soon skeets ran red,, as mothers, children, when

     if introduced.    (Our Christian [P.R.] Day Schools sing some           Were slain with sword; and through all t&e s&nce  then,

     selective hymns and I fail to see where they have departed              The rebel yace  has had its wish fulfilled.
     from the truth.) We, as churches may lose our distinctive-              His blood on them, they were. despised and k&ed.
     ness by introducing hymns into the church, but if so, it is the

     distinctiveness that would be desirable to lose!                        Bz&t  another c&y  had reached the Father, too.
        In conclusion, I sincerely hope that our Synod will some-            It was: "I;orgive;  they know not what they'd0 ."
     day appoint a committee to revise the present Pm&r, and                 And those forgiven can pray amid sin's flood,
     add to it a number of hymns fitting for w&ship, especially
                                                                             `(Lord,  on us and on our ch.iCdren  be His blood."
     concentrating on those points wherein the Psalter is lacking

     because they represent the Old Dispensation. This I am                                                             -James D. Jonker

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


                                                                      Churches in Russia, there are Churches of the Russian Or-

IIALL  A R O U N D   US/l thodox, Pentecostal and Baptist denominations. How far
                                                                      these Churches have drifted from the truth of Scripture is

                                                                      impossible to say. If they have become as evil as their coun-

                                                                      terparts here in this country is also impossible to determine.
SCHOOL TAX RELIEF                                                     There is good reason to believe that at least parts of the

                                                                      Russian Orthodox Church have become little more than tools
       Those who have supported Christian Schools have long           of the State - means of Russian and Communist propaganda.
felt that they are entitled to some relief from the heavy load        But that there may very well still be believers in Russia is
of paying school taxes to support the Public Schools while            altogether possible.
alsci  sending their children to private schools and paying the
                                                                         One of the tenets of Communist ideology has always been
cost of education through tuition and financial drives. If
                                                                      that there is no place for religion in the Communist state.
would seem that the most just means of tax relief would be
                                                                      While Stalin was dictator, Russia tried to destroy the Church
relief from paying the school taxes to support the Public
                                                                      by means of outright murder and deportation of those who
School System. This however, seems like a "piper's dream."
                                                                      worshipped God. During the tenure of Khrushchev a "softer"
More realistic (although only slightly so) has been the hope
                                                                      line has been followed such as social ostracism, economic
of some legislation that would permit those who pay tuition
                                                                      pressure, etc. Both have failed rather badly in wiping out
to deduct this cost from their income taxes. Bills proposing
                                                                      the Church.
this have been introduced in Congress on several occasions,
                                                                         Recently, while the' Church once again gained in mem-
but have never proceeded any farther than the pigeon holes
                                                                      bership during the softer times of the present dictator, the
of Congressional Committees.
                                                                      Communist regime has adopted a tougher policy. There are
       Recently a new bill, introduced by U.S. Representative
                                                                      still no mass arrests, mass deportations and mass murders.
Gerald Ford, Jr., from Michigan and labeled HR95726 has
                                                                      But there are various means which are used to silence the
been placed in the hoppers of the House Ways and Means
                                                                      voice of the Church. Ministers are often prosecuted for trivial
Committee. This bill would, if passed, make tuition a legal
                                                                      and ridiculous offenses and sentenced to long prison terms.
tax deduction. It proposes income tax deductions for educa-
                                                                      Churches are often closed by a unique legal maneuver. Com-
tional purposes of up to $300.00 per child. It would apply
                                                                      munist leaders "solicit" signatures on a petition from the
to students in elementary and secondary schools as well as
                                                                      neighbors of a particular Church which petition requests that
colleges. It would include expenses for tuition, books, fees and
                                                                      the Church be closed as being a useless organization and a
supplies.
                                                                      public nuisance.    Seminaries are- closed for lack of students
       It is somewhat different from previous bills that have         because any prospective students are drafted into the services
been introduced, and it is this difference which gives it some        ahead of regular draft dates or prevented from going to cities
hope of passage. The difference is that it would apply to             where seminaries are located. If people persist in attending
expenses for public schools as well as parochial and private          Church sometimes more drastic means are taken. The
schools. This is supposed to give it broader appeal and' a            younger attendants are sent to distant places to work for the
better chance for adoption.                                           state while older people are put into mental institutions.
       Although the bill is before the House Ways and Means           Rather than killing ministers, oftentimes they are put into
Committee, no action has as yet been taken on it by the com-          monasteries and forbidden to come out, for there they will be
mittee. If it is reported out of committee with a favorable           harmless. Such types of persecution are evidently on the in-
recommendation, it still faces debate in the House and Senate.        crease.
It has a long road to go.                                                While it is true that in Russia persecution originates in
       While it is, in a way, a compromise which does not meet        an atheistic regime, this does not mean that also in those
the standards of justice, it is at least a partial relief. And one    countries that are called "Christian," persecution cannot be-
could conclude that a little is better than nothing.                  come the lot of the believers. In fact, Scripture teaches

                                                                      throughout that the persecution which the Church is called
A PERSECUTED CHURCH                                                   to endure comes most often and in its severest form from

       While here in America the Church of Christ is relatively       that apostate Church which has a "form of godliness, while

free from persecution, this is not true of the Church in other        denying the power thereof."

parts of the world. Reports often filter out of persecution in

countries where Roman Catholicism is the predominant reli-

gion as, e.g., in Spain and South America. In a recent issue          PREDICTINO  THE FUTURE

of iEtwn.?lty  magazine there appeared an article which spoke            While Scripture is clear enough concerning the "things
of persecution of the Church in Russia.                               which shall be hereafter" before our Lord returns, God's

       While there is n,o known and large group of Reformed           Word does not explicitly define exactly horw  all these things

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


shall come to pass.          For example, the Bible teaches us very             Several events in recent history, according to the author

clearly that Antichrist shall reign over a universal empire ex-             point in this direction. There is first of all the rise of Russia

tending his sovereignty over all the world. But precisely how               from relative obscurity to a position of a major world power.

Antichrist shall arise and what form that kingdom over which                There is the establishment of Israel as a sovereign state.

he shall rule shall take is not specifically defined in Holy Writ.          There is the increase in lawlessness and anarchy, continued

There is, naturally, a great temptation to speculate about                  wars and rumors of wars. And most important of all, there

these things. Yet this temptation must be avoided, for it is                are possibilities of exactly ten nations joining the European

surely not the calling of the Church to try to predict ac-                  Common Market. Six nations at present comprise this or-

,curately  how all these things shall come to pass, nor is it               ganization ; but already Great Britain, Norway and Denmark

necessary for the faith of the Church. It is enough to rec-                 seem on the verge of joining. This would make the total nine

ognize them as they take place. In fact the attempt may be                  with every possibility of a tenth (or eleventh ?) somewhere

highly dangerous inasmuch as it may lead people to entirely                 along the line.

wrong conclusions. The result could very well be that while                     The author concludes the evidence by saying :
they are watching one corner of the globe for the appearance
of Antichrist, he arises unnoticed in another corner.                                 And so today the prophecy of a revived Roman Empire
                                                                                  seems intensely more plausible than ever before. After the
    Such an attempt at eschatological speculation was re-                         ten-kingdom federation is headed by the `Antichrist," accord-

cently made in Etmtity  magazine. The author was demon-                          ing to the same prophetic interpretation, it will war against

strating how the well-known Common Market being formed                            Russia and her allies of the Orient in the ilnal  battle of time -
in Europe was a clear indication of the rise of the Antichris-                    at Armageddon.
                                                                                      Is the present line-up of nations under the European Com-
tian kingdom. While he admits that "no one knows the                              munity the prelude to Armageddon? That is the big ques-
answer," and that "the truth of the matter is that no one                         tion . . . .

can say for sure that such prophetic interpretation is entirely                       However, from this vantage point of human history, the

correct,"         nevertheless the -mere  fact that a rather lengthy              stage seems to be set with the actors all taking their appointed
article is devoted to the subject would surely lead one to                        places. How soon is curtain-time? Only the Lord knows that.

believe that the author is more than a little convinced that                    Now it is surely true that the believer is called upon to

such is nevertheless the case.                                              watch and to pray so that he may look in expectation for the

  His argument runs briefly as follows. The Common Market                   coming of the Lord. This implies that the believer also be
now formed in Europe is primarily an economic union be-                     a student of the times in which he lives in order that in the
tween six nations of Europe. Yet this Common Market is                      signs of the Lord's coming he may see the approaching end
almost sure to `lead to political union as well, ending in a                and the longed for deliverance of the Church. He must and
United States of Europe.           From this basic fact, hardly to          can see developments on every hand which point to the fact
be denied, the author argues that there is here a fulfillment               that soon the Lord shall return in judgment upon the world
of the prophecy of Daniel 2 -the prophecy made in connec-                   and for the redemption of the Church. For this reason also
tion with the image of Nebuchadnezzar's dream The golden                    the signs are given. But it remains a dangerous pastime to
head of the image is the kingdom of Babylon itself ; the silver             try to project into the future his own ideas of how things
chest and arms is the Medo-Persian Empire ; the trunk and                   will actually be. That the Common Market is another step
thighs are of bronze and represent the kingdom of Greece ;                  towards the world consolidation necessary for the coming of
the legs of iron `are the empire of Rome split into two parts               Antichrist is quite possibly true. That it is such a literal in-
at the time of `the fall of the Roman empire in 476 A.D. The                terpretation of Daniel 2 is a point that is, to say the least,
image ended in ten toes representing ten kingdoms which is                  debatable.

confirmed by the vision of Daniel 7 where the beast with ten                                                                           H. Hanko

horns is described.

   This all implies four things :

             (1) the Roman Empire will revive in a federation of                                      IN MEMORIAM

     powers, a sort of United States of Europe:
                                                                               The Priscilla Society of the First Protestant Reformed Church of
             (2) this united Europe will be a ten-kingdom federation
                                                                            Grand Rapids, Michigan, hereby expresses our heart-felt sympathy
     with ten kings pooling their resources, and joining forces

     against a common enemy- "`the king of the north" (Dan.                 with our member, Mrs. Sidney Newhof, in the loss of her mother,

     11:40);                                                                                        MRS. M. SIESWERDA
             (3) in addition to. and from the midst of. these ten kinas.
             .                                                        -,
     one person shall arise who will seek and obtain allegiance from           May our Lord Jesus Christ, Who is for us the Resurrection and

     the others and eventually step into the driver's seat as dictator      the Life, use this departure to reassure her and us that "he that

     or chief-ruler;                                                        believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live."

             (4) this leader will be the personage the Bible calls Anti-
                                                                                                                 The Priscilla Society
     christ, Man of Sin, Son of Perdition, and he will claim to be

     God (II Thess. 2:3, 4).                                                                                        Mrs. Mary Koole, Secretary

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


                                                                                 :    The first notice regarding donation to the 1962 Y.P. Con-
           II `NEWS.F,ROM OUR CHURCHES vention has appeared in Doon's bulletin, a harbinger of
                                                                                 Spring amidst all that snow!
                        `All the saints  salt&e  thee . . .T' PHIL. 4:21
                                                                                                         .-
                                                                                      The March 6th meeting of First's Sr. Y. P. Society

                                                      March 20, 1962        1    featured an after recess essay by Miss Mary Pastoor entitled,
                                                                                 "The purpose of Lent and should it be observed in a special

                                                                                 manner ?"
             The Loveland Protestant Reformed Church has, extended

           a'call  to Rev. G. Lubbers, our Missionary, from a trio which.:            In the scheduled round of joint Men's Society meetings
           included the Revs. R. Veldman and G.- Van Baren.                      First's society was host to Hope's Society March 9, with Mr.

                                                                                 John Ralsbeek, of the visiting society; giving a paper on "Our
             The Lord willing, Rev. H. Hoeksema hopes to continue his            Confessional Standards."      March 19 Hudsonville's society
           radio messages on The Reformed Witness Hour during April              was the guest, with Mr. Harry Zwak giving an essay on
           and May. The second in his current series of Lenten sermons           "Christian Liberty."    This expression of the communion of
           can be heard April 1 under the title, "The Tyrant of Death            saints has been a source of spiritual enjoyment for all the
           Destroyed." April 8 and 1.5 messages entitled, "Like Unto             members during the past season and serves to cement the
           His Brethren" and "Christ Learning Obedience" will be                 bond of fellowship between the sister churches.
           aired. Resurrection Day, April 22, the sermon entitled "The

           Resurrection of Our Lord." A sequel to this sermon is to be                The Beacon Lights staff invited the people from the area

           aired April 29 entitled, ". . . And Peter," in which the truth        churches to a program, IMarch  lS, featuring The Hope

           is proclaimed that our Lord Jesus Christ was raised from              Heralds, a men's group from Hope Church. Another of

           the dead and He loved His own to the very end and blotted'            Hope's singing groups, their choral society, is preparing a

           out all their sins. Our readers can enjoy these radio messages        special program to be rendered on Easter Sunday.

           two ways -by listening to the broadcasts and (or) by writ-

           ing for printed copies to The Reformed Witness Hour, P.0:                  Hudsonville's newly organized choral society holds its

           Box 8, Grand Rapids 1, Mich.                                          meetings on Sunday afternoqns,  at 3 :15.


              In the editorial found in the latest issue of the Adams St.             The Western Ladies' League will meet April 13 in Doon.

           School's `iAmlouncer"  Miss W. Koole,  with Eph. 4:32  in             The hostess society is that of Hull. Rev. Woudenberg is

           mind,    wrote about Christian virtues, naming patience,              scheduled to speak on The Communism in the Book of Acts,

           thoughtfulness, consideration and kindness. She likened them          and Rev. Van Baren will answer questions. The Stun&&

           to oils which are lubricants that "smooth away untold irrita-         Bewev will benefit from the offering that will be taken at

           tions that are bound to arise in our daily, elbow-rubbing con-        that time.

           tacts with one another."     The author states that we need

           these precious oils because God is glorified when His children             Hope's bulletin quoted the following from the 1647 West-

           show they possess Christian virtues. The writer closed the            minster Confession of Faith, Article 30: "Church censures

           editorial with, "Is your supply low? God will replenish your          are necessary for the reclaiming of offending brethren; for

           lack: go to the Throne of Grace from which flows  a never-            deterring of others from like offences  ; for purging out of that

           ending supply."                                                       leaven which might infect the whole lump; for vindicating

                                                                                 the honor of Christ, and the holy profession of the gospel ;

              Did ~0~5  know  that a special program was held in the             and for preventing the wrath of God, which might justly fall

           Community Building in Hull. Iowa, Friday evening, March               upon the church if they~ should sutier his covenant, and the

           9 ? This was "Mission Night" in our Western Churches, and             seals thereof, to be profaned by notorious and obstinate of-

           the. program featured our Missionary, Rev. G. Lubbers,                fenders." You will notice that the reasons given in 1647 are

           speaking on his labors ; a progress. report of The Reformed           the same that prevail in 1962: the purity of the church is

           Witness Hour by Mr. C. Kregel  and Mr. C. Prince, mem-                necessary for the vindication of the honor of Christ her king.

           bers of the Radio Committee, who, with their wives, came

           out' West for this purpose ; a collection for the recorder                 As you know, some of our Western churches publish

           purchased by the Mission Committee, and a social hour. The            monthly pamphlets written by their ministers. We see by

           people from Hull, Doon,  Edgerton  and Tripp, S. Dak., were           their bulletins that each congregation, in their turn, provides

           invited. The recurring blizzards that swept the Plains States         volunteers to fold, staple, and prepare them for mailing.

           were a handicap to the return of the Grand Rapids visitors

           as well as to the comings and goings of the native Iowans.                 . . . . see you in church.                          J.M.F.


